I started looking into bootloader-level recovery tonight before messing with the file system too much and potentially getting into a bad state. I couldn't find this information anywhere else.
UART pinout
J3 - 4 pin unpopulated header on the front of the board near the LED
Pin 1: 3.3v
Pin 2: TX
Pin 3: RX
Pin 4: GND
Bootloader and kernel console output comes out this port, but android doesn't start a shell.
Bootloader strap
On the back of the board in the center, there is an unpopulated button (U33). When jumped while the power button is pressed, this appears to put the bootloader into USB recovery mode. It enumerates with an nvidia vendor id. Presumably nvflash or tegrarcm could be used to unbrick the device.
I haven't done anything with the bootloader recovery since I haven't yet made a backup. I'm not sure how much of the functionality is allowed given the state of the production fuse, but I would think we could use this to at least get back to a stock state.
I had posted pretty much the same thing a few hours earlier over on the ouya forums - https://forums.ouya.tv/discussion/comment/11742/#Comment_11742
The good news about the bootloader is that none of the android partitions have any sort of signature, which means that the bootloader is effectively "unlocked", you can even do a "fastboot boot". The bad news is that there doesn't seem to be any sort of hotkey to enter the bootloader or recovery mode, although I did find that you could usually get into recovery with the sysrq, just press alt-sysrq-i a few times at bootup to crash the processes spawned by init and eventually it will reboot into recovery -- obviously this won't work if your ouya doesn't even boot that far, so be careful.
The button at u33 does get you into nvflash mode, but from what I can tell it's entirely useless since every command will return a 0x4; we'll need the secure boot key to actually get this working.
As far as backups, the OTA download contains an entire copy of the system and boot partitions, this can be flashed from recovery using adb sideload; rayman has posted a link to all the known OTA downloads over on this thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2266629
tylerwhall said:
I started looking into bootloader-level recovery tonight before messing with the file system too much and potentially getting into a bad state. I couldn't find this information anywhere else.
UART pinout
J3 - 4 pin unpopulated header on the front of the board near the LED
Pin 1: 3.3v
Pin 2: TX
Pin 3: RX
Pin 4: GND
Bootloader and kernel console output comes out this port, but android doesn't start a shell.
Bootloader strap
On the back of the board in the center, there is an unpopulated button (U33). When jumped while the power button is pressed, this appears to put the bootloader into USB recovery mode. It enumerates with an nvidia vendor id. Presumably nvflash or tegrarcm could be used to unbrick the device.
I haven't done anything with the bootloader recovery since I haven't yet made a backup. I'm not sure how much of the functionality is allowed given the state of the production fuse, but I would think we could use this to at least get back to a stock state.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly, no. The way nvidia does security means that you need to know the Secure Boot key (if set - but it is set on ouya) to even be able to communicate with the device through APX/nvflash.
As embeem mentions, it will return 0x4, which essentially means "go away, i don't know you" after which it goes into an almost turned off state where it refuses to do anything but restart. The SBK is an AES-128 key so it's essentially impossible (inpractical) to bruteforce it.
rayman said:
Sadly, no. The way nvidia does security means that you need to know the Secure Boot key (if set - but it is set on ouya) to even be able to communicate with the device through APX/nvflash.
As embeem mentions, it will return 0x4, which essentially means "go away, i don't know you" after which it goes into an almost turned off state where it refuses to do anything but restart. The SBK is an AES-128 key so it's essentially impossible (inpractical) to bruteforce it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what was the trick that you used/developed to bypass the encryption on TF101 B80+ / TF201 / TF701 ? As far as I know their bootloaders also required SBK, nevertheless you published tool that works with them even though SBK remain unknown, or am I wrong and misread something?
Cheers
wolf849 said:
So what was the trick that you used/developed to bypass the encryption on TF101 B80+ / TF201 / TF701 ? As far as I know their bootloaders also required SBK, nevertheless you published tool that works with them even though SBK remain unknown, or am I wrong and misread something?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Black magic.
Well, not much capable in nvflash mode, can't get anything to work properly.
UART lets me see it boot up, and fail miserably. Sadly, nothing doing there either. Nothing I send to it seems to affect it.
Back story: I broke init. The sysrq trick doesn't work unless you're getting to init.
