Help Activity refresh/Chapter/Note on Unbricking/Reflashing: Difference between revisions

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==Unbricking/Reflashing -- Resetting to Factory Defaults==
Repairs


Warning: EVERYTHING on your XO will be deleted if you use a USB storage device and the following method to reflash your XO's flash memory.
Your XO is built and designed for repair work to be completed with only your hands and a screwdriver, and the case includes extra screws in case you need them.


With Internet connectivity, you can prepare yourself to reflash (restore) an XO to its factory-default settings. This procedure is called a "clean-install" and is described in more detail at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Clean-install_procedure. (Software updates can be delivered by clean-installing or by other means.)
For photos and step-by-step instructions on repairing your XO or putting replacement parts in, go to http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Repair.


Clean-installing works by completely reformatting your XO with a software image stored on a USB storage device.
Refer to http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Repair_center_locations to get to the most recent directory of repair centers, if you do not want to repair your XO yourself.
===Before you begin===
Recalibrating the touchpad
You will need:


*A USB storage device that has at least 1 GB of space free
The XO touchpad does not offer a click mechanism like some touchpads. You must click the long button marked with an X to select something on the screen. Sometimes the touchpad seems to behave erratically or makes the cursor jump on the screen.
*A computer with fast Internet access (this should allow you to download the required 300-400MB within about an hour)


You will then load two special downloaded files onto your USB storage device. After that, the reflashing process takes about ten minutes.
If the pointer is not following your finger on the touchpad, or if it jumps to the corners when you touch the touchpad, please try this recalibration procedure:
===Preparing your USB Storage Device===
*Download the OS image and its "fs.zip" file to your local computer. These are compressed files, so DO NOT open them — instead, in your browser, visit the following page and follow the instructions: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OS_images
*Copy the resulting files onto your clean (FAT or FAT32-formatted, not quick-formatted) USB storage device. (Your USB storage device should now contain exactly two files named something like: enxxx-n.img and fs.zip). (On some operating systems, the ".img" and ".zip" extensions may be hidden.)


*These files should occupy a total of at least 300 MB of space.
Hold down the three keys at one time: the upper left, upper right, and lower right of the keyboard and the fourth key, fn, the lower leftmost key, as the last one pressed, and then release them all.
*Unmount the USB storage device and disconnect it from your computer when it is safe to do so.


You have now prepared yourself to restore the factory-default settings which are current at this time.
Four_finger_salute
===Reinstalling your XO's Operating System===


*Turn off your XO.
If this doesn't help, try shutting down the laptop and removing the battery for ten seconds before restarting.
*Connect your prepared USB storage device to your XO.
*Power_button.jpgNext, hold down all four gamepad keys above the power button, and then push the power button to turn the XO on. You will see a message that tells you to "Release the game key to continue". Do not continue until you see this message.
*Release the gamepad keys. The reflash process runs automatically; first you will see the XO arrange and color in a grid of boxes, then the XO will display "Rebooting in 10 seconds..." The XO will then restart with a clean image.
*Enter your name for your XO and then click Next.
*Click the XO icon to change the colors and then click Done.
*Optionally, connect your XO to the Internet, then use the Control Panel to download the latest Activities.


===If something goes wrong===
Finally, plug a standard USB mouse into your laptop to bypass the problem.
Checking for keys that stay down or appear stuck


If you see a "Bad hash at eblock #0" message while reflashing your XO, then it means the image you copied to the USB storage device is corrupt. You should repeat the preparation steps, perhaps with a different USB storage device, and then retry the reinstallation step.
Your XO must have a developer's key to do this keyboard test. Refer to http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Developer_key for more information about developer's keys.


===Advanced: Changing the XO's Operating System===
With the XO off, hold down the "check mark" game button (above the power button) while pushing the power button. After start up, the screen displays "Release the game keys to continue" and shows a text diagram of which key is pressed.
Release the "check mark" game button.
Next, after you see "Type the Esc key to interrupt automatic startup," press the escape key in the upper left hand corner of the keyboard layout (a circle with an x). The XO displays an ok prompt.
At the ok prompt, type:
test keyboard
and press enter.
A blue keyboard map displays on the screen.
Press keys one at a time to see the keyboard map turn the key light blue.
If the display on screen shows a light blue key constantly, the keyboard has a problem with that particular key sticking. Refer to a repair center for full diagnosis and repair at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Repair_center_locations.
Press the the escape key (circle with an x) again to exit the keyboard test.
At the ok prompt, type reboot to restart.


