[UnBrick]TOTAL WIPE and reflash back to 1.4.0 via Ubuntu Recovery --Now Easier!!!!

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AdamOutler

Retired Senior Recognized Developer
Feb 18, 2011
5,224
9,826
Miami, Fl̨̞̲̟̦̀̈̃͛҃҅͟orida
This post can unbrick any Nook Tablet as long as there is no hardware damage.

Introduction
Some of you might know that I've been working on getting Ubuntu 11.10 running on the Nook Tablet. Why Ubuntu 11.10? It's optimized for touchscreen. My work with Ubuntu is not totally ready yet. The touchscreen is totally wonkey and unusable for touch input.

...Well, without a 3.0 kernel tailored to our device, Ubuntu is quite unusable as a Graphical User Interface. I've tried to compile a few times without any real results to report. The best results I've come across use a 2.6 kernel based on the kernel used for our device by Android. Anyway, if anyone can help get us a operational 3.0, 3.2+ kernel with full support for our device, I can get Ubuntu running.

However, all is not lost. Ubuntu DOES boot on a 2.6 kernel and it WILL perform most tasks that do not require special device control, like wiping the disk and reflashing. I've come up with a total wipe and restore program for SDCard based on ubuntu.

So, as a result of my work, I would like to present the first ever Ubuntu Recovery. This will totally wipe your device. With the exception of the ROM Partition which contains serial information, every single partition will have zeros written to it then flashed with just enough to perform an initial factory reflash. Normally when you perform an update or flash of a device, it is simply formatted. A formatted device can be unformatted. A zeroed device cannot be unformatted. All information is overwritten with zeros.

This will also work if you've damaged the bootloaders or recovery partition.


how to create your own bootable Ubuntu Recovery SDCard


You will need:
  • A Class 4 SDCard with at least 4Gigs of space
  • 6 gigs of free space (for downloading sdcard image and uncompressing)
  • The SDCard Image: http://ge.tt/9rVFXxC?c

Linux/Mac Instructions
  1. Open a terminal in Ubuntu by typing "terminal" in the search bar then hit enter
  2. uncompress the Downloaded SDCard Image
    Code:
    cd ~/Downloads
    tar -xvwzf ./AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash.tar.gz
  3. With the SDCard or reader removed from the computer, get a list of all disks
    Code:
    ls /dev/sd?
  4. Insert your sdcard or usb sdcard reader, then press the up key and enter to repeat the last command. The new device will show up as sdb, sdc, sdd or sde. each new device gets a higher letter. Note this newly plugged in device.(ie. /dev/sdc)
  5. Use the following command to make your new SDCard, where "sdc" is the name of your SDCard device.
    Code:
    sudo dd if=./AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash of=/dev/sdc bs=4096; sync
    Wait 5-20 minutes (depending on SDCard speed) until the image burning completes.
  6. Shove it in your nook and turn it on by inserting the USB cable(do touch the power button, just insert the usb cable). Your nook will boot Ubuntu and perform a total factory restore. The process will take 15 minutes to complete with a Class4 micro SDcard.

Pro-tip: to copy and paste easily in Ubuntu, highlight text in the browser, then press the middle mouse button on the terminal.
Pro-tip: The tab key will auto-complete filenames.


Windows Instructions
Thanks to cyberma007 for Windows instructions.
  • Extract AdamOutlerUbuntuRecoveryImage with Winrar
  • Rename the resulting file to Add the .img extension to the filename
  • Download and open Win32 Disk Imager. note: The open source project can be found here: https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer
  • Choose the drive letter of your SD Card from Win32 Disk Imager
  • Click the Write button
  • Turn of your nook and put in the SD Card and turn it back on.

Your Microsoft®™ Windows©®℠ computer sucks at reading anything except Microsoft formats. It cannot read the Open Source Linux EXT4 format. You will only see one partition after creating the SDCard but it will work fine. If you want to inspect the contents, install a Linux distribution on your computer.

