yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
Don't think you should swap them until you figure out what's wrong. Look at the NumSrctors in the .cfg you posted. The sizes look off comparing the MSC and BLO partitions.

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
Well I swapped them and still no boot. However I did have to re-enter my gmail info, which I haven't had to do before....usually after the nvflash it would be right where I was before powering off. Still everything was there...but this time I had to sign in to Gmail.

I've just made copies of the nvidia tegra sdk and dropped the the different ones (50 and 46) in to different folders/copies to keep everything separate...

Oh well. I'll keep experimenting before giving the good one to the wife (and before I do anything to it...it will just be charged, no configuration changes/rom updates/changes, etc..). I'll have to check out the irc channel as well.
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
Yes.. try irc... What about the part6.img vs. part7.img file sizes?

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
Hi,

I downloaded both the 46 and the non-46 ZIP files, and compared the gtablet.cfg:

NON-46 gtablet.cfg:
===================
[partition]
name=BLO
id=6
type=data
allocation_policy=sequential
filesystem_type=basic
size=4194304
file_system_attribute=0
partition_attribute=0
allocation_attribute=8
percent_reserved=0
filename=part6.img

[partition]
name=MSC
id=7
type=data
allocation_policy=sequential
filesystem_type=yaffs2
size=16777216
file_system_attribute=0
partition_attribute=0
allocation_attribute=0x10
percent_reserved=0
filename=part7.img

46 gtablet.cfg:
===============
[partition]
name=MSC
id=6
type=data
allocation_policy=sequential
filesystem_type=yaffs2
size=16777216
file_system_attribute=0
partition_attribute=0
allocation_attribute=0x10
percent_reserved=0
filename=06_MSC.img

[partition]
name=BLO
id=7
type=data
allocation_policy=sequential
filesystem_type=basic
size=4194304
file_system_attribute=0
partition_attribute=0
allocation_attribute=8
percent_reserved=0
filename=07_BLO.img

Notice that in both the .cfg files, the MSC partition is 4x larger than the BLO partition.

The corresponding part6 and part7 img files in the non-46 ZIP vs. 46 ZIP files are the same, i.e., the .img file corresponding to the MSC partition (as shown in the .cfg file) are always 4x larger than the .img file corresponding to the BLO partition (again, per the .cfg file).

So, can you check the size of the part6 .img file vs. the part7 .img file that you're using to do your nvflash?

Does it proportionally match what's in your the gtablet.cfg file that you're using for the nvflash?

Also, according to the getpartitiontable you posted, your "bad" unit has the partitions sized according to the "non-46" ZIP, with the BLO partition being before the MSC partition.

According to this thread:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=882468

that (the "non-46" ZIP) is the "correct" one, but, per rayden25's post on that same thread, he used the 46 one, and it apparently worked for him, even though he noted "everyone else is on 6 I think".

I never did PM bekit to find out actually the difference between the 46 one and the non-46 one :(...

Sorry if this is not much help, and maybe even more confusing, but pls check the relative file sizes?

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
tcrews,

We've been focusing on the partitions, but one thing I forgot to ask is which bootloader.bin are you using when you do the nvflash and what's its size?

As I asked in the thread I linked above, the bootloader.bin on the dropbox that's by itself is larger than the ones inside the ZIP files, and roebeet said the he used the one from inside the 1105 (non-46) ZIP file.

I'm wondering if maybe you're using the larger (wrong?) bootloader.bin.

I was just looking at another thread, and I think that the bootloader.bin contains the code that gets invoked when the Gtab initially boots, and then boots into the kernel. So, maybe if you're using the incorrect one, maybe that's why it is acting like it's not retaining the boot behavior?

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
I'll have to check the sizes when I get home but the bootloader.bin I am unsure of. I think I've tried them all at some point though I can't say which one became the primary one once I got a decent working system up (working until powered off of course).

I'm still believing something is screwed with the partitions table or BCT causing the issue. I'd like to pull every partition from my new Gtablet and push them to my semi-functional one, perhaps one at a time manually instead of using the script.

