[olpc-help] XO won't boot

Wed Feb 27 09:30:54 EST 2008

Thanks for the reply.  I did finally get it working again (yay!) by 
copying the fs and 656 files to a brand new usb stick and re-flashing 
it .  I guess I'll have to be more careful about overloading the XO 
so this doesn't happen again.  I'm also going to keep your 
instructions below because, while I didn't have any crucial files on 
the XO, I did have some that I would have liked to have kept and it 
would be nice to have a bootable SD card that can get me out of 
difficult situations without such drastic measures.

Laurie

At 09:10 AM 2/27/2008, you wrote:

>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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> >  >
> >  >
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