Dummy Guides for SD Card CM7 on Nook Color

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ebubar

Member
Apr 18, 2011
28
2
I keep seeing SD card rooting questions. I'm providing a link to some guides that describe in gory detail how to get CM7 up and running on an SD card (for both MAC OSX and PC). These guides are built off of verygreen's size-agnostic SD card thread and he deserves any and all credit. All that I (DrAstro) and DrWho have done is expound on the easy-to-follow steps that he provides from the perspective of trying to teach someone who is only mildly computer literate.

http://clubnook.com/forum/showthread.php?953-Rooting-Instructions

If this helps, go to verygreen's SIZE AGNOSTIC card thread and give him thanks.
 
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ebubar

Member
Apr 18, 2011
28
2
I've just copied and pasted directly from Clubnook in case people don't want to link over there. If this is useful for you, comment and I'll keep it updated. If not, just let it fall into the ether...

CM7 - SD Card - Mac Version

INSTALLING CM7 (CyanogenMod 7/Android 2.3) ONTO A MICROSD CARD FOR USE WITH NOOK COLOR

Thanks to DrAstro for the following instructions:

I used the instructions from verygreen (who deserves any and all credit):
http://xdaforums.com/show....php?t=1000957

I did nothing other than follow exactly what he said to do and was up and running with full android market access in about 10 minutes (with a 5 minute nap in the middle!). It was literally that easy. I’ve just expanded, in gory detail, on the basic.

Basically, what you are doing here is taking a microSD card, making it so that the nook color can boot from it, putting a new OS on that card (CM7) and then adding the android market. At the end, you will be able to run a more tablet-like experience from your microSD card without doing anything to the internal software that BN put on there. Here are steps, with heavy borrowing from verygreen’s guide. Hopefully you will read and understand what you are doing, so that you can pick and choose which OS zip you want to use.

NOTE: These are mac specific instructions, as that’s what I used!

1) Downloaded the following files and put them on your desktop:

generic-sdcard-v1.2.1.img.gz
(http://nook.handhelds.ru/sdimage/gen...-v1.2.1.img.gz) - This file makes your SD card bootable. This is probably the “hardest” part of the process as you have to “burn” this image to the card, not just “drag and drop”

update-cm-7.1.0-RCO-encore-2.6.32-beta3.1.zip
(http://coachz.inetpro.org/~dalingrin...32-beta3.1.zip) – This is the latest beta version of CM7 that was available at the time I did this! There may be some instability, but they fixed the battery issues with this release so the tradeoff is worth it.

Or get the latest stable version update-cm-7.0.2-encore.zip
(http://tinyurl.com/3vyanhh)


gapps-gb-20110307-signed.zip
(http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.ph...Latest_Version) – This was the latest google apps version that was available when I did this. It will give you access to the android market!

2) Get any microSD card that you don't mind trashing the data on. There a LOTS of options out there, but I would HIGHLY SUGGEST getting a SANDISK, CLASS 4, 8 GB or 16 GB card. It is by far the most likely card to work well for you.

Also get a reader for your microSD card. I got one that plugs into my USB port and lets me see my microSD card on my desktop.

3) The first step is to install the .img file to the microSD card. First, you need to double click it on your desktop and let mac osx unzip it for you. It should do this nicely and your resultant file will be:
generic-sdcard-v1.2.1.img (i.e. the .gz at the end will go away)

To install the .img onto the microsd card, put the micro sd card into your card reader. It should pop up on your desktop as a disk. Mine was called “no name”.

To write the image (called burning the .img file to), you need to do the following:

-Find which drive the sd card is mapped to. To do this on mac, you can use the terminal:

how to open the terminal:
a) Go up to the magnifying glass in the top right of your mac.
b) Click on it and search for the word “terminal”. The first thing it finds should be a little black box with the word Terminal.
c) Click on that and a window should open on your desktop. That window should say something like Terminal – bash – 80x24 in the top line and then have a bunch of words, maybe something about Last login: and finally a line that ends in a dollar sign $. Here’s where you will type in your commands.)

