Please! help needed for a semi-bricked CE 5 PNA

SANYO NVM-4050. I believe it has a Samsung ARM 920T CPU running at 400MHz and 64M RAM, 2GB internal flash storage with winCE 5.0 core. Now after I turn it on, it can still display a Sanyo Logo and tries to boot into winCE, then an error dialog says "Pnashell" is not a valid Windows CE application and stops there.

What I did:
I accidentally deleted some files located in Partition 01 of its internal flash storage, which includes the file Pnashell.exe. Then hard reset the unit. (how stupid!)

I had unlocked the unit before and knew there were 3 partitions on its internal flash disk. Partition 00 has a binfs so I guess that's for OS files. The activesync was working before the hard reset. But now when the semi-bricked unit is connected to the USB port of my PC, it appears as USB mass storage drive. All the files on Partition 02 are still accessible from the PC though.

I'm wondering whether there is a quick solution to restore the files onto Partition 01 via the USB port or the SD card. If I hold down the menu button while powering it on, it shows a blue screen as attached but I don't see any bootloader menu. It can be recognized by PC as a SEC SOC Test Board via the USB port though.





Attachments
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blue_screen.jpg (73KB - 5 downloads)

bootloader menu will only be useful if you already have a good dump of partition 00 & partition 01.

if you don't have access to another identical unit, then lesson learned: don't delete files randomly.

Edited by cmonex 2008-07-29 11:21 PM

Thanks for your reply, Cmonex
It's possible for me to have access to another identical unit. Assuming I can have a good dump of partition 00 & partition 01, any hope to write them back to the bricked unit? please

can you not use your eyes to read?

my signature says do not use PM.

especially if you posted the exact same text in this thread anyway. what is the point of the PM then?

anyway, all I can say is the above.

first try to find the bootloader menu but do not mess around in it. just let us know if you do find it and if so, what does it look like.

BTW the above photo looks like one bootloader mode, but if it is only for USB then that's not too usable for us. SD is better, I recommend you insert an *empty* SD card while booting with that menu key, are there other keys on the device?
though, maybe platform builder 5.0 can connect to it via USB. if you want to check that... then (after installing PB 5.0, warning: huge download and you need to tell the installer to download&install ARM too, not just x86) use target download settings to set the profile to USB, do not try downloading anything though, just see if PB reports a device in the list in that setting menu.


Edited by cmonex 2008-07-30 2:37 AM

Methinks your fine print is too fine, cmonex.

I didn't ask you, but anyway, it is not fine print at all. uses the same font type as anything else.


Edited by cmonex 2008-07-30 6:46 AM

I have a PNAshell.exe that cmonex rattled up for me a few months back.

It was for my CE5 Route66 maxi PNA.

This PNA shell actually gets you into the CE5 desktop rather than the nav software. Though, now I am half way through my post, I guess you would need the thing to boot to be able to add this file into the device.

Oh well just ignore me

John

What where you thinking??

yeah, you are right, I shouldn't think people will read it!

Just making a suggestion, cmonex - no need to get testy. Maybe it just needs to be in a bigger font and bold type so people will notice it. (As one who overlooks stuff right under my nose all the time, I can speak from experience. )

CE Geek - if you visit xda-developers forums, you will see that not even the boldest print will make people read. I'm used to this experience, but still..

this person also emailed me, so posted the exact same text three times, two times privately. why? you will never know.

anyway, case closed.

----


to shensha: have you had any progress?

Edited by cmonex 2008-07-30 6:07 PM

Hi Cmonex,

Sorry for some reason, I couldn't access this forum for the past few days. Below are the replies to your questions.


I was unable to find the bootloader menu of this device.


I tried inserting an empty SD card while booting but that didn't make any difference. It always shows the same blue screen as shown in the photo. There are no other keys but a RESET button on the device, which didn't help either.



I also downloaded PB 5.0 but it doesn't have an option for USB download in the connectivity options. I tried Samsung SMDK2410 as the BSP but still couldn't figure out how to set the profile to USB. Any hints?

Hi mr-mac, thanks for your reply

I think the PNAshell.exe was launched from the registry HKLM/init but I'm not sure which parts of the windows have already been started at that stage.

ok, we should dump the bootloader of the thing to see if there is possibility for SD flash. you said you have an identical working PNA, which can connect to activesync?

get: http://nah6.com/~itsme/itsutilsbin-20080602.zip
get, if you don't have it: toolhelp.dll for ce 5.0 at http://hpcmonex.net/izemize.htm

connect pda to activesync (if you need to, copy toolhelp.dll too), then issue in cmd this command: pmemmap

copypaste results here

I'll try to get back to your questions as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.