Resurrecting A Collie

[zenyatta]

Hi all,

I've been trying to bring my trusty SL-5500 back to life. I have successfully set up OpenEmbedded, built and flashed kexecboot. I'm currently stuck on a few issues:

1. SD card isn't really working. An Angstrom image unpacked onto an ext2 SD partition is recognized by kexecboot but booting ends with a flurry of error messages like this:

Buffer I/O error on device mmcblk0p1, logical block 8
mmcblk0: retrying using single block read
mmcblk0: error -22 sending status comand<3>mmcblk0: error -22 sending read/write command, response 0x4, card status 0xff04
end_request: I/O error, dev mmcblk0, sector 104
...

The same error messages turn up if I boot from ROM or a CF card and then insert an SD card. The most recent kernel I've tried this with is from this morning (19 February 2009) and it's a 2.6.28. I have seen this with two different cards from two different manufacturers. I have tested the cards for errors on a different machine and they seem to be OK.

2. An Opie image on a CF card boots up to the "Tap anywhere..." screen where it freezes.

3. Battery charging doesn't work. When the charger is connected the LED doesn't light up and the battery stays discharged even after several hours. I've established that this isn't a hardware problem - when I flash a Sharp ROM (from http://www.myzaurus.com/ROMupdate5.asp) everything works as it's supposed to.

Any help with any of these issues will be appreciated. A few particular questions:

- regarding issue 3: I've read about a "service menu" accessible by pressing some key or key combination while connecting the charger. Supposedly one can set various voltage thresholds in the menu but I've never been able to get to it in the first place. Anyone know any details?

- regarding issue 1: I have a vague impression that the first OE images I built a couple weeks ago didn't have the SD card problem. Is there a particular node in the git tree that's been verified to have working SD support on collie? Also, would anyone be willing to check SD access on a current OE image on their own collie?

The device is otherwise pretty functional - I can even ssh to the collie over a USB cable. I think I'll make the thing useful again eventually.

Thanks,

z.

[Capn_Fish]

I'd try a 2.6.24-ish kernel. I believe they're the most stable/functional.

[_dark_]

Emergency console :

Fn+D+P+reset -> call girlfrend or wife to help you press this buttons
EXIT: on page 3, 4th option then i think reset..

try buy replacement battery on ebay cheap, I bought it last year from Hong Kong and its quite good.

[zenyatta]

Fn+D+P+reset -> call girlfrend or wife to help you press this buttons
EXIT: on page 3, 4th option then i think reset..

Thanks I will try that.

try buy replacement battery on ebay cheap, I bought it last year from Hong Kong and its quite good.

I actually bought four replacement batteries from two separate suppliers (one American and one German). All batteries are made in China but they seem to come from two different manufacturers. Each battery powered the Collie flawlessly but once depleted it refused to recharge (except under a Sharp ROM). I will try the service menu and see what I can tweak.

Thanks,
z.

[sdjf]

Are you sure the ROM you've flashed is compatible with the Collie Hardware?

Have you considered flashing a ROM which is known to work on the Collie if what you've built continues to not work.

Collie ought to be resurrectable, but I don't think it will run something that expects different hardware.

sdjf