Boot-Up/Factory Reset Problem

[leeb]

I would like to suggest that you attempt a

fsck /dev/block/nande

on the faulty tablet, and see if it is able to clean it up...

if not, attempt to copy the /dev/block/nandg (recovery partition device) from the good tablet to an external TF card file as I posted before, and then attempt to copy it to the same nandg device on the faulty one. This OUGHT to get you a working recovery on the faulty one which should fix the factory reset issue... at the least you may be able to clean/fix the /data partition that way.
AND/OR
you could also do the same with the /dev/block/nande (/data) partition and possibly get a clean(er) partition that then could be more easily repaired.

Just some thoughts!

 

[Bosco]

Tried `fsck' but no joy there.

fsck /dev/block/nande
/system/bin/sh: fsck: not found

Also copied the recovery partition from the good tablet to the bad tablet but it still won't boot into recovery. Just doesn't seem to see it.

Would re-flashing the firmware using LiveSuite work, or does that also require the tablet to be in recovery mode?

 

[vampirefo.]

Tried `fsck' but no joy there.

fsck /dev/block/nande
/system/bin/sh: fsck: not found

Also copied the recovery partition from the good tablet to the bad tablet but it still won't boot into recovery. Just doesn't seem to see it.

Would re-flashing the firmware using LiveSuite work, or does that also require the tablet to be in recovery mode?

Livesuite doesn't use recovery mode, it uses it's own download mode.

 

[vampirefo.]

If you have busybox installed we can try and format it via busybox, via adb shell.

adb shell

su

umount /data

busybox mke2fs -T ext4 -F -q -m 0 -b 4096 -O ^huge_file,extent /dev/block/nande

mount -t ext4 /dev/block/nande /data

 

[Bosco]

Hi Vampirefo.

First line produced this result.

unmount /data
sh: unmount: not found


I figured if it couldn't find /data then it wasn't mounted anyway so thought I'd try the next part. Seemed to do something.

busybox mke2fs -T ext4 -F -q -m 0 -b 4096 -O ^huge_file,ext
ent /dev/block/nande
-m 0 -b 4096 -O ^huge_file,extent /dev/block/nande <
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
76800 inodes, 307200 blocks
0 blocks (0%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=4194304
10 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
7680 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912


Final part came back with `invalid argument'.

mount -t ext4 /dev/block/nande /data
mount: Invalid argument


I haven't rebooted the tablet yet. Thought I'd wait for a response first.

 

[vampirefo.]

You typed umount command wrong you added an n it's umount not unmount anyway the partition appears to have formatted, now reboot and then do busybox df -h to see if kernel has mounted data.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Android Tablet

 

[Bosco]

Just rebooted and the data partition hasn't mounted again.

Really thought this would be the break through.

 

[vampirefo.]

If busybox nor CWM can fix it, only choice is livesuite.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Android Tablet

 

[Bosco]

Ok, thanks for trying.

I'll see if I can hunt down a firmware image. I did ask the Chinese supplier for the firmware a few weeks ago but they said they didn't have it. I've just mailed them again but I won't hold my breath.

...

Actually I've just been reading a thread with a guy who wanted to backup his tablet's firmware in case it ever needed to be reflashed in the future.

One member posted this;

Just use
#adb backup
for back up and
#adb restore
for restoring

Might this work if I made a backup from the healthy tablet and restored on the bad tablet?

 

[leeb]

It is certainly worth a try. I certainly believe the good tablet is going to be the key to fixing the other!
You may want to try doing the mount w/o the -t.. mount /dev/nande /data...

 

[vampirefo.]

I have never used adb backup or restore, so can't say. I would think you would need to be in recovery mode using CWM.
I don't understand how one could adb restore on a running system and kernel.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Android Tablet

 

[vampirefo.]

Ok I just did the adb back -all then I opened backup.ab to see what was backed up, not much really just apps, so this isn't a tablet backup per say, it just a app backup, so not going to help you.

 

[Bosco]

Yeah, I did a bit more reading-up last night and reached the same opinion.

I had a brief response from the Chinese supplier this morning. They're very prompt but no help.

Thanks for your kindly feedback

We are so sorry that we didnt have the NATPC KINGTH firmware at this moment.

Anyway, I think the following firmware may be compatible - Unofficial CyanogenMod 9 for AllWinner A10 tablets.

[rom] Unofficial CyanogenMod 9 for many AllWinner A10 tablets - xda-developers

Just got to figure out how to turn this into a LiveSuit image.

Alternatively, I may start a new thread to see if anyone already has a suitable firmware image.

 

[tpaine]

Tried `fsck' but no joy there.

fsck /dev/block/nande
/system/bin/sh: fsck: not found

Also copied the recovery partition from the good tablet to the bad tablet but it still won't boot into recovery. Just doesn't seem to see it.

Would re-flashing the firmware using LiveSuite work, or does that also require the tablet to be in recovery mode?

Did you try busybox fsck /dev/block/nande ?

As stated before, livesuite should be the last thing to try.

 

[tpaine]

One more thing, you might try.

Adb reboot recovery