[cthonian]

Unfortunately, mine isn't from Walmart so I'm going to be stuck with it. It is the same firmware revision people have listed as originating from there, however, so I'm hoping something good can from it.

[metalborioso]

Hello, i've been following all the different steps in this post(and the ones related to jackbox) and after installing the latest firmware on my PDN it rebooted and the screen wont come on. I can hear that the volume controls are working, and both the device, and computer beep when i connect it to my pc via USB, but nothing comes on the screen. I have 3 of these devices and they are all doing the same. Any ideas on how to fix these?

[robjas53]

mac1_131, on 05 September 2012 - 06:39 AM, said:

OK if it dings when you plug it into your computer, then adb (android debug bridge) will probably work

you need to get adb. adb is a small part of the android sdk (software development kit) but you don't need the whole sdk

it takes three files to run adb - adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll. you need to make a folder (make it easy, lets say C:\adb) and put those three files in it

to make it easy for you, I zipped those three files and you can get them here

then you need to open a command prompt, and change directory to that folder - cd \adb

then run this command "adb devices" in the command prompt window (with the Novel plugged in) and see if it finds it

if it does, then you can proceed to manually flash the recovery image and the kernel image, which will probably be enough to reboot the thing

download the kernel here
download the recovery.img here

put both those files in the same folder (C:\adb)

run these adb commands with the Novel connected:

adb remount
adb push recovery.img /data/misc
adb push kernel /data/misc
adb shell flash_image recovery /data/misc/recovery.img
adb shell flash_image kernel /data/misc/kernel
adb shell reboot

see if it reboots, if it does, then you are unbricked, but you still have more work to do. you probably need to reflash the whole thing to get all the junk out of the file system from the previous flash

I would suggest putting in clockwork recovery, which is a better recovery than the stock one, especially if you plan on contonuing to mess with the unit. if you just want it back and you will never mess with it again, stick with the stock recovery. but if you do plan on flashing it again with gapps (market) or something like that, then download this, and copy it with windows (do not unzip it) to the sdcard (PD_Novel) and then flash it in. that will install clockwork recovery which is much more forgiving to flashing mishaps

let me know how all this goes and then I will have the full flash ready for you to try. you will be the first to try it I think

I was wondering if I could get a copy of that flash too?
Thanks

[evilninja65]

Zeppelinman_2000, on 17 December 2012 - 08:04 PM, said:

Ok maybe a typing problem with the commands try

^ = space

adb^remount
adb^push^recovery.img^/data/misc
adb^push^kernel^/data/misc
adb^shell

at the new prompt type

flash_image^recovery^/data/misc/recovery.img
flash_image^kernel^/data/misc/kernel
reboot

If you don't put spaces in the command line in the right places it will not work correctly that's what I think may be happening just replace the ^ with a space when you type the commands

i tryed this and it still says ............not a Directory

This post has been edited by evilninja65: 28 December 2012 - 10:13 PM

[ajonesrock]

phd2012, on 06 September 2012 - 12:54 AM, said:

PND.jpg

Hi Mac

I tried to connect the PND but I can't.

The pandigital updater reconized the tablet but adb don't.

What can I Do?

I test another pnd that is good but I can't connect to adb.

Please help me


Sorry I'm novice.

Thanks a lot.

Hi i'm new to the whole PD world and i tried flashing my device and got the same prob. So far this is what i know:
-The screen is black
-the device can connect to the usb both internal n SD card
-i can hear the sound wen the device is connected
-i am able to shutdown n start up
-the command prompt cannot find the device...could some1 please help.

how do i get the cmd prompt to recognize the device, without being able to c anything on the screen and get the problem resolved

Attached File(s)

•  PD.png (43.88K)
  Number of downloads: 18

[ajonesrock]

mac1_131, on 03 September 2012 - 05:18 PM, said:

Latest developments:

1. Ths Wiki has been updated with some info concerning this latest Novel, which has several subtle differences from the older units. The Wiki points back to this thread. I have a feeling this will become one of those threads where the latest info will be in the first post, and will get updated as things happen.

2. The kernel has been successfully recovered out of a virgin unit and the first bricked unit has been recovered.

3. As a result of a known good kernel, I am close to reverse engineering a full flash that may be able to be used to fix any bricks still out there.