Boot log via UART:
http://pastebin.com/ENQYQbTS
It still responds to sysrq, but nothing I'm doing seems to do much. I can dump the memory, crash the system, reboot it, shut it down, all kinds of things. Here's the HELP for sysrq:
Code:
[ 66.672046] SysRq : HELP : loglevel(0-9) reBoot Crash terminate-all-tasks(E) memory-full-oom-kill(F) kill-all-tasks(I) thaw-filesystems(J) show-backtrace-all-active-cpus(L) show-memory-usage(M) nice-all-RT-tasks(N) powerOff show-registers(P) show-all-timers(Q) Sync show-task-states(T) Unmount show-blocked-tasks(W) dump-ftrace-buffer(Z)
an easier list of sysrq commands:
Code:
alt + sysrq + [0-9] - set log level (doesn't seem to work)
alt + sysrq + B - reboot
alt + sysrq + C - crash
alt + sysrq + E - terminate-all-tasks
alt + sysrq + F - memory-full-oom
alt + sysrq + I - kill-all-tasks
alt + sysrq + J - thaw-filesystems
alt + sysrq + L - show-backtrace-all-active-cpus
alt + sysrq + M - show-memory-usage
alt + sysrq + N - nice-all-RT-tasks
alt + sysrq + O - poweroff
alt + sysrq + P - show-registers
alt + sysrq + Q - show-all-timers
alt + sysrq + S - sync
alt + sysrq + T - show-task-states
alt + sysrq + U - unmount
alt + sysrq + W - show-blocked-tasks
alt + sysrq + Z - dump-ftrace-buffer
Some more detailed information on what these are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key
Open to ideas!
This reminds me of the old Droid X I had years back, which had a locked bootloader.
Because of this, there had to be a special "boot to recovery" boot strapper installed onto the system.
We have full RW access to the Ouya's filesystem and software, so it would seem like the first thing the community should do is develop some sort of "successfully booted" flagging to make the system try to automatically drop into CWM in the event that it looks like the OS is broken.
Couldn't such a thing live in the boot.img, and thus be available even if some silly person formats their /system partition? (This has happened already, and so the guy pretty much bricked his Ouya)
DivinityCycle said:
This reminds me of the old Droid X I had years back, which had a locked bootloader.
Because of this, there had to be a special "boot to recovery" boot strapper installed onto the system.
We have full RW access to the Ouya's filesystem and software, so it would seem like the first thing the community should do is develop some sort of "successfully booted" flagging to make the system try to automatically drop into CWM in the event that it looks like the OS is broken.
Couldn't such a thing live in the boot.img, and thus be available even if some silly person formats their /system partition? (This has happened already, and so the guy pretty much bricked his Ouya)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My plan is to develop a sysrq key to write the appropriate bit(s) to SCRATCH0 and reboot. This would allow us to get into recovery via a simple keystroke. I've actually got it written but need to test it. Testing it would not be dangerous as it would normally boot the stock kernel/init.
Next week when I'm home I'll try to find a tester since I cannot test it (can't write anything to my mmcblk0)
This shouldn't be dangerous to test.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Any news on uart? I guess I bricked my ouya.
I was testing my custom kernel, did forget to use fastboot boot instead of flash and now have nothing but a black screen. My linux machine doesn't recognize my ouya and I can't go to recovery. So at least knowing what is causing the issue would be helpful.
Do you mind giving me a short intro on uart?
I guess I need a usb/uart adapter? If yes, which one should I get?
Thanks in advance
Gesendet von meinem HTC One X+ mit Tapatalk 2
anyone already saw this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2071626
did only have time to skimm it but might be useful to people with still working devices
aim is to get the sbk which should be - if i have understood it the right way - unique for each device as long as the company didn't burn in a fix sbk.
so maybe this will help us to save people from further bricks...as long as nvflash is usable via usb
Has anyone tested in on ouya ?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free
Not yet i think...i know i won't be testing it on my OUYA no time soon, i don't feel like having my box BRICKED like nchantmnt does, screw this, it's too early to test this , i wont even risk it, i dont feel like buying another OUYA for testing this...
Hey... no pain no gain
Gesendet von meinem HTC One X+ mit Tapatalk 2
I have an idea for a small usb device that could force the ouya into recovery mode using the keyboard combination mentioned below:
http://ouyabrew.com/how-to-put-ouya-in-recovery-mode/
Essentially my idea is to have a little usb circuit board with a micro controller that is smart enough to simulate a keyboard periodically sending the specified keypresses. When the ouya goes into recovery you would just yank out the dongle. I don't have any background technical knowledge in this stuff but this sounds like something Ben Heck could whip up (he is a legend).
Update: Looks like these are already a thing! this looks promising:
http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=...ke-dongle#So,_why_would_a_pen-tester_want_one
zondajag said:
I have an idea for a small usb device that could force the ouya into recovery mode using the keyboard combination mentioned below:
http://ouyabrew.com/how-to-put-ouya-in-recovery-mode/
Essentially my idea is to have a little usb circuit board with a micro controller that is smart enough to simulate a keyboard periodically sending the specified keypresses. When the ouya goes into recovery you would just yank out the dongle. I don't have any background technical knowledge in this stuff but this sounds like something Ben Heck could whip up (he is a legend).
