7 Inch no name Chinese netbook SD Card will not boot

Hello My name is Tom and I am new to HPC! My niece received a 7 inch no name Chinese netbook for Christmas last year. It for some reason does not access you tube or other sites it used to! It has a WMM-A8505 processor with Windows CE 6.00 (not embeddedd as far as I can tell)! I have tried every script that I can find on the internet to either burn this back to its original Windows CE 6.00 or to even try and put Android on it! The SD card in this thing will not bootup anything! It just boots as if there is no SD Card in it at all,yet all the info I read says it should! There is no bios that I can find on this either to try and select any other boot device! Are there some of these that do not boot to the SD Card out there to try and reburn the nand that's in it.The SD Card slot works and you can see the script after you put it on there,but it will not boot from it! Can anyone tell me what I may be doing wrong?

Thank You in advance for any help or suggestions! Anything is appreciated! I am at a loss with this one!

Tom

I've had this happen a couple of times while trying to reflash a couple of my WM8505 netbooks. What seemed to cure the problem was to remove all contents from the SD card, reformat it (FAT32), recopy the \Script folder to it, and trying booting the netbook again with the card inserted. Can't hurt to try this.

Thank You for the reply! To further sum up what I have done to get this to bootup on the sd card! I have removed everything from the card as you described and even reformatted it under fat 16 as some have suggested on other sites I researched, as well as fat32 as this site has suggested!There was even a suggestion to lock the write protected little tab in place to make it boot! I even bought another SD Card thinking maybe this one had a problem with booting,still no boot with either! I am no expert,but I am no novice either! I know from dealing with other operating systems that most of the time the disk you are needing to boot from needs to be made into a system disk,whatever the windows or dos version it is! That apparently is not the case with these 7 inch no name Chinese netbooks or with Windows CE either. I have researched this for the last 2 weeks trying to find a resolution as to why it will not boot! I am "grasping at straws" so to speak now! LOL! I even tried to create a boot disk from another sites suggestion,but that did not work either! I will however try your suggestion one last time and see what happens and will repost after that! Thank You again for your reply! Tom

The names of your folders in the root directory of the SD card are critical as is the files within those folders...what are yours?

I assume you mean what files are in the script folder?,It depends on what script I have at the time! I even ordered a cd that has these script files for the wm8505 , 7 inch no name Chinese netbook,decompressed them as I have done with all the different scripts I have tried. It's pretty well impossible to run this script without it booting from the sd card from what I have researched on this.
Thank You again for your reply,my hope is beginning to dwindle on ever finding the right script and getting this sd card to boot to reburn the image ,so to speak, on this no name,no model number or even a serial number netbook! I guess the rules on manufacturing in China are different! I have not seen a product in the United States before that did not have either on it before this! It is a challenge,but hardly worth it for a cheap netbook!

Tom

I looked in the root directory as you asked and I see no other files other than the script folder,but of course there won't be any if you reformatted it to fat32,decompressed your file some where else on a regular desktop,and then just copy the script folder onto the sd card! I have seen numerous blogs on this and that is consistent with all of them,the same pattern!

Thank you for having this site! I think I finally found the reason for no SD Card boot! It's right here on this site. It's in the reviews section (link attached)

http://www.hpcfactor.com/reviews/hardware/chinese/7in-netbook/

The answer is toward the bottom as it says and I am quoting here

"Other netbooks use software on a desktop to remotely flash the unit via a serial connection. There is special ROM flashing/loader software that accomplishes this task for the user. Some units require a special bridge be made to the motherboard during the flash…not a difficult task, but requires shorting two contact points on the motherboard with a jumper wire. Again, finding the proper ROM flash is critical to be successful. Many have (including me) “bricked” their netbook. I learned that the VT8505 isn’t the same as the WM8505 when it comes to ROM flashing..


It seems that some of these 7 inch no name netbooks require a usb to usb bridge connection to change the flash on it! I don't have one,but may out of curiosity get one to see what happens! I will come back and post when I find out ! Thank you all again for helping me out! I just seem to have a very unusual unit to work on compared to all the others I have read about! I just thought I would share this info in case anyone else runs into the same problem I have!


Thank You Again
Tom

But the VT8505 and the WM8505 both use the same method, that is you have to have an SD card with the script folder in the root directory and have the proper ROM image for your CPU on it. The jumper wire/bridge method are for entirely different types of netbooks.