znq6ur.jpg


Theory of operation
how it works
When you insert the SDCard and turn on the device this is what happens.
  • The device boots from SDCard.
  • The Ubuntu GUI will load. Personally, I recommend that you do not touch anything
  • You will be presented with a 100 Second countdown
  • If you wish to stop, press and hold power for 10 seconds before flashing has started
  • You will be presented with a progress bar status update only. Closing this will not affect the process. the only way to stop is to turn the device off.
  • At this point, the flashing process will begin
Flashing Process
After Ubuntu has booted here is the procedure which takes place
  1. MLO partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed
  2. U-BOOT partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed
  3. RECOVERY partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed
  4. BOOT partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed
  5. BOOTDATA partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed
  6. BOOTDATA is mounted and a command is sent to factory reset the device upon next boot.
  7. FACTORY partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed in two parts to work around a 120 second filesystem operation bug.
  8. A sync operation takes place to ensure all data is written to the device
  9. SYSTEM partition is wiped with all zeros
  10. SYSTEM partition is recreated as a blank EXT4 filesystem
  11. CACHE partition is wiped with all zeros
  12. CACHE partition is recreated as a blank EXT4 filesystem
  13. SDCARD partition is wiped with all zeros
  14. SDCARD partition is recreated as a blank FAT32 filesystem
  15. A sync operation takes place to ensure that all data is written
  16. You are notified to press and hold power. When the screen goes black remove your SDCard
note: Using a Class4 SDCard, the screen timeout will be aproximately 30 seconds after the entire operation has completed. Do not confuse screen-timeout (blank screen) with turning off the device (black, unilluminated screen). Turn the device off and then remove the sdcard or risk corrupting the data on the sdcard.

It's my intention that this may help someone. This will at least be one more method for people to try before giving up on restoration to 1.4.0. I generally receive 5-10 PMs per week requesting support on the acclaim_update.zip. Hopefully this will reduce those and give people another option to try.

Ubuntu isn't ready for daily use yet, but this recovery tool is more thorough than any other recovery method out there. I need some help porting the 3.0 kernel to the Nook Tablet.
 
Last edited:

lavero.burgos

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2011
2,836
1,391
Thanks Adam very nice work. Question what if we want to revert to 1.4.0 or 1.4.0 is it possible or we will be stick it lol. Can this be supported for dual/multi boot?

~ Veronica

Sent from XDA premium using my Nook Tablet :p
 
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ShadowReaperGR

Senior Member
Jan 7, 2010
73
2
Very good work Adam.
I have one trivial question... Why on all your projects do you use Ubuntu and not any other distro?
 

AdamOutler

Retired Senior Recognized Developer
Feb 18, 2011
5,224
9,826
Miami, Fl̨̞̲̟̦̀̈̃͛҃҅͟orida
Thanks Adam very nice work. Question what if we want to revert to 1.4.0 or 1.4.0 is it possible or we will be stick it lol. Can this be supported for dual/multi boot?

~ Veronica

Sent from XDA premium using my Nook Tablet :p
Thats what this does. It reverts you to 1.4.0. It uses Ubuntu as a dedicated recovery. If you would like to dual boot, just remove the /root/recovery file. You can boot Ubuntu or normal by inserting and removing the sdcard. But like i said, the touchscreen is wonkey and there's no way to fix most of the problems without a 3.0 kernel.



Very good work Adam.
I have one trivial question... Why on all your projects do you use Ubuntu and not any other distro?

I use Ubuntu on my desktop. I like Ubuntu because it has a large user base and if i come across a problem, it is easier to correct or has generally at least been discussed. For a mobile device, it makes more sense than other Linux distributions because newer versions have been optimized for touchscreens. In general, i find Ubuntu supports more things than other Linux distributions.
 

lavero.burgos

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2011
2,836
1,391
Thats what this does. It reverts you to 1.4.0. It uses Ubuntu as a dedicated recovery. If you would like to dual boot, just remove the /root/recovery file. You can boot Ubuntu or normal by inserting and removing the sdcard. But like i said, the touchscreen is wonkey and there's no way to fix most of the problems without a 3.0 kernel.

Gotcha! thanks Adams, i'll wait until it gets a better kernel, i love the Ubuntu idea :).

My 2 cents for host: http://minus.com/
 
Last edited:

vacaloca

Senior Member
Jun 11, 2010
263
115
Great work, will monitor this. Would be nice to have Ubuntu fully working on the Nook Tablet (or Nook Color, for that matter -- seems like development on that has died, shame as they are now $129 refurbished direct from B&N)
 

CelticWebSolutions

Senior Member
May 25, 2011
855
2,012
Hi Adam,

When you say the screen is wonky what do you mean? Is it sort of 90degrees out like our original CM7 build was?
 