Update: Looks like these are already a thing! this looks promising:
http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=...ke-dongle#So,_why_would_a_pen-tester_want_one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is a sweet idea, i wasn't aware of a programmable HID USB keystroke dongle...This would make things easier...i hope someone makes something out of this, this will solve the booting into recovery bigtime!!!
zondajag said:
I have an idea for a small usb device that could force the ouya into recovery mode using the keyboard combination mentioned below:
http://ouyabrew.com/how-to-put-ouya-in-recovery-mode/
Essentially my idea is to have a little usb circuit board with a micro controller that is smart enough to simulate a keyboard periodically sending the specified keypresses. When the ouya goes into recovery you would just yank out the dongle. I don't have any background technical knowledge in this stuff but this sounds like something Ben Heck could whip up (he is a legend).
Update: Looks like these are already a thing! this looks promising:
http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=...ke-dongle#So,_why_would_a_pen-tester_want_one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This would only work if the stock kernal is installed and the recovery partition is intact. If you lose you recovery partition you won't be able to boot recovery and get adb working, and if the kernel isn't the stock kernel the keyboard combo won't work.
Also no use for broken init
Gesendet von meinem HTC One X+ mit Tapatalk 2
cronikman84 said:
Not yet i think...i know i won't be testing it on my OUYA no time soon, i don't feel like having my box BRICKED like nchantmnt does, screw this, it's too early to test this , i wont even risk it, i dont feel like buying another OUYA for testing this...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that this necessarily means bricking your device.
You could always try fastboot boot patched kernel and then try reading fuse values.
I was playing with this method to run Debian:
http://tuomas.kulve.fi/blog/2013/09/12/debian-on-ouya-all-systems-go/
It is an easy procedure and I've got it running. Unfortunately my USB hub is not working correctly with ouya (it's passive so voltage on USB can be low), so I didnt login into it, but you could use this method to try to extract sbk keys.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free
nvflash
How About this : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2455927 ????
we first need to know if we do have a "masker sbk" or a device specific sbk.
for device-specific sbk this methode should work but only with a wheelie-enabled recovery for our device
don't try to flash any other recovery to your device or you're in danger of bricking it.
if you have access to the source and can add the required option for generating blob files to a working recovery image, then this should work for device specific sbks.
then you can use any uart-adapter/raspberry pi/etc. to connect to your device and make backup and flash partitions.
(NOTE: DO NOT USE YOUR PCS SERIAL OUTPUT - IT MIGHT DAMAGE YOUR DEVICE AND YOUR PC AS WELL... OH AND IT WILL NOT WORK)
if we do have any kind of masker-sbk i can only talk in theory:
you normally should be able to read out sbk from running system but this is of course prevented (in most cases by some kerner config).
i don't know exactly by what methode and what files exactly to change but I have read somewhere that you could make a custom kernel which doens't prevent read out of sbk. then fastboot boot boot.img, read out sbk and sould be good to go.
but praxis might be a good bit harde
... or maybe blob mehtode might work.
got important exams tomorrow but if anyone could send me link to wheelie-enabled n7 recovery i might take a look the next days.
maybe recovery-devs could make something out of it even earlier
Hi,
I'm launching this thread to work on an unbrick procedure for fully bricked I9070/P without JTAG or Riffbox (same as Adam Outler, TheBeano, Odia etc... 's project "let's save some bricks")
Reminder : fully bricked = no download/recovery mode, no display, not charging, not going to recovery with a 301k Ohm jig.
I have a fully bricked I9070P and a fully functionnal I8090 (same processor).
Based on the sources and tools for the U8500 that were disclosed in january, I've managed to make my dead phone and my PC talk "a bit" together (under Windows with the VSIW tool, and under linux with recompiling the "flashkit" tools): when plugged in and inserting the battery, the tool sees the terminal, gets its serial number and various data and fails while trying to send and execute a boot file because the terminal closes the USB port.
I've managed to get a certain degree of communication with the "riff" tool (open source) of the Snowball project too (the dev board based on a U9500).
Based on this half successes, I'm pretty sure we are close to a clean solution to revive a fully bricked terminal without soldering JTAG.
Here are the main docs I've read so far :
* most posts from the threads "let's save some bricks" and "fun with resistors"
* the reference documents of the I9070 (Samsung_GT-I9070_Galaxy_S_Advance_Galaxy_S_II_Lite_service_manual.rar)
* the reference manual of the U9500 (http://www.calao-systems.com/reposi...X/DATASHEETS/AP9500_reference_manual_rev1.pdf)
* TSU6111 datasheet from TI (the USB/UART switch the 9070 is using, cf the service manual -> Lite Schematics -> u-USB SW IC part)
* lots of docs from the "flashkit" sources
My setup :
* a fully bricked I9070P
* a fully working I8190P
* an 8GB SDCard
* a Windows/Linux workstation (Ubuntu 12.04LTS + Android compiling environment + disclosed sources)
* terminal emulators
* a Prolific cable (PL2303) (any USB to TTL adapter would do it, you can buy one for 3$ as Arduino accessory, or reuse a Nokia DKU 5 -see hackaday website for a link). Take care with Prolifics : they don't work under Windows 8 with the last driver, you have to use the version before, Google is your friend)
* a set of resistors
* a multimeter
* libusb win32 drivers setup, see sourceforge (use the tool included in the drivers package to generate the right .inf file for the U8500 (or use 04CC and 8500)
Here are my conclusions so far :
* based on the Snowball docs and the U9500 spec, we don't seem to have any need to modify anything (resistors) on the mainboard to change boot sequence. The dev board does not have any switch for that and my dead I9070 and working I8190 exibit the same behaviour at bootup : the appear as a "U8500 USB ROM" for a seconds and disconnect when going on farther in the boot sequence.
