PIPO Tablet Won't Boot

[budgetgeek]

I have a PIPO M9Pro but I'm sure a solution from any Rockchip tablet would help me. I really do not know what is wrong, so I am giving all probable issues to see if there is any help.

I was considering getting a PIPO S1Pro so I was downloading firmware for it. I also downloaded the kitkat firmware for a RK3188 stick with ap6210 wifi. I moved these to my memory card to offload to my computer. I had to reboot the tablet while these were on the external_sd and it has not worked since. I don't know if this is the issue, but if it helps, I share.

Now, I have been able to flash new firmware to the device. The first thing I did was to reflash everything the way I had it (from a dump of the 04/14 firmware that worked with 8GB parameter). I booted it up and it went to the PIPO Boot The Wizard app that launches at startup for any stock rom. From there, all the services started crashing, beginning with the launcher, then all the Google processes down to the entire tablet crashing.

I thought I may have accidentally flashed a kitkat firmware to the tablet so I took it apart and shorted the nand memory. I flashed again, but this time to be sure I used the rileyrom 3.0 and flashed the bootloader from maskrom. I also erased nand and flashed the kitkat rom from the factory with the full flash tool in mask rom mode. It worked and I was able to boot it, but it stuck on the boot animation. I again was able to erase nand and flash the jellybean rom and bootloader but now I am having an issue with it stopping on recovery, booting into recovery the first time and failing as it formats /data and /cache so I know it works, but still fails.

The procedure to flash takes a few attempts because I get the Download IDB failed and have to start over each time that happens, but as follows:

1. Press reset button, plug in and erase nand. If that works. If not, uninstall driver, reboot computer and reset button, plug in and erase nand until it does.

2. Unplug tablet, uninstall drivers, and reboot computer.

3. Reset button, plug in tablet, download drivers, and flash. If it works and I do not get Download IDB failed. If I do, go back to step 2.

If I can get the sequence to work, I usually get the dead android with the hood open <!> and have to reset it again, usually by holding power until it POPS then try again later, at which time it fails on recovery. This happens regardless of whether I make changes to the default parameter.

Some other symptoms include plugging it in does not turn on power LED but once I flash a new rom it does, however, this goes away after a while and I get no response from anything. I have to keep it plugged into power to flash it, so that isn't the problem...I even tried leaving it plugged in while it booted up and left it on the boot animation for at least 30 minutes when I was able to get that far.

I have installed the drivers using the rockchip tool and downloading from windows, but it makes no difference, nor does changing the usb. With the back detached, you can use any usb cord as long as it is a quality usb, as I have used two pipo usb's and a motorola.

Any suggestions?

[budgetgeek]

I was able to flash the 4.4 rom, but still nothing, it stops at formatting /data.

Is the memory bad?

[rrileypm]

After all that you've gone through, I afraid that your NAND chip has failed.

[budgetgeek]

If it has failed, would it still flash? And if failed, can it be repaired or bypassed?

[budgetgeek]

Oh, it did make it to formatting /cache. It may not be faulty or failed.

[rrileypm]

Depending on your configuration..1 or 2 NAND chips, you could have a partial failure.

Considering the number of attempts you've made...taking all of the precautions I can think of...it looks like a hardware problem of some kind.

You might see if Pipo will take it back for repairs. They may send you a new one.

[budgetgeek]

I got it on amazon from a third party seller. I haven't checked their return policy, but if I can send it to Pipo for repair I would be happy to pay shipping to and from.

[rrileypm]

Just email Anna at:

[email protected]

She should give you an indication of whether that's possible.

[budgetgeek]

I will look into it.

Question: Do you have to reboot to recovery after flashing a rom? Can I bypass this problem to get the tablet to boot, then reboot to recovery and sort it out/diagnose the problem?

[rrileypm]

Unless you have a reason to boot to recovery...just don't do it.

On first boot, when you flash any ROM after you've erased IDB, the stock recovery must format all of the partitions...that's the only time most users ever see recovery...and not even then, because most users stay with the stock firmware which already installed on their tablet out of the box.

[budgetgeek]

Maybe you misunderstood.

I was thinking of flashing your 2.7 or latest jb rom, but with the misc.img from the "Are you stuck in Recovery Mode? Here's a fix." thread. Would the tablet still boot if recovery doesn't format the partitions as long as one of the two nand chips still works?

If this works and recovery formatting of the partitions is required, I would try it later, or simply do it manually somehow if that is even possible, but probably I would never reboot the tablet ever again if I can get it to work and it isn't required.

[rrileypm]

Yes, you can do that. With the misc.img from that post, you will bypass recovery and go straight to the system.

You will see an error in the notification area that reports "damaged SD card". Just go into settings, storage and format it manually (or just press on the error in notification). If you have a bad NAND chip, this format will fail...but you will at least know what's wrong for sure.

That's how my first ROM's were, when I was trying to provide CWM, but I could never get CWM to format the NAND. Everyone would get that error, and have to format SD manually. I went to flashing the stock recovery...installing CWM/TWRP later and it just works.

[budgetgeek]

I knew I could do it!

Here's something I haven't seen in weeks:



So that actually worked. If I go to storage, it does say NAND FLASH - Mount SD Card, so that means there is no memory, right?

Can I still install and run apps? Because as long as I have the memory card for storage and can save everything to /mnt/external_sd/ I have no problem with running this like it is.

But, if I try to mount the NAND FLASH, it may go down again and I would be in the same hole, right?

No harm in not trying?

[rrileypm]

Now that you've gone this far, you can experiment with it and see.

There is a way...but I haven't done it...to switch the internal and external SD's. It involves a couple of tweaks in the system. I've never needed it, so I haven't payed attention to how to do it.

Google is your friend....

[budgetgeek]

Update

Since I got it to work that one time I accidentally shut it down. I had put the power/back button in upside down and it stuck out badly, so I took the cover off to switch them, and had to eject the memory card in the process. This caused a reboot, I think, and now I'm not getting anywhere again.

I flashed the factory firmware so I could get an idea of where I was with the thing, but it booted with the rileyrom logo instead. I am not sure I am fully able to erase IDB when flashing, because it goes up to 8192 slowly and finishes at 0 of 6, but since it started at 0 up to 8192, I think it worked, but can't check.

I may need to erase from KK and write from JB if JB is working on erase. When I use the kitkat flasher, it goes up to 16384. Should it go up to 8GB or 16GB on erase IDB? Is there another way to wipe the tablet and start fresh?