#5231 NORM Update.: Date cleared due to RTC battery coming loose

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#5231: Date cleared due to RTC battery coming loose
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  Reporter:  wad       |       Owner:  wad               
      Type:  defect    |      Status:  assigned          
  Priority:  normal    |   Milestone:  Update.1          
 Component:  hardware  |     Version:  CTest Hardware    
Resolution:            |    Keywords:  RTC, date, bricked
  Verified:  0         |    Blocking:                    
 Blockedby:            |  
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Comment(by wad):

 A solution for fixing machines that have stopped booting due to this
 problem
 wad provided by Mitch Bradley.  You need:

 a) a serial adapter connected to a PC with a terminal program like
 minicom, TeraTerm, or HyperTerminal.

 b) A wireless router set up as follows:
  1) The SSID is OLPCOFW

  2) Security is disabled, i.e. no WEP or WPA security - an "open" network

  3) The IP address of the wireless network is 10.20.0.0 with netmask
 255.255.0.0 or 255.255.255.0

  4) DHCP is enabled, so the router will give out IP addresses to XOs that
 connect wirelessly

  5) The router is connected to the Internet on the back end

  6) The router provides DNS services for its wireless clients (this is
 pretty standard)

 c) A web server set up as follows:
  1) The server's IP address is 10.20.0.14

  2) In the root directory of the web area (i.e. the directory accessed by
 http://10.20.0.14/), there is a file named "new.rom" which is a copy of
 q2d07.rom ( http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Firmware_q2d07 ).

 Given that setup, you can fully recover an XO that is bricked by bad clock
 data and OFW Q2D06 as follows:

 1) Remove the battery pack and AC adapter

 2) Remove the back cover and attach the serial adapter

 3) Plug in the AC adapter (a battery pack is optional)

 4) Press the power button and wait for the "Page Fault" message to appear
 on the serial port

 5) Type:  ok  probe-pci  probe-usb  ntp-set-clock  newrom

 6) You should see this sequence of messages:

  USB2 devices:

  /pci/usb at f,5/wlan at 0,0

  USB1 devices:

  Scan for: OLPCOFW found

  Associate with: OLPCOFW

  2007-12-28 23:08:04 UTC

  Reading http:\\10.20.0.14\new.rom

  Got firmware version: CL1   Q2D07c Q2D

  Checking integrity ...

  SPI FLASH is type 13 - Spansion, Winbond, or ST

  Merging existing manufacturing data

  Erasing

  d0000

  Writing

  dc000

  Erasing

  f0000

  Writing

  fc000

  Verifying

  fc000

  Restarting...

  +

  <A bunch of message lines "Forthmacs ... USB1 devices:">

  OLPC C2, 256 MiB memory installed, S/N SHFnnnnnnn

  OpenFirmware  CL1   Q2D07  Q2D

 7) Verify that the last line contains "Q2D07".

 8) At this point, you are done and can turn restart or power-off the
 laptop.

 Background information: Why this works:

 Open Firmware has the convenience command "ntp-set-clock" that sets the
 time and date from a network time server.  The time server list is:  "time
 172.18.0.1 0.pool.ntp.org 1.pool.ntp.org 2.pool.ntp.org".  The first
 server "time" would only be found if you have a local DNS domain that
 points "time" to a specific server.  The "172.18.0.1" is for a local
 school server.  The remaining entries "N.pool.ntp.org" are public time
 servers.  Typically the time will be set from one of those "pool" servers,
 unless you have set up a local one at "time".

 OFW also has the command "newrom" which is equivalent to "flash!
 http:\\10.20.0.14\new.rom".  This is for Mitch's personal convenience in
 testing new firmware builds.  10.20.0.14 is the IP address of a web server
 on his local network.   Note that this feature does not constitute a
 security hole, since you can only execute this command if you have already
 "unlocked" the system.

 OLPCOFW is the default SSID that the firmware uses for wireless test
 operations.

 It is possible set up the network in a different way, using a different
 network address, different server address, different SSID, secured
 network, etc., but each such change increases the amount of typing
 necessary to accomplish the recovery task.

 One more typing saver:  You can "copy" the "probe-pci probe-usb ntp-set-
 clock newrom" string and "paste" it into the terminal emulator with a
 mouse clock.  If you are fixing a bunch of machines, you need only do the
 "copy" step once.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/5231#comment:2>
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