Help revive ix4-200d

Hello, after some attempts to install Debian on the ix4-200d, I managed to boot from a 16GB USB memory and after having touched the system trying to make the boot always direct from the USB in the subsequent reboot I lost the serial communication, in NAS does not boot either in usb memory or in stock. I have lost my NAS or I have some alternative to revive it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2020 12:35AM by bodhi.

5u4573 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello, after some attempts to install Debian on
> the ix4-200d, I managed to boot from a 16GB USB
> memory and after having touched the system trying
> to make the boot always direct from the USB in the
> subsequent reboot I lost the serial communication,
> in NAS does not boot either in usb memory or in
> stock. I have lost my NAS or I have some
> alternative to revive it.

Do you have a log of what you did before losing serial comm?

-bodhi
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Look the u-boot kirkwood installation thread. See if you can try booting using UART:

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381

Quote

UART Booting: If possible, try to test this boot image with UART booting before flashing to NAND. See davygravy's UART booting using kwboot instruction here in this thread. The latest u-boot image released here should be used for UART booting, if your box is the type that supports it (these do not: Dockstar, Pogo E02, iConnect).

The ix4-200d u-boot is not on the support list, but the one closest to it is the Sheevaplug.


The u-boot image that you should try is:

Quote

uboot.2017.07-tld-2.sheevaplug.bodhi.tar
md5
0fcae49e99ca3e7d24da31177c230c93
sha256
a645a6602f987b0c938e52c87fd3044b12c810299977a1899309a6ce28e6ae8c

-bodhi
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bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Do you have a log of what you did before losing
> serial comm?

I inserted this pair of commands, in the first one I received a success message and the second one told me that there is no nandwrite so I restarted and I didn't see the serial console again.

flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 00
nandwrite /dev/mtd0 mtd0.bin

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,25120,25687#msg-25687



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2020 11:27AM by 5u4573.

5u4573,

> flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 00
> nandwrite /dev/mtd0 mtd0.bin
>

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,25120,25687#msg-25687

If you read a few more posts after that, the stock flash_erase was old, so this is the correct command:

flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 40

If the mtd0.bin is from the same source by Reto. Then try kwboot to see you can start it with UART:

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,25120,25669#msg-25669

Please post the serial console log so I can see where you are.

-bodhi
===========================
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bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Look the u-boot kirkwood installation thread. See
> if you can try booting using UART:
>
> https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,12381
>
>
>

Quote

UART Booting: If possible, try to test this
> boot image with UART booting before flashing to
> NAND. See davygravy's UART booting using kwboot
> instruction here in this thread. The latest u-boot
> image released here should be used for UART
> booting, if your box is the type that supports it
> (these do not: Dockstar, Pogo E02,
> iConnect).

>
>
> The ix4-200d u-boot is not on the support list,
> but the one closest to it is the Sheevaplug.
>
>
> The u-boot image that you should try is:
>
>
>

Quote

uboot.2017.07-tld-2.sheevaplug.bodhi.tar
> md5
> 0fcae49e99ca3e7d24da31177c230c93
> sha256
> a645a6602f987b0c938e52c87fd3044b12c810299977a1899309a6ce28e6ae8c

Try booting with UART and the shevaplug u-boot "uboot.2017.07-tld-2.sheevaplug.bodhi.tar " but there seems to be no results, the record is as follows.

kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 -b uboot.2017.07-tld-2.sheevaplug.mtd0.kwb -p
Sending boot message. Please reboot the target...\

stays in that message for a long time without any response

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 5u4573,
>
>

> > flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 00
> > nandwrite /dev/mtd0 mtd0.bin
> >

>
> https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,25120,25687#msg-25687
>
> If you read a few more posts after that, the stock
> flash_erase was old, so this is the correct
> command:
>
>

> flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 40
>

>
> If the mtd0.bin is from the same source by Reto.
> Then try kwboot to see you can start it with
> UART:
>
> https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,25120,25669#msg-25669
>
> Please post the serial console log so I can see
> where you are.