4. KG's Gapps flash is confirmed to work, but it is still risky since no flash is available (yet) to restore the unit if things go wrong. If you must do it, this flash will restore your framework and build.prop (with an SDK of 7) back to their original settings. If you feel have to do it, and you understand the risks, make sure you flash this after your get the market working.

This flash will fix a bad kernel (only). This link is for the kernel by itself to flash in using adb.

5. A general comment, the number of apps that the market will offer to an SDK of 7 is dwindling, as more and more app developers are insisting on a newer version of Android. The same thing is happening to iPhone, by the way.

the kernel fixer worked for me, dude ur the greatest, many thanks

[maik21]

i have a wpdn with r7t40wwhf1 and i brick it this 12 hours ago. i search all the websites for steps to unbrick because i was installing a custom firmware and it fail.

problem was. wpdn with blank screen ( no image, black screen. ) but power led turning on when i put charger and volume keys make sound when pressed. adb wasnt working.

i use mac1_131 MAC1_CWM_RECOVERY_C1SL20_20120224_B_PD_INX7E_ENG_6410POP and press on + reset + up volume key , then release reset and still holding on + up key for 15 seconds.

i let device about 5 mins and no lucky, so did it again , wait 5 more minutes and press on button and it starts fine !!!!

now i have a working device.

[dragon7532]

mac1_131, on 05 September 2012 - 06:39 AM, said:

OK if it dings when you plug it into your computer, then adb (android debug bridge) will probably work

you need to get adb. adb is a small part of the android sdk (software development kit) but you don't need the whole sdk

it takes three files to run adb - adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll. you need to make a folder (make it easy, lets say C:\adb) and put those three files in it

to make it easy for you, I zipped those three files and you can get them here

then you need to open a command prompt, and change directory to that folder - cd \adb

then run this command "adb devices" in the command prompt window (with the Novel plugged in) and see if it finds it

if it does, then you can proceed to manually flash the recovery image and the kernel image, which will probably be enough to reboot the thing

download the kernel here
download the recovery.img here

put both those files in the same folder (C:\adb)

run these adb commands with the Novel connected:

adb remount
adb push recovery.img /data/misc
adb push kernel /data/misc
adb shell flash_image recovery /data/misc/recovery.img
adb shell flash_image kernel /data/misc/kernel
adb shell reboot

see if it reboots, if it does, then you are unbricked, but you still have more work to do. you probably need to reflash the whole thing to get all the junk out of the file system from the previous flash

I would suggest putting in clockwork recovery, which is a better recovery than the stock one, especially if you plan on contonuing to mess with the unit. if you just want it back and you will never mess with it again, stick with the stock recovery. but if you do plan on flashing it again with gapps (market) or something like that, then download this, and copy it with windows (do not unzip it) to the sdcard (PD_Novel) and then flash it in. that will install clockwork recovery which is much more forgiving to flashing mishaps

let me know how all this goes and then I will have the full flash ready for you to try. you will be the first to try it I think

I have tried all of this and with no results i went to do the update for the pandigital and it was working fine before and now there is no red light for the charge and it wont turn i plug it into the computer and it reconzes it but it wont do the abd any ideas on what to do

[yetta]

mac1_131, on 05 September 2012 - 06:39 AM, said:

OK if it dings when you plug it into your computer, then adb (android debug bridge) will probably work

you need to get adb. adb is a small part of the android sdk (software development kit) but you don't need the whole sdk

it takes three files to run adb - adb.exe, AdbWinApi.dll and AdbWinUsbApi.dll. you need to make a folder (make it easy, lets say C:\adb) and put those three files in it

to make it easy for you, I zipped those three files and you can get them here

then you need to open a command prompt, and change directory to that folder - cd \adb

then run this command "adb devices" in the command prompt window (with the Novel plugged in) and see if it finds it

if it does, then you can proceed to manually flash the recovery image and the kernel image, which will probably be enough to reboot the thing

download the kernel here
download the recovery.img here

put both those files in the same folder (C:\adb)

run these adb commands with the Novel connected:

adb remount
adb push recovery.img /data/misc
adb push kernel /data/misc
adb shell flash_image recovery /data/misc/recovery.img
adb shell flash_image kernel /data/misc/kernel
adb shell reboot

see if it reboots, if it does, then you are unbricked, but you still have more work to do. you probably need to reflash the whole thing to get all the junk out of the file system from the previous flash

