[olpc-help] XO won't boot

[Denver Gingerich]

On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 6:30 AM, Laurie DeMott <demotlj at alfred.edu> wrote:
[...]
>  It finally then spit out a few lines about files and stopped with the
>  following message:
>  JSError: [Errno 28] No space left on device.
>
>  So I'm guessing that, in fact, I did overfill it.  Is the only
>  solution trying to boot it from the flash drive (which so far hasn't
>  worked)?

Yes, that seems like the only option at this point.  However, the XO
will not boot to an SD card unless its files are signed by the OLPC
people or you've put your developer key on the SD card in the
appropriate place.

One option is to re-flash the XO.  This will delete all the files on
your XO so depending on how much important information you've stored
on it, this may not be an option for you.  Instructions for doing this
are at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activated_Upgrade#Upgrade_the_Activated_Laptop.

> I don't suppose there is a way to hack into the system and
>  delete some files, is there?

I wouldn't call it "hacking", but yes, there is a way.  It requires
that you have a developer key, though.  If you don't have one (or if
you have one but you haven't copied it to another computer besides
your XO), then you will need to get one from the OLPC people.
Instructions are at
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activation_and_Developer_Keys#Getting_a_Developer_Key_if_the_Machine_Won.27t_Boot.

Once you have a developer key, you can make a bootable SD card using
the instructions at http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=1436.0.
When it tells you to move to your XO, what you should do instead is
copy develop.sig (your developer key) to /security on the SD card and
create an empty /security/.private directory.

When you've booted up with the SD card, right-click on the desktop, go
to Accessories->Terminal, and then type "mkdir flash; sudo mount
/dev/mmcblk0p1 flash".  Then you will be able to see the contents of
the XO's onboard flash in the "flash" folder and you can delete files
you don't need from there.

I know these instructions are fairly involved so if someone on the
list knows of an easier way, please reply to the thread.  Let me know
if you have any questions about the instructions.

Denver


>  At 11:14 PM 2/26/2008, you wrote:
>
>  >Perhaps you have the dreaded "disk full" error?
>  >
>  >http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Support_FAQ#How_do_I_recover_from_a_.22Disk_Full.22_error.3F
>  >
>  >In the shipped build (650), if you fill up the disk completely, the
>  >laptop won't boot any more.
>  >
>  >The developers have been talking about a way of preventing this problem,
>  >but I'm not sure if this has been implemented yet.
>  >
>  >What happens if you do a verbose boot?  Do you see an error message
>  >going by about the disk being full?
>  >
>  >(Various different ways of booting are described here:
>  >
>  >http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Startup_Diagnosis
>  >
>  >http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Cheat_codes
>  >
>  >Try the check key while booting, and then try the rocker left key.)
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >Laurie DeMott wrote:
>  > > Hi,
>  > >
>  > > I also posted this to the forum.  I'm hoping someone has some advice
>  > > for me.  I think I overtaxed my XO and now it won't boot. Here is
>  > > what I did -- I moved a 27MB pdf file from my SD card to the journal
>  > > and then tried to open it. It was taking a while to open and so,
>  > > becoming impatient, I also started Opera. Both Reader and Opera just
>  > > blinked and blinked, never opening, and I couldn't get the reboot
>  > > menu to come up so I finally had to push the power button to turn it
>  > > off. Now it won't boot -- I just get the music, the X with one dot
>  > > under it and it hangs there forever.
>  > >
>  > > I tried removing the battery for awhile and restarting, but no dice.
>  > > I tried booting with the x on the gamepad and then with the o on the
>  > > gamepad but nothing changed either time. I tried copying the build to
>  > > a flashdrive and booting from that as explained in some other forum
>  > > threads but all I get is "Failure to boot" and the little sad face icon.
>  > >
>  > > I will try using a couple of different flash drives since some people
>  > > seemed to have luck doing that but is there anything else I can try?
>  > >
>  > > Laurie
>  > >
>  > >
>  >
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