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Home / Other I-Appliances / 3Com Audrey How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together

How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) tskyler Profile First, thanks to everyone who has made so many major contributions to this forum. You are amazing...! Hopefully, this will only be my first contribution to this forum... Background: Started playing around with an Audrey that had recieved the Shell updates from Sythic's old server. I got stuck doing a mount to my Win 2000 box... So I decided to screw around. Well somehow I blew up my USB access completely and decided I needed to reflash. Well, unfortunately I was never able to backup because I had no CF card and couldnt mount to export an image in another way. So, I broke down tonite and went and bought a SanDisk 32 Meg CF card and a SanDisk USB reader. Got it home and then the fun began. I could not get any of the images on AudreyHacking up on my CF. Gemulator is useless in Win2000 with my USB Writer. I cant throw the image files up to Audrey because my Networking is hosed. So what did I do... The steps can be divided into three areas.... 1. Get the ACTUAL disk size 2. Make and Copy a proper sized image file to the CF 3. Install the image 1. Getting the Actual CF disk size is the hardest step. If you are using the same card as me (a SanDisk 32 MB) you may be able to skip this step. You cannot do this step to my knowledge if you do not have an audrey with shell access. So you may have to grab my actual size and test it. (Im not responsible for you killing your system)Here is how I did it.. Requirements: Audrey w/ root shell, ntrw, and mkcf (ntrw & mkcf can be gotten from jayklm's image zip) 1. Got to a root shell on Audrey (from the menu not pterm) 2. Insert your CF in the Audrey slot.. 3. When I did my insert Audrey reported my card size was... 36126144 bytes 35279k (34 MB) This was the WRONG value!!! NOTE: Steps 4-7 may be unecessary hocus pocus. You might just need to write a too large file using ntrw than do a read to an output file but I have not tested this on a blank card so I will give you my steps. If you can just write a too large file (i.e. mkcf jayklm.cf bigimage.cf 90000000 then: ntrw write bigimage e: ) you will be able to do all steps without shell. That said... here is what I did. 4. devb-cf [enter] 5. cd [space]/dev [enter] 6. cat [space]fs0p0[space]fs0p1[space]>[space]/dev/cf[enter] 7. Remove the Card 8. Insert the card in your Windows CF adapter 9. Next I brought up a windows command line. 10. Type: ntrw[space]read[space]backup.dat[space]e:[enter] (backup.dat is a random output filename, e: is the drive letter of my USB CF writer) 11. The following displayed for me... -------------- NTRW v2.00 Removeable media Cylinders: 0:3 TracksPerCylinder: 255 SectorsPerTrack: 63 BytesPerSector: 512 bufsize is 65536 32112640 bytes written0 bytes: 0 ReadFile(): backup.dat -- Data error (cyclic redundancy check) ----------------- 12. Ignore the error but note the file size (32112640) ... It is different than the 36126144 audrey reported... 13. You have now determined the correct mkcf file size! 2. Write the CF image... 1. Download the image that you want.. 2. Bring up a windows command line. 3. Type: mkcf[space]image.cf[space]fixed.dsk[space]32112640[enter] (image.cf is the image you want to install, fixed.dsk is a random output file name, 32112640 is the bytes you got from step 1. This command will create an output file the size of the third argument. You can't use the downloaded image directly) 4. You should see this output: ------------ Read file of size 16777216. WARNING: This image will overwrite the IPL! That is OK if your image contains an IPL, but it risks destroying the device per manently. Please be careful! File checksum is f9756611. Creating output file 'fixed.dsk' of size 32112640...done! ------------- 5. Type: ntrw[space]write[space]fixed.dsk[space]e:[enter] (fixed.dsk is the output file we created with the mkcf command, e: is the drive letter of our CF writer) 6. You should see this output: ------------ NTRW v2.00 Removeable media Cylinders: 0:3 TracksPerCylinder: 255 SectorsPerTrack: 63 BytesPerSector: 512 bufsize is 65536 32112640 bytes written ------------- 7. Remove the CF and put it somewhere OTHER than your Audrey! 3. Install on Audrey... 1. Unplug Audrey.. Make sure the CF isnt in her when you unplug. It will corrupt the CF. 2. Wait 1 minute. 3. Insert Card in Audrey.. 4. Press the datebook (top right button) and plug in the Audrey while holding the datebook key down. 5. If you do not get a error on boot up. You should have a valid card. 6. remove the card again and unplug Audrey. Remember to remove the card! 7. Insert the card. 8. Hold the datebook (top right button) the the On/Off button (bottom right button) and plug in the Audrey while holding these buttons down. 9. Audrey should erase your flash and write the CF to the flash. DO NOT UNPLUG NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10. remove the CF card when Audrey tells you to. 11. Unplug her when she tells you too. 12. Plug Audrey in. 13. Everything should boot up fine now! Hope this helps someone. Now, if I could only do a mount :) Skyler 11-22-2001 01:06:01