I would suggest putting in clockwork recovery, which is a better recovery than the stock one, especially if you plan on contonuing to mess with the unit. if you just want it back and you will never mess with it again, stick with the stock recovery. but if you do plan on flashing it again with gapps (market) or something like that, then download this, and copy it with windows (do not unzip it) to the sdcard (PD_Novel) and then flash it in. that will install clockwork recovery which is much more forgiving to flashing mishaps

let me know how all this goes and then I will have the full flash ready for you to try. you will be the first to try it I think

is this what i do to upgrade my pandigital novel 7 inch white, it is the 2012 edition

[dragon7532]

evilninja65, on 28 December 2012 - 10:12 PM, said:

i tryed this and it still says ............not a Directory

Ok i got the pandigital white novel to connect to the adb but when i go to put this command in adb^push^recovery.img^/data/misc its says its a read only

[yetta]

how do you change directories to folder on windows xp

[dragon7532]

dragon7532, on 02 January 2013 - 09:54 AM, said:

Ok i got the pandigital white novel to connect to the adb but when i go to put this command in adb^push^recovery.img^/data/misc its says its a read only

the complete error i get is failed to copy 'recovery.img' to '/data/misc': read-only file system

[chicos tacos]

i have all files i need to do this can anyone just give me steps for the adb to find my wpdn. my pc finds it as pd_novel but adb does not help please

[dragon7532]

Giant Wookie, on 06 November 2012 - 10:13 PM, said:

I bought a white Pandigital Novel (WPDN) from Walmart for $60 and thought I was going to be able to get it working with CyanogenMod and have a cheap Android tablet. After hours of trolling the forums at slatedroid.com and xda-developers.com I had rendered my WPDN barely usable with a mutant install of CM7.2 cobbled together from bits and pieces found at slatedroid.com. I tried to return the WPDN to its “factory” settings, but never could get it back to the factory behavior.

I bought another WPDN off ########### and used “dd” to backup the various flash partitions to files that I used to restore my “bricked” unit. On the “factory” unit I had used “adb” to identify the partitions as follows:

# cat /proc/mtd
dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 00200000 00020000 "bootloader"
mtd1: 00800000 00020000 "kernel"
mtd2: 00100000 00020000 "id"
mtd3: 00a00000 00020000 "recovery"
mtd4: 00300000 00020000 "ramdisk"
mtd5: 07d00000 00020000 "system"
mtd6: 04b00000 00020000 "cache"
mtd7: 02000000 00020000 "userdata"
# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

179 0 3872256 mmcblk0
179 1 1936128 mmcblk0p1
179 2 1936063 mmcblk0p2
179 8 3872256 mmcblk1
179 9 3868160 mmcblk1p1
31 0 2048 mtdblock0
31 1 8192 mtdblock1
31 2 1024 mtdblock2
31 3 10240 mtdblock3
31 4 3072 mtdblock4
31 5 128000 mtdblock5
31 6 76800 mtdblock6
31 7 32768 mtdblock7

So then I backed up all the partitions (an SDcard was mounted at /PD_Novel) using “dd” through the “adb” shell:

dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock0 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/bootloader.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock1 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/kernel.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock2 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/id.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock3 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/recovery.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock4 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/ramdisk.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock5 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/system.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock6 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/cache.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock7 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/userdata.img

At that point, I had a nice backup. I next wanted to use Nandroid to backup the whole device. I found a recovery.img with the CWM-Recovery program (version 5.?.?) in S10_cm7_05_25_1_PD_INX7E_ENG_6410POP.zip found linked on slatedroid.com. I unzipped the file to get recovery.img out of it and then used “adb push” to copy the recovery.img to the device. Finally, I used:

adb push ./recovery.img /PD_Novel
adb shell flash_image recovery /PD_Novel/recovery.img

and then reset the device while holding “up” on the volume key along with the power button. After holding for about 20 seconds, I was in the CWM recovery program. At that point, I was able to do a recovery which saved the following files to my sdcard:

-rw-r--r-- 1 avilladg avilladg 56548800 Oct 29 15:49 ./clockworkmod/backup/2012.10.31/cache.yaffs2.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 avilladg avilladg 19707072 Oct 29 15:50 ./clockworkmod/backup/2012.10.31/data.yaffs2.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 avilladg avilladg 153 Oct 29 15:49 ./clockworkmod/backup/2012.10.31/nandroid.md5
-rw-r--r-- 1 avilladg avilladg 111196800 Oct 29 15:49 ./clockworkmod/backup/2012.10.31/system.yaffs2.img

Now I was ready to attempt to restore my “bricked” WPDN.

