F200 Won't Boot Up

[to_hobbes]

Hello, this will be my first post. I look forward to working with everyone here!
I have an F200 running firmware V 4.0, which I bought some time in January 2008.

I got a GP2X because I wanted a handheld console I on which I could do software developing. I don't really care about games so much, but none the less I recently installed MAME on my F200. I got Street Fighter II and Marble Madness to work, and was enjoying those games until...

For some reason, the thing just wont boot-up properly anymore. I turn it on (with or without an SD card plugged in) and it goes to the red "Loading" screen, and it stays that way indefinitely.

After searching the internet and finding all kind of useless information, I finally ran across this article: http://wiki.gp2x.org/wiki/Unbricking_a_GP2X
which suggests that my ROOT file system has been corrupted. But this article is already 3 years old, and I don't how well it applies to my system

However there is another possibility I can think of: what if MAME had set the clock of my system too high, and now the CPU faults while loading? Is that possible, and is there a way to correct it without flashing my NAND memory?

I don't have a cradle, or even a power adapter. I have a 4GB SD card that is fairly new and unspoiled. I have a USB cable which I have been using to communicate with the GP2X, and that's it. I don't have any other hardware or connectors or anything. But I'd like to get my unit back up and running, and I contend that I may need to buy more hardware (like cables or a cradle) in order to fix it. That's fine.

Please help!

 

[EvilDragon]

Get FW 4.0.0, put anything except for the gp2xboot.img onto the SD Card, press and hold SELECT + HOME while switching it on, wait until "Updating firmware" appears, wait for it to finish and that should do the trick.

 

[to_hobbes]

Get FW 4.0.0, put anything except for the gp2xboot.img onto the SD Card, press and hold SELECT + HOME while switching it on, wait until "Updating firmware" appears, wait for it to finish and that should do the trick.



Thanks! I'll try this as soon as possible... which may be a while since I don't have anything that can copy stuff onto my SD card.

Doing this is just an ordinary firmware update isn't it? After reading the article on how to unbrick a GP2X, I thought my problem may have been a bit more sinister. But I have a tendency to overreact to this kind of thing.

 

[Sphinxter]

I think the loading screen is a couple steps past being a brick.

 

[to_hobbes]

I don't think it worked

OK, I put the newest firmware onto my SD card (everything except for "gp2xboot.img"), and turned it on while holding down start and select. The "Updating Firmware" screen appeared. Then it eventually changed to the red "GP2X Loading" screen, and now it has same problem as before. It doesn't go beyond that red "Loading" screen.

How long does it take to update the firmware? It was only copying for a minute or so.

Could it perhaps be the user interface that has gone bad? Also, I still think it could be a problem with the CPU being overclocked and faulting, but I don't know how likely that explanation is.

 

[yodaofborg]

Its not because you over clocked. Resetting the GP2X will reset the clock speed back to normal, nothing alters the default clock speed, and the ARM CPU's generate very little heat.

It could be a faulty component, or a bad NAND. You may want to send it to someone like EvilDragon to get it fixed, you could try buy the bits needed yourself, but that all depends on your personal knowledge when it comes to things like the JTAG interface, and/or soldering.

 

[Squidge]

You could perhaps get a cradle or maybe some other way of getting access to the serial port. At least then it'll tell you whats going wrong.

 

[to_hobbes]

You could perhaps get a cradle or maybe some other way of getting access to the serial port. At least then it'll tell you whats going wrong.

Man, what bad luck. It is strange that it works normally, displaying the splash screen and everything, then just stops. Oh, and another thing, the startup sound doesn't play for some reason. Ever since that happened, it has failed to load. But updating the firmware should have fixed that, I would think. Maybe the NAND memory is faulty after all, and the hardware can't detect the failure so it just freezes when it hits that corrupted instruction.

Would it cause a problem if I upgraded the boot loader with the new version from GamePark? Just to try it. Could I do that using the same method you explaind earlier (putting it on the SD card then booting while holding down select-start).

Finally, how would the serial interface work if I got a cradle? I don't have a computer with one of those old-fashioned 9-Pin D-connector serial ports, so I am not sure what I would have to do to communicate with the device.

 

[Squidge]

Sure, if nothing else helps, you could try that.

As for your serial port problem, I assume you have usb ports, so you could try one of those cheap serial to usb convertors.

 

[to_hobbes]

It could be a faulty component, or a bad NAND. You may want to send it to someone like EvilDragon to get it fixed, you could try buy the bits needed yourself, but that all depends on your personal knowledge when it comes to things like the JTAG interface, and/or soldering.

Well, I feel confident enough with soldering that I could replace the NAND chips, but it would take a while for me to find the tools to do surface-mount chips.