I have also tried the RETO mtd0.bin with the same result

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,25120,25668#msg-25668

kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 -b mtd0.bin -p
Sending boot message. Please reboot the target...\

5u4573,


> I have also tried the RETO mtd0.bin with the same
> result
>
> https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,25120,25668#msg-25668
>
>
>

> kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 -b mtd0.bin -p
> Sending boot message. Please reboot the
> target...\
>

Did you doublecheck your serial module device assigment? it should show in the host dmesg whether the device is USB0 or USB1.

And also if the serial console was working before with minicom/piccom/screen ...?

Sometime if the connection is not good, kwboot would not get the handshake back from the ix4. Holding down the header or wires at the ix4 header might help.

The bottom line is what you did (flash_erase and nandwrite) should not effect the serial port at all.

-bodhi
===========================
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bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Did you doublecheck your serial module device
> assigment? it should show in the host dmesg
> whether the device is USB0 or USB1.


with dmesg check the tty ports and the result was 3, tty0, ttyUSB0 and ttyUSB1

dmesg | grep tty
[    0.142947] printk: console [tty0] enabled
[96736.403698] usb 2-1.2.1: ch341-uart converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[103781.490518] ch341-uart ttyUSB0: usb_serial_generic_read_bulk_callback - urb stopped: -32
[103781.490889] ch341-uart ttyUSB0: usb_serial_generic_read_bulk_callback - urb stopped: -32
[103781.539149] ch341-uart ttyUSB0: usb_serial_generic_write_bulk_callback - urb stopped: -32
[103781.614350] ch341-uart ttyUSB0: ch341-uart converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
[103787.194139] usb 2-1.2.1: ch341-uart converter now attached to ttyUSB1
[103791.981282] ch341-uart ttyUSB1: ch341-uart converter now disconnected from ttyUSB1
[166844.211523] usb 2-1.2.1: ch341-uart converter now attached to ttyUSB0

When I send the command through a port other than ttyUSB1 the answer is as follows

kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB1 -b uboot.2017.07-tld-2.sheevaplug.mtd0.kwb -p
/dev/ttyUSB1: No such file or directory

When I send the command through ttyUSB0 it stays in the same state that we had commented before, even for hours

kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 -b uboot.2017.07-tld-2.sheevaplug.mtd0.kwb -p
Sending boot message. Please reboot the target...\

kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 -b mtd0.bin -p
Sending boot message. Please reboot the target...\

have tested this command with three different cables (Usb to Serial, Usb ttl and serial cable)
all these probe in a computer with ubuntu 18.04 and another with Debian 9 with the same result always.


bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> And also if the serial console was working before
> with minicom/piccom/screen ...?

actually before I only used it with putty in windows 10, but I don't know if it is possible to use kwboot in putty


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
thank you bodhi for all the support you are giving me

5u4573,

> actually before I only used it with putty in
> windows 10, but I don't know if it is possible to
> use kwboot in putty

kwboot is only available in Linux.

There are a couple ways to run kwboot. You could try to time it in various ways to see if any of them making handshake.

- Prepare the kwboot command, excute before power up the ix4.
- Prepare the kwboot command, but excute right afer power up the ix4.

The idea is to catch the ix4 BootROM handshake. When the box is powered up, the BootROM starts and it will sense if there is input from the serial port. Sometime the timing is delayed (bad connection hardware wise) so it never sense any thing coming into the serial port. That's why I mentioned perhaps you could hold down the wires at the ix4 serial header while starting kwboot to see if it will make a difference.

-bodhi
===========================
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5u4573,

Also try the u-boot backup (ix4-200d-mtd0.kwb) from damacc

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?2,22623,25690#msg-25690

-bodhi
===========================
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bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> kwboot is only available in Linux.
>

I have built and run kwboot under Cygwin, so it's possible, but it may not be worth the trouble of installing Cygwin just for kwboot.

renojim,

> I have built and run kwboot under
> Cygwin, so it's
> possible, but it may not be worth the trouble of
> installing Cygwin just for kwboot.