I had previously loaded the CWM-Recovery on the “bricked” WPDN, and I had noticed that when I had tried to install CyanogenMod 7 from S10_cm7_05_25_1_PD_INX7E_ENG_6410POP.zip that the partitioning was all fouled up. I used “adb shell” to run “dmesg” on the device and could see the partitioning of the MTD (memory technology device) was different from the factory unit. This “dmesg” output shows that the “cache” partition is too big for the “onenand” memory device:

<6>[ 1.924151] OneNAND version = 0x0121
<7>[ 1.927691] Chip support all block unlock
<6>[ 1.995898] Scanning device for bad blocks
<4>[ 2.344341] Bad eraseblock 742 at 0x05cc0000
<5>[ 2.956721] Creating 8 MTD partitions on "onenand":
<5>[ 2.956768] 0x000000000000-0x000000200000 : "bootloader"
<5>[ 2.964927] 0x000000200000-0x000000a00000 : "kernel"
<5>[ 2.969235] 0x000000a00000-0x000000b00000 : "id"
<5>[ 2.973891] 0x000000b00000-0x000001500000 : "recovery"
<5>[ 2.978996] 0x000001500000-0x000001800000 : "ramdisk"
<5>[ 2.984111] 0x000001800000-0x00000e000000 : "system"
<5>[ 2.989544] 0x00000e000000-0x000014400000 : "cache"
<4>[ 2.990874] mtd: partition "cache" extends beyond the end of device "onenand" -- size truncated to 0x2000000
<5>[ 3.003797] 0x000010000000-0x000010000000 : "userdata"
<3>[ 3.005720] mtd: partition "userdata" is out of reach -- disabled

The “dmesg” output on the factory WPDN looks like:

<5>[ 4.091621] Creating 8 MTD partitions on "onenand":
<5>[ 4.091668] 0x000000000000-0x000000200000 : "bootloader"
<5>[ 4.099836] 0x000000200000-0x000000a00000 : "kernel"
<5>[ 4.104066] 0x000000a00000-0x000000b00000 : "id"
<5>[ 4.108559] 0x000000b00000-0x000001500000 : "recovery"
<5>[ 4.113823] 0x000001500000-0x000001800000 : "ramdisk"
<5>[ 4.118838] 0x000001800000-0x00000e000000 : "system"
<5>[ 4.124486] 0x00000e000000-0x000014400000 : "cache"
<5>[ 4.129033] 0x000014400000-0x000020000000 : "userdata"

so I knew something was wrong.

After digging around a ton, I realized that the partitioning of the MTD is setup in the kernel and can be overridden by kernel parameters. So the “bricked” WPDN needed to get the right kernel and bootloader back in place in order to work properly.

I ended up with the following procedure to get my WPDN back to factory settings.

1. Get the CWM-Recovery program on the device (if not already installed)
2. Boot into CWM
3. Use “adb push” to copy the following backed-up files from the factory WPDN to the “bricked” unit:
bootloader.img
kernel.img
id.img
ramdisk.img
4. Use “adb shell” to flash the existing partitions with the .img files:
flash_image bootloader /path/to/bootloader.img
flash_image kernel /path/to/kernel.img
flash_image id /path/to/id.img
flash_image ramdisk /path/to/ramdisk.img
5. Reboot the device and boot back into CWM-Recovery
6. Use “adb shell” to connect to the device and run “dmesg” and verify that the disk partitions are correctly setup. The message “mtd: partition ‘userdata’ is out of reach — disabled” should NOT be shown.
7. Use “adb shell” to create /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/<date> on the SDcard in the “bricked” WPDN, then use “adb push” to copy the Nandroid backup files to the device. NOTE: the sdcard may need to be manually mounted in the adb shell using mount -t vfat /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /sdcard
8. At this point, the SDcard should be setup with the files in order to correctly run a restore using Nandroid within CWM-Recovery. Using the CWM-Recovery menu, restore the system. It should complete successfully.
9. Reboot into a normal startup. The device should be in its factory state. The contents of the internal SDcard will need to be updated as well. One of the partitions contains a bunch of application files (with a .apk extension) and the other partition should be able to be mounted when the WPDN is connected to a desktop computer. Use “adb push” to push the .apk files to /data/app (where the factory software mounts the application directory that lives on the internal SDcard).
10. Use a desktop computer to copy the factory media files onto the drive that gets mounted on the desktop when the WPDN is connected via USB.
11. Reboot, and the WPDN should almost be back in its factory settings. Only the recovery program is different from the “factory” configuration. Use “adb shell” to copy the recovery.img file over to the device, flash it (adb shell flash_image recovery recovery.img) and reboot into recovery mode. The little Android screen should appear, not the CWM-Restore boot screen.
12. Recovery and restoration is complete.

