[olpc-help] XO won't boot

Denver Gingerich denver at ossguy.com
Wed Feb 27 09:40:07 EST 2008


I'm glad to hear your XO is working again.  While it's working, I
would highly recommend getting a developer key so that if you have
similar problems you can make a custom SD card to solve them.  It's
quite a pain to get a developer key if you can't boot your XO.

To get a developer key, follow the instructions at
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activation_and_Developer_Keys#Getting_a_Developer_Key_for_your_Running_XO_Laptop.

Let me know if you have any questions about copying
/security/develop.sig to an SD card.  You will need to do this to make
sure the developer key is still accessible if your XO won't boot.

Denver


On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 9:30 AM, Laurie DeMott <demotlj at alfred.edu> wrote:
> 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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