flash gone bad or mere file corruption?

Much to my chagrin my dockstar would no longer boot off internal flash (but still can boot off external usb). I'd really like to have the internal flash work again because it just makes failsafe/rescue with original firmware so much easier.

Here is the uboot netconsole output:

U-Boot 2010.06-00695-gbd23130-dirty (Aug 30 2010 - 23:04:56)
Marvell-Dockstar/Pogoplug by Jeff Doozan
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  8 
Marvell>> run bootcmd_pogo
run bootcmd_pogo
### JFFS2 loading 'uboot-original-mtd0.kwb' to 0x800000
read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0x570000 size 8192 bytes
off = 0x56ffa0 magic 0x1985 type 0xe002 node.totlen = 2705
read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0x83c200 size 8192 bytes
read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0x8e6000 size 8192 bytes
off = 0x8e5f0c magic 0x1985 type 0xe002 node.totlen = 2917
read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0xa44400 size 8192 bytes
off = 0xa43eb4 magic 0x1985 type 0xe002 node.totlen = 1955
read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0xa4c600 size 8192 bytes
off = 0xa4c1a0 magic 0x1985 type 0xe002 node.totlen = 1761
read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0xaea400 size 8192 bytes
off = 0xae9cac magic 0x1985 type 0xe002 node.totlen = 2643
read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0xd42400 size 8192 bytes
off = 0xd423dc magic 0x1985 type 0xe002 node.totlen = 1940
read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0xfa2600 size 8192 bytes
read_nand_cached: error reading nand off 0x110e400 size 8192 bytes
off = 0x110e330 magic 0x1985 type 0xe002 node.totlen = 1196
### JFFS2 load complete: 524288 bytes loaded to 0x800000
## Starting application at 0x00800200 ...
(flashing amber led)

Is there a way to attempt to (safely) erase the affected flash areas and put back 'uboot-original-mtd0.kwb' and whatever else might be affected?

volar,

I don't have the details for you, but yes, it is doable.

Jeff script backs up and copy the uboot-original-mtd0.kwb to mtd partiton 'rootfs'. IIRC, it is mtd2. So the attempt should be:

- in Debian, mount mtd2 with jffs2 type
- copy the original u-boot file uboot-original-mtd0.kwb to the root directory,
- umount mtd2
- reboot
- if this did not work, then restore the entire mtd2 from a backup of original NAND partitions, and try copying uboot-original-mtd0.kwb again.

I've written these steps from top of my head! since I don't have access to the Dockstar right now to be more precise.

-bodhi
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Hi bodhi,

Thank you for responding to my post.

I was able to mount (ro) /dev/mtdblock2 successfully, and do an md5sum of 'uboot-original-mtd0.kwb' in the root directory there. The md5sum matched exactly to the original dockstar uboot image, so I don't think (at least) that file is corrupt.

If I was able to mount /dev/mtdblock2 successfully and have a md5sum that matches exactly, doesn't that mean my /dev/mtdblock2 (at least where the original uboot file resides) can still be read successfully? I guess it's possible that the rest of the file system there may no longer be read correctly.

I don't think I have a back-up of the original mtd2 from NAND. (If I did I no longer recall where I might have saved it.) If someone has a copy and would kindly share I'd be most grateful.

Or alternatively, should I just try to install jeff's rescue system directly to internal flash?

I said my Hail Mary's and installed Jeff's rescue system to internal flash. The dockstar is now capable of booting the rescue system from internal flash once again.

Whatever my prior issues were with mtd2, I figured I really didn't have much to lose even if a new flash attempt to that partition failed. Jeff's rescue system has also considerably better functionality than the original cloudengines firmware. I'm just glad I lucked out.

Thanks once again for your help bodhi, and thanks to Jeff and everybody else that did all the hard work on these kirkwood devices.