Moreover, the fact that I managed to have my dead phone talk with the flashtool confort me in the fact that we are almost done.
* I have *not* managed to get any output on my terminal with my Prolific cable plugged in with a 630kOhm resistor on the pins 4 and 5. My resistor setup might be good because it make my working I8190 boot when I plug it in.
But I'm not sure of my RX/TX setup, I have crossed the RX/TX of the phone and the ones of the Prolific but I might have been wrong identifying the pins of my modified USB plug (D+ and D-).
But I'm sure the RX and TX wires of my Prolific are the right ones : when I connect them together (nullmodem configuration), the characters typed on my terminal are displayed.
So the main issue is : how can we have the dead phone keep the USB port open and not close it after 2 seconds?
My assumption is that it is always probing different boot methods (UART, USB, MMC etc) and then attempts to boot normaly from eMMC.
I don't know which part of the bootchain sequence I've garbaged on my I9070: IBL, PBL, SBL, PARAM? Managing to get any debug output on my console would greatly help me.
Has any of you tried to achieve something similar? If yes, could you post your setup and results?
Let's save some bricks another time!
any progress
flentus said:
Hi,
I'm launching this thread to work on an unbrick procedure for fully bricked I9070/P without JTAG or Riffbox (same as Adam Outler, TheBeano, Odia etc... 's project "let's save some bricks")
Reminder : fully bricked = no download/recovery mode, no display, not charging, not going to recovery with a 301k Ohm jig.
I have a fully bricked I9070P and a fully functionnal I8090 (same processor).
Based on the sources and tools for the U8500 that were disclosed in january, I've managed to make my dead phone and my PC talk "a bit" together (under Windows with the VSIW tool, and under linux with recompiling the "flashkit" tools): when plugged in and inserting the battery, the tool sees the terminal, gets its serial number and various data and fails while trying to send and execute a boot file because the terminal closes the USB port.
I've managed to get a certain degree of communication with the "riff" tool (open source) of the Snowball project too (the dev board based on a U9500).
Based on this half successes, I'm pretty sure we are close to a clean solution to revive a fully bricked terminal without soldering JTAG.
Here are the main docs I've read so far :
* most posts from the threads "let's save some bricks" and "fun with resistors"
* the reference documents of the I9070 (Samsung_GT-I9070_Galaxy_S_Advance_Galaxy_S_II_Lite_service_manual.rar)
* the reference manual of the U9500 (http://www.calao-systems.com/reposi...X/DATASHEETS/AP9500_reference_manual_rev1.pdf)
* TSU6111 datasheet from TI (the USB/UART switch the 9070 is using, cf the service manual -> Lite Schematics -> u-USB SW IC part)
* lots of docs from the "flashkit" sources
My setup :
* a fully bricked I9070P
* a fully working I8190P
* an 8GB SDCard
* a Windows/Linux workstation (Ubuntu 12.04LTS + Android compiling environment + disclosed sources)
* terminal emulators
* a Prolific cable (PL2303) (any USB to TTL adapter would do it, you can buy one for 3$ as Arduino accessory, or reuse a Nokia DKU 5 -see hackaday website for a link). Take care with Prolifics : they don't work under Windows 8 with the last driver, you have to use the version before, Google is your friend)
* a set of resistors
* a multimeter
* libusb win32 drivers setup, see sourceforge (use the tool included in the drivers package to generate the right .inf file for the U8500 (or use 04CC and 8500)
Here are my conclusions so far :
* based on the Snowball docs and the U9500 spec, we don't seem to have any need to modify anything (resistors) on the mainboard to change boot sequence. The dev board does not have any switch for that and my dead I9070 and working I8190 exibit the same behaviour at bootup : the appear as a "U8500 USB ROM" for a seconds and disconnect when going on farther in the boot sequence.
Moreover, the fact that I managed to have my dead phone talk with the flashtool confort me in the fact that we are almost done.
* I have *not* managed to get any output on my terminal with my Prolific cable plugged in with a 630kOhm resistor on the pins 4 and 5. My resistor setup might be good because it make my working I8190 boot when I plug it in.
But I'm not sure of my RX/TX setup, I have crossed the RX/TX of the phone and the ones of the Prolific but I might have been wrong identifying the pins of my modified USB plug (D+ and D-).
But I'm sure the RX and TX wires of my Prolific are the right ones : when I connect them together (nullmodem configuration), the characters typed on my terminal are displayed.
