Booting from SATA worked, now what?

[DerHexer]

Hi there,

I got a "bricked"/"unbootable" PogoPlug Pro off of ebay.
The led on the front didn't light up and only the green network-led was working together with some blinking of the orange network-led. No ssh or network-connection could be established. My router didn't recognize any pogoplug.
I don't know what the previous owner did with the device but I got this info from "history":
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '[root@alarm /]# history
1 ls
2 source /etc/profile
3 ls
4 nano /etc/profile
5 ping google.com.
6 echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" > /etc/resolv.conf
7 nano /etc/pacman.conf
8 pacman -Syu
9 pacman -Syu
10 exit
11 ls /dev
12 hostname
13 modprobe oxnas-led
14 cat /etc/rc.d/set-oxnas-mac
15 modprobe oxnas-led
16 modprobe -a
17 modprobe
18 modprobe -h
19 modprobe -a `uname -r`
20 ls /lib/module
21 depmod -a
22 modprobe oxnas-led
23 proled green
24 clear
25 lsusb
26 cd /etc
27 ls
28 ls rc.d
29 ls rc.d/functions.d
30 nano rc.d/functions
31 ls
32 ls rc.*
33 nano rc.sysinit
34 nano rc.shutdown
35 cd ..
36 pacman -Syu
37 shutdown -h -t 0 now
38 cat /etc/resolv.conf
39 ls
40 exit
41 pacman -Scc
42 exit
')

After endless hours I was able to prepare a sata-hdd and get it to boot the pogoplug into the alarm os. Internet-connection is also available and the led on the front is green.
If I remove the sata-hdd and reboot, everything is dead again. Nothing happens.

I tried to fix it for the last six hours but wasn't successful.
"pacman -Sy udev-oxnas" didn't help, "oxnas-install.sh" failed due to missing nandwrite,etc. files and setenvs doesn't work either.

oxnas-revert.sh shows this:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '#############################
##
## Pogoplug Pro/V3/Video
## Arch Linux ARM to Stock Revert
##
#############################
##
## For use with OXNAS 7820 only.
##
#############################
## PREPARATION
# Switching to /tmp...
# Ensuring we're ready to proceed...
# Preparing our way...
# Getting uboot parameters...
# Checking board revision...
# = board :
# = load_nand : nboot 60500000 0 200000
# = bootargs_stock :
# = bootcmd : run boot_custom
# Setting up uboot parameters
#
# Checking uboot parameters...
# = bootargs :
# = bootargs_stock :
# = load_custom_nand :
# = boot_custom :
# = bootcmd :
#
#############################
## Looks good!')

Can anybody help me with this situation? I would like to get rid of the sata and just be able to boot it the normal way.
Thank you very much in advance. I'm nearly giving up after reading nearly the whole forum :-/

[WarheadsSE]

TBH at the moment, you're at the point where the NAND has to be completely restored, because whatever the F that last person did, destroyed the hell out of it.

Right now, there have been some successes, as documented in the appropriate thread, but there have also been some failures.

Fact to face at this particular point: The stock file system from Cloud Engines is like as FUBAR as the rest of the NAND. Re-instating MTD1 will get you u-boot & kernel, to be able to boot usb. Either way, I suggest keeping a serial handy.

It's not bricked, it just no longer de-modifiable because it's internal storage has been destroyed. You'll need to get that fixed, and then you're good.

Persist. You've made it this far with nary a post. Well done, from me to you.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WarheadsSE', '
')Right now, there have been some successes, as documented in the appropriate thread, but there have also been some failures.

[DerHexer]

So I got my CA-42 cable and was able to get it working.
When booting from SATA I can see all the details showing in putty. Just like you would expect.
So testing showed, the cable is working as intended. Keystrokes were also possible. So a quick login was also successful.

Then I rebooted the pogoplug pro without the sata-cable attached.

But to my surprise:
NOTHING was shown via putty. Not a single character.

Rebooted again with the SATA attached: the boot-process was shown in all its glory.

What's wrong with the pogo? I'm totally helpless. I at least expected something to show up and debug.
Can anybody provide me with any help? Please!

[WarheadsSE]

Your NAND is empty, apparently.

[DerHexer]

Where do I get a working one? And what would be the way to fix this?
I cannot believe that I have come this far and now i'm stuck :-/

[WarheadsSE]

You're as stuck as you were before. Fixing it will be as simple as an appropriate nandwrite with the correct files.

[DerHexer]

I know that you tell people to search for themselves and I honestly have done this with all my previously problems. But I have never come across a thread where there was the NAND of a pogoplug pro offered.
So I would like to ask very very kindly, if somebody can help me with this matter. I'm ok if you just show me a thread where I can find everything I need to know (and all files). But as I said before, I do not tend to bother other people if I'm able to find the solution by myself. But know I'm totally in need of help from somebody else.

[WarheadsSE]

He found it

However, it appears that while the stage1 & uboot work, some portion of the bootargs was lost.

See this post for the image.
See the install page for bootargs_stock values that should make up bootargs

[Philoo]

dowload the oxnas-install.sh and oxnas-revert.sh files.

look for flash_erase, nanddump, nandwrite and ubi0:rootfs

that should give you the info you need for the kernel locations (it's copied twice) and rootfs.

I'm clueless regarding how to get the info about uboot.

anyway there have been strong and repeated warnings NOT TO DO IT !!!. Whatever happens it's on you.

One last thing, it's called a NAND for a reason, it means that (among other things) when you write on it what is actually retained depends on both what was stored before and what you actually copy. So you better be sure everything is zero'ed first.
using flash_erase is a safer way to go, but it dramatically speeds up the wear of the nand. So really make sure everything is as you want it to be before you start flashing stuff.