I dun goofed. (Full Brick) [RESOLVED]

[notthatl33tah4x0r]

So, I've had a devil of a time with my X7. I tried to flash debian onto the device, and now, after repeated wipings of the NAND (cos I did it wrong), it doesn't even boot to mask mode. I can turn on the machine while pushing in the pin (I've become a pro at this part), and the machine won't stay powered unless I keep the power button held in, but once that's all set up, nothing comes out of the OTG port.

Windows stopped detecting it in the rockchip batch tool (not even mask mode), so I resorted to my trusty arch linux install to see what dmesg would say. Turns out, the kernel doesn't even register that I plugged the darn thing in. So while I get the red Optical Out light, it isn't doing anything else.

So, when I disassemble this little monkey, will shorting the pins allow it to go back into Mask mode? or have I gone too far into broken-ville to recover the device? If I can resuscitate the machine, which pins do I short?

I opted for the Extended Warranty on this device, so I could always bring it back and demand an exchange for a Neo X8, but I'd really like to stick to RK3188 hardware, because it's so much more hackable. Any help?

[notthatl33tah4x0r]

update

Did a little more research, found Valentijn Sessink's article on unbricking the Neo X7 Mini (http://valentijn.sessink.nl/?p=517), and now I have the pins required. seems these things are far more difficult to kill than I gave them credit for.

I was looking at this: http://www.freaktab.com/attachment.p...4&d=1377542341, and found the T4/T5/ED13 connection that I need to join, and found a nice wire to connect them, then realized that I don't have a tiny screwdriver to deal with the four cross screws on the board. so this will be delayed about 12 hours or so, while I sleep, wake up, and go down to the local dollar store to grab a screwdriver that'll fit.

[notthatl33tah4x0r]

Good gravy those screws are tight! I just purchased a second screwdriver with #0 heads, and hopefully I'll have enough torque to actually unscrew the five screws without stripping them or hurting myself. More info later.:-)

[notthatl33tah4x0r]

The Consequences Will Never Be The Same.

So, with a better screwdriver, the screws were cake to remove. I had a bit of trouble getting the thing to initialize, but I found that setting the jumper on the board from 1-2 to 2-3 (auto-power on) made it appear in lsusb within the 4 seconds Valentijn said it would. However, I got this Gem upon trying to upload the firmware:

# sudo ./upgrade_tool uf X7_20131231_OTA.img
Loading firmware...
Support Type:RK31 FW Ver:4.2.02 FW Time:2013-12-31 17:35:58
Loader ver:1.24 Loader Time:2013-06-21 16:59:45
Prepare IDB Fail

then I realized that I needed to stop shorting T4/T5 when uploading the firmware. once I took the wires off, it did a firmware upload without issue. Currently sitting at the main Android home screen, doing a system update. Everything's working famously. Hopefully, someone else is able to use this info to their advantage.

[sfuseau]

notthatl33tah4x0 could you be more specific about what you did to bring your X7 back to life:

I've spent hours trying to unbrick it (shorting pins and all) but it never seems to be recognized by the system (windows or linux).

[notthatl33tah4x0r]

notthatl33tah4x0 could you be more specific about what you did to bring your X7 back to life:

I've spent hours trying to unbrick it (shorting pins and all) but it never seems to be recognized by the system (windows or linux).

I'll assume you disassembled the device, and are looking at a board. T4 and T5 are in the lower-left corner area, just to the right of the memory chips (mine are hynix brand). I used a wire from a garbage bag tie to short the pins, because I'm ghetto. I had zero luck with this, even though I had definitely made a connection. I then unplugged everything, set the jumper on the board to automatically power on when plugged in, and then plugged in everything in this order:

0. In a Linux terminal (I used konsole), type "watch -n 1 lsusb". Leave it running
1. Plug otg cable into PC, do not plug other end into MINIX yet.
2. Short T4 and T5 with the bread tie wire. Keep it firmly pressed.
3. Plug in power cable.
4. Plug the otg cable into the MINIX box.
5. Watch as the new ID pops into the terminal.
6. Remove the wire. System is still running and waiting for flash in mask mode.

If you do not see the MINIX in your lsusb, do 6-1 in the opposite order as above, and try again.

Once flashed, be sure to set the jumper back, so it doesn't immediately boot once power is connected.

Hope this helps.

[sfuseau]

I'll assume you disassembled the device, and are looking at a board. T4 and T5 are in the lower-left corner area, just to the right of the memory chips (mine are hynix brand). I used a wire from a garbage bag tie to short the pins, because I'm ghetto. I had zero luck with this, even though I had definitely made a connection. I then unplugged everything, set the jumper on the board to automatically power on when plugged in, and then plugged in everything in this order:


0. In a Linux terminal (I used konsole), type "watch -n 1 lsusb". Leave it running
1. Plug otg cable into PC, do not plug other end into MINIX yet.
2. Short T4 and T5 with the bread tie wire. Keep it firmly pressed.
3. Plug in power cable.
4. Plug the otg cable into the MINIX box.
5. Watch as the new ID pops into the terminal.
6. Remove the wire. System is still running and waiting for flash in mask mode.

If you do not see the MINIX in your lsusb, do 6-1 in the opposite order as above, and try again.

Once flashed, be sure to set the jumper back, so it doesn't immediately boot once power is connected.

Hope this helps.

Ah ah! I like your ghetto technique. I use the same plastic-wrapped tie to bridge the pins or alternatively used aluminum foil and tape. I tried again with a video tutorial today, I managed to get USB connected a little longer (>7 seconds) but it is never recognized beyond the USB ID.

I'll try your procedure and report back. I'm using a Mac with VMWare for Linux and Windows, I've always upgraded my Minix this way in the past up to now. Hope it doesn't jam the whole bring-back-to-life thing.

Thanks for your prompt reply though.