Omnimaga
Omnimaga => News => Topic started by: critor on October 23, 2011, 07:30:05 pm
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We did it!!! :love:
Bsl as a developer, and me as a tester who doesn't fear bricking one or two Nspire, have finally, after severall months of work, managed to reflash the Diagnostics software included in the Nspire through an Ndless program today.
No need for an RS232 inteface anymore! You can freely upgrade/downgrade your Diagnostics software, install a CAS Diagnostics on a non-CAS model, install a TouchPad Diagnostics on a ClickPad model...
Tested on 5 calculators, with 3 different models among them: 100% success rate.
What? Useless you say? You never use the Diagnostics software?
But remember that the Diagnostics software is in NAND ROM, just after the Boot2...
The Diagnostics was just a way to test NAND ROM reflashing with the minimal risk of bricking the Nspire.
Imagine that you could soon be able to upgrade/downgrade your Boot2 just by pressing "Enter".
Imagine that you could mod your Nspire ClickPad prototypes into production models by replacing their development 1.1 Boot2 which won't let you install any 1.3 or above OS, by a production Boot2.
Of course, the development Boot1 would have to be replaced by the production Boot1 too, or the production Boot2 won't be run. But we're getting nearer and nearer... ;)
Another great day you shouldn't forget in the Nspire history! :D
For more informations and photos:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8348
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Wow nice. I think this definitively deserves news too.
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Awesome! Moved to News.
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Should i download something quickly just in case?
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Wow... this is awesome! :D Does that make this statement (http://ourl.ca/13546/255307) a little less true? ;)
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holy shit this is cool.
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Hooray for progress! now, on to replacing the boot1 :P
Ooh, a thought: is there a limit to the diag size? we could fit an OS loader in just a few kb....then have it load a larger image, or a patched version of the normal OS, from the filesystem!
Unless the diag software is keyed....
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Yep,
The program needs some reworking.
It also needs a little more testing , and be made more user friendly.
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Good work guys! =)
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Should i download something quickly just in case?
We haven't published the program yet.
Wow... this is awesome! :D Does that make this statement (http://ourl.ca/13546/255307) a little less true? ;)
No, this has nothing to do with Ndless 3. It's just a Ndless program and so it cannot be used on CX calculators or 3.x OSes yet.
But you could soon be able to patch your ClickPad/TouchPad Boot2 or replace it totally by a 3rd party Boot2... Just imagine what could be done after that... Let's sum up: everything! :P
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Very nice work!
Just Awesome :)
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so is that mean I can install CAS OS in my non-CAS nspire? yay! :D
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so is that mean I can install CAS OS in my non-CAS nspire? yay! :D
You can allready run a CAS OS on a non-CAS Nspire, can't you ?
And the official Boot1/Boot2 images won't help with that as they are identical on non-CAS and CAS models.
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This is great to hear! Congratulations to all involved in this wonderful accomplishment! :) :D
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You can allready run a CAS OS on a non-CAS Nspire, can't you ?
How?
Or does it not actually have cas available?
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I think it was something about OSlanucher.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to use it D:
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Nice :)
bsl, what was then wrong with the previous routines used to write to the NAND?
But you could soon be able to patch your ClickPad/TouchPad Boot2 or replace it totally by a 3rd party Boot2...
Well, today we can't sign 3rd party boot2.
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bsl, what was then wrong with the previous routines used to write to the NAND?
I looked at how boot2 updates a new diags or boot2 in the preload area and found
0x11950148 preload_update_boot2_or_diags, which is also called write_nand on the noncas1.7 listings.
It made sense for me to try it because it did more checking before writing a page. It also saves you writing a loop.
Its prototype is:
write_nand(void *source, ulong size, ulong NandOffset);
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FlashDiags is released:
http://tiplanet.org/index.php?mod=archives&ac=voir&id=3744
Grab it while you can ;)
You can now downgrade/upgrade your diagnostic software, or flash a new one if you've deleted it.
Be sure to read the Readme.
You'll need an officially signed diagnostic image and none of them are included or findable on TI-Planet for now.
Don't flash a diagnostic image not suited for your hardware, as diagnostic softwares are storing their status/configuration in NAND ROM and don't use to clean/reset them.
If an unsuited diags does corrupt these informations, it can make the diagnostic softwares unusable.
- basic ClickPad -> only non-CAS 1.X Diags images
- CAS ClickPad -> only CAS 1.X Diags images
- TouchPad -> only 2.X Diags images
And if you dig with the source code, be sure of what you're doing!
Writing at different NAND ROM addresses can brick your Nspire, and it won't be fixable through software...
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They keep trying to lock us down, and we keep on opening everything back up. Way to go, guys. Stay awesome. :P
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Minor update:
http://tiplanet.org/index.php?mod=archives&ac=voir&id=3744
The calculator does not reboot any more after flashing a diagnostic.
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Of course, the development Boot1 would have to be replaced by the production Boot1 too, or the production Boot2 won't be run. But we're getting nearer and nearer... ;)
Does this mean that replacing the boot1 would be theoretically possible?
(I always thought it is read-only or something...)
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It's in a NOR memory, and for now we can't really do anything with it (yet..)
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The Boot1 is in NOR ROM on ClickPad Nspires and if writeable, will probably need a completly different code.
On TouchPad/CX Nspires, the NOR ROM seems to have disappeared and the Boot1 must have been moved into the Zevio ASIC, which shouldn't be writeable.