If you have an SD card that you can put in your netbook and see the files on it, that is you see at the root level a folder that is named SCRIPT, and within that folder is another folder named SYSTEM DISK, and it has several files also named AUTORUN.EXE, LOGO.BMP, NORMAL_NK.NB0, SCRIPTCMD, and SAFE_NK.NB0, then you have everything you should need and if it is in the SD card slot when you turn on the netbook, then it should attempt to reflash the device.

At the very least, you should be able to see all those files after the netbook has booted up...even if they didn't flash the unit.

But if you cannot see those files and folders, nor you cannot see anything else on the SD card, then it seems you have a hardware problem....

I do see all the files you mention inside the script folder,but it will still not boot on any of the scripts I have tried . As I mentioned before,I can see the script file and all its sub folders,on the sd card itself,
I can even run small programs off the sd card like freecell and solitaire and they work fine,but again this sd card will not boot on any script I put on the sd card . It makes no sense to me,so I gathered thru research that this has to be a different kind of netbook than the others that can be flashed with the sd card! If I had not tried more than 20 different scripts, I have to say something must be different here! I'm not exactly sure what,but something is different! I don't give up easily on things! I am a technician by trade and have been more than 20 years now! Not a computer tech,but it is a hobby of mine and I do my homework on things like this! The way the business world works any more,I see this as a typical ploy for repeat business to buy yet another netbook or even tech support which is lacking badly on these Chinese netbooks! Like it's nonexistent or would cost you more in technical support than the netbook is worth! Sorry I'm a skeptic! I really do appreciate any more suggestions you may have!
I am reaching my "witts end" any more LOL!

There is at least one version of the 8505 script that has two folders inside: in addition to \System Disk, there's another one named \Kernel. That was the only one that worked when I had to reflash one of my 7" 8505 netbooks. Try this one:

http://letitbit.net/download/62821.6f29107f638f6c47b81c5fed4334/script.tar%20%28working%20firmware%29.html

I tried that script and the same thing happens! No sd card boot again! It took 3 hours total to download that script from what looked like a Russian website! The download alone took almost one hour! Then I had to find software to uncompress the ".tar" file,which is what is what was. Then copied it to the sd card,which took another hour,just to have the same results I have been getting all along!I want to thank you again for your help,but this is just looking like a lost cause any more!! To give it a fairy tale analogy,it's like "looking for a needle in a haystack"! Apparently the Chinese have some special software/firmware to flash this thing,that I have been unable to find thus far! When I started this thing,it all looked relatively simple,but has become very annoying to the point of why continue any more,just buy another netbook! That's what I feel has been the plan all along with this being brought to the United States,repeat business. I have spent numerous hours researching and trial and error with this netbook!
If there is a fix for it,I have been unable to find it! I have run out of ideas and patience on this netbook.
It's just not worth all the frustration and disappointment any more! Thank you again for your help and suggestions!

Tom

One other thing to try: boot the netbook as usual, and then create a folder in "My Computer" called \System Disk. Then put in the SD card, go into the \script folder, and double-click autorun.exe to execute it. There's a possibility that it will copy the files into \System Disk as it would have if it had executed on boot.

Tom, we all share your frustration...we've been there in one form or another. I'm curious though...is there any manufacturer or model info printed on the netbook, any identifying labels on the bottom or anything?

Ok I will try that tomorrow. The strange thing is this netbook does not have a "My Computer",it has "MY Devices" instead,but basically the same thing! I'm not sure if this would be a clue for the netbook geeks here,but just thought I would throw that out there,just in case! I don't even think this is a complete version of Windows CE 6.00 either! Not that I completely understand what embedded means,but it does not say embedded like the microsoft version does on boot. I tried several of microsoft updates with this version of CE 6.00,but none of the updates would install!!!It appears to be an enigma all to its own with this particular unit! This is my first experience with Windows CE! I have learned a lot and do see advantages to its use for smaller devices! After I try what you have suggested I will post back and let you know! Thank you again for the help folks!

Tom

The only label on this netbook matches exactly like the one on this guys review of the Chinese netbooks! Link attached http://www.hpcfactor.com/reviews/hardware/chinese/7in-netbook/

That is why I thought I was making progress,because my label matched his exactly,but his description of his unit is different than what I have! Go figure!!! LOL! Same label,different machine! LMAO! Must be the way China does things!