A zip file with all the recovery files is here: http://www.mediafire...6ad6a1wr9lum0zi

Hopefully this helps someone out there.

Im looking for help i have been trying to get my pandigital Novel to work i have the white one when i went to put the android open kit on the tablet it killed it i cant load it and the red light to show it is charging wont light up the computer reconizes it but i cant get it to push i alway get a read only error any help would be greatly appreciated

[RRA]

Giant Wookie, on 06 November 2012 - 10:13 PM, said:

I bought a white Pandigital Novel (WPDN) from Walmart for $60 and thought I was going to be able to get it working with CyanogenMod and have a cheap Android tablet. After hours of trolling the forums at slatedroid.com and xda-developers.com I had rendered my WPDN barely usable with a mutant install of CM7.2 cobbled together from bits and pieces found at slatedroid.com. I tried to return the WPDN to its “factory” settings, but never could get it back to the factory behavior.

I bought another WPDN off ########### and used “dd” to backup the various flash partitions to files that I used to restore my “bricked” unit. On the “factory” unit I had used “adb” to identify the partitions as follows:

# cat /proc/mtd
dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 00200000 00020000 "bootloader"
mtd1: 00800000 00020000 "kernel"
mtd2: 00100000 00020000 "id"
mtd3: 00a00000 00020000 "recovery"
mtd4: 00300000 00020000 "ramdisk"
mtd5: 07d00000 00020000 "system"
mtd6: 04b00000 00020000 "cache"
mtd7: 02000000 00020000 "userdata"
# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name

179 0 3872256 mmcblk0
179 1 1936128 mmcblk0p1
179 2 1936063 mmcblk0p2
179 8 3872256 mmcblk1
179 9 3868160 mmcblk1p1
31 0 2048 mtdblock0
31 1 8192 mtdblock1
31 2 1024 mtdblock2
31 3 10240 mtdblock3
31 4 3072 mtdblock4
31 5 128000 mtdblock5
31 6 76800 mtdblock6
31 7 32768 mtdblock7

So then I backed up all the partitions (an SDcard was mounted at /PD_Novel) using “dd” through the “adb” shell:

dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock0 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/bootloader.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock1 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/kernel.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock2 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/id.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock3 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/recovery.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock4 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/ramdisk.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock5 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/system.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock6 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/cache.img
dd if=/dev/block/mtdblock7 of=/PD_Novel/pandigital_oem/userdata.img

At that point, I had a nice backup. I next wanted to use Nandroid to backup the whole device. I found a recovery.img with the CWM-Recovery program (version 5.?.?) in S10_cm7_05_25_1_PD_INX7E_ENG_6410POP.zip found linked on slatedroid.com. I unzipped the file to get recovery.img out of it and then used “adb push” to copy the recovery.img to the device. Finally, I used:

adb push ./recovery.img /PD_Novel
adb shell flash_image recovery /PD_Novel/recovery.img

and then reset the device while holding “up” on the volume key along with the power button. After holding for about 20 seconds, I was in the CWM recovery program. At that point, I was able to do a recovery which saved the following files to my sdcard:

-rw-r--r-- 1 avilladg avilladg 56548800 Oct 29 15:49 ./clockworkmod/backup/2012.10.31/cache.yaffs2.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 avilladg avilladg 19707072 Oct 29 15:50 ./clockworkmod/backup/2012.10.31/data.yaffs2.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 avilladg avilladg 153 Oct 29 15:49 ./clockworkmod/backup/2012.10.31/nandroid.md5
-rw-r--r-- 1 avilladg avilladg 111196800 Oct 29 15:49 ./clockworkmod/backup/2012.10.31/system.yaffs2.img

Now I was ready to attempt to restore my “bricked” WPDN.

