[olpc-help] xo laptop boot-up problem

[Laurie DeMott]

My laptop did exactly what yours is doing after I accidentally overloaded  
the memory by downloading some large PDFs.  None of the cheat boots worked  
and I had to re-flash it.  There are instructions in the wiki or the forum  
and the only additional advice I have is to use a new USB or smart card.   
Even the usb drives that I reformated didn't work but once I used a brand  
new one, I had no problem reflashing.  I keep that one now on hand in case  
I ever turn my laptop into a brick again.

Laurie DeMott

On Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:43:27 -0400, Steve Holton <sph0lt0n at gmail.com>  
wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 5, 2008 at 10:25 AM, Christian Bayens
> <christianbayens at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>> i recently bought an xo "one child per laptop" laptop and it's having
>> trouble booting up. I will press the power button then the logo will  
>> come up
>> and it'll play the little song. After that, it will go to the symbol  
>> with
>> the dots. This is where the problem is. it will get to the first dot  
>> but it
>> won't keep going around. I read that the first dot is when the laptop
>> connects with it's firmware and i'm guessing that that is the problem.  
>> so if
>> you can provide any help, that would be great.
>
> Hi Christian-
>
> If you've got the circle, you're part the firmware. This sounds more
> like the internal flash has filled up, but that's just a guess at this
> point.
>
> Try rebooting the XO while holding down the 'checkmark' button on the
> gamepad. This will display additional diagnostics. That may give you
> some ideas, or you can post back here and we'll see if there are ideas
> from the peanut gallery.
>
> If you think the problem might be related to a failed upgrade, you
> might try holding the "circle" button on the gamepad. if there is an
> older restore image still available, this will allow you to boot into
> it.
>
> Additional details here:
> -  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Startup_Diagnosis
> -  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Cheat_codes
>