flashing rom on SL 5500 - get blinking lights

[tecknobabble]

Have just spoken to a very nice man on the Sharp tel support line who has said the  the ROM will not update to a previous release and that the instructions given on the web-site to flash back usually don\'t work!

Can people confirm that he\'s right or alternatively say that he\'s wrong (as in you have done this yourself?)

But even if that\'s right you should be able to flash the latest version available... but I think he\'s confused and searching for an explanation for why it doesn\'t work.... otherwise how can people flash OZ, tkcROM, etc...

Is the CF card being written from Windows or Linux....?  I can\'t remember for sure but I think I had problems sometimes when I used mine under windows.  

Do you have anyway to confirm the md5sum of the files you\'ve written to the CF card match those on the PC before the transfer?  That would at least factor out the card reader as part of the problem.

zImage and initrd is preferrable to the OSPACK - won\'t overwrite the routine in the ROM that does the loading.... which isn\'t a problem unless something goes wrong writing that portion of the ROM.

[Greg2]

Can people confirm that he\'s right or alternatively say that he\'s wrong (as in you have done this yourself?)

loup-noir

As I said before I could only return to v2.37 and that was done to make a jeode.ipk that would work with whatever rom I was using. I don\'t remember if it was an oz version or sharp-based rom but it can be done. Although I didn\'t flash back to v2.37 from a standard sharp rom version.

You said you couldn\'t flash the initrd.bin and zImage of OZ before, have you tried that or any other custom rom image?

Greg

[Greg2]

Just a thought...why don\'t you go ahead and upgrade to v3.13 then try your ethernet card?

Here\'s a list of the ones that work (it\'s not up to date) if it\'s not there you might be able to make it work anyhow. Someone here will help.

Ethernet Card Support:
http://www.zaurususergroup.com/modules.php...rnetCardSupport

Greg

[markw]

It alsways blinks for me when i flash the ROM, however i just try it again a few times and it usually workes. you might want to try redownloading the ROM update (unless you got it off a CD), and trying flashing the roma few more times.

[derekp]

One other thing that I\'ve seen people do:
If you are writing the files out to the CF card from a windows host, and then remove the card without clicking on the Windows \"eject\" icon, then you WILL have filesystem corruption on the card, which will result in a bad flash. If this is the case, then:
1.  chkdsk /f drive:  (where drive is e:, f:, or whatever your CF card is mounted as)
2.  copy files over to the card again, and make sure you hit the eject (or media removal) icon in the windows taskbar

Hope this helps.

[Joshp]

I know on my laptop that was running windows 2000.  I had to make sure that I ejected the cf card before I removed it form the pcmcia slot.  If I did not the files that I had just copyed would not work right.  Is there any way for you to conferm that files are ok after you remove the cf card form the card reader?  And also I have never used the Ospack.  Because form what I\'v heard if something gos worng, wall lets just say the Z would make a nice paper wight, dont you think?  If you have access to a linux box, try exctering initrd.bin and zimage form the ospack puting them on your cf card and flashing with them.

JP

[loup-noir]

Finally recovered from the holiday.

I was hoping someone could say definitedly yes they have flashed backwards from one Sharp ROM to a previous or no they could not.

I\'ve also heard from Socket (who are prepared to commit to email) but they are saying that the card works with the ROM /ROM emulator provided by Sharp and so it is a Sharp issue - Socket say they are going to raise it with Sharp.

My next step will probably by to go to 3.13 to give it a whirl (just in case) and then to try to flash to another ROM with a view to flashing back to a previous Sharp version (or not if the other ROM suffices)

One question - is there a way to do md5checksums under windoze?  (and for that matter under UNIX/Z?  And I don\'t recall seeing the md5checksums on the Sharp site - are they listed there or is there another source?

Thanks
L

[khafra]

This probably won\'t help, but I have the exact same blinking light problem, trying to upgrade from 2.38 to OZ.  Sharp 3.10 does the same thing when I try it.  I\'ve repartitioned and reformatted the CF card, checked for bad blocks, tried over and over again--nothing seems to make it do anything but blink indefinitely, then restart with the same old 2.38 rom.

[Xaser]

Well, Im not so sure if that could help but  I had found this points when I had similar trouble....
1) Check that your CF is NOT READ ONLY set (In my case with TKCrom 1 if I USE the applet to UNMOUNT the CF or SD, the rom without asking nothing, simply set the card to READ ONLY mode and with this I had troubles with reflashing...)
2) Use the Zinergy ROM v1 that is based in 2.xx rom as a dummy flash ( when I need to do some tests with 2.38 I first reflash with this old Zinergy rom and then reflash with the original sharp rom 2.38 without troubles, but I was unable to do this using directly the original sharp 2.38...) I didnt know why this work for me but  anyway, if you need a 2.xx  sharp  rom based the zimergy v1 is very nice option...

[khafra]

Well, I got my problem with those same symptoms fixed (sort of).  Despite all diagnostics saying the CF card was fine, I went out and got another, just a cheap li\'l used 16 meg one, and tried to flash the OZ rom.  It worked.
When I say \"worked,\" I mean I get the OpenZaurus splash screen now when I turn it on.  Unfortunately, I get nothing beyond that.  But at least I have something.

[Qman]

I just flashed back from 3.10 to 2.38 using the CF method just yesterday (05/04/04) without any problems then flashed to 3.13 after that using the same method!




HTH
Qman....

[Qman]

I\'m attempting to flash back the rom from 3.10 to 2.12 or 2.38, I have backed up, etc., I put the ospack image on to the root of a CF card (PQI 256Mb), put the CF card into the slot (with the machine off), then hold down C+D and push the full reset button.

I\'m not sure if it makes any difference but I had put my CF card in the device with it on.



HTH
Qman...

[zbones]

I\'m not sure if it makes any difference but I had put my CF card in the device with it on.

That shouldn\'t matter, I always insert my card with the device off so those iritating directories don\'t get auto created.

I always do a fresh format in my PC using a card reader and have (touch wood) never had an issue with flashing a rom yet.

The cf card does make a big difference, some cards that work ok in the z cannot be used to flash the device, don\'t know why.  Also never try to flash from a microdrive. I have read several posts from people who have bricked their unit like that.  Again I don\'t know why, it just is that way.

Peter