I had previously loaded the CWM-Recovery on the “bricked” WPDN, and I had noticed that when I had tried to install CyanogenMod 7 from S10_cm7_05_25_1_PD_INX7E_ENG_6410POP.zip that the partitioning was all fouled up. I used “adb shell” to run “dmesg” on the device and could see the partitioning of the MTD (memory technology device) was different from the factory unit. This “dmesg” output shows that the “cache” partition is too big for the “onenand” memory device:

<6>[ 1.924151] OneNAND version = 0x0121
<7>[ 1.927691] Chip support all block unlock
<6>[ 1.995898] Scanning device for bad blocks
<4>[ 2.344341] Bad eraseblock 742 at 0x05cc0000
<5>[ 2.956721] Creating 8 MTD partitions on "onenand":
<5>[ 2.956768] 0x000000000000-0x000000200000 : "bootloader"
<5>[ 2.964927] 0x000000200000-0x000000a00000 : "kernel"
<5>[ 2.969235] 0x000000a00000-0x000000b00000 : "id"
<5>[ 2.973891] 0x000000b00000-0x000001500000 : "recovery"
<5>[ 2.978996] 0x000001500000-0x000001800000 : "ramdisk"
<5>[ 2.984111] 0x000001800000-0x00000e000000 : "system"
<5>[ 2.989544] 0x00000e000000-0x000014400000 : "cache"
<4>[ 2.990874] mtd: partition "cache" extends beyond the end of device "onenand" -- size truncated to 0x2000000
<5>[ 3.003797] 0x000010000000-0x000010000000 : "userdata"
<3>[ 3.005720] mtd: partition "userdata" is out of reach -- disabled

The “dmesg” output on the factory WPDN looks like:

<5>[ 4.091621] Creating 8 MTD partitions on "onenand":
<5>[ 4.091668] 0x000000000000-0x000000200000 : "bootloader"
<5>[ 4.099836] 0x000000200000-0x000000a00000 : "kernel"
<5>[ 4.104066] 0x000000a00000-0x000000b00000 : "id"
<5>[ 4.108559] 0x000000b00000-0x000001500000 : "recovery"
<5>[ 4.113823] 0x000001500000-0x000001800000 : "ramdisk"
<5>[ 4.118838] 0x000001800000-0x00000e000000 : "system"
<5>[ 4.124486] 0x00000e000000-0x000014400000 : "cache"
<5>[ 4.129033] 0x000014400000-0x000020000000 : "userdata"

so I knew something was wrong.

After digging around a ton, I realized that the partitioning of the MTD is setup in the kernel and can be overridden by kernel parameters. So the “bricked” WPDN needed to get the right kernel and bootloader back in place in order to work properly.

I ended up with the following procedure to get my WPDN back to factory settings.

1. Get the CWM-Recovery program on the device (if not already installed)
2. Boot into CWM
3. Use “adb push” to copy the following backed-up files from the factory WPDN to the “bricked” unit:
bootloader.img
kernel.img
id.img
ramdisk.img
4. Use “adb shell” to flash the existing partitions with the .img files:
flash_image bootloader /path/to/bootloader.img
flash_image kernel /path/to/kernel.img
flash_image id /path/to/id.img
flash_image ramdisk /path/to/ramdisk.img
5. Reboot the device and boot back into CWM-Recovery
6. Use “adb shell” to connect to the device and run “dmesg” and verify that the disk partitions are correctly setup. The message “mtd: partition ‘userdata’ is out of reach — disabled” should NOT be shown.
7. Use “adb shell” to create /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/<date> on the SDcard in the “bricked” WPDN, then use “adb push” to copy the Nandroid backup files to the device. NOTE: the sdcard may need to be manually mounted in the adb shell using mount -t vfat /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /sdcard
8. At this point, the SDcard should be setup with the files in order to correctly run a restore using Nandroid within CWM-Recovery. Using the CWM-Recovery menu, restore the system. It should complete successfully.
9. Reboot into a normal startup. The device should be in its factory state. The contents of the internal SDcard will need to be updated as well. One of the partitions contains a bunch of application files (with a .apk extension) and the other partition should be able to be mounted when the WPDN is connected to a desktop computer. Use “adb push” to push the .apk files to /data/app (where the factory software mounts the application directory that lives on the internal SDcard).
10. Use a desktop computer to copy the factory media files onto the drive that gets mounted on the desktop when the WPDN is connected via USB.
11. Reboot, and the WPDN should almost be back in its factory settings. Only the recovery program is different from the “factory” configuration. Use “adb shell” to copy the recovery.img file over to the device, flash it (adb shell flash_image recovery recovery.img) and reboot into recovery mode. The little Android screen should appear, not the CWM-Restore boot screen.
12. Recovery and restoration is complete.