CelticWebSolutions

Senior Member
May 25, 2011
855
2,012
Such a shame, I quite fancied a dual boot with android/ ubuntu :(

It was a simple fix in the build.prop on CM7

Oh well hopefully somebody will come up with a suitable 3.0 for you soon :)
 

scsione889

Senior Member
Aug 27, 2010
111
150
34
Chicago-ish
Note: If someone has web hosting for a 1.5Gig file and nearly unlimited bandwidth, the instructions above can be reduced to only a few simple steps... download, uncompress, run command in terminal to make a disk image, boot from SDCard. Team Komin's server bandwidth does not allow this.

If you're still interested in doing this let me know. I can find a place to host it. Who knows how many people "bricked" their NTs from the CM7 beta - this seems to be the only logical fix if ADB doesn't work in CWM (which I'm experiencing (even from the SD version of CWM)). I haven't gotten a chance to confirm if this works or not yet for that issue (I'm waiting on a new microSD -> SD adapter), but if it works this would make it a lot easier.
 

Fatos

Senior Member
Nov 5, 2011
100
30
Bit of problem in the end of setting up the sd

Everything goes quite fine but in the end when it is supposed to automount and than to copy the files from the recovery it behaves strange. Im a windows user so i have been using linux for 10hr now. Ill post later what it says .

@scsione889 . If you have web hostin i think you should send a PM to AdamOutler because he is quite busy. Because that would help a lot a lot. In the future also if we brick it again would be easier to do it in shorter steps. Because this one takes long and is a bit complicated to.
 
Last edited:

AdamOutler

Retired Senior Recognized Developer
Feb 18, 2011
5,224
9,826
Miami, Fl̨̞̲̟̦̀̈̃͛҃҅͟orida
Here is the rehosted file and new instructions. Let me know if there are any problems so I can redo the first post.


You will need:

Instructions:
  1. Open a terminal in Ubuntu by typing "terminal" in the search bar then hit enter
  2. uncompress the Downloaded SDCard Image
    Code:
    cd ~/Downloads
    tar -xvwzf ./AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash.tar.gz
  3. type "ls" to get a file listing and locate the name of the new file. (ie AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash).
  4. With the SDCard or reader removed from the computer, get a list of all disks
    Code:
    ls /dev/sd?
  5. Insert your sdcard or usb sdcard reader, then press the up key and enter to repeat the last command. The new device will show up as sdb, sdc, sdd or sde. each new device gets a higher letter. Note this newly plugged in device.(ie. /dev/sdc)
  6. Use the following command to make your new SDCard, where "AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash" is the name of the uncompressed file and "sdc" is the name of your SDCard device.

    Code:
    sudo dd if=./AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash of=/dev/sdc
    Wait 5-45 minutes (depending on SDCard speed) until the image burning completes.
  7. Shove it in your nook and turn it on. The process will take 15 minutes to complete with a Class4 micro SDcard

Pro-tip: to copy and paste easily in Ubuntu, highlight text in the browser, then press the middle mouse button on the terminal.
Pro-tip: The tab key will auto-complete filenames.
 
Last edited:

Fatos

Senior Member
Nov 5, 2011
100
30
Fixed Nook

Here is the rehosted file and new instructions. Let me know if there are any problems so I can redo the first post.

Works hurrey.

My nook was not just bricked but more than that heeheh. I have tried with adb, CWM, with the flashable zip but none of them dident work. I did lose my hope to fix it actually.
But this method worked just fine. And with the last post it was way easier to make it to .

Thanks a lot Adam i have been hiting your thanks booton and ill hit it for some more days too.


I can tell that now if you want you can replace the first post with this one. Of that's what you want.

Thanks once more.
 
  • Like
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CelticWebSolutions

Senior Member
May 25, 2011
855
2,012
Works hurrey.

My nook was not just bricked but more than that heeheh. I have tried with adb, CWM, with the flashable zip but none of them dident work. I did lose my hope to fix it actually.
But this method worked just fine. And with the last post it was way easier to make it to .

Thanks a lot Adam i have been hiting your thanks booton and ill hit it for some more days too.


I can tell that now if you want you can replace the first post with this one. Of that's what you want.

Thanks once more.

Glad you accepted my suggestion and tried it, well worth it in the end then ;)

You'd gone a little bit further than the others that had just formatted the xloader, you'd got carried away and done the lot lol

Enjoy you're CM7 NT and DON'T format anything on there ever again!!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: joelee100 and Fatos

Fatos

Senior Member
Nov 5, 2011
100
30
Glad you accepted my suggestion and tried it, well worth it in the end then ;)

You'd gone a little bit further than the others that had just formatted the xloader, you'd got carried away and done the lot lol

Enjoy you're CM7 NT and DON'T format anything on there ever again!!!!

