Reflashing Tool for the O2 Joggler

[bejeezus]

Well, let us know if it keeps running!

After weeks of trying everything I could think of I finally got the Reflashing Tool to work!

I was reading elsewhere about the low voltage of the USB port on the joggler affecting certain USB sticks when it crossed my mind to try and use a powered hub (I used a spare 13 port hub I had lying around)

I tried this using first one memory stick which didnt work and then by accident inserted another identical one into the hub forgetting to remove the other then rebooted the joggler - and it all started working

Really havent got a clue why but even the strange startup screen seems to be fixed?

Many thanks to the OP for his time on this!

[roobarb!]

Really havent got a clue why but even the strange startup screen seems to be fixed?

Many thanks to the OP for his time on this!

Fantastic! Tech is weird sometimes.

[flup]

The reflashing tool seems to work but when i reboot it still hangs at the O2 logo

any ideas what to try next? It looks like i should work when i mount the partitions from linux.

[spanglemaker]

Just got my bricked Joggler reflashed.

Tried 4 different sticks with no success so ordered a powered USB hub and tried lee's keyboard method.

Worked fine so many thanks to roobarb and lee.....absolutely brilliant!

[offbeatdave]

Thanks for this tool! Used today to recover my Joggler. It took 4 goes though (using the same Kingston Datatraveler 8Gb stick)! 1st go just stuck on Openpeak screen. 2nd and 3rd go kept rebooting on Openpeak logo screen. 4th go and I heard the welcoming sound of the O2 Joggler jingle!

Thanks!

[roobarb!]

Thanks for this tool! Used today to recover my Joggler. It took 4 goes though (using the same Kingston Datatraveler 8Gb stick)! 1st go just stuck on Openpeak screen. 2nd and 3rd go kept rebooting on Openpeak logo screen. 4th go and I heard the welcoming sound of the O2 Joggler jingle!

Interesting! Well, glad it got there in the end for you!

[Lynx]

Hi,I got a problem now
here's what I did step by step:
1.Downloaded the ubuntuseverlucid.img.gz from the birdslikewires blogsite and writed it to a USB flashdisk;
2.Boot from the USB flashdisk and rm things which described on the blog and make it a vanilla server;
3.Did some config wpa_supplicant、apt-get update、install something I need;
4.Seems like good so far, so I decided to make it run in the Joggler internal 1GB flash;
5.Connect the USB flashdisk into another linux box, use dd if=/dev/{theUSBflashdisk} of=joggler.img count=xxx(sum of each partition blocks value that shown on "fdisk -l" of the USBflashdisk), got the dump image;
6.Boot joggler vanilla and use dd to recovery the joggler 1GB internal flash from the image file;
7.shut it down, remove the external USB disk,boot joggler,it says can't find /dev/sda2 something like this;
8.I thought ,Oh,maybe somewhere I should modify that into /dev/mmcblk0p2;
9.So I plug the USB flashdisk in again,boot from it,mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 as vfat,and modified grub.cfg,replaced "/dev/sda2" into "/dev/mmcblk0p2" and shutdown joggler;
10.remove external USB disk,boot directly from internal flash,booom,this time it says "Alert! /dev/mmcblk0p2 does not exist" and leave me a shell start with (initramfs);
11.I walk into /dev ,yep,no mmcblk* something...
12.I can't step into anywhere right now,neither can I flash internal disk nor can I boot from internal/external disk;

That's all, seems like now my joggler always boot from internal disk and follow some instructions to mount /dev/mmcblk0p2 as root filesystem, hmmm, so what can I do ? where's the /dev/mmcblk0* ?!

[Lynx]

Okay, I got it

for those people who may have same problem with me:
1.On your PC ,rename the grub.efi in to a single-letter name(maybe no need) here I rename it to g.efi for example;
2.plug the Ubuntu server USB flashdisk and usb keyboard into the USB hub;
3.continuosly press ESC button for about 10secs;
4.Now press the numLock to see if the LED on/off, for to ensure the keyboard's loaded;
5.Screen's still "O2",don't mind that,just type in "fs2:" with your keyboard, and press ENTER;
6.type in g (on step 1 we rename the .efi file) and press ENTER;
7.BOOOOM! you are back in the external disk linux system;

now you can ls /dev see mmcblk0* out there, do whatever you want!

[roobarb!]

Just a note to anyone reading this thread; the directions posted above by Lynx do not relate to the use of the Joggler Reflash Tool. Rather, they describe an attempt to run Ubuntu Server from the internal flash memory. If you're just wanting to reflash your Joggler, you don't need any of those listed points.

[glitchsys]

I've successfully installed Ubuntu 10.04 to the internal memory, also upgraded the kernel to 2.6.38. I've created a dd image of my entire /dev/mmcblk0 if anybody wants it.

I've managed to brick a couple of Jogglers though and they won't boot. I'm trying the escape trick and typing several combinations of:

fs0:
boot

fs0:
boot2

fs0:
grub

fs1:
boot

fs1:
boot2

fs1:
grub

fs0:boot
fs0:boot2
fs0:grub

etc. and no luck so far. It could be because I'm using a U.S keyboard and I'm hoping that shift ";" actually produces a : but I can't see to verify.

