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Bad Rocket M5?

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KG6H
Bad Rocket M5?

I purchased a box of used 10 Rocket M5s from eBay.  Only one was an XW and the rest XM, so score so far.  I'll just keep the XW for a survey node.

One of the nodes appears to have a flash issue.  I was able to put 3.16.1.0 on it.  When I try to set the node name, password, and distance, I get an error when saving.  Looking at the initial page I see Flash shows 0kb free.  When I compare to other nodes, they have 2mb+ Flash free.

Is there a way I can clear out the flash?  My guess is perhaps that a good portion of the flash has gone bad and been marked that way, limiting the node to too little free space left to save the config or anything else (and perhaps even the original firmware).

Any thoughts?  I have the supportdata.tgz file from the node: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9532089/AREDN-Mesh-temp/supportdata-NOCALL-201605110503.tgz

I have tried to flash it again with the same or older versions, but no luck.  It says it is flashing the firmware, reboots, but always boots back to 3.16.1.0.

K5DLQ
K5DLQ's picture
before you loaded AREDN, did
before you loaded AREDN, did it test ok with the AREDN U-Boot Utility?  a GOOD/GOOD response?
 
AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
KG6H,  "is there a way to
KG6H,  "is there a way to clear out the flash?".     Yes, directly using the serial console with 'uboot' commands or loading in a new image, but this should not be necessary.

Linux is booting, so it's not 'bricked' per se with the typcial XM5.6 downgrade issues.   This looks like bad memory still smoking.    From the data dump, Linux is unable to initialize and write to flash space to create the "jffs2" filesytem. See https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/techref/flash.layout .  This is the free flash space used to save all the unique config files, etc. after initial boot.  

This free flash space is mounted directly and you can see with a "df" command as "/overlay":

                                Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available  Use%  Mounted on
Your device->          /dev/mtdblock5            2752         2752            0   100%  /overlay
know good device-> /dev/mtdblock5            2752           332       2420    12%  /overlay

In your case, there was 0% free from the start, even after linux tried to initialize and write to it.   

Your linux kernel is looking to create this file system at partition "rootfs_data" in flash and shows it knows the correct definition for the AREDN image:

[    0.560000] 0x000000000000-0x000000040000 : "u-boot"
[    0.570000] 0x000000040000-0x000000050000 : "u-boot-env"
[    0.580000] 0x000000050000-0x0000007b0000 : "firmware"
[    0.600000] 0x000000050000-0x00000015e5ed : "kernel"
[    0.620000] 0x00000015e5ed-0x0000007b0000 : "rootfs"
[    0.650000] 0x000000500000-0x0000007b0000 : "rootfs_data"   <-  /dev/mtdblock5
[    0.650000] 0x0000007b0000-0x0000007f0000 : "cfg"
[    0.660000] 0x0000007f0000-0x000000800000 : "EEPROM"

But problems through out the process:

[   32.100000] jffs2_scan_eraseblock(): End of filesystem marker found at 0x0
[   32.130000] jffs2_build_filesystem(): unlocking the mtd device... done.
[   32.130000] jffs2_build_filesystem(): erasing all blocks after the end marker... 
[   32.160000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x19852003 at offset 0x002a0000
[   32.170000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x19852003 at offset 0x00290000
[   32.190000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x19852003 at offset 0x00280000
[   32.200000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x19852003 at offset 0x00270000
[   32.220000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x19852003 at offset 0x00260000
[   32.230000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x19852003 at offset 0x00250000
[   32.250000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x19852003 at offset 0x00240000
[   32.260000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x19852003 at offset 0x00230000
[   32.280000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x0 at offset 0x00220000
[   32.290000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xdeadc0de at offset 0x00210000
[   32.310000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xdeadc0de at offset 0x00200000
[   32.330000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x3106ea29 at offset 0x001f0000
[   32.340000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xa3215b22 at offset 0x001e0000
[   32.350000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x4bee9d5c at offset 0x001d0000
[   32.380000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x8b64430f at offset 0x001c0000
[   32.410000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x9e8ab97b at offset 0x001b0000
[   32.420000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xed53cdca at offset 0x001a0000
[   32.430000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x85cef634 at offset 0x00190000
[   32.440000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x7875c317 at offset 0x00180000
[   32.460000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xe0c4ce0 at offset 0x00170000
[   32.470000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xef6ba4b3 at offset 0x00160000
[   32.490000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xb063fe3 at offset 0x00150000
[   32.500000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xf15a2749 at offset 0x00140000
[   32.520000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xa555e678 at offset 0x00130000
[   32.530000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x1cac03eb at offset 0x00120000
[   32.550000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x760dcf8 at offset 0x00110000
[   32.570000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x42157bb at offset 0x00100000
[   32.580000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x1245273a at offset 0x000f0000
[   32.600000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xc428ab4e at offset 0x000e0000
[   32.610000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xee8e3a28 at offset 0x000d0000
[   32.630000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xbfe0f69d at offset 0x000c0000
[   32.640000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x3c7a203e at offset 0x000b0000
[   32.660000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x7d6a3857 at offset 0x000a0000
[   32.670000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x2876426e at offset 0x00090000
[   32.690000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xb0b7c051 at offset 0x00080000
[   32.700000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xacfd7e45 at offset 0x00070000
[   32.720000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x6b861c15 at offset 0x00060000
[   32.730000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x9bfa4012 at offset 0x00050000
[   32.750000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x3150df2a at offset 0x00040000
[   32.760000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x3fa3da36 at offset 0x00030000
[   32.780000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xd303fa38 at offset 0x00020000
[   32.790000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0x6d6f2041 at offset 0x00010000
[   32.810000] jffs2: Newly-erased block contained word 0xdeadc0de at offset 0x00000000
[   32.810000] done.


   
KG6JEI
Actually this has been seen
Actually this has been seen with AIROS 5.6 issue. It's less common and I haven't found out why but every so often a few nodes present in this manner.

it has also been seen in another case where the flash went bad.

Unless you are positive this device wasn't running 5.6 I would suggest following the AIROS 5.6 to 5.5 downgrade procedure (requires serial access) 
 
AE6XE
AE6XE's picture
Conrad,  I think you're on
Conrad,  I think you're on the right track.  I just ran into some posts in other forums.     Nothing confirmed so far, but there is reported to be yet another behavior change to the new uboot version in AirOS v5.6.x where uboot no longer un-protects this flash memory space, when v5.5.x did.   If so, then the partitions are correctly configured for the kernel to boot, but it still somehow has the newer and wrong uboot version loaded.   Guessing someone tried to upgrade AirOS in the past.  The overlay file system can't be initialized when the memory is still protected.  

KG6H,  If this is the case, then a process to recover could be:

1) tftp and load the AirOS v5.6.x latest version
2) boot to UI and then from UI downgrade to AirOS v5.5.x
3) then load AREDN again...

Joe AE6XE
KG6JEI
TFTP recovery will likely
TFTP recovery will likely need to be done with the serial console and the uboot force  command.

It has been my experience from reading the threads and testing that once you get into this AIROS 5.6 boot loader with a non 5.6 image running (like AREDN) that simple TFTP with the reset button doesn't work.
W2TTT
W2TTT's picture
M2 Rocket JTAG

Hi Folks!
Does anyone know the JTAG pinout and interface parameters for the Ubiquiti M2 Rocket?
My node is bricked and I need to help Lazarus arise.
:-)
73,
Gordon Beattie, W2TTT
201.314.6964

W2TTT
W2TTT's picture
Bricked Rocket
Found the answer elsewhere...will post shortly.
w6abj
Jason, drop it off by the
Jason, drop it off by the house when you are down next time..
KG6JEI
This thread is (almost) 6
This thread is (almost) 6 months old as a FYI.

Best to check the dates as every so often somone pulls a dead thread back from the grave.
w6abj
this is true, but he could
this is true, but he could still have a dead radio. 

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