Haha as they say learnig by doing. Heheh now i know.

Thanks for sharing your time.
 

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  • 75
    This post can unbrick any Nook Tablet as long as there is no hardware damage.

    Introduction
    Some of you might know that I've been working on getting Ubuntu 11.10 running on the Nook Tablet. Why Ubuntu 11.10? It's optimized for touchscreen. My work with Ubuntu is not totally ready yet. The touchscreen is totally wonkey and unusable for touch input.

    ...Well, without a 3.0 kernel tailored to our device, Ubuntu is quite unusable as a Graphical User Interface. I've tried to compile a few times without any real results to report. The best results I've come across use a 2.6 kernel based on the kernel used for our device by Android. Anyway, if anyone can help get us a operational 3.0, 3.2+ kernel with full support for our device, I can get Ubuntu running.

    However, all is not lost. Ubuntu DOES boot on a 2.6 kernel and it WILL perform most tasks that do not require special device control, like wiping the disk and reflashing. I've come up with a total wipe and restore program for SDCard based on ubuntu.

    So, as a result of my work, I would like to present the first ever Ubuntu Recovery. This will totally wipe your device. With the exception of the ROM Partition which contains serial information, every single partition will have zeros written to it then flashed with just enough to perform an initial factory reflash. Normally when you perform an update or flash of a device, it is simply formatted. A formatted device can be unformatted. A zeroed device cannot be unformatted. All information is overwritten with zeros.

    This will also work if you've damaged the bootloaders or recovery partition.


    how to create your own bootable Ubuntu Recovery SDCard


    You will need:
    • A Class 4 SDCard with at least 4Gigs of space
    • 6 gigs of free space (for downloading sdcard image and uncompressing)
    • The SDCard Image: http://ge.tt/9rVFXxC?c

    Linux/Mac Instructions
    1. Open a terminal in Ubuntu by typing "terminal" in the search bar then hit enter
    2. uncompress the Downloaded SDCard Image
      Code:
      cd ~/Downloads
      tar -xvwzf ./AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash.tar.gz
    3. With the SDCard or reader removed from the computer, get a list of all disks
      Code:
      ls /dev/sd?
    4. Insert your sdcard or usb sdcard reader, then press the up key and enter to repeat the last command. The new device will show up as sdb, sdc, sdd or sde. each new device gets a higher letter. Note this newly plugged in device.(ie. /dev/sdc)
    5. Use the following command to make your new SDCard, where "sdc" is the name of your SDCard device.
      Code:
      sudo dd if=./AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash of=/dev/sdc bs=4096; sync
      Wait 5-20 minutes (depending on SDCard speed) until the image burning completes.
    6. Shove it in your nook and turn it on by inserting the USB cable(do touch the power button, just insert the usb cable). Your nook will boot Ubuntu and perform a total factory restore. The process will take 15 minutes to complete with a Class4 micro SDcard.

    Pro-tip: to copy and paste easily in Ubuntu, highlight text in the browser, then press the middle mouse button on the terminal.
    Pro-tip: The tab key will auto-complete filenames.


    Windows Instructions
    Thanks to cyberma007 for Windows instructions.
    • Extract AdamOutlerUbuntuRecoveryImage with Winrar
    • Rename the resulting file to Add the .img extension to the filename
    • Download and open Win32 Disk Imager. note: The open source project can be found here: https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer
    • Choose the drive letter of your SD Card from Win32 Disk Imager
    • Click the Write button
    • Turn of your nook and put in the SD Card and turn it back on.

    Your Microsoft®™ Windows©®℠ computer sucks at reading anything except Microsoft formats. It cannot read the Open Source Linux EXT4 format. You will only see one partition after creating the SDCard but it will work fine. If you want to inspect the contents, install a Linux distribution on your computer.