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) adam714 Profile i followed the instructions above. i have the sandisk 32mb card. i get a checksum of 91ba2df4. and when i try to boot to the card i get Invalid Image in the upper left corner, what am i doing wrong? my audrey seems to be hosed. i get no desktop just the backround pattern and no repsonse to the buttons. so i think i need to flash. please help 12-31-2001 18:39:59

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 1 times) KJ_Jazz Profile And where are you getting the images to start with? 01-01-2002 07:50:44

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 2 times) adam714 Profile dl's jukebox's mqnx image and did tht efollowing in DOS on my XP box: C:\Documents and Settings\Adam\Desktop\Audrey>mkcf jukebox2.cf audrey.dsk 31950848 Read file of size 16515072. File checksum is 91ba2df4. Creating output file 'audrey.dsk' of size 31950848...done! C:\Documents and Settings\Adam\Desktop\Audrey>ntrw write audrey.dsk h: NTRW v2.00 Removeable media Cylinders: 0:3 TracksPerCylinder: 255 SectorsPerTrack: 63 BytesPerSector: 512 bufsize is 65536 31950848 bytes written Boot holding datebook during power p and i get FATAL:Invalid Image 01-01-2002 08:07:07

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) adam714 Profile if i cannot use audrey at this point, she boots but i a background and that's it. so, how can i determine the size of my card. can i go by what windows reports? (31950848) 01-01-2002 09:00:18

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) gsmith22 Profile | Email Are you holding datebook AND on/off during power-up? That's how I flashed mine. 01-01-2002 12:24:00

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) adam714 Profile the issue is creating the image not flashing it. 01-01-2002 13:54:18

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) KJ_Jazz Profile OK, I have the same SanDisk 32Mb CF and was using dilligaf's image from the Audrey Hacking site and I get the same Fatal:Invalid Image upon boot. 01-01-2002 17:47:39

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) hw_irq Profile My SanDisk 32MB CF (SDCFB) card reports the size of 36126144 when I insert it into Audrey. Hope this helps. If it doesn't work, then you will need to check the correct image size with the serial cable. See thread: http://www.linux-hacker.net/cgi-bin/UltraBoard/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=3Com_Audrey&Post=905&Idle=0&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session= 01-01-2002 19:24:24

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) KJ_Jazz Profile SanDisk USB SDDR-31, SanDisk 32Mb CF, W2K Pro. I have tried multiple images and have tried the image size at the 31M size, the default size, the 34Mb size and all have resulted in the same "Fatal: Invalid Image". One thing I did note, upon writing the image to CF and then reading it back - no matter what, I'm only getting a file of 32,030,720. Even if NTRW says it successfully writes a larger file, if I read it back off the CF, the file I get back is 32,030,720. However, I tried that size and no luck. One thing I don't completely understand - and I'm sure some will laugh, but why do we need to use mkcf to rewrite the image and change the file size in the first place?? What exactly is the process for? 01-02-2002 07:54:58