Inside of that terminal, after the dollar sign ($) first, type:
cd Desktop
That will take you to your desktop. If you now type
ls
This should show you a list of all the files and folders on your desktop. All the terminal does is let you work with files using text commands rather than a nice graphical interface (i.e. clicking on windows and stuff)

Now that you know a couple basics on “terminals” type this:
diskutil list

This lists all the spaces on your computer where things are stored. You need to unmount the microSD card that you just plugged in. This will allow you to erase the card and put what you want on it. You need to look at this list and figure out which drive# is your microSD card. To the far right, you will see the disk size. Your microSD card should be around that same size as what you bought (for example, I’m using an 8GB card and found the disk that was around 7.5 GB).

Once you know the right disk (mine was disk1, yours may be different) unmount that drive by typing this:
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk<#>
(to be explicit, my drive was disk1 so I typed: diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1)
It should say: Unmount of all volumes on disk<#> was successful


Next type:
dd if=generic-sdcard-v1.1.img of=/dev/disk1
Everything needed should copy right over to the card. It took my laptop 140 s.

Now unmount the microSD card, but NOT the same way as what you just did. How? Remember when you connected the microSD card and a folder popped up on your desktop? Right click on that and select “unmount”. Note, it might be the case that the folder was renamed “boot”. If that’s the case, that is the folder to unmount.

After the microSD card disappears from your desktop, remove your microSD card from the laptop and plug it back in. The folder named “boot” should pop up on your desktop. Now the easy part.

Drag and drop the file:
update-cm-7.1.0-RCO-encore-2.6.32-beta3.1.zip or update-cm-7.0.2-encore.zip
Into the “boot” folder. Now right click on the “boot” folder and unmount.

Take out the microSD card and put it into the nook color. Turn the nook color on and it will boot. A little penguin might pop up followed by lots of techie looking things flashing on your screen. That’s fine. Keep an eye open and when its done, the screen will go blank. It should turn itself off, but probably won’t reboot. You need to hold down the power button for around 8 seconds to turn it back on. It will reboot into CM7.
(note: This is updated from prior CM7 installations (i.e. these instructions are specific to installing the CM7 beta). If your unhappy with the performance of the beta, you can install a CM7 version that’s labeled as “stable”. The stable versions occasionally need to be turned off manually (i.e. by holding down the power button for 8 seconds)).

You’re almost there. You should have a homescreen with a few icons. Find the one labeled “settings”. Open this up, go to Wireless & networks, and connect to your wireless network. Now CM7 is ready to go online and you can turn off the nook color and install the Android Market.

You need to turn off the nook color. Take out the microSD card and connect it to your computer again. This time, two folders will pop up. One called “boot” and one called “sdcard” or something similar

This time, drag and drop:
gapps-gb-20110307-signed.zip
into the boot folder. Now comes the second hardest part, booting into recovery. The process depends on the version you are installing.

If you are installing the beta version I reference above then put the microSD card into the nook color and boot into CM7. Once you’re in CM7, hold the power button until a menu pops up and choose to “reboot”. Choose to reboot into “recovery” and you should be all set.

If you’re installing one of the “stable” versions, put the microSD card into the nook color and boot to Recovery Mode. In order to do this hold the nook N key and press and hold the power button for ~5-6 seconds. It may take a couple of tries. The screen may turn off a couple times. You may boot into CM7 a couple times. Eventually, with luck on your side, you will successfully boot into “recovery mode” and google apps will be installed. Once you manage to boot into recovery the screen will flash up lots of techie text, similar to when you started CM7. It should go blank when this is done. At this point you can turn it off by holding power for around 8 seconds. Turn it back on, follow the screen instructions and you should be good to go with an android tablet with the full android market, all running from your microSD card!
 

pfennig_cat

Member
Mar 12, 2011
7
1
Setup Wizard stuck?

I actually got this working on the first try a couple weeks ago and it was fantastic!

I was able to play netflix and flash for the first time, and now my dad wants me to do his nook the same way. He has a 16GB sd card though, and the original instructions didn't work on >8gb cards. I can't just image his SD card to my SD card because I couldn't get my google account to de-register etc, so I started from scratch with my card and planned to image to his before configuring any user accounts.

I'm having repeated trouble with my retry attempt though :(

Basic CM7 install with the generic-sdcard-v1.2.1 and update-cm-7.1.0-RC0-encore-2.6.32-beta3.1 (the ones recommended as of today in the instructions)

I set up wireless access, shut down, and backed up my card at this point.

Copy the current 20110307 gapps to the boot partition, eject, put it back in the nook, boot into recover (I've gotten good at this), it installs, shut down. Back up my card again as I figure this is where I'll want to start the other card.

