Firmware corrupted

[spiken]

My n2100 firmware is corrupted and I can't access it by the web or ssh.

I ve unpacked the thecus firmware (tried both v2.1.06 and v2.1.05)and followed the redboot method :

ip -h 192.168.1.2
load -r ramdisk.arm -b 0x00800000
load -r zImage -b 0x00200000
exec -c "console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/ram0 initrd=0xa0800000,42M"

This will start the original Thecus firmware but note that it has not yet been written to flash. You can do this with the firmware upgrade option, simply by "upgrading" to the version you previously used.

Everything goes well, tfp upload and exec command, but I can't access the n2100 and the orange busy led still blinking

Any idea ?

Thx

[Deleted]

Do you have any drives connected?

Have you changed te RAM?

What TFTP server are you using?

I corrupted my flash a while back. After unpacking the files, it all worked.

You may have a problem with your unpacked files.

[spiken]

Thanks for your quick answer.

My n2100 is empty (no HDD inside).
My TFTP server is SolarWinds and works well : the 2 files were loaded successfully.

What's happend when you enter the exec command ?
How did you upgrade your firmware ?

Please, can you send me your unpacked files ?

Regards,

Spiken.

[Deleted]

I have sent you a message via this forum for the download link.

I used the instructions from the Thecus Wiki

onbeat.dk/thecus/index.php/N2100_Recovering_from_a_bad_config_change

I use TFTPD32 a very good tftp server (and other things) from tftpd32.jounin.net/

Regards

John Baker

[spiken]

The wiki says to load two linux file (installer and kernel files) before call the exec command (not directly the unpacked thecus firmware).

Did you do this ? and what did you do after ?
The wiki don't say how to restore the original firmware...

TIA

[spiken]

Your archive seems corrupted johnrbaker : I ve got an error with the .ram file while uncompressing.

That's my hyperterminal log (in bold my command) :

[...]
IP: 192.168.1.100/255.255.255.0, Gateway: 0.0.0.0
Default server: 0.0.0.0, DNS server IP: 0.0.0.0

RedBoot(tm) bootstrap and debug environment [ROM]
Red Hat certified release, version 1.93 - built 17:25:00, Feb 6 2007

Platform: THECUS N2100 (IOP80219)
Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, Red Hat, Inc.

RAM: 0x00000000-0x08000000, 0x0004b890-0x07fd1000 available, total: 128 MB
FLASH: 0xf0000000 - 0xf1000000, 128 blocks of 0x00020000 bytes each.
== Executing boot script in 3.000 seconds - enter ^C to abort
^C
RedBoot> ip -h 192.168.1.111
IP: 192.168.1.100/255.255.255.0, Gateway: 0.0.0.0
Default server: 192.168.1.111, DNS server IP: 0.0.0.0
RedBoot> load -r ramdisk.arm -b 0x00800000
Using default protocol (TFTP)
Raw file loaded 0x00800000-0x014df1ea, assumed entry at 0x00800000
RedBoot> load -r zImage -b 0x00200000
Using default protocol (TFTP)
Raw file loaded 0x00200000-0x0033399b, assumed entry at 0x00200000
RedBoot> exec -c "console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/ram0 initrd=0xa0800000,42M"
Build ATAG
ATAG_MEM: Overwrite ram_end with real_region_top=0x08000000, memsize=128 M
ATAG_MEM=134217728@0xa0000000, MACH_TYPE=1101
Using base address 0x00200000 and length 0x0013399c
Uncompressing Linux...................................................................................... done, booting the kernel.

After that, the orange led still blinking and nothing on 192.168.1.100 (ping nor web services)

[dbridges]

OK

There are three main parts to the flash.

The kernel the ramdisk and the user area.

Your kernel and ramdisk are probably fine because they're what you've been flashing / restoring.

The last area is basically the /app folder in the n2100's file system.

The main scripts that get called during the boot process are
/app/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
/app/etc/rc.d/rc.3
/app/etc/rc.d/rc.local
and finally
/app/cfg/rc


When i had damaged my configuration i caused it by adding a line of code to the /app/cfg/rc which was expecting some user response (not good).

The second time i had edited /app/cfg/rc through samba and it lost it's execute permission.

I would start with the /app/cfg/rc and work backwards. Check all of the permissions on all of the files.

Then add some debug code into the files.

Firstly though. Are you getting any beeping during the normal boot up process.

The first code in the rc file is this
echo "Buzzer 1" > /proc/thecus_io
echo "Freq 1 3" > /proc/thecus_io
echo "Freq 2 1" > /proc/thecus_io
echo "Busy 2" > /proc/thecus_io
echo "Init completed!"

Which should have it beeping. If it processes these beeps then the rc is being run.

If that's the case try commenting out the module startup call
#/app/bin/module_boot.sh

Sorry if none of this makes sense. I have a 9 month old pestering me at the moment. ;D

[spiken]

Thanks, dbridges but a lot of files seems missing that's why I really want to restore the original firmware.

Unfortunately, I don't know how...

[dbridges]

If it's the files that are in the user area /app/cfg and /app/etc that are missing then restoring the firmware wont work.

You'll need a tarball that you can copy files from.

The reason that these aren't overwritten by the firmware each time is because thecus would have to deal with a lot of people complaining about losing their settings.

PM Sent

[spiken]

Once the ssh restored with the debian install, I ve put one disk formated in fat 32 with the unpacked firmware on it in the n2100 to restored the flash but how can I mount it ?

I try both mount -t vfat /dev/sda /mydisc and mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mydisc but I ve always the "No such device" error.

How can I do ?

Thanks.

[dbridges]

spiken said:

Once the ssh restored with the debian install, I ve put one disk formated in fat 32 with the unpacked firmware on it in the n2100 to restored the flash but how can I mount it ?

I try both mount -t vfat /dev/sda /mydisc and mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mydisc but I ve always the "No such device" error.

How can I do ?

Thanks.

The shell environment for the debian installer is not a full blown OS. It's mount command may not be able to handle fat32. You may need to make the disk ext3.