Simpad SL4 Power On Problem

I experience a strange problem with my the power On button of my Simpad
SL4 : It allows me to switch OFF the machine but not to switch it ON,
and I have to press the Reset button at the back of the Simpad with the
stylus everytime I want to use it.

I've made several tests that I'm relating thereafter, any idea to solve
this problem would be very much appreciated.

1. It seems that my problem began when I wanted to store the cab files
for the wifi driver for my PC Card in the IPSM directory, in order to be
able to install it when needed even if the Simpad went out of batteries.
This directory is small and and had an "file too big error", till then
I've never been able to use the Power On button.

2. A first start, after the complete discharge of the batteries and
amemory lost the power On button works fine. So I think it is not an
electrical contact problem. The button also allow power On but never
again a second power ON.

3. I've tried to reflash the ROM over itself : I use the
Sl4_winCEnet41eng.img ROM file found on opensimpad.org.-> no sucess.

4. I've tried to change the bootloader upgraded to V2.5.3 10.06.2003: no
success.

What's wrong with my Simpad ?

Any idea ?

Thanks in advance.

your PBL is most likely corrupt - this is the primary bootloader image... a small 4K binary. you cannot flash the PBL in the usual way, you must force full access. more details in my old thread (i had the same problem with mine once):

http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=6280&posts=4&highlight=simpad%20flash&highlightmode=1#M61232

but you can confirm if it's indeed a corrupt PBL, by dumping the flash and comparing it to a known good one. dumper available on my site here:
(you only need to run first exe to dump 0x0 to get PBL)

http://hpcmonex.net/romstuff.htm

would be advisable to dump it first for confirmaion as obviously, flashing the PBL or any bootloader is slightly risky. though the simpad has jtag readily available


and actually i would definitely like to see your PBL dump, i want to see if the corruption is in the same place or a bit different from mine.

Edited by cmonex 2007-11-30 1:57 PM

Cmonex,

I just did the rom dump you asked for : the first 16Mb of my simpad's ROM, even zipped it is a 12Mb file ! So I decided to host it there.

If I understood everything well, it seems that I need a full 2.4 bootloader ?

Is it possible to corrupt a bootloader by kind of a IPSM overflow ? I thought simpads were more robust.

Thanks for your help.

OK, i'm downloading it. will look at it tomorrow. yes you probably need to flash a full 2.4 bootloader sometimes called armpbl.rom or similar (i forget) on linux pages but that's no good as that has no header, you need the one with header, i can upload it.

well, the IPSM is not even located close to the bootloader but it is possible that while programming the NOR flash (i.e. writing into IPSM) something went wrong. the problem with the type of flash the simpad has (NOR) is it has no ECC (error correction)... so if a bit flips there goes your code (if it flips in a sensitive place in your code)


EDIT: as the download finished fast i checked now.. yes your PBL is corrupted and corrupt in the exact same way as mine was, same byte, same bit flip, i wonder why. it is at offset 0x174 btw, byte "40" should be "C0" in an intact PBL.

Edited by cmonex 2007-12-01 12:28 AM

Please if you could upload the full bootloader I could try to fix my simpad. As I'm not skilled enough to browse the internet and tell which bootlader is full or which one is crippled.

As you told flashing is sometimes a risky thing and I'm not used to it, at least I will have tried to repair with the good file.

OK, i'm away still, i get back home very soon though, and i'll send this to you. did you read and understand the procedure of forcing the bootloader into full update mode? if the description of how to short / which pins to short wasn't clear enough, let me know, i have a picture of the pins where i can show it better.

Hello Cmonex,

I'm back home after a long trip and at last I can play with my simpad. I use it as a remote for my main PC. If you could send me the file I will try to fix it. I've manage to enter the 'special' bootlader section by shorting 'pins' as you described. Thanks in advance.

hey, bootloader is here:

http://hpcmonex.net/roms/simpadSL4bootldrs.zip

you will want this file within the zip: \2_4_fullprimary\flashable arnold\armboot_pbl

(this is a collection of sl4 bootloaders, the rest is not relevant now.)

good luck!!

Edited by cmonex 2007-12-09 3:54 PM

Viva CMonex you really are an expert and definitely the best!!!
Just flashed my simpad as described and everything went fine.

I now the proud owner of a brand new simpad.

Many thanks again.

about the "file too big" error.
I had the same problem, I wanted to store the network drivers in the IPSM dir.

What I did :

I hoped that the creators of the networkdriver .cab-archive, didn't payed too much attention to its compression ratio.
So..I extracted the .cab file in the commandline with "extrac32" (XP) or "extract" (win98/95/etc).
Then...I downloaded zipGenius to re-compress the files to a new .cab archive (with maximum compression ratio).
After that, the .cab file was only 220kb instead of 900kb

hope this helps

sure, though you can just zip the files :shrug: then extract when needed. i dont think that .cab is still installable anyway