After you become comfortable with the procedure for restoring your XO to its factory-default settings, you might decide to change, upgrade, downgrade, or altogether replace your XO's operating system. There are several ways to accomplish this goal, all of which are discussed at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Change_your_OS. Some of these mechanisms (such as olpc-update and others) may be more bandwidth-efficient and easily undoable.
Repairing damage to the keyboard


Author : HowToFlash<br>
If your keyboard becomes damaged, normally it has to be replaced. Replacements are available through the repair centers. Information on spare parts and repair centers can be found at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Repair_center_locations.
© Anne Gentle 2008<br>
Restoring the software to factory defaults
Modifications:<br>
If you want to completely wipe clean the XO, you can try upgrading the activated laptop to re-flash its entire "disk image" including both its operating system and its Activities. Refer to Resetting your XO for detailed instructions. Please be aware that ALL DATA WILL BE LOST.
adam hyde 2008<br>

Brian Jordan 2008<br>
Troubleshooting the internal XO hardware
A Holt 2008<br>

Michael Stone 2008<br>
The XO can give you information about possible repairs that are needed.
Mitch Bradley 2008<br>

Tom Boyle 2008<br>
Start by pressing the power button for a second, and then answer the following questions.
G Hunt 2012<br>
Does the Power LED half-circle light up?

When the power button is pressed once, and the power LED doesn't turn on, first try resetting it.

To reset the XO, remove all power sources from the laptop:

Take the battery out and remove the power adapter.
Wait two minutes. This allows embedded hardware to lose all power and reset itself.
Replace at least one source of power, either the battery or power adapter, and watch the power/battery LED while you do so.

The battery LED should flash orange momentarily (about a quarter of a second) when power is first reapplied. If you do not see this flash, you either have a motherboard hardware problem or faulty EC firmware installed. Contact a repair center for assistance.

If the power LED doesn't turn on or flash, but the laptop proceeds to illuminate the backlight and even start, the problem may be either the LEDs themselves or the power LED driver. The LEDs are in series, so if one fails they may both fail to light.

On rare occasions, the power button becomes stuck mechanically. In this case, the laptop does not detect the depression of the power button, and does not turn on. Ensure that the power button is moving freely by pressing it a few times.

If the battery LED flashed on restoration of power and the power button isn't stuck, and no other signs of life are detected, then you can't determine the reason for failure. Contact a repair center for assistance.
Does the display light up?

After starting the XO and viewing the power LED, the next visible feedback from the XO is that the display lights up. The LCD display should be initialized with white, then begin to show text or graphics. The backlight for the screen should be turned on, even if the backlight was previously turned off.

If this does not happen then the boot sequence may not be operating correctly. Next, look at the Microphone activity LED to see if it is lit. If the power LED and the microphone LED are both lit then a serious boot error has occurred and you should contact a repair center for assistance.
Can you hear the startup sound when the XO starts?

If the startup sound does not play, this usually indicates a problem that a repair center needs to fix.
Yes, the startup sound plays

If the display doesn't initialize, but the boot sound plays, then this is probably a problem with the display.
No, the XO boots normally, but no boot sound plays

If no boot sound is played, but the machine boots normally and has audio, it is possible that the default boot volume to has been changed to 0. While the boot sound is playing, you can adjust the volume using the volume adjust keys. This modified volume setting is saved and used for future boots. Try increasing the volume right after starting the laptop a few times, and see if the boot sound returns.

If no boot sound is played, and the machine boots normally but has no audio see http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO_Troubleshooting_AV.
Does the display remains blank after starting up?

Sometimes the display is active (including backlight), but no text or graphics appear. This problem can be caused by removing the power to an XO while it is upgrading the firmware. You should contact a repair center for assistance.
Does the display say "Connect power to proceed"?
Sometimes a firmware update requires two sources of power, both a battery and a power adapter. If this is the problem, provide both sources of power and reboot. The XO should proceed with a firmware update and boot normally.
Is the display is showing an XO icon only?

This means that the XO has started the startup process.

You can see much more information about your Open Firmware by holding the "check mark" game button (above the power button) after powering on. That makes Open Firmware display more detailed messages about what it is doing during the secure boot process (including early boot messages from the Linux kernel). The messages are in English only.
Is it showing an XO icon with a serial number and three icons below it?