Excellent! one more good tool to have for people already have Cygwin :) can you post it somewhere so I can add it to the Wiki.

-bodhi
===========================
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bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Excellent! one more good tool to have for people
> already have Cygwin :) can you post it somewhere
> so I can add it to the Wiki.

I wanted to just post a link to my exe, but I got scared by the fact that there's Cygwin usage terms (mind you, I haven't read the terms, I just know they exist). Technically, you don't need to install Cygwin; you just need the Cygwin DLL that the built exe relies upon. Let me research it a little bit. It's also been a while since I used my exe, so I need to make sure there were no issues.

-JT

renojim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bodhi Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> > Excellent! one more good tool to have for
> people
> > already have Cygwin :) can you post it
> somewhere
> > so I can add it to the Wiki.
>
> I wanted to just post a link to my exe, but I got
> scared by the fact that there's Cygwin usage terms
> (mind you, I haven't read the terms, I just know
> they exist). Technically, you don't need to
> install Cygwin; you just need the Cygwin DLL that
> the built exe relies upon. Let me research it a
> little bit. It's also been a while since I used
> my exe, so I need to make sure there were no
> issues.
>
> -JT


Could we use your .exe without publishing it, just to see if with that I can solve my problem?

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 5u4573,
>
> > actually before I only used it with putty in
> > windows 10, but I don't know if it is possible
> to
> > use kwboot in putty
>
> kwboot is only available in Linux.
>
> There are a couple ways to run kwboot. You could
> try to time it in various ways to see if any of
> them making handshake.
>
> - Prepare the kwboot command, excute before power
> up the ix4.
> - Prepare the kwboot command, but excute right
> afer power up the ix4.
>
> The idea is to catch the ix4 BootROM handshake.
> When the box is powered up, the BootROM starts and
> it will sense if there is input from the serial
> port. Sometime the timing is delayed (bad
> connection hardware wise) so it never sense any
> thing coming into the serial port. That's why I
> mentioned perhaps you could hold down the wires at
> the ix4 serial header while starting kwboot to see
> if it will make a difference.


I have tried sending the command twice as you describe it, with the 3 files at a time (ix4-200d-mtd0.kwb,
mtd0.bin and uboot.2017.07-tld-2.sheevaplug.mtd0.kwb), I have also changed cables for shorter ones and tried to improve the connections, in addition to pressing the cables at the time of the transfer but the result has been always the same

./kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 -b ix4-200d-mtd0.kwb -p
Sending boot message. Please reboot the target...-

I don't know if there is something wrong that I am doing.


I have some doubts about it:

The nas must have any inserted at the time of sending the command?

Should you have the USB memory with Debian 10 inserted?

must be connected to the network?

thanks...

5u4573,

> I have some doubts about it:
>
> The nas must have any inserted at the time of
> sending the command?

>
> Should you have the USB memory with Debian 10
> inserted?

> must be connected to the network?
>

No, there is no need to connect any disk drive, or network cable.

-bodhi
===========================
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5u4573,

Quote

I have tried sending the command twice as you describe it, with the 3 files at a time (ix4-200d-mtd0.kwb,
mtd0.bin and uboot.2017.07-tld-2.sheevaplug.mtd0.kwb),

Only one image file at the time with kwboot command.

Quote

I have also changed cables for shorter ones and tried to improve the connections, in addition to pressing the cables at the time of the transfer but the result has been always the same

Perhaps you could try again running picocom/minicom on your Linux host (running regular serial console), while pressing the wires at the header. Just to see you get anything from a regular serial console. It seems as though your serial console is not working.

Or try using a different serial converter module such as the CP2102 or PL3xx. See here:
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?8,13263

-bodhi
===========================
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kwboot for Windows:

Ok, after perusing the Cygwin documents and spending way too much time researching it, I couldn't find a clear answer as to whether or not it's permissible to distribute their DLL with my EXE. I believe I'm not doing improper, but if I hear otherwise I'll take it down.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/76uw8kxjoh9o6ag/kwboot-windows.zip?dl=0

bodhi, if you want to add it to the wiki, that's fine with me. Let me know if you need anything else.

