Pandora boots into tty1 how to proceed?

[Bosbeetle]

I think there was a Way to flash your Pandora from the Second Slot..
..did you tried that to insert the SD into the Second SD Slot and while Booting you should have the Option
- Boot from SD 2:1

..when the Card is bootable and you hold the R Button while poweron.

Or is your Pandora now realy dead flashed and no Picture is on the Screen more?

Didnt know you could boot from SD2, I will try that definetly

Post automatically merged: Nov 25, 2020

Thats realy unfortunaly

My Ideas are out now.

Maybe a Way is to solder the defective String of SD Card Slot with a Short Cable onto Card itself.

I think it's only the outer casing that is not connected anymore so probably a ground or something. Howerver it is hard to see where it should be connected.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

May help if the keyboard is off:

Serial console access for boot debugging and other tricks

During development of the LetuxOS kernel to support the Pandora it was very helpful to have access to the serial console through the expansion connector of the Pandora. Since the initial version was a little fragile, I have designed a tiny adapter a while ago that does not block the Pandora...

pyra-handheld.com

I'm not sure that the boot from SD 2:1 works, I've just tried that and it doesn't.
Do you have any link about how to achieve that @ingoreis ? Maybe it's about modifying the autoboot.txt ?

Unless you had a nasty short-circuit, there's still hope.

 

[ingoreis]

i can confirm that with Pictures:

Maybe you have an older U-Boot Bootloader on your Pandora.

Notaz definly added an Option to boot from SD 2:1 for flashing but i did not found the Right Thread.

That was simply with the normal extracted Flash Files on a 2GB Fat formated Card:

https://www.openpandora.org/firmware/fullflash/SuperZaxxon176.zip

Holding R Button while poweron.

Boot from SD 2:1 and reflashing work fine:

 

[Linux-SWAT]

How dare you accusing me not having an up-to-date bootloader ?!?
Ok thanks, we'll have to find that thread/post.
Anyway, that may change nothing for Bosbeetle if he doesn't have that updated bootloader...

Nice to see that the Golden Pandora is still kicking around :^)

 

[ingoreis]

Found it:

Update - SuperZaxxon v1.75

So it's a national holiday here today, and that gave some extra time to put out this release. This release is mostly about idle power saving (reduced battery usage when you close the lid or leave pandora doing nothing), which was released and discussed before, but now you get a flashable image...

pyra-handheld.com

Since this Version you can Boot from SD 2:1

Notaz wrote:

• u-boot: updated to a newer version
• u-boot: enabled booting from the second (right) SD card slot; it's now also possible to reflash from it
• u-boot: enabled booting directly from ext4 partitions
• u-boot: added a keypad driver and an option to enter u-boot shell (urjaman)
• u-boot: some compatibility changes for the kernel idle power saving stuff (CC unit might not show u-boot menu if you stay on the old u-boot version and require removing battery for 5 minutes to recover)

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Mmm I have done it as it's in my files...
Also I can boot ext4 partitions and enter the uboot console.

 

[PowerGod]

I have too an older bootloader

Is it required a full reflash to update only the bootloader ?

I always used "Upgrade Pandora OS" to be up to date, but seems like that part was not touched...

 

[Bosbeetle]

Whoop I'm back

It turned out it wasnt the SD slot however the left leds that indicate SD read/write are gone. But once the OS was back both slots work. And Ive got my pandora back. Thanks so much. Still dont know what happened though. I guess I'll have a bit more time before the pyra appears

And again how awesome is the pnd system, no need to install all programs anew even has all my highscores and savegames

 

[Bosbeetle]

"unbrickable" is in the pandora's case a true feature !

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Is it required a full reflash to update only the bootloader ?

Probably not, but you'll have to mess with the .img, and dd the right ubifs partition.
Also read the notes from the 1.75 link:

• If you are updating from v1.61 or lower, it is highly recommended to do a full reflash because many system libraries have been changed in 1.70 and some users reported failures updating from v1.61 or earlier. Updating from 1.70 should be completely safe.
• Be sure to backup any important data you might have in your NAND for the above reasons.
• User-Modified configs will not be overwritten with the new version.