help needed to restore minix neo x7 into working state [SOLVED]

[knawnd]

Hello!

I was trying to flash recovery partition of my Minix neo X7 device as I wrote in that message:

$ unzip x7-cwm-recovery.zip
$ adb connect
$ adb push x7-cwm-recovery.img /sdcard/
$ adb shell dd if=/sdcard/x7-cwm-recovery.img of=/dev/block/mtdblock3 bs=4096
$ adb reboot recovery

but after I just got black screen.

Since the device was accessible via USB cable I've tried to flash the same recovery image but this time using rkflashkit. As soon as it finished (rkflashkit shown in the log that image was flashed and checked after successfully). I pressed "reboot device" button in the rkflashkit menu. And since then I wasn't able to boot the device neither in recovery mode (pressing recovery button by paperclip and power button for a few seconds) nor in android. Display doesn't detect any signal from minix x7. There are the following messages in linux PC log file when I try to boot device in recovery mode:
kernel: [ 1764.282116] usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 5
kernel: [ 2526.491077] usb 1-4: new high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci_hcd
kernel: [ 2526.605771] usb 1-4: unable to get BOS descriptor
kernel: [ 2526.606533] usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=2207, idProduct=310b
kernel: [ 2526.606537] usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
mtp-probe: checking bus 1, device 6: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-4"
mtp-probe: bus: 1, device: 6 was not an MTP device
kernel: [ 2533.577150] usb 1-4: USB disconnect, device number 6

It's about 7 seconds between timestamps of two last lines.
There is only single line "Loading partition information" in the log rkflashkit windows after pressing recovery and power buttons.
There is no blue light from the LED.

I also tried to fix that using Windows XP machine. I've installed rockusb driver from Finless ROM, rebooted Windows and Minix. But when I am trying to enter flash mode (recover button + power button) the device "class for rockusb device" appears in the windows device manager menu and disappears after 7 seconds. During these 7 seconds ROM_flash_tool_v1.37 also detects the device (see attached image).
The same result I get if just press the power button (without touching the recovery one).

Is there any way to recovery into working state?
I would appreciate any help on that topic.

[leolas]

Follow this steps carefully please:
1. Download this file in your windows XP:https://mega.co.nz/#!1IMGgYpJ!L5FbnR...VNsG1d1x7b6m7Q Thanks to our friends of androidpc.es for the download link.
2. Without connect the device install the drivers using this file.
3. push reset button and maintain it pushed while you connect the device to pc. Open rkFlashtool. A message found Rockchip device in loader mode must appears.
4. Erase IDB, A message must appears that erase IDB was sucefull.
5. Install the rom.

Please if you got a fail in some of the steps please tell me in which steep and the error message.

leolas

[knawnd]

Follow this steps carefully please:
1. Download this file in your windows XP:https://mega.co.nz/#!1IMGgYpJ!L5FbnR...VNsG1d1x7b6m7Q Thanks to our friends of androidpc.es for the download link.
2. Without connect the device install the drivers using this file.
3. push reset button and maintain it pushed while you connect the device to pc. Open rkFlashtool. A message found Rockchip device in loader mode must appears.
4. Erase IDB, A message must appears that erase IDB was sucefull.
5. Install the rom.

Please if you got a fail in some of the steps please tell me in which steep and the error message.

leolas

After successfully performed first two steps if I just press reset (I guess it's the same as "recovery" button what is written on MINIX box under little hiden button in the whole) and keeping it pushed I plug USB cable then nothing happens: no usb device appears and Finless ROM flash tool shows "No found RKAndroid rock usb". But as soon as I press power button keeping pushed recovery one the usb device appears in "Class usb rockusb device", Finless ROM flash tool detects device but it again disappears after a few seconds.

I also have tried to press "Erase NAND(IDB)" button in Finless ROM flash tool when device was detected by that utility but looks like it was a bad idea since the messages in flash tool were the following:

INFO: Start to erase NAND
INFO: Start to lower format
INFO: Doing lower format. Total (2048). Current (897).
ERROR: Lower format failed.
ERROR: Erasing IDB failed.

and device disappeared from the Device Manager (as it was before).