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) adam714 Profile it seems to me that the method of creating a cf image on a Windows PC does not work. however, as a last resort i tried flashing from an image i made on audrey before i hosed her. i didn't use that one initially because i didn't think it would work because it was on a 20mb kodak cf card but it worked like a charm. For those of you who have an audrey which is screwed up and do not have a back up on a card, good luck. For those of you whose audrey is working but don't have a 32mb. Use whatever kind of card you have (>16mb) and do: -Insert the CF card into the CF slot under the cover at the right lower edge of the Audrey in the back. The CF will only insert all the way if it is inserted with the "TOP" or main label pointed AWAY from you. Make sure it is seated securely, the eject lever has a bit of play in it and can interfere with the CF card. You may have to fiddle around with it to get the CF inserted properly. -Type: devb-cf. A message saying: "CF inserted: xxxxxxxx bytes (xxxxx kB, xx MB)" -Hit enter or return to get the prompt again. -Type: cd /dev -Type: cat fs0p0 fs0p1 fs0p2 > /dev/cf Or you can issue this command: cat fs0p0 fs0p1 > /dev/cf Which creates an image that does not copy over the Audrey's Flash Loader (fs0p2 is the Flash Loader/Restore code). Theoretically this is safer since if you corrupt the Flash Loader your Audrey is DEAD. Jayklm has confirmed that this abbreviated image is shorter and possibly safer. The Audrey then writes to the CF for about 2-3 minutes. Be patient. When the shell prompt comes back, you are done and can safely remove the CF Card. DO NOT UNPLUG THE AUDREY WITH A CF CARD IN THE SLOT, THE CONTENTS WILL BECOME CORRUPTED!! Good Luck 01-02-2002 09:17:38

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) KJ_Jazz Profile OK, so here's some updated information. I finally got the Audrey to attempt to load my image using the SDDR-31, SanDisk 32Mb CF and Win2K. The secret appeared to be the image size, which is 32096256 instead of the numbers previously reported. I discovered this in an effort to resolve the issues I mentioned before about no matter what size image I tried to write to the card, it came back off as a smaller number. I then ventured out and found an Win32 version of dd, which allowed me to discover the number above. Now, however, I have another issue: 3Com IPL Loading from CompactFlash Config : 0000848A Sector sz: 00000240 Capacity : 0000F500 Not compressed File size: 00FC0000 max_sectors: 00007E00 Sum (calculated): 1FE527B8 Sum (stored): 7B1EB7AA FATAL: Checksum failed The "stored" checksum is identical to the "UpdateWithShell.cf" file checksum reported when I use the mkcf utility to generate the image I dump to the CF. The "calculated" checksum is actually calculated on the Audrey at the time of load - as if I use the "UpdateWithShellPluss.cf" file, the "stored" sum equals the file checksum reported when I use the mkcf utility, but the "calculated" checksum is different than the one above as well, which leads me to believe that Audrey is doing a checksum of the image - which is 32096256 bytes long now instead of the original 16515072, and since both cf images I start with are the same size, but with different content it changes the "calculated" checksum - make sense?? So, first if someone who was having trouble with this can confirm whether 32096256 at least gets them beyond "FATAL: Invalid Image" (adam? you still trying?) then we can tell if we are getting any further. Second, does anyone know how to rectify the checksums? I guess I still don't understand what the mkcf utility does if it isn't recalculating or elimiating the stored checksum to match the new file size, since now I've been able to simply write the "UpdateWithShell.cf" file to the CF using dd which creates the 32096256 size file without going through mkcf, but the checksums obviously don't match. Two steps forward, one step back. Although I must say it is nice to see something other than "Invalid Image" - on the other hand, I'd like to hear her giggle again too. 01-03-2002 12:31:20

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) drewbyh Profile Could someone let me know where you found this version of ntrw? Every time I try to use the one I found online, it tell me I have an unsupported media type. Or just email it to me at drewbyonline at hotmail dot com. Any help is very appreciated. 02-09-2002 19:28:32