Anyone know the commands to read the BCT to a file via nvflash? Maybe read that from the good one and use it with the --setbct on the bad one.
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] thebadfrog:
I gotta agree with Jim about the irc channel. There are several people I believe can help you with this you just have to catch them. Good luck
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
There's info here about using nvflash to backup the partitions, but it's for Toshiba:

http://tosh-ac100.wetpaint.com/page/Backup+and+Restore

NOTE that that's for Toshiba (again), and make sure you do the --getpartitiontable FIRST, then look at that to see what partitions are listed, then do the --read commands.

I've never done this, but just answering your question.

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
I've been looking at some of the threads on the ac100 and someone mentioned a very similar problem to mine and that the normal --download [partitionid] image.img (even with the format) will just write the image into the existing partition and if your partition is screwed you need to use the --rawdevicewrite for that partition to actually be recreated properly.

Someone did that and said their device was functional again (as before it was like mine) so this could be a lead to the right direction.

I will pull everything from the new stock Gtab I have and then try writing it all to the "bad" one and see what happens.

I've already pulled the partition table from the good tablet so I have that to start looking at what I need to read and then what I need to write (to the other).
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
That page on wetpaint.com uses the rawdevicewrite also, but make sure you don't fat-finger the numbers on the command line :)...

Can you post a link to where you found info about someone with a similar problem?

Good luck, and post back how you do...

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
Heh...yeah...read typed commands 3 or 4 times before pressing enter!!

I found it last night on my home computer, I'll see if I can find it again. Someone had posted "What if I screwed up my partition tables and now it won't boot, will this help" or something like that....and then a few post later was a "Thanks, that worked"
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
Hi,

Did you ever find that info again, and how did you do?

FYI, this had "inspired" me to get nvflash working on Windows (for me), and I wrote about what I had to do here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=914039&highlight=nvflash

I listed the output from my --getpartitiontable in that thread.

I'd be interested how you do, because I'd been asking awhile ago how to BACKUP my Gtab using nvflash (rather than CWM), so if you get it (the backup) working, maybe do a script or batch file to do the complete backup and post it?

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
Not yet...been busy doing house stuff for the wife. Will get to experimenting this week. If successful I will definitely post my method.

Posted from my bricked Gtab...
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
Hey! You need to get your priorities straight...

Just kidding :)!!

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] mlampard:
Well, well, well...I am having EXACTLY this problem

Hey All,

It is good to see that someone managed to break their gTablet like I did.

I spent time around Christmas trying to get answers, on the IRC channel and then gave up for a while. I decided to get back onto it now, and saw all this.

I can add the following information.

Running this script will replace your recovery.img and then boot the gTablet into Android. Obviously the files have to be in the right place.

C:\gtablet_nvflash\nvflash --bl C:\gtablet_nvflash\bootloader.bin --download 9 C:\gtablet_nvflash\recovery.img --go

If you go into APX mode, hold the vol+ button (keep holding), then run this script (I have a .BAT file now) it will boot into recovery (Clockwork for me) instead of booting into Android (Vegan 5.1 for me). That can be helpful, long term, if we can't solve the booting problem.

Up until now, I was pretty sure that this was a problem to do with setting the bootloader to active, but I am pretty sure you have tried that a few posts back.

I am keen to see where this goes, because sometime I am out and want to reboot my tablet and can't until I get home and plug it into my PC. Frustrating.

Mark
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
Hi,

I'm kind of unclear about what your CURRENT situation is with your Gtab.

Right now, if you just power on your Gtab, but don't press/hold the Vol button at all, what does the Gtab do?

Also, what happens if you power on the Gtab, while pressing/holding the VOL+ button?

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] mlampard:
Black screen, APX mode...every time

No way around it.
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
Yes, that works to allow me to boot into clockworkmod recovery. I installed a new kernel and then said "reboot device" and dead. Plugged in, boot into APX mode, send a --format_partition 2 --go to the device and then it boots up (though it's possible I could send something else to make it boot??).