If the power button is pushed again (without pressing the recovery one) then device is detected by Windows again, appears on the windows Device Manager and flash tool for a few seconds and then disappear again.

[mpp]

After successfully performed first two steps if I just press reset (I guess it's the same as "recovery" button what is written on MINIX box under little hiden button in the whole) and keeping it pushed I plug USB cable then nothing happens: no usb device appears and Finless ROM flash tool shows "No found RKAndroid rock usb". But as soon as I press power button keeping pushed recovery one the usb device appears in "Class usb rockusb device", Finless ROM flash tool detects device but it again disappears after a few seconds.

I also have tried to press "Erase NAND(IDB)" button in Finless ROM flash tool when device was detected by that utility but looks like it was a bad idea since the messages in flash tool were the following:

INFO: Start to erase NAND
INFO: Start to lower format
INFO: Doing lower format. Total (2048). Current (897).
ERROR: Lower format failed.
ERROR: Erasing IDB failed.

and device disappeared from the Device Manager (as it was before).

If the power button is pushed again (without pressing the recovery one) then device is detected by Windows again, appears on the windows Device Manager and flash tool for a few seconds and then disappear again.

Assuming you got your drivers loaded, you could get the pre V 6 release from Minix and follow the directions to restore listed there:

http://minixforums.com/threads/pre-006-firmware.2390/

I hope this helps.

[leolas]

Re: help needed to restore minix neo x7 into working state

After successfully performed first two steps if I just press reset (I guess it's the same as "recovery" button what is written on MINIX box under little hiden button in the whole) and keeping it pushed I plug USB cable then nothing happens: no usb device appears and Finless ROM flash tool shows "No found RKAndroid rock usb". But as soon as I press power button keeping pushed recovery one the usb device appears in "Class usb rockusb device", Finless ROM flash tool detects device but it again disappears after a few seconds.

I also have tried to press "Erase NAND(IDB)" button in Finless ROM flash tool when device was detected by that utility but looks like it was a bad idea since the messages in flash tool were the following:

INFO: Start to erase NAND
INFO: Start to lower format
INFO: Doing lower format. Total (2048). Current (897).
ERROR: Lower format failed.
ERROR: Erasing IDB failed.

and device disappeared from the Device Manager (as it was before).

If the power button is pushed again (without pressing the recovery one) then device is detected by Windows again, appears on the windows Device Manager and flash tool for a few seconds and then disappear again.

There is strange, of course you have the psu disconnected of the x7 when you try to connect it to pc, right?

leolas.

[knawnd]

Assuming you got your drivers loaded, you could get the pre V 6 release from Minix and follow the directions to restore listed there:

http://minixforums.com/threads/pre-006-firmware.2390/

I hope this helps.

thanks for the link, mpp! But I am afraid I am far away from that step yet...

[knawnd]

There is strange, of course you have the psu disconnected of the x7 when you try to connect it to pc, right?

No, the PSU (assuming PSU stands for power supply unit) was connected. So device had external power supply apart from USB (if it is able to be powered by USB). Did you mean that device needs to be connected only by USB cable i.e. without 5V PSU in order to enter into proper mode (I guess it's called MASK ROM mode).
Anyway I've just tried to disconnect PSU, press recovery button and keeping it pushed I connected device with OTG USB cable. But it was not detected by the windows. It seems for me that device becomes visible for the OS only if 5V PSU connected and the power button is pressed but only for a few seconds.

leolas, thanks a lot for trying help me!

[leolas]

Re: help needed to restore minix neo x7 into working state

No, the PSU (assuming PSU stands for power supply unit) was connected. So device had external power supply apart from USB (if it is able to be powered by USB). Did you mean that device needs to be connected only by USB cable i.e. without 5V PSU in order to enter into proper mode (I guess it's called MASK ROM mode).
Anyway I've just tried to disconnect PSU, press recovery button and keeping it pushed I connected device with OTG USB cable. But it was not detected by the windows. It seems for me that device becomes visible for the OS only if 5V PSU connected and the power button is pressed but only for a few seconds.

leolas, thanks a lot for trying help me!

Yes, i want to say that, in my stick power suply is disconnected in flash procces.
I only can suggest you try another usb wire, and other usb port.

leolas.

