BIG flashing problem

[fRE]

Hello,
yesterday I've installed OZ 3.2...

I followed flashing instrucions step by step, and everything was fine..
After 3 minutes I had working OZ, I play with some configuration, rebooted twice, then......

I installed another handwriting style (opie-handwriting-graffitiset_0.9.3-20030328-1_arm.ipk)
go to handwriting customization applet and switched style to graffiti.. after that my zaurus was hang..

In OZ FAQ I was seen info about similar problem (handwriting applet writing some information info primary flash storage), so I wait about 20 min (!) nothing was happen.. then I was try to reboot my device (swithing power off by replacing battery switch)

Now, I can see nice OZ boot logo and flashing cursor -- that all..
I tried to hard reset, reflash, go back to sharp rom -- nothing happens.... still the same OZ logo.

The worst thing is that flashing stops working!
When I press C+D+Reset both power and mail leds turns on, and nothing else happens....
I was wait even 30min and their do not want to turn off.....

HEPL!

[lardman]

Your flashing problems can't be caused by OZ, BTW.

Either:

Your initrd.bin & zImage files are misnamed, corrupt or on a card which has the wrong format. Try solving in this order.

or

When you tried to flash the OSPACK it messed up the flashing software (but I doubt this).

I'm sorry to hear about the handwriting plugin trashing your OZ install (which is, I assume, what happened as you don't even get a console login prompt).  This is strange, can you provide me with some more info as if this is the case I think the ipk should be removed straight away. Specifically can you provide an URL to the file in question.

Cheers,


Si

[fRE]

Yeee, working! :-o
(but with some strange side effects, see bellow)

But first..
My initrd.bin and zImage are both ok, I have checked them using md5sum.
(I have also try to reformat CF etc)
Hapily the Ospack didn't screw up nothing (I have tried once just to bee sure it's not the OZ problem)

I don't think the problem has been caused by flashing, but this was the only way to fix my Z..
Currently I'm afraid I have big problem with flashing...

Fatal package has been downloaded from http://www.openzaurus.org/official/stable/...30328-1_arm.ipk and I don't think my problem has been caused exactly by this package.. The problem is rather in writing some data into root flash storage (sharp's rom) -- handwriting applet did this (see http://www.openzaurus.org/oz_website/faq/faq?id=183).


As I wrote before, now my Z works:
I have downloaded OZ 3.3.5 and try to flash.... and.....
after 54 minutes (!) both mail and battery leds started flashing (something wrong?)
I reset device, and now boot logo have been changed... and Z lives again :-)

When boot screen arrives on a bottom I can see a line 2 pixel width with some noise, maybe my internal flash is corrupted?

Best Regards,
Andrzej Borsuk

[Teletubbie]

Hi,

I can see a line 2 pixel width with some noise

I also can see a line at the bottom of the screen. I am using oz 3.3.6-pre1 with opie 1.1.3
I never had flashing problems. It is a 3 weeks old device, I flashed three times.
I dont use handwriting at all.
So it seems to be a normal problem and you dont have to be worried.
Cheers,
Sam

PS: There are a lot of stories about write limitations using a jffs2 filesystem on the flash. If you dont create a swap on the flash or something like that, a jffs2 Flash should live longer as the Zaurus itself, so dont have to be worried about that too.

[Mickeyl]

Well, the two lines on the bottom thing is something we are experiencing since I added kernel 2.4.18 to OZ. I have no idea what is causing this and no interest to look into it since the kernel is really out of date anyway. A patch would be welcome, though time is probably better spent finishing kernel 2.6.

[fRE]

is probably better spent finishing kernel 2.6

I must agree that's porting 2.6 will be much better idea than pathing ancient 2.4.x  

I writing this, because my problems didn't go away after installing 3.3.5.  
I spent whole weekend trying to reanimate my Z, but with no success..

Let's sumarize:

When I first installed OZ, it's takes 3 min to flash new image.
Now flashing takes 54 min (checked with stoper) and finish with two leds blinking..

OZ 3.2 won't boot anymore.
OZ 3.3.5 boots properly, but after making some changes my device hangs, and next time won't boot. (same like 3.2)

I have observed some strangeness after flashing new 3.3.5:
first: It didn't erase whole ememory -- some of my files are still here.
second: device hangs whien it tries to write something into root filesystem.

So, I'm afraid my internal flash have some bad sectors? It's possible -- every manual for flash cards warning about disabling device when its writes something to flash can corrupt it. It was happen to me, everyfing was begun when my Z was hang at the moment of writting into..

I see noe solution, but this requires a lots of work from me: I have to create my own initrd -- with minimal system (only CF, usbnet and ssh). This system should not use internal flash anymore, I have to move whole OS into CF card.. It's generally not a bad idea, I have to say bye to WiFi and simmilar ideas, but I still will have working Z? (Maybe it will be possible to reformat internal flash with bad block checking?)

I have some questions:
- Can somebody give mi some advices about creating custom initrd?
- There are some documentation about flashing SL-5500 on the net (maybe it's possible to diagnose my problem via usb somehow?)
- There are some more monkey shorcuts like C+D+Reset?

Best Regards,
Andrzej Borsuk