What I know about JTAG is it's an interface for accessing hardware, like the CPU, and through the CPU, the NAND memory. But I don't know the first thing about how I would connect my computer to the JTAG interface of the device, or run any diagnostics.

All I know is the EXT port pins 14-18 are the JTAG interface, which means there is probably some special box I have to buy that connects a JTAG device to something like a USB interface, then get some software for my computer that communicates to JTAG devices using USB, which sounds complicated and is something I want to avoid if possible.

Though I would be willing to learn about JTAG, its just I don't really want to buy any more crap for this thing. It doesn't even work right, so how much more money do I have to spend to get it working properly?


I just thought of something else. Is there any way to get the GP2X to boot off of the SD card instead of the NAND? The boot loader seems to work OK, so what if I just loaded the kernel and everything onto my SD card. is there some magic button to make it load off of the SD card?

 

[EvilDragon]

You can't boot from the SD Card.
What puzzles me is that it didn't seem to continue the flashing, as this usually takes about 2 minutes.... try a reflash with ALL the files (also the gp2xboot.img).
Be sure to use FULL batteries!
'cause if the gp2xboot.img flashes, you need a cradle and a parallel cable to fix it.

 

[to_hobbes]

I tried it again, with all the files and had the same problem. It takes about 70 seconds before going to the loading screen, then fails at the loading screen.

I'll try again once more, this time I will format my SD card fresh and put all the firmware binaries on it first thing.

I already have firmware version 4.0 (is that the same as 4.0.0?). I wonder if it doesn't update because it detects that I am trying to update it with the same version?

Or could it be another very simple problem, like a stuck button or something? Does anyone know of any other special keys to hold down as you boot the device that could be causing problems?

I am using an MS-DOS FAT32 format for my SD card. Should I be using something else?

 

[to_hobbes]

Well, it's a moot point now, I bricked the f**king thing.

The update seemed to be going OK, it said "updating firmware" and I had 100% batteries. It went on in the "updating firmware" screen for over 10 minutes, then went black. The batteries still seem to be charged, I can use them in my digital camera without problems or a "low battery warning". Now absolutely nothing happens when I turn it on, except the blue power light is on. I don't know what the hell went wrong.

So are the NAND chips fried now, and do I need to replace them? Or can I still salvage it with the right JTAG equipment? I might as well go ahead and try to fix it or I am out of $250.

But it seems like maybe the board is bad. Is it usual to have the firmware updating for over 10 minutes, then just stop, or did my batteries give out to a level below tolerance or something?

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, with the Cradle, JTAG and serial output you can at least see what it does and what goes wrong and then try to fix it from there.

 

[to_hobbes]

Yeah, I intend on getting a cradle. The issue is getting one of those USB-to-JTAG interfaces, which are pretty expensive. I'll probably just try to find an old computer with a parallel interface and install that open-source JTAG software.

I wonder if the memory chip is bad? Is it usual to take such a long (over 10 minutes) time to flash the firmware?

 

[EvilDragon]

Yeah, I intend on getting a cradle. The issue is getting one of those USB-to-JTAG interfaces, which are pretty expensive. I'll probably just try to find an old computer with a parallel interface and install that open-source JTAG software.

I wonder if the memory chip is bad? Is it usual to take such a long (over 10 minutes) time to flash the firmware?

You don't need one. All you need is the cradle, a parallel cable (and a parallel port on your computer) and a nullmodem cable (and a serial port on your computer).

Software to reflash via JTAG, etc. is in the archive.

 

[bboyneko]

hmm i just posted a new topic not seeing this one first, but I am having the same problem with the f-200 with firmware 4.0.

I purchased the f-200 from http://www.gp2xstore.com about 4 weeks ago as a gift for my little bro. And now it get's stuck on loading just like the OP.

I also purchased one for myself from play-asia, firmware 4.1 i believe, and its been running fine. Could it be gp2xstore has a bad batch of f-200s? where did the OP purchase his f-200?

 

[to_hobbes]

hmm i just posted a new topic not seeing this one first, but I am having the same problem with the f-200 with firmware 4.0.

I purchased the f-200 from http://www.gp2xstore.com about 4 weeks ago as a gift for my little bro. And now it get's stuck on loading just like the OP.

I also purchased one for myself from play-asia, firmware 4.1 i believe, and its been running fine. Could it be gp2xstore has a bad batch of f-200s? where did the OP purchase his f-200?



Sorry to say, but real life has been interfering with my GP2X hobby, so mine is still bricked. I need a cradle but haven't bothered to get one yet.

What I want to know is, is it possible that the built-in NAND memory that stores the boot loader can be damaged or corrupted? This would explain why it seems to work fine, then suddenly doesn't work anymore.

If this is the case, I may actually need to go in with a heat gun and replace the memory chip, but again, I don't know if that's the problem and I haven't been able to run any diagnostics because I still don't have a cradle.