B4 autoinstallation fails (gives a 'help' prompt)

[Mitch Bradley]

Asko Kauppi wrote:
> Current firmware: Q2C25
>
> Upgrading to: Q2C26, OS579
>   

What machine type?  A-test?  B1?  B2-1?  B2-2?  B3?  B4?  C1?

>
> ** Trying with SD card **  (use of the microSD adapter is a BIIIG  
> mistake, came out half torn!  :)
>
> Pressing 'X' and powering on takes me to:
>
>  > USB 2 devices:
>  > /pci/usb at f,5/wlan at 0,0
>  > USB 1 devices:
>  > Type the ESC key to interrupt automatic startup
>  > Boot device: /sd/disk:\boot\olpc.fth   Arguments:
>  > Type 'help' for more information.
>  >
>  > ok
>
> The "Type help for more information" and "ok" are not mentioned in  
> the instructions I've read.  The SD card is FAT16 formatted 512MB  
> microSD (with adapter).Formatted within OS X but should be "right".
>
> Anyone else seen the "help" prompt; what is it about?
>   

Before issuing the ok prompt for the first time, OFW issues the "Type 
'help'" message.  If you then type help at the ok prompt you will get a 
summary of some of the most important OFW commands.  That's all it is, 
just general information.

Something is going wrong in the olpc.fth script.

Which version of the script is it?  You can find out by typing:

  ok  more sd:\boot\olpc.fth

The version string is on the seventh line, e.g.:

" Autoreinstallation version: 2007-09-13 21:09Z"

My best guess is that the olpc.fth file is getting truncated, so that 
the last few lines, which do most of the work by calling functions 
defined earlier, are not being executed.

What are the last few lines that are displayed when you do the more 
command above?

The expected last few lines are:

          update-activate-and-boot
           then
        then
     ;
    
     autore-version$ count type cr cr
     do-upgrade

The next to last line ("autore-version$ count type cr cr") is supposed 
to display the version string of the autoupdater script.  The fact that 
you don't show that message suggests that the script is truncated before 
that line.

> Typing "boot" there seems to go somewhere, but no text whatsoever is  
> printed on screen.
>
>
> ** Trying with a USB 1 era SD/USB adapter **
>
>  > USB 2 devices:
>  > /pci/usb at f,5/wlan at 0,0
>  > USB 1 devices:
>  > /pci/usb at f,4/scsi at 3,0
>  > /pci/usb at f,4/scsi at 3,0/disk
>  > Found USB 1.1 disk!
>  > Type the ESC key to interrupt automatic startup
>  > Boot device: /usb at f,4/disk:\boot\olpc.fth  Arguments:
>  > Type 'help' for more information.
>  >
>  > ok
>
> Again, I should not be getting the 'help' notion, right?
>   

The "help" is just a side effect.  The real problem is that the script 
is returning to the ok prompt instead of doing the upgrade thing.

> Typing 'boot' here gives:
>
>  > autore-version$ isn't unique
>  > do-usb-upgrade? isn't unique
> ...
> and a lot of such not unique things
>   

That implies that major portions of the script are working correctly by 
defining new functions.   The "isn't unique" messages indicate that 
those functions are being redefined after having already been defined 
once before by the first (automatic) attempt to run olpc.fth .

The name (first word) on the last such "isn't unique" message is a clue 
about how far the script is getting before it dies.

>
> So, this points to olpc.fth having problems executing. Could it be  
> linefeed issue?
>   

It is probably not a linefeed issue, unless the file contains mixed line 
endings.  OFW automatically senses the line-ending style by looking at 
the first line, and uses that style for the rest of the file.  The fact 
that you saw the "isn't unique" messages tells me that line endings are 
probably not the problem.
> I've downloaded the file in OS X and it seems to have retained Linux/ 
> OS X (LF) linefeeds.
>
> Any ideas?  :?
>
> -asko
>
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