Stuck on boot with Oct 30 release

Alvin Wong — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 07:40:56 -0000

I am not so sure about the formatting of the SD card, but all the cards I've tried have their partition table "re-initialized" to MS-DOS and the first partition formatted as FAT16 (not FAT32). I understand there may be hundreds of ways to format the card to the desired format (or just to make it work), while the method I've used may only be one of those.

Some users may be very lucky to succeed on the very first time, while some may take numerous attempts but still fail. I admit that the instructions given are not very clear and the lack of demonstration videos make it quite confusing. However I am quite busy at academic studies and some other stuff of myself that I don't even have time to develop this project regularly, how could I even think of writing detailed instructions and taking videos? The only possible way to keep helping users is to reply your questions over here.

Also, I am not an expert, I just write code and test by means of trial and error whenever I have time and feel like developing on this project. I haven't even submitted a single patch to the Linux kernel. I kept hoping that someone who is knowledgeable can take part in this project, but nobody had turned up, so that's it.

Stuck on boot with Oct 30 release

Payacek — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 07:21:56 -0000

At first I'd like to say hello, it's my first post - at whole sourceforge site ;)

I had the same problem Mike have, but I managed to deal with it.
At first I tried to run Android from my 4GB SDHC card, but it didn't started at all,
then I found that it shouldn't by SDHC, so I used 2GB SD card formated to FAT in Windows 7 and it worked but stucked in the same place Mike described. I tried many times but the result was always the same.
Finaly I formated my SD card in my old Nokia E52 mobile phone (it is microSD card with adapter for Ipaq), copied files from my computer and tried for the last time - it was surprise for me, bu it worked and didn't stuck ;)
Now I have IPAQ 214 with working android on it ;)
To be sure, I tried few more times to run android, and it always started without problems now.

So maybe formating of Mike's SD card is the problem. I don't know what kind of card it is, if it is SD card (not micro) you can try to format it i.e. in digital photo camera.
Formating in mobile phone worked for me, maybe same think will work in your case Mike.

I hope it will help a litle.

By the way, nice work Alvin ;)
I would like to help in the project, but I'm not a regular programmer (I'm programming PLC industrial controlers only)

Stuck on boot with Oct 30 release

Alvin Wong — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:22:44 -0000

Well, you need to swap the two cards at the correct moment... perhaps you are not doing it the right way. I'll see if I have any time to modify some bits of code and upload a test release for you to try.

The problems associated with the LCD screen are in an I-am-not-talented-enough-to-solve-it situation.

Stuck on boot with Oct 30 release

Mike — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:07:38 -0000

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxyMnsoEnRw

Another thing to note is that if I leave it at the "error" screen for a while, the screen will go blank while the green power light remains on. The touch screen doesn't respond, but if I push a button, then the screen goes white.
The screen also goes white about 1/20 times I try to boot it (doesn't even go to the terminal output).

Stuck on boot with Oct 30 release

Alvin Wong — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 02:22:17 -0000

There are too little information. Could you please take a video about that which I can see the text being shown on the screen?

Stuck on boot with Oct 30 release

Mike — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:56:11 -0000

I tried to use a Virbatim 8GB SDHC card as you said, but it did the same thing. It waits before reporting the errors while the cards are out, but does the above when either card is inserted.

Wi-Fi settings box OK - Screen alignment issue - Organization and optimization (Oct 30 SDBoot rel.)

Alvin Wong — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 03:31:22 -0000

Sadly, all the points you've just mentioned are difficult to solve. [tickets:4], [tickets:12] and [tickets:21] already marked the potential causes, but I can't deal with them. Not only do I not have the time (need to take care of my studies), but also don't have the skills. I am not very familiar with such things (especially for writing Linux drivers). My attempt to port Android is mainly based on the kernel that Oliver Ford has built, which is also not good enough for daily use. (Oliver's userspace, Angstrom, isn't resource hungry so it runs smoother than Android.) I *did* wrote/edited a few drivers to improve the experience, for example, the power button functionality, power off/restart functionality, speed up touchscreen. However writing a graphics driver or debugging the LCD shift problem is not easy. I don't even have the serial port soldered which made it more difficult to debug anything. If you are looking for something stable, you're out of luck. But if someone more skillful than me could help on this project, there may be a better release in the future.

Bricked ipaq 210 :(

Alvin Wong — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 10:42:14 -0000

Sorry, missed your reply. You should **release** the keys when you start getting display when booting from SD card. If not the bootloader will detect an "invalid" "keycode" and will automatically power off.

OS reload when wifi configuration box checked (2012-10-13 sdboot)

Alvin Wong — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:20:05 -0000

Opps, I had uploaded a new version on 2012-10-30 but forgot to update the link... but please try it. And sorry, Wi-Fi isn't really stable. There could be random crashes, but once it's up that session it should be quite stable that session.

OS reload when wifi configuration box checked (2012-10-13 sdboot)

Alvin Wong — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:12:05 -0000

Opps, I had uploaded a new version on 2012-10-30 but forgot to update the link... but please try it.

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Wi-Fi settings box OK - Screen alignment issue - Organization and optimization (Oct 30 SDBoot rel.)

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OS reload when wifi configuration box checked (2012-10-13 sdboot)

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