[knawnd]

Yes, i want to say that, in my stick power suply is disconnected in flash procces.
I only can suggest you try another usb wire, and other usb port.

tried both cases - no success :-(
Anyway, thanks a lot for your efforts and time trying to help me, leolas!
I will try to clarify on minixforums.com with some minix experts (if there is any) if there is a way to recovery my box.
But if someone here has an idea what can be done to solve my problem I would appreciate that.

[mpp]

Hello!

I was trying to flash recovery partition of my Minix neo X7 device as I wrote in that message:


I also tried to fix that using Windows XP machine. I've installed rockusb driver from Finless ROM, rebooted Windows and Minix. But when I am trying to enter flash mode (recover button + power button) the device "class for rockusb device" appears in the windows device manager menu and disappears after 7 seconds. During these 7 seconds ROM_flash_tool_v1.37 also detects the device (see attached image).
The same result I get if just press the power button (without touching the recovery one).

Is there any way to recovery into working state?
I would appreciate any help on that topic.

I will suggest this again.

"Assuming you got your drivers loaded, you could get the pre V 6 release from Minix and follow the directions to restore listed there:

http://minixforums.com/threads/pre-006-firmware.2390/"

Make sure you download RKBatchTool.exe V1.7:

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?5173-New-Rockchip-Batch-Tool-v1-7-Plus-v3-5-Drivers

Within the 7 second windows depress the "restore" option in RKBatchTool.exe. Worked for me.

Hope that helps.

[mpp]

Hello!

I was trying to flash recovery partition of my Minix neo X7 device as I wrote in that message:


I also tried to fix that using Windows XP machine. I've installed rockusb driver from Finless ROM, rebooted Windows and Minix. But when I am trying to enter flash mode (recover button + power button) the device "class for rockusb device" appears in the windows device manager menu and disappears after 7 seconds. During these 7 seconds ROM_flash_tool_v1.37 also detects the device (see attached image).
The same result I get if just press the power button (without touching the recovery one).

Is there any way to recovery into working state?
I would appreciate any help on that topic.

If you're not sure the proper drivers are installed, fellow member loko has posted the following taken from another thread:

"Every device connected to a Windows computer, whether it has a properly installed driver or not, has a visible entry in the Device Manager. You can open your Windows Device Manager, browse and find that device under the corresponding device type. You can also double click (or right click and select Properties) on the desired device name, then go to the Details tab, where you can see its corresponding Properties, including Device Ids.

If you want to uninstall a device, you can right click on the device name and select Uninstall. The main problem is that after uninstalling a device, when you refresh the Device Manager or reconnect the device, it gets automatically installed using the old driver, even if it is not the desired one, because a backup of that driver is integrated in Windows. If you want to avoid the automatic installation of the old driver, you just have to manually delete the backup of that driver.

In every Windows device driver package there is one or more INF files, corresponding to different supported devices and/or different Windows versions. These INF files contain Device Hardware Ids and installation instructions. When installing a new device, the system searches these INF files and if a matching Device Hardware Id is found, the device driver installation continues according to the included instructions in the corresponding INF file.

After every device driver installation, using a corresponding INF file, an exact copy of this file is created in \WINDOWS\INF\ folder, named OEM_____.INF, with an according OEM_____.PNF file, where _____ corresponds to the next available number, as there are already some OEM_____.INF files existing. You can open these INF files with any text editor and read the contents.

If you want to remove the backup of a specific driver from the system, you just have to remove its corresponding INF file. Find the desired OEM_____.INF file in \WINDOWS\INF\ by reading the contents of various OEM_____.INF files. If the INF file you are searching has been installed recently, for your convenience, start looking backwards, beginning with the last installed INF files. When you find the desire INF file, remove it (you can optionally create a backup). You can also remove the corresponding OEM_____.PNF file.

Now, if you uninstall the device in the Device Manager and refresh the Device Manager or reconnect the device, the device will ask for a new driver, since Windows cannot automatically find any INF file containing its corresponding Device Id installed in the system.

If you accidentally remove another INF file, the corresponding Device will continue to work normally, but if you uninstall it, you will have to provide again the original device driver package.

I hope this explanation helps you get rid of the old driver."

I hope this will help you out.