I believe now that partition 2 is screwed and currently I am unable to repair it. Previously trying to --download 3 part3.img or --download 2 part2.img would fail. I was successful in doing a --rawdevicewrite 1536 64 part-3.img that I pulled off my functioning GTablet but when I try to do the same to partition 2 it just sits there.......forever.....never writing a bit.

nvflash --bl bootloader.bin --go (to initiate the bootloader on the device)

nvflash -r --rawdevicewrite 0 1536 part-2.img (resume using the loaded bootloader.bin)

This is the partition 2 info I pulled from my good tablet with the --getpartitiontable filename command and then I pulled all the partitions (except 12 which appeared to have hung) with the --read command

PartitionId=2

Name=BCT

DeviceId=19

StartSector=0

NumSectors=1536

BytesPerSector=2048

so something with the BCT is screwed. But being able to boot into clockworkmod I can at least throw some things on that have to be installed that way now. Still sucks to have to permanently keep the tab on (unless I am home and can force a boot via nvflash)
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
Started.....could not rawdevicewrite partition 2. I was able to write partition 3 (which had also failed when doing a --download 3). I never had trouble with the --download for the rest of the partitions so I'm believing something is royally screwed with partition 2 (BCT) which I can't --download or --rawdevicewrite too.
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
Hi,

Take a look at post #73 here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=831086&page=8

That's for Toshiba, but I wonder if the Gtab is the same, i.e., "the MBR partition is generated on the fly on every boot"?

Maybe that's why you can't/shouldn't need to lay the BCT onto the storage?

Have you tried the --setboot after pushing the bootloader and LNX partitions?

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
Still doing some more research before setting boot etc...as I want to make sure it is correct. My tab works if I nvflash force boot it...would hate to make it completely non-functional : )

I still believe it is partition 2 that is the issue.......

Posted from my bricked Gtab...
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
Maybe try posting on that Toshiba thread. It'd be offtopic, but it sounds like they're chasing for similar info. I don't understand what the BCT is suppose to contain, but they seem to.

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
Hi,

I don't know if you've seen this:

http://share.grandou.net/ac100/nvte...upport-for-Nvidia-Tegra-Partition-Table.patch

That page is for Toshiba again, but it has some interesting info in the comments about partitioning with Tegra2 based systems that might be helpful to understand things:

+ * fs/partitions/nvtegria.c
+ * Copyright (c) 2010 Gilles Grandou
+ *
+ * Nvidia uses for its Tegra2 SOCs a proprietary partition system which is
+ * unfortunately undocumented.
+ *
+ * Typically a Tegra2 system embedds an internal Flash memory (MTD or MMC).
+ * The bottom of this memory contains the initial bootstrap code which
+ * implements a communication protocol (typically over usb) which allows a
+ * host system (through a tool called nvflash) to access, read, write and
+ * partition the internal flash.
+ *
+ * The partition table format is not publicaly documented, and usually
+ * partition description is passed to kernel through the command line
+ * (with tegrapart= argument whose support is available in nv-tegra tree,
+ * see http://nv-tegra.nvidia.com/ )
+ *
+ * Rewriting partition table or even switching to a standard msdos is
+ * theorically possible, but it would mean loosing support from nvflash
+ * and from bootloader, while no real alternative exists yet.
+ *
+ * Partition table format has been reverse-engineered from analysis of
+ * an existing partition table as found on Toshiba AC100/Dynabook AZ. All
+ * fields have been guessed and there is no guarantee that it will work
+ * in all situation nor in all other Tegra2 based products.
+ *
+ *
+ * The standard partitions which can be found on an AC100 are the next
+ * ones:
+ *
+ * sector size = 2048 bytes
+ *
+ * Id Name Start Size Comment
+ * sector sectors
+ *
+ * 1 0 1024 unreachable (bootstrap ?)
+ * 2 BCT 1024 512 Boot Configuration Table
+ * 3 PT 1536 256 Partition Table
+ * 4 EBT 1792 1024 Boot Loader
+ * 5 SOS 2816 2560 Recovery Kernel
+ * 6 LNX 5376 4096 System Kernel
+ * 7 MBR 9472 512 MBR - msdos partition table
+ * for the rest of the disk
+ * 8 APP 9984 153600 OS root filesystem
+ * ...
+ *
+ * the 1024 first sectors are hidden to the hardware one booted
+ * (so 1024 should be removed from numbers found in the partition
+ * table)
+ *
+ * There is no standard magic value which can be used for sure
+ * to say that there is a nvtegra partition table at sector 512.
+ * Hence, as an heuristic, we check if the value which would be
+ * found for the BCT partition entry are valid.
+ *