-JT

renojim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> kwboot for Windows:
>
> Ok, after perusing the Cygwin documents and
> spending way too much time researching it, I
> couldn't find a clear answer as to whether or not
> it's permissible to distribute their DLL with my
> EXE. I believe I'm not doing improper, but if I
> hear otherwise I'll take it down.
>
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/76uw8kxjoh9o6ag/kwboot-windows.zip?dl=0
>
> bodhi, if you want to add it to the wiki, that's
> fine with me. Let me know if you need anything
> else.
>
> -JT

Thank you very much for sharing your version of kwboot for windows, I have the following question, how do you define the serial port in windows, since for ubuntu I did it with /dev/ttyUSB0 but if in windows I put COM1 the terminal responds to me 'COM1: No such file or directory '

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Or try using a different serial converter module
> such as the CP2102 or PL3xx. See here:
> https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?8,13263

I bought a cp2102 like this https://bdspeedytech.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=337

When I use it on ubuntu, the result is always the same as previously mentioned, spending a long time without leaving there, that is, without sending data to the NAS.

./kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 -b ix4-200d-mtd0.kwb -p
Sending boot message. Please reboot the target...-

When using 'renojim' kwboot compiled for windows (10 & 7) the result is exactly the same with both the cp2102 and the ch340.

C:\Users\misua\Downloads\kwboot-windows>kwboot -B 115200 -b mtd0.bin -t -p /dev/ttyS6
Sending boot message. Please reboot the target...-

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2020 09:28PM by 5u4573.

5u4573,

> I bought a cp2102 like this
> https://bdspeedytech.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=337
>
> When I use it on ubuntu, the result is always the
> same as previously mentioned, spending a long time
> without leaving there, that is, without sending
> data to the NAS.

Our last hope is to try couple things.

- Swapping TX and RX wires. The CP2xxx series older model has the wires already swapped. So TX on the CP2xxx should be connected to TX on the IX4 box header, and RX to RX.

- When you see the outout

Sending boot message. Please reboot the target...-

And if it does not connect right away, Control-C to abort, and then up arrow to recall the command and execute it again. Try this as many time as you can.

-bodhi
===========================
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bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Our last hope is to try couple things.
>
> - Swapping TX and RX wires. The CP2xxx series
> older model has the wires already swapped. So TX
> on the CP2xxx should be connected to TX on the IX4
> box header, and RX to RX.
>
> - When you see the outout
>

> Sending boot message. Please reboot the
> target...-
>

> And if it does not connect right away, Control-C
> to abort, and then up arrow to recall the command
> and execute it again. Try this as many time as you
> can.

Our last hope didn't work either, I don't know what else to do, it seems that this NAS is really dead :( ;(

5u4573,

Basically, you've erased u-boot image on mtd0, so there is nothing there to boot with. I was hoping you can kwboot this because others have tried that successfully with this box before.

Usually, in this situation, if kwboot does not work, you would have to resort to JTAG to unbrick. Not sure you want to pursue that approach (nobody has tried JTAG on this box that I know of). Here is what was done for the Pogo E02 (also a Kirkwood box):

https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,21789

-bodhi
===========================
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Today I continued trying with kwboot and after several attempts I received a different message, although I failed to send the uboot.

kwboot -t -B 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0 -b mtd0.bin -p
Sending boot message. Please reboot the target...\
Sending boot image...
  0 % [+xmodem: Protocol error

I don't know if that has any positive meaning or is irrelevant.

5u4573,

> Today I continued trying with kwboot and after
> several attempts I received a different message,
> although I failed to send the uboot.

> Sending boot image...
> 0 % [+xmodem: Protocol error

That is quite positive! that means you should up arrow to recall the kwboot command and execute it right away.

If seeing xmodem protocol error again, then repeat. Try this as many time as you can.

You've finally got it to handshake! be patient. The Pogo V4 took more than 15 repeats to get the image loaded.

-bodhi
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2020 01:15AM by bodhi.