So the main issue is : how can we have the dead phone keep the USB port open and not close it after 2 seconds?
My assumption is that it is always probing different boot methods (UART, USB, MMC etc) and then attempts to boot normaly from eMMC.
I don't know which part of the bootchain sequence I've garbaged on my I9070: IBL, PBL, SBL, PARAM? Managing to get any debug output on my console would greatly help me.
Has any of you tried to achieve something similar? If yes, could you post your setup and results?
Let's save some bricks another time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dude did you find any solution??same problem here
up up this thread.... i'm also experiencing with my s3 mini i8190 continuously disconnecting libusb-win32 driver... my phone is at deadboot and unable to resurrect with RIFFBOX...
neilPD_07 said:
up up this thread.... i'm also experiencing with my s3 mini i8190 continuously disconnecting libusb-win32 driver... my phone is at deadboot and unable to resurrect with RIFFBOX...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mebay u have dead mini USB port in SIII mini ?
Sent from my GT-I9070 using Tapatalk
Hi guys,
I had a little time playing with this, but I have good news :
I modified the default profile used for the flashtool backend to "ADL boot" : my "dead" phone now stays connected to the USB and is reported as "started" by the flashtool CLI ("flash-tool get_connected_equipments") however, when I try some "active" flash-tool CLI commands, the backend crashes.
As I was running it either in windows 8.1 64 bits or Linux in a VM, their might have some bad interactions with the OS on the one hand and the USB port forwarding on the other hand (there was issues with the LCD and LCM drivers in Windows, I grabbed the 64 bits ones from VSIW...).
-> I have to test on a 32 bit Windows.
Good to read to understand further (extracted from flash-tool-backend.html file) :
Note : ME stands for mobile equipment, "boot indication" can take the following values : ADL, ALT, Normal, Production, Programming : set into the config files pointed by the .mesp file)
Boot process description
When the peripheral boot sequence starts, the ME sends an asic id to the connected PC tool. The PC tool then answers with a boot indication. If normal, "ADL" or "production" is sent as boot indication; this means that the x-loader will start the binary software stored at the corresponding location in the boot image (based on the location stated by the TOC). If programming is used as boot indication, the PC will send a completely new set of boot code to the ME. This is used when a loader is downloaded during service mode startup via the Flash Tool Backend. When the normal boot indication is sent, Flash Tool backend sends no more data and the ME is booted with the binary software stored in the place where the normal software is stored according to the TOC.
The ADL boot scenario works like this:
1. Flash Tool Backend receives asic id
2. Boot indication ADL is sent
3. Flash tool backend starts LCD and LCM and waits for a loader startup message.
The loader is stored at the ADL location of the boot image (this is supported by the assemble tool).
I think I'd have to assemble the correct bootloader to enable "profile-STE_DBX500_flashloader.prfl" profile to work (we are missing corresponding loader.ldr loader). It would enable the use of the "LoaderCommunication"
I think I have all the pieces and the docs (we even have the certificates to sign it !): just need time and a better GFAF (Girlfriend acceptance factor).
The guys who managed to unbrick some Qualcomm based devices might be of a huge help, they would be much more efficient than I can be... I any of you have time to drive them around here, do not hesitate!
Enjoy!
flentus said:
Hi guys,
I had a little time playing with this, but I have good news :
I modified the default profile used for the flashtool backend to "ADL boot" : my "dead" phone now stays connected to the USB and is reported as "started" by the flashtool CLI ("flash-tool get_connected_equipments") however, when I try some "active" flash-tool CLI commands, the backend crashes.
As I was running it either in windows 8.1 64 bits or Linux in a VM, their might have some bad interactions with the OS on the one hand and the USB port forwarding on the other hand (there was issues with the LCD and LCM drivers in Windows, I grabbed the 64 bits ones from VSIW...).
-> I have to test on a 32 bit Windows.
Good to read to understand further (extracted from flash-tool-backend.html file) :
Note : ME stands for mobile equipment, "boot indication" can take the following values : ADL, ALT, Normal, Production, Programming : set into the config files pointed by the .mesp file)
Boot process description
When the peripheral boot sequence starts, the ME sends an asic id to the connected PC tool. The PC tool then answers with a boot indication. If normal, "ADL" or "production" is sent as boot indication; this means that the x-loader will start the binary software stored at the corresponding location in the boot image (based on the location stated by the TOC). If programming is used as boot indication, the PC will send a completely new set of boot code to the ME. This is used when a loader is downloaded during service mode startup via the Flash Tool Backend. When the normal boot indication is sent, Flash Tool backend sends no more data and the ME is booted with the binary software stored in the place where the normal software is stored according to the TOC.
The ADL boot scenario works like this:
1. Flash Tool Backend receives asic id
2. Boot indication ADL is sent
3. Flash tool backend starts LCD and LCM and waits for a loader startup message.
The loader is stored at the ADL location of the boot image (this is supported by the assemble tool).
