Neta 980 Lost its Mind

I don't have one of these and did not look at any files but it sounds like it is like the 900/900c, where CE3 bootloader cannot boot ce.net and ce.net bootloader cannot boot CE3 because the kernel is loaded into RAM at different address and bootloader only has hard coded address to use for copying it to RAM and when jumping to kernel start address.

P.S: if the OS is on a CF card, do not try dumping it with that simpad rom dumper. result will not be a valid OS dump (might have bootloader though - I didn't look at the files).

Edited by cmonex 2008-12-20 1:39 PM

As far as I can see, bootloader accepts only FAT16. However it takes 2Gb Cf, so small flash card is not necessary. Try to reformat your card. Use command line switch /FS:FAT like this: format x: /FS:FAT
Ok, try to load in this order (one by one):
1st: eboot.nb0
2nd: eboot.bin
3rd: nk.bin
Note: After each step make sure you have only one of the files in root directory.

If this does not work:
1st step: eboot.nb0 and eboot.bin
2nd step: nk.bin

Each step takes considerable time even for tiny bottloader files. It shows progress for each step - read file, erase flash, flashing, verifying.
BTW, I assume after flashing boot.bin you see new bootloader picture?

Edited by shoora 2008-12-20 2:29 PM

My bootloader is official Viewsonic bootloader. I only wrapped it in B000F structure as CE3.0 expect.
About addresses you absolutelly right. As I understand CE3.0 mapping flash to address space starting from address 0x90000000. And CE.NET uses address 0x80000000.
Because of this I had to specify this address in B000FF header.

I don't think boot.bin is flashing right. I see the Viewsonic 3 birds bootloader picture.

When I'm flashing boot.bin, I get an error message after step 12:

File "SrcFileName" is not a valid flash file

It then goes back to step 6 and continues through again to step 12.

And yes, boot.bin was in \Temp. And yes, I know how to reformat the CF card.

Ups. I sent wrong file.
The right one is this.
http://rapidshare.com/files/175365311/boot.bin_.NET.zip.html
I also put in ZIP tools to convert from eboot.nb0 to boot.bin.
File boot.bin must be 262183 bytes.

Unfortunatelly, since this is bootloader, I do not know how to recover if something goes wrong.
So far this file tested with only one device.

It worked this time.

I'm playing with CE 4.1 and I must say: yuck. What benefits does this provide over 3.0?

Do you think its possible to reflash with 3.0? I'd like to revert to it.

4.1 does have a better Web browser (IE CE 5.5 as opposed to PIE 4.01). And I've found from examining the CAB files that a lot of Windows Mobile 2003 apps actually identify the OS version as 4.1 rather than 4.2, so I'd expect broader program compatibility.

quite some benefits

- more stable kernel and OS
- better wifi
- better IE
- lots more ppc / wm2003 apps will run
- etc

one disadvantage, needs extra hacking for some apps...or buy redgear then no problem

aren't those WM5 apps?

I don't think so. However, a lot of programs that claim to be for Windows Mobile 5 devices actually show CE 4.2 in the OS version identifier inside the file(s).

I sent this as a private message, but I don't think you got it.



How about it?

It's quite obvious.
First - flash 3.0 bootloader
http://rapidshare.com/files/176877692/eboot.nb0.html
Second - flash image
http://www.la.viewsonic.com/drivers/v096image020206.zip

P.S. I just succeeded flashing 3.0 and back 4.1 back and force by using bootloader images:
4.1 to 3.0
Put both files on FAT16 CF
http://rapidshare.com/files/176877692/eboot.nb0.html
http://www.la.viewsonic.com/drivers/v096image020206.zip
3.0 to 4.1
Flash bootloader (http://rapidshare.com/files/175365311/boot.bin_.NET.zip.html) and then
insert CF card with files eboot.nb0, eboot.bin and nk.bin from either
http://www.la.viewsonic.com/drivers/Communicator%204.1_1.1C%20013.zip
or
http://www.la.viewsonic.com/drivers/Thin%20Client%204.1_1.1T%20006.zip

Edited by shoora 2008-12-26 5:19 AM

It worked. Thank you.

And I saved an archival copy of both firmwares, with instructions. If anyone needs it, just ask.

Say Nate, what is it you are not liking about 4.1 over 3.0? I have several machines... one has 4.1 on it already... the others have 3.0... I must say... the 4.1 does circles around the 3.0... particularly with regards to wifi support, gui quality, and apps.

Going to give the instructions a shot on one of my 3.0 units. If successful I will not hesitate to do the other.

The 3.0 firmware has Primer PDF, which had performed significantly better that the MS PDF viewer that comes in 4.1. The handwriting recognition software is Calligrapher. I found it easier to learn and it came with a nice basic onscreen keyboard.

I also could not get Wifi working on the 4.1 firmware. I tried 3 different cards. The CAB I have for one refused to install (it worked on my MP 900C). The other two cards were supposed to be supported by drivers included in the firmware.One wasn't recognized, and the other couldn't get a signal when sitting next to my router. Last I checked, both cards worked in my MP 900C.

The 4.1 firmware also broke TCPMP. I couldn't play a simple DIVX video. I think there was a conflict between the graphics driver and TCPMP. (The 3.0 firmware doesn't appear to use the graphics chip.)

The 3.0 firmware also has a printer manager, Jeode JVM, nice MP3 player, powerpoint, spreadsheet, as well as Pocket Word. Fresh out of the box, with no extra software installed, it's a lot closer to a real tablet PC than the same device with the 4.1 firmware.

And I do know that there is a lot of third party software I could install to add more functions. The 3.0 firmware needs less, so whenever I reinstall after a hard boot it takes less time.

And as for GUI, I noticed a lag in response time with the 4.1 firmware over that of the 3.0 firmware. It might only be a fluke occurrence with my device, but it was irritating.