A zip file with all the recovery files is here: http://www.mediafire...6ad6a1wr9lum0zi

Hopefully this helps someone out there.

+1 and then some. This unbricked my unit. The first trick was getting adb to work properly. It took trying it on 3 different computers (both Windows and Linux) to get it to work. There's a good section on getting adb to work, including the necessary driver at:
ADB Setup
I had a black screen, the LED came on when I applied power, but went off when I tried to power up. I installed the CWM program, and voila, I had a display to work with. Booting just kept me stuck at the blue flash screen, but the above instructions were gold and now I'm running fine.

Thanks, Giant Wookie!

This post has been edited by RRA: 05 January 2013 - 01:35 PM

[RRA]

dragon7532, on 03 January 2013 - 02:35 PM, said:

Im looking for help i have been trying to get my pandigital Novel to work i have the white one when i went to put the android open kit on the tablet it killed it i cant load it and the red light to show it is charging wont light up the computer reconizes it but i cant get it to push i alway get a read only error any help would be greatly appreciated

Hmm... I just managed to unbrick mine. I had black screen and after flashing the android open kit, I got my screen back. What I ended up doing is pulling the internal SD card out and putting it on my PC, making sure to shoot any .zip and .dat files first. Then I put in mac1_131's CWM version and flashed it. To do that, I unplugged the internal battery so I could power the unit off by unplugging the power cord. Then plugged it back in, held vol+ and power for 15 seconds and gave it about 5 minutes to flash. Tried this sequence again and it booted into the CWM where I was able to push following Giant Wookie's instructions.

If your screen is black, have a look at:
http://www.slatedroi...w/page__st__100

and see panengineer's instructions for which buttons/taps to use to walk through the CWM menus.

Good luck!

This post has been edited by RRA: 05 January 2013 - 05:36 PM

[dragon7532]

Joseph Pruitt, on 12 October 2012 - 06:59 PM, said:

Oh! Your sh is missing. Here, have mine. Wasn't using it anyway Just unzip and 'adb push sh /system/bin'

After that continue rolling forward.

Oh, and don't get discouraged. ~20 days ago I joined slatedroid without the first idea of what to do with an Android. Now thanks to the good folks here at SlateDroid and their volumes and volumes of knowledge + a dash of Google-Fu I'm starting to figure things out. Even a little bit on my own lol. It's funny... I've posted a few topics on here and almost never got an answer with much assistance (except panengineer who's obviously a cyborg judging from his efficiency). I've been forced to solve things on my own. I get mad sometimes and have to leave my current project (usually angry birds or netflix) alone for a while. I get back to it later and things that I was struggling over become obvious and much easier to handle.

For all the young ones (like myself) on here... in short: Take it a step at a time and have patience. You'll amaze yourself at what you can learn/do.

hi i tried the adb push sh /system/bin and i get /sbin/sh: adb: not found any ideas would greatly appreciated thanks

[dragon7532]

What does it mean when you go into adb and you do adb devices and it comes up to pd_novel recovery

[dragon7532]

this is as far as i can get and then i get this error any help would be greatly appreciatd
C:\adb>adb devices
List of devices attached
PD_Novel recovery


C:\adb>adb push recovery.img /data/misc
1795 KB/s (1932751 bytes in 1.051s)

C:\adb>adb push kernel /data/misc
1719 KB/s (2210376 bytes in 1.255s)

C:\adb>adb shell
~ # adb sehll flash_image recovery /data/misc/reco
adb sehll flash_image recovery /data/misc/recovery
/sbin/sh: adb: not found
~ #

[edca2002]

dragon7532, once you do a just "adb shell" command, you don't need to add it to the other commands, because you're still in the shell.

So you can do either something like:
C:\adb>adb shell
~ # flash_image recovery /data/misc/recovery

OR you can do
C:\adb>adb shell flash_image recovery /data/misc/recovery

but don't mix the two forms together.