I think I'd have to assemble the correct bootloader to enable "profile-STE_DBX500_flashloader.prfl" profile to work (we are missing corresponding loader.ldr loader). It would enable the use of the "LoaderCommunication"
I think I have all the pieces and the docs (we even have the certificates to sign it !): just need time and a better GFAF (Girlfriend acceptance factor).
The guys who managed to unbrick some Qualcomm based devices might be of a huge help, they would be much more efficient than I can be... I any of you have time to drive them around here, do not hesitate!
Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any good updates & tested solution sir? I'm still waiting for a big solution for this kind of problem... TIA
Hi !
well, I'm almost done with the bootloaders: I have a loader.ldr compiled + 2 bin.
I've reset my dev. env. to an Ubuntu 10.04 according to a .doc I found in the sources (search for "*.doc", you will find "getting_Started_with_Android_and_Linux.doc"): I now have far less compilation errors, but I'm still struggling to get the full compilation process just right. For eg. I had to remove the "alsactrl" component due to dependency issues I've not been able to solve.
As already stated, I'm far from being a dev. expert so it takes me a lot of time to acheive the right compilation.
I would highly need the help of s/b who is fluent with Android compilation/dev env.: first it would be necessary to establish how to merge correctly the disclosed sources with Google's sources + the open sources from Samsung (kernel + system) (we have duplicates here as the kernel is also available in the disclosed sources, but both are different releases).
As already stated, given the few spare tile I have and without the help of the right people this will take me ~4 months+ to have this unbrick done (if I face no deadlock).
So, if you want this faster: get the right guys on the forum (from the "dev" branches) and drag them here so we can go forward much faste!
Hi!
So, I think I'm getting close: I now have the boot files build procedure working (+kernel and sytem, but I don't need those).
When I try to boot my phone with those boot files using the "flasher -tXXXX -X0,normal.bin" command, it seems that they are rejected as the phone connects and disconnects (boot loop on the iRom startup, I believe).
So, now I really need to have some kind of debug console setup to understand what's going on (cause of rejection, like signature problem etc...):
I've been working blindly up to now hopping that the software would work "off the shelves"... it never does
I'll have to try to understand how the "trigger UART" parameter of flashkit backend works and what is it intended to (I'll have to read the code for that as I've never seen any explanation about it anywhere in the docs). I don't figure out how this could work as on the backend GUI it lists the host PC's serial ports...
Another option would be to have my FTDI debug setup working. Maybe it's not "another option" but is required if the "trigger UART" is just enabling UART debug on the phone and requires a debug cable to read these debug data. My problem in that case would be how to have USB *and* UART on the same port... unless all this is designed for dev targets that have 2 USB ports as the Calao's u8500 targets. In that case, i'd have to find something smarter
As usual, if someone with knownledge on all this is willing to help: wave your hand, I'd happy to share my researches and go forward much faster. But I really feel I'm alone on this (even if I know that there will be tons of leechers when/if I manage to have this work
That's life on XDA!
Nice nice
flentus said:
Hi!
So, I think I'm getting close: I now have the boot files build procedure working (+kernel and sytem, but I don't need those).
When I try to boot my phone with those boot files using the "flasher -tXXXX -X0,normal.bin" command, it seems that they are rejected as the phone connects and disconnects (boot loop on the iRom startup, I believe).
So, now I really need to have some kind of debug console setup to understand what's going on (cause of rejection, like signature problem etc...):
I've been working blindly up to now hopping that the software would work "off the shelves"... it never does
I'll have to try to understand how the "trigger UART" parameter of flashkit backend works and what is it intended to (I'll have to read the code for that as I've never seen any explanation about it anywhere in the docs). I don't figure out how this could work as on the backend GUI it lists the host PC's serial ports...
Another option would be to have my FTDI debug setup working. Maybe it's not "another option" but is required if the "trigger UART" is just enabling UART debug on the phone and requires a debug cable to read these debug data. My problem in that case would be how to have USB *and* UART on the same port... unless all this is designed for dev targets that have 2 USB ports as the Calao's u8500 targets. In that case, i'd have to find something smarter
As usual, if someone with knownledge on all this is willing to help: wave your hand, I'd happy to share my researches and go forward much faster. But I really feel I'm alone on this (even if I know that there will be tons of leechers when/if I manage to have this work
That's life on XDA!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U R great man..UP UP UP :good::good::good:
use UART debug on USB
This will help me, I'll test it on my working S3 mini (same proc and very similar HW)... when I have time...
-> this will validate my UART debug setup : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2100809
ok, UART debug up and partially running on my SIII mini: debug messages displayed on terminal but keystrokes do not reach the phone, this is secondary for me at the moment, I may have a bad contact somewhere.
Tested on my dead I9070: no display, so the Xloader on my eMMC is garbaged (or Xloader UART debug is disabled, but this is less likely).