[offbeatdave]

One of my Jogglers packed up last night. It stuck on the OpenPeak logo and wouldn't even boot from USB stick. However, thanks to the comments on birdslikewires I was able to pop my USB stick into a borrowed powered hub with a USB keyboard plugged in too. I then did the hit ESCAPE thing lots of times after powering on the joggler, then typed “fs0:”<enter> and then “boot.nsh” <enter> (with nothing appearing on screen). This allowed the recovery procedure to kick in!

Thanks again!

[roobarb!]

...I then did the hit ESCAPE thing lots of times after powering on the joggler, then typed “fs0:”<enter> and then “boot.nsh” <enter> (with nothing appearing on screen). This allowed the recovery procedure to kick in!

Good times - I must add that to the instructions at some point. There are obviously occasions when the EFI loads and runs, but fails to boot a device and needs a little prod in the right direction.

[arm5ky]

Just done this using the Windows instructions all recovered, except the bleeping joggler still goes into the "Updates have finished, will now reboot" loop.
So infuriating...

Thanks for making this tool, I feel like I'm closer, just not quite close enough.

That is very interesting. Could you post a picture of the message? It must be something held in the Joggler's NVRAM, because if the reflash has completed then the internal memory has been completely wiped.

Here it is:

https://sites.google.com/site/placetodu ... Screen.jpg

This comes up after I ran the reflasher, and was in the process of giving the Joggler my name, phone number and email.

I have exactly the same issues!!!

I've ftp'd into it whilst router disconnected from modem and ammended the boot scrip as you advised above to no avail.
Was thinking about using hosts file to stop it connecting. anyone know the domain i need to block.

[roobarb!]

New version of this is up! It should hopefully resolve any issues people have been having with the wired network connection. Now uses BuZz's MAC address generating script and clears out config files after booting, so you should be able to use the same stick on multiple Jogglers without seeing the network connection fail.

[roobarb!]

Another update ready - there's no change in functionality, but the reflashing system has been considerably reduced in size and will now fit onto a 512MB memory stick (should anyone have such a thing!).

I am now in possession of a Joggler that this tool doesn't seem to be able to bring back to life, so if I discover a way to make it more robust and get it working on this troublesome unit, I'll release another update. Unless it turns out this thing's just shot.

[cbredfred]

Thank you for still working on this.
As you might have read I have 2 Jogglers that it doesn't work on and I have eliminated the EFI memory chip as the cause.
So my next step is to try and find a definitive memory test that will tell me if the 1GB flash is knackered.
Or even just some kind of compare command that would verify what is in the 1GB flash to what should have been written by your Reflashing Tool.
Do you have any thoughts of a way ahead on this problem, Roobarb?

I know there are other options than running Tango, and I'm having a play with them, but Tango is so finger friendly and has some very handy apps that are simple for people to use.
So it would be great to be able to run Tango from a USB stick if the internal memory is not recoverable.

I'm sure it takes extra time for you to create your packaged tools and share them with the community instead of getting the job done for yourself and moving on with your life, so thank you for sharing.

[roobarb!]

Thank you for still working on this.
As you might have read I have 2 Jogglers that it doesn't work on and I have eliminated the EFI memory chip as the cause.
So my next step is to try and find a definitive memory test that will tell me if the 1GB flash is knackered.
Or even just some kind of compare command that would verify what is in the 1GB flash to what should have been written by your Reflashing Tool.
Do you have any thoughts of a way ahead on this problem, Roobarb?

There are a few drive-checking utilities out there for Ubuntu, which you could point at the internal flash from a Joggler booted into one of the desktop builds. Or there's a command-line one called badblocks, which may be handy for some checks.

I know there are other options than running Tango, and I'm having a play with them, but Tango is so finger friendly and has some very handy apps that are simple for people to use.
So it would be great to be able to run Tango from a USB stick if the internal memory is not recoverable.

IIRC, this isn't as straightforward as you might think. Something to do with USB drivers not being present somewhere..? I believe it has been tried.

I'm sure it takes extra time for you to create your packaged tools and share them with the community instead of getting the job done for yourself and moving on with your life, so thank you for sharing.

I must admit, it is time consuming. But then, it's a very good way to learn more about Linux and I'm lucky enough to have the necessary kit to hand most of the time. Plus, this issue is affecting me now, so I have a little extra impetus to make it work!

[roobarb!]

Well, here's what I've found so far. On my Joggler that won't boot, the internal flash memory appears to be fine. It reads, it writes, it stores, it survives perfectly between power-offs. It doesn't boot. Memory sticks boot perfectly.

What I did was to try something that has worked perfectly well on other Jogglers - put the boot sequence from the Ubuntu builds onto the internal flash. I cleared out the flash, made a single FAT16 partition (32MB), gave it the boot flag (not actually necessary with the Joggler, it seems), copied the files on. No boot.

I'm going to twiddle a little with the partition settings now, but I did the same thing with a USB memory stick... booted first time.

Very odd. I wonder if the internal memory isn't ready in time for the EFI system? I could try the old hit-escape-a-lot trick to get into the EFI command line and see what happens.

[cbredfred]

Roobarb, Which software tool/command did you use in the end to test your internal flash memory?

[BuZz]

Very odd. I wonder if the internal memory isn't ready in time for the EFI system? I could try the old hit-escape-a-lot trick to get into the EFI command line and see what happens.

have you swapped in a flash/efi chip from a working joggler ?