Firmware:Rescue

HELP I 'Bricked My O!Play …

帮助我'砖砌我哦!播放… 'ik Bricked My O! Speel …' 'Bricked AYUDA I 'Mi O! Escuchar' …'Bricked Mein O! Wiedergabe ..

THIS ARTICLE IS PROVIDED IN THE HOPE THAT IT WILL BE USEFUL, BUT WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY. IT IS PROVIDED "AS IS"

Ok 1st off please be aware that a 'bricked' machine can indeed mean many things.

Large numbers of O!Play users have experienced problems with 'bad' flashes (for various reasons)

Please be aware that MOST systems CAN be recovered without too much effort.

There are (basically) three levels at which your system may be broken. In order of 'likely-hood' [1] and 'severity'

  1. Application Level (Boot Loop) - This is for when the Linux Kernel still runs, but the application(s) do not -A BAD FLASH
  2. Linux Kernel Level - for when the ROM Boot-loader still runs, but the Linux Kernel will not start
  3. ROM Boot-loader Level - the box will run but the ROM Boot-loader will not.

In MOST cases # 1 is the most likely scenario

Scenario: A Bad Flash (The box stalls when you up/downgrade the firmware)

The 'official' way (if it can be called that) is as follows:

  1. Unplug all leads from the machine
  2. Prepare a USB key with the firmware you are flashing install.img MUST be the ONLY thing on the drive (not in a subfolder)
  3. Put in the HDMI and the POWER cable.
  4. Put in the USB with the latest firmware.
  5. Hold down the RESET button.
  6. Wait untill the Installation screen shows.
  7. Let go of the Reset button.

The installation should now restart…

Scenario: An Incorrect Flash (Firmware from another machine eg AC Ryan)

Some people have attempted to install alternative firmwares onto thier machines DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS

Firmwares appear to be machine specific even though they are all based on the same Realtek Chip.

Here are the instructions:

http://minimodding.com/FlashRestore

Scenario: ROM Boot-loader still runs, but the Linux Kernel will not start (Asus logo displays)

Well if you are reading this you have a few options, this restore requires pretty in-depth knowledge of Linux & Console access.

If you are not comfortable with this you probably need to RMA your machine.

If not then read on: [2]

1- Open the O!Play and make/buy a serial converter (3.3v)

Connect O!play up by serial converter and network cable

2- Get putty from internet: http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/x86/putty.exe
3- Set Putty configuration: speed 115200, data bits 8,stop bit 1,parity none
4- open putty session, hold down ESC key while powering up the o!play.
5- You are on the serial console

6- Install a TFTPServer .
7- Extract install.img from Asus V1.17 and put it in a folder named "firmware" on the tftp server.
8- I use 192.168.0.5 for the Tftp server.

9- On the serial console do the next commands.

fread tftp://192.168.0.5/firmware/package2/vmlinux.develop.avhdd.mars.nand.bin 0x80100000
fread tftp://192.168.0.5/firmware/package2/bluecore.audio 0x81b00000
fread tftp://192.168.0.5/firmware/package2/video_firmware.bin 0x81d80000

IMPORTANT: Command below (Asus V1.17) should be modified as per http://minimodding.com/KernelCmndMagic

instructions should work as long as the root file system on 31:1 aka mtdblock 1 aka "/" is still good. [3]

go 0x80100000 rootfstype=yaffs2 root=31:01 mtdparts=rtk_nand:138624k,69376k,40960k,13184k

13- Now the kernel is starting up.
14- Go with telnet to 192.168.0.9
15- Login with root
16-

ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.8

17- now the connection is disconected from telnet.
18- Go to telnet with 192.168.0.8
19- Make a http server with http://www.rejetto.com/hfs
20- Put on the server install.img from Asus.
21-

telnet echo "http://192.168.0.5/install.img" > /tmp/installing_source

22-

intelnet kill -6 1

23- After a long time maybe upto 20/30 minutes the box should be restored

references:

[1] - http://minimodding.com/SystemRescue
[2] - reprint of original manual by snooze07555
[3] - instructions should work as long as the root file system on 31:1 aka mtdblock 1 aka "/" is still good.

experiment & investigate a custom firmware for the Asus O!Play HD Digital Media Streamer

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