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
Throwing in the towel for now. It's just not fun having a tablet "semi" crippled. I can't "reboot" it so it's not possible to do the Market fix, I have to always make sure it's charged or powered and even then sometimes it powers off while sleeping (it did last night).

I am positive it's the BCT (partition 2).

I'll leave the "bad" one at work and play with it (nvflash --bl bootloader.bin --download 9 bekit.img holding volume +) and install different ROMs via recovery and then nvflash it to boot and examine.

I'll start setting up my "good" one tonight for my normal use. I've already pulled the partition-table and all the partitions....so time to start using it.

If anyone comes up with a brilliant suggestion/answer........send it my way :)

Speaking of different ROMs....Might as well copy them over now while it's working :)
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JoeMofknDot:
Hey I don't know if you have tried to rerun the bekit.08 for the sdcard2 but a guy named cobalt2112 was having the same original issue you had but is back up and running

I think he plulled the recovery and update.zip from the tab and put in the one with the sdcard2 modification then flashed the stock TnT 3389
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] roebeet:
This is normal(?) - my two devices were iike this. bekit had one like this, also. We don't know why this is.

I used the 11/5 bekit nvflash script on both of them, and they were both stable with that. Even though the bekit 11/5 script flipped the two partitions on one of them (and yes, I backed it up first, just in case). It actually seems MORE stable after I did that, so I wonder if the image on some of these devices is just flat out wrong.
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
I don't know if my "bad" tablet would have been the way it is or the way my new tablet is. Both had the "green cloth" in the package, I guess I could look at serial #'s to see how far apart they are, etc....

Other than that.......I did try this last night...

(NEW Tablet)

./nvflash --bct new.bct --getbct --bl bootloader.bin --go

and it wrote out a new.bct (to the same directory all my partitions pulled from this tab sit).

(OLD Tablet)

edited the nvflash_gtablet.sh file and replaced gtablet.bct and gtablet.cfg with new.bct and new.cfg. I also had copied/edited the gtablet.cfg to match the partition table info I had pulled and used all my .img files.

./nvflash_gtablet.sh

this all completed successfully (the pc part...) and left me with a tablet that now was stuck at the GTABLET boot screen....(this was new...usually it'd boot up to whatever I just flashed)

I left it for about 30 minutes or so...no changes...still on the GTablet image..... then said "heck with it...." nvflashed --download 9 bekit.img --go and held volume + when hitting enter on the computer keyboard.

When nvflash completed tablet booted into clockworkmod, I repartitioned the sdcard (2048 and 0) and then mounted USB and copied over VEGAn5.1beta and Clem's kernel.zip. Installed VEGAn, installed the kernel.....rebooted to........nothing :) LOL

nvflashed --bl bootloader.bin --format_partition 2 --go and when completed the tablet booted up to VEGAn (which for me is now the normal way to boot this tab).

I'm going to use the tablet to play with different ROMs......it's a slight pain as I have to have them all on the SDcard already and can never reboot them (like for market fix and such) but I can get a general feel of a ROM and then decided if I want to use it on my functioning tablet.

nvflash and I can boot. So as long as I have my USB cable and a PC I'm good.
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
tcrews,

It's been awhile, but I just posted about a problem that I've been running into with nvflash, but, in my case, it's with doing a --read:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=933128

I think that you said you can still boot into Android. If you can, and if you either have a terminal installed or can get a terminal installed, can you try running that, then just type:

dmesg

and review the output from that, and see if you are getting any bad block messages?

I'm wondering if you might be having the errors when flashing because you have bad blocks, and they just happen to be in the partitions that you're having problems flashing into.