Back to the Nook, boot up, get past the CyanogenMod scateboard screen, and it goes to "Setup Wizard". This should be for setting up the Google Apps Marketplace account I think, except it's completely black except for grey bar across the top with "Setup Wizard" on it, and the bar across the bottom with menu/back/search/battery indicator etc (these do nothing).

I can press power button and get only two options: shut down the tablet or reboot the tablet. I can rotate the nook and the UI changes orientation. Nothing else does anything as far as I can tell.

Anyone else seen this problem? I've searched, and even tried to post to the dev thread, but I can't due to low post count.

Help! (and thanks in advance!)
 

sGooss

Member
Jul 23, 2011
27
0
*.gz img file not recognizable & not zipped

Hi. I rooted my Nook with Autonooter and love using it. YouTube and all work fine, but I would like to redo with CM7. I have all that I need, except I'm caught with the img file this time round. It has an extension .gz. Win32DiskImager does not recognize it. Some sites say that it needs to be unzipped, but it's not zipped. I hate being stuck before even beginning. I hope that you can explain why I'm having this trouble. TY!
 

sGooss

Member
Jul 23, 2011
27
0
Hi Martyn, Thanks again. Now, DiskImager is coming up with an error when I try to write. It says that there is not enough space on the disk. The unzipped img file shows to be 117megs, while my SD card is 16gigs. After I got the error, I chose to format the disk but have the same error. Do you mind to help again?
 

sGooss

Member
Jul 23, 2011
27
0
I saw this suggested: "I did a full format (not quick) and used WinImage to write the SD card instead. Works every time since then," by TL Jester here. I"m just curious why there always seems to be a roadblock.
 

babyfine24

New member
Jul 26, 2011
4
0
Hi Martyn, Thanks again. Now, DiskImager is coming up with an error when I try to write. It says that there is not enough space on the disk. The unzipped img file shows to be 117megs, while my SD card is 16gigs. After I got the error, I chose to format the disk but have the same error. Do you mind to help again?

I had this same problem, i discovered that it created a partition on the sd card... I had easeus partition master home edition, which i used to resixe the partition and you can see your full 16GB then.
 

onate

New member
Jul 27, 2011
2
0
Hi Martyn, Thanks again. Now, DiskImager is coming up with an error when I try to write. It says that there is not enough space on the disk. The unzipped img file shows to be 117megs, while my SD card is 16gigs. After I got the error, I chose to format the disk but have the same error. Do you mind to help again?

I had an error message like this too. It turns out it was because I was trying to use the internal card reader in my laptop. I bought an external USB card reader, and it worked fine with the same card.
 

lynnji

Senior Member
Jul 12, 2011
50
13
Originally Posted by sGooss View Post

Hi Martyn, Thanks again. Now, DiskImager is coming up with an error when I try to write. It says that there is not enough space on the disk. The unzipped img file shows to be 117megs, while my SD card is 16gigs. After I got the error, I chose to format the disk but have the same error. Do you mind to help again?
I had this same problem, i discovered that it created a partition on the sd card... I had easeus partition master home edition, which i used to resixe the partition and you can see your full 16GB then.

Ditto, same problem, same solution. When you write the image to the card it seems to create a default boot partition of 117mg. When I tried to put both the rom and gapps in the boot partition after writing the image, I got that message (but not every time). So I made the boot partition bigger before adding rom and gapps, using Easus. I increased it to 150mg or so, that was plenty.

One time image+rom+gapps barely fit in the boot partition, and while installing I got an error that said not enough space in disc. I redid it, making the partition bigger, and it worked. I think the installation process may temporarily use some of that boot partition space.
 

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    I keep seeing SD card rooting questions. I'm providing a link to some guides that describe in gory detail how to get CM7 up and running on an SD card (for both MAC OSX and PC). These guides are built off of verygreen's size-agnostic SD card thread and he deserves any and all credit. All that I (DrAstro) and DrWho have done is expound on the easy-to-follow steps that he provides from the perspective of trying to teach someone who is only mildly computer literate.

    http://clubnook.com/forum/showthread.php?953-Rooting-Instructions

    If this helps, go to verygreen's SIZE AGNOSTIC card thread and give him thanks.
    1
    The .gz file is just a compressed .img file.
    There are a number of Windows apps that can de-comress the file, for example: 7-Zip

    Martyn