As expected, I now have to figure out how to have flashloader boot files upload *and* debug working together to understand what's wrong with my compiled boot files. I think the "trigger UART" thing is a good track, but I'm really puzzled by how to have the USB *and* the UART setup at the same time.
I fear to fry something by having phone D+/D- connected to USB port of the PC and connected at the same time to my Prolific TxD/RxD + 5V VCC connected to PC USB... sounds like a bad thing.
Another track would be USB debug I see in some parts of the code, but I don't know how to read the debug from there, more code to inspect...
got it~
---------- Post added at 02:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:22 PM ----------
I also have a fully bricked I9070( not I9070P).I`m waiting for your good news.Thanks first.
I received this PM, I believe it can be useful for others experimenting with it
flentus said:
Ola Paul,
I contact you on an advise from Cocafe.
I launched a while ago the thread "[Workshop] Unbrick fully bricked I9070" (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2701363)
I'm looking for help to acheive the task as I don't have very much time to spend on it due to huge work I have this year.
Would you be ok to participate if you have a little spare time and interest in it?
I think I'm very close to the solution, and this would help a lot of 9070 owners (and maybe SIII mini and Sony too).
As explained in my thread, I have difficulties getting the disclosed sources to build correctly up to the end when integrated with Google SDK. As a result the "finalizing" scripts (that gather the binaries and tidy the "out" directory) don't execute: I end up with a large mess and STE tools don't work out of the box. I have to gather the pieces one by one to have them run which is very time consuming and error prone.
I can say that the recovery process won't need any kind of soldering, wiring or whatever: just a regular USB cable and the right sofware.
The disclosed sources contain everything we need: PBL/SBL sources, signing tool+certificates, the software to talk to the iROM + various documentation.
The problem is just a question of assembling the pieces...
My idea is to assemble an Xloader (PBL) + Uboot (SBL) + recovery and boot from that to execute recovery.
The "flashkit" tool enables this process, I quote the docs: "If 'programming' boot indication is used as boot indication, the PC will send a completely new set of boot code to the ME. This is used when a loader is downloaded during service mode startup via the Flash Tool Backend.".
Tell me if you wish to help me, or if you know someone who has competencies and would wish to!
I speek average spanish if you prefer to exchange in this language.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sorry for pointing this out, STE tools wont work ever on i9070, the reason being that we do not have a STE bootloader, heck, most of the low level stuff do not resemble the ST-Ericsson Montblanc development board. You can't even change the bootloader arguments, you can only add to them (the way I first enabled SELinux), the Samsung Bootloader version that we have may be not as restrictive as others, but Sonys bootloader resembles more to STE's than ours.
The only way you may found how to restore it is accessing the JTAG mode (something that is determined only if JTAG is connected and recognized) and depends solely on the emergency bootloader (if that exists, because I am not sure how the device powers on without PBL), the "seconds" of power you get on the USB is the device looking for JTAG.
The "disclosed" sources are for ST-Ericsson devices
Something you should do, is analyze the structures of /dev/block/mmcblk0p10, which contains our partition table (GUID Partition Table - GPT).
Simple way of doing it, you have to do dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p10 of=/sdcard/janice.pit on terminal emulator, this is ROM agnostic, because the structures are the same on both stock and any custom ROM. Of course, that is from a working device, I'll do that and drop it here later since I am working on something else right now, and thanks diegoch for discovering this.
Anyway, as diego pointed to me, our partition table is like this.
PIT, CSPSA, EFS, MODEM fs, SBL, SBL2, PARAM, IPL modem, MODEM, Kernel, Kernel2, system, data, cache, preload, fota, sdcard
This is the correct order I believe, since basically, when you use ODIN and use a PIT file, the partition table gets rewritten according to whatever is on that .pit file. So PIT is basically the GPT partition table; obviously SBL is the Samsung bootloader, and SBL2 I believe it's either stage 2.5 or a backup of the first.
So, no clue by going the STE way, something familiar here.
So, I may say something good at the end, see if the i9100 guys ever did it, and go from there, since our device is largely based around i9100 (Galaxy S II)
Hi Paul,
thanks for your contribution.
A few replies/questions :
* you state that Montblanc dev board and I9070 are completly different: isn't the aim of dev dev board to be close to ME while adding extra connectors to ease debug and interfacing for prototyping? Calao dev board looks very close to I9070: I have compared the schematics and component list: they look very very much alike. For me, NovaThor U8500 plateform consists of a DB8500 SoC, a Mali 400, a built-in modem + chips for USB, audio and SIM operations.
So, to me, I may be wrong, at least the processor (u8500), PLL, eMMC, SDRAM, UART + several low level controlers should be the same. As we are trying to work at such level (just trying to get the basic system to boot to just enable eMMC write), don't we have a chance to manage to have those work (maybe with adressing adaptation, those might be tough)?