[knawnd]

fixed!!!

I will suggest this again.

"Assuming you got your drivers loaded, you could get the pre V 6 release from Minix and follow the directions to restore listed there:

http://minixforums.com/threads/pre-006-firmware.2390/"

Make sure you download RKBatchTool.exe V1.7:

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?5173-New-Rockchip-Batch-Tool-v1-7-Plus-v3-5-Drivers

Within the 7 second windows depress the "restore" option in RKBatchTool.exe. Worked for me.

Hope that helps.

It seems 7 seconds is not enough to restore. Restore process is initiated but after 7 seconds device disappears and restoring fails with appropriate messages in the log window (unfortunately I didn't save them).

BUT! I noticed if just press the power button without previously pressing the recovery one and keep it pressing the device stays visible for the OS much longer! So I pressed power button, RKBatchTool detected the device (first square in "Connected Devices" section became green), then I clicked on the "Restore" button located at the bottom of the RKBatchTool menu (previously I've selected a pre-006c-1080fb.img image to flash) and the flashing process seems started properly but after 53 seconds failed (see log on the attached screenshot). During some phase of that process first square what was initially green sometime became blue but at the end - red.



But I tried to flash the same ROM once again and this time .... it finished successfully!!!!
mpp, I simple don't know how to thank you! Is there any way to send you donation (e.g. PayPal?).

[knawnd]

For those who have such device in the same state with the following symptoms:
1) no signal on display,
2) LED doesn't glow by blue light,
3) not booting into recovery mode by pressing recovery button and consequently power button,
4) device is detected by PC only for a few (in my case it was about 7 seconds) and then disappears;

then one can try to do the following:
1) download ROM to flash (e.g. that one) and RKBatchTool v1.7 with USB driver,
2) connect device to PC by USB cable,
3) install USB driver for Rockchip device,
4) run RKBatchTool,
5) select ROM image in RKBatchTool what you want to flash,
6) press power button and keep it pressing during the whole process,
7) as soon as device is detected by the RKBatchTool press "Restore" button.

If one of the step fails then try to repeat it.

mpp, thank you VERY much again for your help!

[mpp]

It seems 7 seconds is not enough to restore. Restore process is initiated but after 7 seconds device disappears and restoring fails with appropriate messages in the log window (unfortunately I didn't save them).

BUT! I noticed if just press the power button without previously pressing the recovery one and keep it pressing the device stays visible for the OS much longer! So I pressed power button, RKBatchTool detected the device (first square in "Connected Devices" section became green), then I clicked on the "Restore" button located at the bottom of the RKBatchTool menu (previously I've selected a pre-006c-1080fb.img image to flash) and the flashing process seems started properly but after 53 seconds failed (see log on the attached screenshot). During some phase of that process first square what was initially green sometime became blue but at the end - red.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3957[/ATTACH]

But I tried to flash the same ROM once again and this time .... it finished successfully!!!!
mpp, I simple don't know how to thank you! Is there any way to send you donation (e.g. PayPal?).

Knawnd, glad I could help.

Your thanks is enough for me. We are nothing if we cannot help each other.

Enjoy your Minix Neo X7.

[mpp]

For those who have such device in the same state with the following symptoms:
1) no signal on display,
2) LED doesn't glow by blue light,
3) not booting into recovery mode by pressing recovery button and consequently power button,
4) device is detected by PC only for a few (in my case it was about 7 seconds) and then disappears;

then one can try to do the following:
1) download ROM to flash (e.g. that one) and RKBatchTool v1.7 with USB driver,
2) connect device to PC by USB cable,
3) install USB driver for Rockchip device,
4) run RKBatchTool,
5) select ROM image in RKBatchTool what you want to flash,
6) press power button and keep it pressing during the whole process,
7) as soon as device is detected by the RKBatchTool press "Restore" button.

If one of the step fails then try to repeat it.

mpp, thank you VERY much again for your help!

Good idea to summarize your steps. I'm sure it will help someone out that is in distress.

You might want to edit your first post and put "help needed to restore minix neo x7 into working state - RESOLVED". That way more people will know to check out your thread as you resolved the problem you had. I would imagine your thread will get a good amount of interest as there are others who can use this information to help them out.