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Jake Page Icon Posted 2012-01-22 7:23 PM
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Okay, since mine hangs on boot and can't get to the desktop, it doesn't seem this workaround will help.

But I'm glad it worked out for your machine.

Jake
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2012-01-22 7:33 PM
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The thing about it is that an .nbo file is not a .bin file, not even close. So I figure that the Tinybook was attempting to load a file that was incompatible and reached a certain point where it couldn't do anything, and then just reverted to some default file already on the thing to correct what it thought was a corrupt file.

I don't know since I know absolutely nothing about how CE is set up....all I know is that the Tinybook is looking for something when it goes into the System Update mode...and I bet if we could find what file the bootloader is looking for, then we could probably create a good ROM image for future flashing...

I wish we could see the contents of the NAND drive and see what the bootloader looks like and the image file and its contents...
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Jake Page Icon Posted 2012-01-23 10:44 AM
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Jusk for yucks, using a bricked GodMedia TB, I tried to flash the renamed nk.bin file. I could not get the machine to do the right touchpad button trick. It just went to regular startup which of course freezes. HOWEVER, upon holding down both left and right touchpad buttons, I am prompted to insert USB cable to update firmware.

Using the mini USB port, I hooked the machine to the desktop, where XP SP3 prompted me for the driver for "sec s3c6400x test b/d"

Could not find a working driver anywhere, though this sec s3c6400x test b/d does get google hits.

I can get this prompt without depressing touchpad buttons.

But when I depress both buttons, have the machine connected to desktop, the TB screen says "Please send the Image through USB!"

Any ideas for the next step?

I've tried using a USB-mini controller connected to Fat16/nk.bin USB drive (it's a controller that I use to connect a bluetooth dongle to a Zaurus SL-C1000, using the Zaurus mini-USB port), and the TB tells me to please send the image, but it looks as if I need a program on the other end to flash.

I still don't know why Rich's SD Card trick won't work on my machine. These machines are all from the same batch, no?

Jake

Edited by Jake 2012-01-23 10:50 AM
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2012-01-23 5:27 PM
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Jake, very cool...that is something new for us to ponder. Nice find! I couldn't get my funky Tinybook to do that however...so you must be luckier than me...

You have to have an SD card in the slot when you power on while holding down the right mouse button on the touchpad, otherwise, you get a normal boot.

However, you are right about one thing, the machines are not all the same. I had a 128mb Tinybook and I also have a 256mb Tinybook...and the daughterboards inside were not swappable...they were different inside, though both identical outside.
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2012-01-23 7:29 PM
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Update: Tried Jake's info on a second non-working T706. I get the same thing he did on this one...same USB alerts/notices, etc. Wonder how you are supposed to force send an update down the USB line...

Interestingly enough, on this one, like Jake's machine, holding down the right mouse button while powering on with an SD card in place does nothing.

By the way, of the 2 Tinybooks I have that do not work. One when I turn it on has a black screen with the word Tinybook centered on the screen. The progress bar is a continuous line of >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. This one when I turn it on will go into the system update via right mouse button technique.

The other non-working Tinybook is different. When I turn it on I get only a normal system load, and it has the Windows Embedded CE 6.0 logo screen instead of the Tinybook screen. It is on this one that I can get the USB alert like Jake does. Also the progress bar is broken up, that is I get this: >>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>>, 5 arrows followed by 4 arrows, then 5 arrows again, etc...
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Jake Page Icon Posted 2012-01-24 5:17 AM
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Okay, that clears it up. I was going crazy. I have this version:

"The other non-working Tinybook is different. When I turn it on I get only a normal system load, and it has the Windows Embedded CE 6.0 logo screen instead of the Tinybook screen. It is on this one that I can get the USB alert like Jake does. Also the progress bar is broken up, that is I get this: >>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>>>, 5 arrows followed by 4 arrows, then 5 arrows again, etc..."

And I too can not get it to read the sd card for the nk.bin thing. I think there might be a flash image and a program that sends it along. The "sec s3c6400x" seems to refer to the micro-processor, but I'm not certain. All roads to the missing flash img for these machines....sigh.

edit: [my functioning TB has Rich's first set of specs]

Jake

Edited by Jake 2012-01-24 5:20 AM
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CAuser Page Icon Posted 2012-01-26 12:33 AM
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Did you guys notice there is a file called nk.exe under Windows directory? Is it related to nk.bin?
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CE Geek Page Icon Posted 2012-01-26 6:44 AM
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Uh, isn't that in every CE device? I'm a techno-idiot, but I seem to recall that that is where the kernel resides.
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CAuser Page Icon Posted 2012-01-29 7:31 PM
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I compared 2 downloads from this site and Rapidshare. Both safe_nk.nbo have the same size, but normal_nk.nbo's are different. Also, Rich's boot logo is different from mine (TinyBook), Smart Book (from Rapidshare), Windows CE 6.0 (from this site). Maybe, we can try Rich's magic fix using normal_nk.nbo in addition to safe_nk.nbo.

Edited by CAuser 2012-01-29 7:33 PM
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2012-01-29 8:47 PM
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These Tinybooks are really quality built machines. It is too bad the OS is so screwy.

Can someone tell me what it is that enables the Tinybook to keep the "Flash Driver" and "System Disk" folders persistent? Mine are not. Anything I put in there is deleted when I power down. The same goes for my "Pocketmory" folder.

Is there any way to make that folder visible?
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Dylano* Page Icon Posted 2012-02-09 6:41 AM
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So I'm on the bandwagon of "My OS tries to load infinitely but never actually loads" ...I discovered that holding the left and right click button while starting up to get the USB mode, but when connected to my PC (7 Ult x64) of course no drivers. I would love to know if anyone has figured out how to "re-install" ANY OS, on these things, (read about 50% of the posts so far)
I've completely torn it apart (what a simple machine it is) and put it back together, and think its pretty cool that the "SDD" is basically a modified ddr2 RAM chip.
And suggestions would be great, thanks!
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CAuser Page Icon Posted 2012-02-09 7:37 PM
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I can upload the USB driver for Windows to this forum.
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2012-02-09 8:46 PM
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I've installed the sec s3c6400x driver myself, and it resolves the unrecognized device error...but it doesn't do anything for making a normal desktop connection. That is the flakey T706 doesn't show up as any external storage device or is it accessible through the normal desktop explorer.

Perhaps it requires some type of serial communications protocol/program to open a port to communicate with it...
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Dylano* Page Icon Posted 2012-02-09 10:54 PM
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Well the driver would get me farther than I am right now, so an upload would be appreciated!
Rich, have you made any sort of progress on your infinitely loading tinybook?
I read the posts about getting past the password via "tricking" it with an SD card.
Any luck with the frozen boot one?
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Rich Hawley Page Icon Posted 2012-02-09 11:17 PM
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I don't have it any longer..but I got it from the info on this page: http://www.armdevs.com/support/faq.html

I never got any further either....still experimenting though, but no luck so far...
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