* I can't agree with you that "the "seconds" of power you get on the USB is the device looking for JTAG.": on boot time, even without trashed PBL, the ME connects to USB properly with vendor/ID=04cc/8500, and sends its ASIC ID (displayed on PC screen). As stated earlier in the thread, I manage to send some commands and receive response from the ME in this state using STE tools (flashkit_cli, sending commands threw flashkit_backend).
It's definetly not any JTAG stuffs. JTAG on the I9070 is accessible on the mainboard via dedicated pads, you can locate using the light schematics provided in the "Service manual" package.
This early boot behaviour is documented in the "flash-tool-backend.html" document (available in s-4.1_vendor_st-ericsson.tar in ./s-4.1_vendor_st-ericsson/vendor/st-ericsson/tools/platform/flash_kit/flash_tool_backend/com.stericsson.sdk.backend.build/doc):
Boot process description
When the peripheral boot sequence starts, the ME sends an asic id to the connected PC tool.
The PC tool then answers with a boot indication.
- If normal, ADL or production is sent as boot indication; this means that the x-loader will start the binary software stored at the corresponding location in the boot image (based on the location stated by the TOC).
- If programming is used as boot indication, the PC will send a completely new set of boot code to the ME. This is used when a loader is downloaded during service mode startup via the Flash Tool Backend.
- When the normal boot indication is sent, Flash Tool backend sends no more data and the ME is booted with the binary software stored in the place where the normal software is stored according to the TOC.
The ADL boot scenario works like this:
1. Flash Tool Backend receives asic id
2. Boot indication ADL is sent
3. Flash tool backend starts LCD and LCM and waits for a loader startup message.
The loader is stored at the ADL location of the boot image (this is supported by the assemble tool).
* If I understand well, as we don't have the sources for the bootloader, your proposal is to grab one from a working device.
That sounds a really good idea!
Here is the complete partition table/PIT of the I9070 (recovered by someone with a Riff box from a GB archive, if I remember well):
(copy/paste it in a traditional editor and add padding to recover the table).
Partition number Filename in archive Name in PIT starting offset HEX Size in bytes HEX
MBR, GPT 0 20000
STE_boot.bin TOC ISSW XLOADER 20000 60000
mmcblk0p10 GT-I9070P_EUR_XX_8G.pit PIT 80000 100000
mmcblk0p6 cspsa.img CSPSA FS 180000 180000
EMPTY 300000 100000
mmcblk0p7 EFS.img EFS 400000 A00000
mmcblk0p2 modemfs.img MODEM FS E00000 100000
mem_init.bin STE MEM INIT 1E00000 80000
power_management.bin PWR MGT 1E80000 80000
mmcblk0p14 normal.bin SBL 1F00000 200000
mmcblk0p16 normal2.bin SBL_2 2100000 200000
mmcblk0p1 param.lfs PARAM 2300000 1000000
mmcblk0p12 ipl.bin IPL MODEM 3300000 200000
mmcblk0p13 modem.bin MODEM 3500000 1000000
mmcblk0p15 kernel.bin KERNEL 4500000 1000000
mmcblk0p17 kernel2.bin KERNEL2 5500000 1000000
mmcblk0p3 system.img SYSTEM 6500000 26400000
mmcblk0p5 userdata.img DATAFS 2C900000 80000000
mmcblk0p4 cache.img CACHEFS AC900000 13200000
mmcblk0p9 hidden.img HIDDEN BFB00000 14000000
mmcblk0p11 ssgtest.img FOTA D3B00000 3200000
mmcblk0p8 ums.rfs UMS D6D00000 FAA00000
--> PBL corresponds to "TOC ISSW XLOADER" (STE_boot.bin in the flash archive) and SLB to normal.bin. So basically we have our boot files. We can extract them from the GB flash archive or from a ROM dump (I have dd'ed every partitions from 2 different I9070P + a full recovery dump from a 9070 provided by Riff box support files I found once I don't remember where).
So, if I have time one of theses days, I'll try to build a flash archive based on these files and try to boot from STE tools on it using "programming" as boot indication.
* Using the knowledge of the I9100 (Galaxy S II): I'm afraid this is a very different hardware, I9100 uses an Exynos 4210, so I hardly see what we could use from there... Could you give us some more advise on that idea?
Regards
Hi!
I had no time working on this for a while: extremely busy at work.
Maybe this weekend...
@cocafe: I've read you know how to extract the initramfs from the kernel, modify, repack, and reflash it. I'll need to do that to modify the "on boot" section of the init.rc to launch the recovery from standard boot. Could you drop me here the command lines to do that? Thanks in advance!
This looks by far the most advanced research into bringing back a hard bricked i9070.
@flentus Did you manage to upload a new bootloader?
Hi,
had to time at all to play with this for a loooong time.
I have grabed a few new phones so me 9070 is now burried deep into a drawer but I really wish to finish this one day because I feel I'm very close to something.
If anybody would like to take over this, feel free, I can provide support for the stuff I have understood (and remember of...)
Regards