If the laptop powers up, but stops when displaying the XO icon in the middle of the screen, followed by a serial number (e.g. CSN74902B22) and three icons (SD disk, USB disk, Network signal strength), it is looking for its activation lease. This should eventually print "Activation lease not found" at the top of the screen and power-off soon thereafter.

The solution is to re-activate the laptop. Obtain a copy of the lease (or a new lease) from your country activation manager, place it (named "lease.sig") in the top-level directory of a USB key and boot the laptop. See the "what to do with activation keys" section within: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activation_and_Developer_Keys.
Is it showing an XO icon with a "sad face" above it?

This means that Open Firmware couldn't find a signed operating system on the internal flash memory. Firmware bootup also looks on USB memory sticks and SD cards for signed operating system software.

Try upgrading or re-installing the software: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Secure_Upgrade.
XO icon with a single dot below it?

If the XO powers up, but stops when just displaying the XO icon in the middle, with a single dot below it, it means that something was wrong when the Linux operating system started. When this happens, try upgrading or reinstalling the XO.
If this has happened to the same XO more than one time, consider a repair center for full diagnosis and repair at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Repair_center_locations.

Latest revision as of 21:12, 9 April 2012

Unbricking/Reflashing -- Resetting to Factory Defaults

Warning: EVERYTHING on your XO will be deleted if you use a USB storage device and the following method to reflash your XO's flash memory.

With Internet connectivity, you can prepare yourself to reflash (restore) an XO to its factory-default settings. This procedure is called a "clean-install" and is described in more detail at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Clean-install_procedure. (Software updates can be delivered by clean-installing or by other means.)

Clean-installing works by completely reformatting your XO with a software image stored on a USB storage device.

Before you begin

You will need:

  • A USB storage device that has at least 1 GB of space free
  • A computer with fast Internet access (this should allow you to download the required 300-400MB within about an hour)

You will then load two special downloaded files onto your USB storage device. After that, the reflashing process takes about ten minutes.

Preparing your USB Storage Device

  • Download the OS image and its "fs.zip" file to your local computer. These are compressed files, so DO NOT open them — instead, in your browser, visit the following page and follow the instructions: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OS_images
  • Copy the resulting files onto your clean (FAT or FAT32-formatted, not quick-formatted) USB storage device. (Your USB storage device should now contain exactly two files named something like: enxxx-n.img and fs.zip). (On some operating systems, the ".img" and ".zip" extensions may be hidden.)
  • These files should occupy a total of at least 300 MB of space.
  • Unmount the USB storage device and disconnect it from your computer when it is safe to do so.

You have now prepared yourself to restore the factory-default settings which are current at this time.

Reinstalling your XO's Operating System

  • Turn off your XO.
  • Connect your prepared USB storage device to your XO.
  • Power_button.jpgNext, hold down all four gamepad keys above the power button, and then push the power button to turn the XO on. You will see a message that tells you to "Release the game key to continue". Do not continue until you see this message.
  • Release the gamepad keys. The reflash process runs automatically; first you will see the XO arrange and color in a grid of boxes, then the XO will display "Rebooting in 10 seconds..." The XO will then restart with a clean image.
  • Enter your name for your XO and then click Next.
  • Click the XO icon to change the colors and then click Done.
  • Optionally, connect your XO to the Internet, then use the Control Panel to download the latest Activities.

If something goes wrong

If you see a "Bad hash at eblock #0" message while reflashing your XO, then it means the image you copied to the USB storage device is corrupt. You should repeat the preparation steps, perhaps with a different USB storage device, and then retry the reinstallation step.

Advanced: Changing the XO's Operating System

After you become comfortable with the procedure for restoring your XO to its factory-default settings, you might decide to change, upgrade, downgrade, or altogether replace your XO's operating system. There are several ways to accomplish this goal, all of which are discussed at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Change_your_OS. Some of these mechanisms (such as olpc-update and others) may be more bandwidth-efficient and easily undoable.

Author : HowToFlash
© Anne Gentle 2008
Modifications:
adam hyde 2008
Brian Jordan 2008
A Holt 2008
Michael Stone 2008
Mitch Bradley 2008
Tom Boyle 2008
G Hunt 2012

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