Bricked my B3 after u-boot flash [Solved]

[mintz]

Here's what I did

Compiled U-Boot-B3 (link) natively on the B3 (updated to ver. 2.6). u-boot.kwb file was made without error.
Flashed the u-boot with the following commands:

flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 0
Erasing 64 Kibyte @ b0000 -- 100 % complete
mtd_debug write /dev/mtd0 0 $(stat --printf '%s' "u-boot.kwb" ) "u-boot.kwb"
Copied 257376 bytes from u-boot.kwb to address 0x00000000 in flash

The flashing went without errors. I even checked and compared the contents of /dev/mtd0 and u-boot.kwb. They were identical.

After reboot my B3 is bricked. The front LED stays WHITE. I tried to use a rescue disk but instead of GREEN it is now YELLOW and doesn't seem to work anymore. I think the u-boot is screwed somehow...

What is my option now? Is there instruction on how I can unbrick it with serial cable?

[MouettE]

The changed colors are normal. Seeing white (normal u-boot mode)/yellow (rescue u-boot mode) is perfectly normal ; I will add a comment on the README.md file in github to reflect this change. Your flash operation seems to have worked.

Did you give your b3 enough time to boot on either normal or rescue mode ? You should see this pattern of colors :

Normal : white (u-boot) -> purple (kernel) -> blue (system ready)
Rescue : yellow (u-boot) -> green (kernel and system ready)

If nothing works, you can flash the 3tb flash image directly from usb using instructions from the wiki page http://wiki.excito.com/w/index.php?titl ... _3TB_disks

[mintz]

It doesn't seem that I can get the unit to read from USB at all. I've tried with different USB sticks but it never get it to read from them at all. The light lit yellow (usb in, reset button held down/plug in power) and stay yellow forever. No HDD activity at all even when the INSTALL and FORMAT flags were set.

Does the u-boot have control over the "reset procedure" or is it hardware?

[MouettE]

The flashing procedure that u-boot runs does not reset the board. It is normal that the led remains yellow forever when trying to flash from u-boot. You need to remove then reapply power to restart with the flashed version. The LED should then turn purple.

In order for this procedure to work, the install folder on the key must ONLY contains the u-boot.kwb file. If install files are found, u-boot will run them instead of trying to flash.

[mintz]

No matter what I do I cannot get my B3 to read the USB. I've tried the standard 2.4.1.1 install image, u-boot and even burned a live Gento image (Win32DiskImager). Nothing reads.

Somehow it doesn't want to read the USB drives. I've tried to plug in my 2.5 drive to see if the ports were damaged but it powers on so I guess there is no loose contact there.

Is there any other way to reset?

[MouettE]

Is there any other way to reset?

If nothing works then the only way to recover is to use a serial cable.

[mintz]

Where can I learn more about this and which serial cable is needed? Would a USB to Serial cable do?

[MouettE]

Begin by reading this : http://wiki.excito.com/w/index.php?titl ... cess_on_B3 . There are also a few posts in the forum. Be sure to buy a proper RS232/TTL adapter as indicated in the wiki article.

[Gordon]

Be sure to buy a proper RS232/TTL adapter as indicated in the wiki article.

Negative! Buy the Pi connector cable. It will save you a tenner and provides exactly the three wires you need. The cable comes with connectors that will fit standard print headers, so you can simply choose which method you want to use to connect it to your B3 board. Cut of the connectors to use the points as explained in the wiki, or solder on headers (on the revision boards) to (dis)connect the cable whenever you like. Or use the edge connector so you can connect the cable to any B3 board without needing any soldering (in the image that the link refers to you can see the soldered on pin headers right next to the battery. If you do decide for the pin headers do be careful not to let them stick out too far underneath, as this will result in problems with connecting a drive.

[mintz]

I googled this pi connector and only find ribbon-type cables. Do you have a link for one such cable?
I'm ordering a RS232/TTL - USB cable with separate wires anyway. Always handy to have one

Also if you guys also have a link for the edge connector it is much appreciated. I'm kinda a cable hoarder.

[Gordon]

Raspberry Pi Cable, TTL-232R-RPI

[mintz]

Thanks, guys. Just ordered the cables. Cannot wait to do this

[mintz]

Can somebody provide me with an usable binary u-boot.kwb for the B3? Also it would help tremendously if somebody can provide me pointer and instruction on how to flash u-boot with serial access.

[MouettE]

There are many ways to do that. But first can you post here the output from the serial console when you apply power to the B3 ?

[ahoff]

What size should the U-boot.kwb file have? I can see that mintz file from the first post is 257376 bytes. When I compile from git (U-Boot-B3), it's 255772 bytes and compiling from the downloaded master.zip (U-Boot-B3-Master) it's 255760 bytes. what is the right sha1sum for u-boot.kwb?