Bricked GoFlex Home

[swicago]

I bought a 3TB GoFlex home and decided to install ArchLinux as per instructions
http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5 ... oflex-home

After step 21: Wait for the machine to shut down (about 1-2 minutes). Then physically power cycle the unit using the power switch on back or unplugging the unit.
I power cycled it, but it never came up. I left it with the green blinking light for at least 30min.

So I started looking for instructions on unbricking or reversing to factory. All things point to NetConsole to find out what is wrong.
I ran the necessary ifconfigs
sudo ifconfig eth0:0 10.10.10.5
sudo ifconfig eth0:1 10.10.10.4
sudo ifconfig eth0:2 10.10.10.2

And then tried all three NetConsole commands
uboot = nc -lu 10.10.10.5 6666
kernal = nc -lu 10.10.10.4 6666
dhcp = nc -lu 10.10.10.2 6666

All three return "invalid connection to [10.10.10.X] from (UNKNOWN) [10.10.10.6] 6666", where X = 5,4 or 2 from above nc commands.

Now I do have experience in rooting devices and/or installing open source firmwares, Nexus7, Exhibbit2, LG L9, ipad, dir875...etc. So I know how to follow instructions to the letter and in most cases can fix issues when they arise.
However in this case, I cannot get this thing to function right. Would appreciate any insight/help to get me unbricked.

[swicago]

Update:
using Netconsole without IP => nc -lukv -p 6666
Returns following:
U-Boot 2010.09 (Feb 16 2011 - 18:44:23)
UBIT v0.6 by Jeff Doozan and Peter Carmichael
(Re)start USB...
USB: Register 10011 NbrPorts 1
USB EHCI 1.00
scanning bus for devices... 1 USB Device(s) found
scanning bus for storage devices... 0 Storage Device(s) found
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
UBIFS error (pid 0): ubifs_get_sb: cannot open "ubi:fast", error -19
Error reading superblock on volume 'ubi:fast'!
UBIFS not mounted, use ubifs mount to mount volume first!
** Block device usb 0 not supported
** Block device usb 0 not supported

** Invalid boot device **

** Invalid boot device **
** Block device usb 1 not supported
** Block device usb 1 not supported

** Invalid boot device **

** Invalid boot device **
** Block device usb 2 not supported
** Block device usb 2 not supported

** Invalid boot device **

** Invalid boot device **
** Block device usb 3 not supported
** Block device usb 3 not supported

** Invalid boot device **

** Invalid boot device **

Reset IDE: Bus 0: OK Bus 1: not available
Device 0: Model: ST3000DM001-9YN166 Firm: CC9F Ser#: Z1F1C4EE
Type: Hard Disk
Supports 48-bit addressing
Capacity: 764436.4 MB = 746.5 GB (1565565872 x 512)
Loading file "/boot/uImage" from ide device 0:1 (hda1)
** ext2fs_devread() read outside partition sector 330039312
** File not found /boot/uImage
Loading file "/uInitrd" from ide device 0:1 (hda1)
** File not found /uInitrd
reading /boot/uImage

** Unable to read "/boot/uImage" from ide 0:1 **
reading /uInitrd

** Unable to read "/uInitrd" from ide 0:1 **
** Bad partition 1 **
** Bad partition 1 **
No Powersaving mode 7F
Error (no IRQ) dev 1 blk 0: status 0x7f
** Can't read from device 1 **

** Unable to use ide 1:1 for fatload **
No Powersaving mode 7F
Error (no IRQ) dev 1 blk 0: status 0x7f
** Can't read from device 1 **

** Unable to use ide 1:1 for fatload **
UBIFS error (pid 0): ubifs_get_sb: cannot open "ubi:ramdisk", error -19
Error reading superblock on volume 'ubi:ramdisk'!
UBIFS not mounted, use ubifs mount to mount volume first!
Marvell>>


I don't know what happened, but it looks like it is trying to find /boot/uImage on hda1
And also it seems to think my drive is 746GB and not 3TB

[swicago]

Update: Managed to get the system to boot by making myself a little rescue flash drive

I did the steps 9 - 12, but for a USB flash drive on my linux box ( http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5 ... oflex-home )
Skipped step 13, stayed in directory alarm
Did step 14 and then step 13 to umount ( this copies missing uInitrd, don't think it needs ubit_start, but I copied it anyways to alarm)

Ran nc -lukv -p 6666 on my linux box.
Turned on the goFlex and waited till I came to the "Marvell" prompt and lastely
typed the following in the "Marvell" prompt
usb start
run usb_boot

Shortly after "Starting kernel ..." with no complaints I was able to ssh as root/root

Glad I was able to get into a working terminal, just wonder why it would not boot from HDD as per instructions. Is it because it thinks the drive is 746GB and not 3TB ??? Don't know, don't care. I will be reversing the changes and going back to stock or might try again later

Restore original bootloader as per "doozan" http://projects.doozan.com/uboot/
cd /tmp
wget http://download.doozan.com/uboot/files/ ... iginal.kwb flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0 4 nandwrite /dev/mtd0 uboot.mtd0.dockstar.original.kwb
reboot

That is it...create rescue flash drive for uboot and the flash original bootloader back on...yay back to stock

I hope this might help anyone else who bricked a 3TB goFlex.

[moonman]

3TB drive need to have hybrid mbr as U-Boot does not know how to use anything else. Plain MBR does not support >2TB drives. There are many topics on the forum.

[swicago]

@moonman

Can someone that has the rights, update the install instructions with a warning and instructions on how to install on a 3TB. The overview clearly makes you believe 3TB is supported and since there is no warning or extra instructions, one assumes it will be OK. Also as a noob, I would not know of this hybrid mbr. Updating the initial instructions would help those with initial install.

Thanks...I will search the forum for "hybrid mbr" and hopefully find the answer.