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) Shlepr Profile KJ and Adam, Are you guys still working on this? Here is how my testing has gone so far. With devb-cf command my cf reports 33521136. From the serial port, it shows a capacity of 63488 (hex F800) X 512 = 32505856. Interesting is that from the serial port it shows the sector size as 528 (hex 210, which would yield 33521664. With CF card in the Audrey, it took apporximately 20 seconds to write the image to the CF. After removing the CF from the Audrey, I placed it into my Win2K pro reader. Using the DD command: dd if=\.\PhysicalDrive1 of=backup.cf it resulted in a file, backup.cf, with size of 32505856, 63488+0 records in, 63488+0 records out. The dd command also gave me an error when it finished DD: \.\PhysicalDrive1: Permission Denied. But the file backup.cf came off fine. These numbers all match!! Now to upload an image. I started with the UpdateWithShellplus.cf. I used the mkcf command to make it the right size: mkcf UpdateWithShellplus.cf audrey.flash 32505856 Then when I go to use the dd command I get: dd if=audrey.flash of=\.\PhysicalDrive1 DD: \.\PhysicalDrive1 : Invalid Argument So I tried the ntrw program to transfer the image to the cf and that worked fine: ntrw write audrey.flash e: Now, with the Audrey unplugged for over a minute, I popped the CF into the Audrey, held down the datebook button and plugged it back in. On the screen, it shows Loading from CompactFlash while I hold the datebook button down. After I let go of the datebook button, I get the FATAL: Invalid Image on the screen. On the serial port it shows the following: 3Com IPL XLv01.12 ========== Loading From CompactFlash TimeOut on CF read TimeOut on CF read Config : 00003008 SectorSz: 0000300F Capacity: 000000FF FATAL: Invalid Image I tried this with both sets of numbers for the size of the CF card. I didn't try the size that Audrey reports when you put the CF into her. I'm beginning to believe I have a bad image. With earlier testing, I did get further like KJ_Jazz with it failing with the checksum error, but I don't remember how I got there. I just started some systematic testing and documentation as I go along. If anybody has any suggestions to try, let me know. I will continue my testing. I would really like to get this to work. BTW, I know that I can transfer Audrey's image to the cf and also to a mounted filesystem. Would it be possible to go from the mounted filesystem to the cf and then flash the Audrey. Shlepr 02-13-2002 10:02:00

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) jhd3rd Profile Yes, in fact if you have shell access and a mounted drive, the easiest way to get an image onto CF is to use Audrey. Assuming your image is at /share/image.cf devb-cf (Audrey recognises your CF) cat /share/image.cf > /dev/cf Give it a couple minutes to complete, and that's it. You CF now contains the image and can be used to flash Audrey. One final note, some people have reported corrupting the image on CF when unplugging Audrey, so remove the CF before unplugging. 02-13-2002 10:18:26

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) Shlepr Profile Ok, I followed jhd's advise and copied an image from a mounted drive right to the CF in the Audrey: cat /audrey/UpdateWithShell.cf > /dev/cf Everything worked fine. When it was done, popped out the cf card, pulled the plug on the Audrey, and waited a couple of minutes. I put the cf back in the Audrey, pushed the Datebook button (top one), plugged it in and it verified the image and then booted like normal but slow. Everything ok so far. I was getting excited. Popped the cf out, unplugged the Audrey, and plugged it back in, Audrey booted just like before and normal speed. Now the real test. Unplugged the Audrey, waited a couple of minutes, popped the cf in, pushed the Datebook and the power buttons and plugged it in. I get the FATAL: Invalid image error. The serial console shows a Timeout reading the CF. What gives? I tried a few different images with the same results. The image is verified with the datebook button, but fails to load with the datebook and power buttons. Anybody run into this scenario? Shlepr 02-14-2002 08:02:26

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) bikeswine Profile Not to put a damper on this but I have updated probably 25 different Audreys OK using a certain compact flash but, I ran into one that would say Invalid Image every time. I then took the flash out and used the very same one to update another Audrey no problem. I checked the pins on the Audrey and it looks fine. Perhaps yours is in a similar boat. 03-06-2002 21:35:58

RE:How to use SanDisk 32 Meg CF/USB CF/and Win 2000 Together (modified 0 times) bazabba Profile | Email Yahoo!!! I got it! Thanks for the help. My original problems seemed to be the NTRW I had. THen i used the right ntrw version to check the size of my disk. It was reporting the wrong size for some reason. That was all in Windows 2000 Pro. After I installed Windows XP I got the correct size (32112460) and got it working. WAHOO! 03-07-2002 22:46:29

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