Got my NAND erased although I run the OS on my SD card. How can I fix this?

[soulanger]

So I tried plugging in a Hitachi portable hard disk on my pandora. I was astonished at first cause I got it working.. and then everything got messed up. I restarted the console to my despair I see no green light or the charging light. So I guess the bootstrap (or was it uBoot) was erased as well. So is there anyway to fix this?


I know theres a manual approach but is there an easier way to fix this if you got your firmware installed in your SD card already?


Edit: Oh.. and I dont use linux.. :[

 

[mcobit]

What else do you use on Pandora?


Also how did you do this? I used 3 different kinds of harddrives with the pandora and none of them erased my NAND.


Already tried a full reflash?


If that doesn't work you may have messed upsomething really bad!


What exactly did you do with the harddrive and is there any sign of life of the Pandora after restarting? Does the screen come on?


Maybe try to take out the battery and leave it out for 10 mins.


Then reseat it and start.

 

[soulanger]

What else do you use on Pandora?


Also how did you do this? I used 3 different kinds of harddrives with the pandora and none of them erased my NAND.

Yes im a quite perplexed about that as well. I love trying all things USB on my pandora, most of the problems would rather just make the pandora hang or the device wont just work. This one in particular really surprised me. It worked for a few minutes, then after selecting one of the mounts the screen started flickering until it hanged. Before it hanged the OS also felt like it has a memory leak or something. And I have no idea why it would affect the NAND as I dont even use that on my Pandora.

Already tried a full reflash?


If that doesn't work you may have messed upsomething really bad!

Thats what im trying to do right now, but I still dont know how to do it with Windows. And there are only a few topics that helps me fix this issue.

What exactly did you do with the harddrive and is there any sign of life of the Pandora after restarting? Does the screen come on?

I think the bootstrap is corrupted or the NAND has been erased. This means my Pandora wont have any power on light or charging working. But it still does work the Start + ON or Start + Pandora + ON combinations triggers the SD1 reading light on the left side of the console. I think I just really have to know how to make an Boot SD Card.

Maybe try to take out the battery and leave it out for 10 mins.


Then reseat it and start.

Nope it didnt work.

 

[mcobit]

But you didn't try the harddrives without additional powersupply, did you?


That would draw more power from the Pandora as it can handle and maybe something got damaged in the process.


If the screen started to flicker, I think you did exactly that. The USB specification of the Pandora allows one USB gadget with a max of 500 mA connected.


If your HDD takes more, you NEED to put an additional powersupply!!!


For a reflash it doesn't matter if you use linux or windows:


http://openpandora.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=199&Itemid=40&lang=en


Scroll down a bit for a step-by-step guide.

 

[DarkCheetah]

Yeah. Using an ExHDD without a power supply would definitely cause this on a Pandora. Depending on your desktop you're talking about a minimum of 450W power supply so there is extra to go around. The Pandora is a low power device so having something designed to draw off a normal desktop just isn't going to work. Though I don't see how it would have erased your nand unless it got fried.

 

[milkshake]

I always thought that the pandora couldnt physically provid more than 500 mA so wouldnt that mean it cant give what it doesnt have?.

 

[mcobit]

I always thought that the pandora couldnt physically provid more than 500 mA so wouldnt that mean it cant give what it doesnt have?.

Theoretically yes, but it can try


That would mean, that power is routet from other parts, like the display (which is the biggest powerconsumer in the pandora anyways) which would start malfunctioning.


I would believe, that this could happen, when some currentpeak (like the hdd starts to spin or wakes up from standby) occurs.


Edit: Maybe MWeston could elaborate a bit, if this is possible and if it actually could harm the Pandora.


Edit2: Also I am under the impression, that games, that are heavily using the sgx will diconnect your wifi, is caused by powerissues, too, but never got an answer, if this would be possible.

 

[soulanger]

Okay im starting to get scared.... But I really dont think so.. Man this is one curious problem. :\ Just got this thing a week or so back from replacement..

 

[mcobit]

Have you reflashed now?


Also: HAVE YOU USED IT WITHOUT ADDITIONAL POWERSUPPLY?


If we shall help you, we need some answers to our questions.

 

[DarkCheetah]

I'd be terrified too if I thought I may have fried my nand.

 

[soulanger]

Have you reflashed now?


Also: HAVE YOU USED IT WITHOUT ADDITIONAL POWERSUPPLY?

1. The bootstrap on the NAND is possibly corrupted so I dont think I cant. I have a similar problem to this guy.





What I need is a BOOT SD CARD. Which I still can do correctly.


2. No.. I know I was stupid. :[ But this never happened before even with 500+ mA usbs..

 

[mcobit]

So reflashing doesn't work with theofficial method? Then no bootsd will help you...

 

[milkshake]

im sure ed mentioned there is a mehtod you can use to reflash the bootstrap with an SD card if ever that became corrupt so there should be a way afaik.

 

[mcobit]

If there is, that's cool...


Link?

 

[soulanger]

yap exactly.. just cant figure out how to do them with these instructions. ED told me he would create something that would make creating boot disks/SDs easier. so I thats good news if i continue to fail at creating one. ^-^"

 

[mcobit]

Did you try to reflash the normal way?

 

[soulanger]

If there is, that's cool...


Link?

its in the first link i gave you

Did you try to reflash the normal way?

again yes.. there is no bootstrap thus no pandora icon nor green lights.

 

[mcobit]

These instructions seem pretty easy to follow to me, what exactly is your problem with that?

 

[mcobit]

If you are on windows, try this:


1. Format a sdcard to fat or fat32.


2. Put that mlo file on it.


3. Put the extracted full flash package on it.


4. Reboot


5. Use the described buttoncombination if it doesn't work directly.

 

[soulanger]

Sounds straightforward but it isnt. It really doesnt work for me.. And you forgot to add the u-boot.bin file.