    znq6ur.jpg


    Theory of operation
    how it works
    When you insert the SDCard and turn on the device this is what happens.
    • The device boots from SDCard.
    • The Ubuntu GUI will load. Personally, I recommend that you do not touch anything
    • You will be presented with a 100 Second countdown
    • If you wish to stop, press and hold power for 10 seconds before flashing has started
    • You will be presented with a progress bar status update only. Closing this will not affect the process. the only way to stop is to turn the device off.
    • At this point, the flashing process will begin
    Flashing Process
    After Ubuntu has booted here is the procedure which takes place
    1. MLO partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed
    2. U-BOOT partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed
    3. RECOVERY partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed
    4. BOOT partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed
    5. BOOTDATA partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed
    6. BOOTDATA is mounted and a command is sent to factory reset the device upon next boot.
    7. FACTORY partition will be written with all zeros, then flashed in two parts to work around a 120 second filesystem operation bug.
    8. A sync operation takes place to ensure all data is written to the device
    9. SYSTEM partition is wiped with all zeros
    10. SYSTEM partition is recreated as a blank EXT4 filesystem
    11. CACHE partition is wiped with all zeros
    12. CACHE partition is recreated as a blank EXT4 filesystem
    13. SDCARD partition is wiped with all zeros
    14. SDCARD partition is recreated as a blank FAT32 filesystem
    15. A sync operation takes place to ensure that all data is written
    16. You are notified to press and hold power. When the screen goes black remove your SDCard
    note: Using a Class4 SDCard, the screen timeout will be aproximately 30 seconds after the entire operation has completed. Do not confuse screen-timeout (blank screen) with turning off the device (black, unilluminated screen). Turn the device off and then remove the sdcard or risk corrupting the data on the sdcard.

    It's my intention that this may help someone. This will at least be one more method for people to try before giving up on restoration to 1.4.0. I generally receive 5-10 PMs per week requesting support on the acclaim_update.zip. Hopefully this will reduce those and give people another option to try.

    Ubuntu isn't ready for daily use yet, but this recovery tool is more thorough than any other recovery method out there. I need some help porting the 3.0 kernel to the Nook Tablet.
    10
    Note: to neuter recovery and just use ubuntu, remove the file called /root/recovery from the sdcard before loading into your Nook.
    10
    Here is the rehosted file and new instructions. Let me know if there are any problems so I can redo the first post.


    You will need:

    Instructions:
    1. Open a terminal in Ubuntu by typing "terminal" in the search bar then hit enter
    2. uncompress the Downloaded SDCard Image
      Code:
      cd ~/Downloads
      tar -xvwzf ./AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash.tar.gz
    3. type "ls" to get a file listing and locate the name of the new file. (ie AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash).
    4. With the SDCard or reader removed from the computer, get a list of all disks
      Code:
      ls /dev/sd?
    5. Insert your sdcard or usb sdcard reader, then press the up key and enter to repeat the last command. The new device will show up as sdb, sdc, sdd or sde. each new device gets a higher letter. Note this newly plugged in device.(ie. /dev/sdc)
    6. Use the following command to make your new SDCard, where "AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash" is the name of the uncompressed file and "sdc" is the name of your SDCard device.

      Code:
      sudo dd if=./AdamOutlerUbuntuTotalReFlash of=/dev/sdc
      Wait 5-45 minutes (depending on SDCard speed) until the image burning completes.
    7. Shove it in your nook and turn it on. The process will take 15 minutes to complete with a Class4 micro SDcard

    Pro-tip: to copy and paste easily in Ubuntu, highlight text in the browser, then press the middle mouse button on the terminal.
    Pro-tip: The tab key will auto-complete filenames.
    4
    Which kernel branch did you try to build?
    I've tried several. The problem is in configuration. I eventually settled for the stock 2.6 android_4430BN_defconfig. It seems to function best for this until we have a proper 3.0 kernel.
    4
    Thanks Adam very nice work. Question what if we want to revert to 1.4.0 or 1.4.0 is it possible or we will be stick it lol. Can this be supported for dual/multi boot?

    ~ Veronica

    Sent from XDA premium using my Nook Tablet :p
    Thats what this does. It reverts you to 1.4.0. It uses Ubuntu as a dedicated recovery. If you would like to dual boot, just remove the /root/recovery file. You can boot Ubuntu or normal by inserting and removing the sdcard. But like i said, the touchscreen is wonkey and there's no way to fix most of the problems without a 3.0 kernel.



    Very good work Adam.
    I have one trivial question... Why on all your projects do you use Ubuntu and not any other distro?

    I use Ubuntu on my desktop. I like Ubuntu because it has a large user base and if i come across a problem, it is easier to correct or has generally at least been discussed. For a mobile device, it makes more sense than other Linux distributions because newer versions have been optimized for touchscreens. In general, i find Ubuntu supports more things than other Linux distributions.