[Arm-netbook] evaluating rk3188

[Stefan Monnier]

> ok can i make a suggestion: see if you can find a copy of the
> original 1st bytes on the NAND (whatever they were) and then write
> those as the 1st "thing".
> I bet you there is some sort of signature that's supposed to be in
> the 1st bytes.

That's possible, indeed, but I don't know what those first bytes should be.

The closest to a "human-readable" firmware I could find was the
"Finless" firmware, where various partitions are visible as separate
.img files.  I tried to install the .img files from that one (including
the first one which apparently goes to addresses starting at 0x0), but
that didn't seem to help.  Then again, it seems to want to install
another file (some kind of bootloader) at the same address, so I'm kind
of lost.

>>> bootloader mode, bootloader(currently made by rockchip only) is loaded from
>>> flash or USB, it should be possible to read/write RAM, NAND and
>>> IDB(bootloader) via USB.
>>> rkflashtool can read/write NAND and can read RAM/IDB for now.
>> After my use of `dd' my mk808b boots into a mode where `rkflashtool'
>> accepts to read and write.  Only problem is that the write doesn't seem
>> to work: after "erase" I read all 0xff values, as expected, but after
>> any "write", I only "read" \x00 values.
> are you sure it's bootloader mode?

I have no idea, I just get the impression it is, because rkflashtool
seems content with it.

> if it's mask rom mode, rkflashtool can't do anything(for now I'm not
> sure how rkflashtool returns, but I'm sure it doesn't do any
> meaningful work).

All I know is that rkflashtool seems pretty happy: it doesn't give me
errors, and does everything I'd expect it to (including counting the
blocks as it reads/writes them), except that the data it reads back
isn't the same as the one it just wrote.

> if it's mask rom mode, please use RKAndroidTool.exe or RKBatchTool.exe or
> something like that on Windows, and flash official firmware image.

No Windows machine, here :-(


        Stefan