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
Here's from my new "good" one...

I ran it on the bad one but it never "runs" but loops/repeats on this and then just stops...

(My wife is using the bad one since it stays at the house and powered on all the time. When I get a chance I will see if powering it off then forcing it to boot will allow me to run it.
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
Oh...and when I pulled the partitions off the good one with nvflash it would not pull the cache partition, it aborted with the failed to read error some time during the read.

I didn't care at the time since it was the cache partition...
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
I was going to ask that :)...

So, this seems to indicate that the bad block msgs in dmesg ==> cannot --read from the partition using nvflash, right?

When you look at the dmesg on the bad Gtab, pls post.

Thanks,

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
I think that the dmesg log gets cleared each time it's rebooted. When it's booted, there's a 1st line that says "initializing..." and then so on and so forth. Also, the dmesg log has a limited amount of space, so at some point after booting, older msgs will roll off the log, and you won't be able to see them.

Those bad block messages only show up during the boot, when it probes the NAND and then when the kernel "creates" the 7 partitions.

When it says "creating partitions", I don't think it's actually creating the partitions, which should already be on the NAND, but rather that it's setting (maybe) the partition table with the partition info for each partition (apparently passed to the kernel via command line parameters).

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
found old post about odmdata and bct

Tcrews,

I think I mentioned finding some info about someone who had mistakenly used nvflash w --odmdata and his he recovered. I've been searching for that and finally found it:

http://tosh-ac100.wetpaint.com/thread/4281176/AC100+10U+(3G+model)

Maybe this'll help you?

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tcrews:
Sweet...I will have to --getbct on the bad one and compare it to my good one.

One more possible solution that looks promising!

Sent from my Viewsonic 10" GTab...
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jimcpl:
Like I said, hope it helps. Post back, bcuz if it works, it might help others, e.g.:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=934595

Good luck...

Jim
[G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] acidburn89:
@tcrews - dude, i swear to god... you're like my long lost brother or something. I lol'ed at each one of your posts. :D I have a G tab in the exact same condition as one of yours. Everytime i reboot, I get the complete black screen with no birds. Holding the volume button (either -/+ for APX/recovery) doesn't help. But i hook it up to the PC and bam! I'm in APX. I have tried reflashing several different system.img's... the official viewsonic (i treid 2 - 2967 & 3588), the TnT Lite 4.20 and the ones on the dropbox by roebeet. I have tried the nvflash.exe from the SDK and the dropbox. I have tried switching the part9.img with clockwork's recovery.img. I have also tried flashing the boot.img, recovery.img and system.img from all those ROMs individually. Nothing actually sticks. Back to black screen. The freakin wifi hotspot stays every frickin time. I'm running Win 7 x64 btw, and i had to install the 64-bit apx drivers from the sdk folder. The one in the dropbox folder doesn't work. But the dropbox folder build has root, so i tried installing the ROM manager apk. Everything worked fine and clockwork was supposedly installed. That didn't work either. But now when i thought back on the 48 hours of going ape**** infront of my computer screen, i realized that i had messed with the boot animation. There is a folder called logodata on the internal memory. So now, when I boot-up/flash-up into my semi-bricked Gtab, everytime (even after complete reflashes) I notice that there no files in the logodata folder. But earlier, i had seen several, at least 3. I have tried pulling up the folder in Root Explorer with rw privileges and copying over a fresh bootanimation.zip. That doesn't stick either. So, i was wondering if you could check that folder for files. It also makes some sense, if it can't pull up the bmp for the birds.. it might just toss you over to APX everytime. Everything was running just fine. I had clockwork installed and TnT Lite 4.22. I thought i would try VEGAn and did that. Didn't like it so got back to TnT Lite. Everything fine and dandy. Like a moron... i thought i would like a lockscreen on there. Looked around, downloaded the LockBot app and tried messin with it. LockBot pretty much cooked my turkey, to be honest. My display settings started crashing, so i had to reflash. And when i did, boot loops, cwm flashes, nothing, messin around, nothin, repartition, nothin, nvflash.... and you guys know the rest.