1.05.04_V-WDLXTV-Live-0.5.1.1 discussion

[chaghi]

I'd recommend flash a newer firmware first

then try it again

But there isn't a new firmware between 1.03.49_V-WDLXTV-LIVE-0.4.7.3 (the one I already have flashed) and 1.05.04_V-WDLXTV-Live-0.5.1.1

And I'd like to test 1.05.04/0.5.1.1 "live" before flashing it...

[RMerlin]

Make sure you have the correct version for your device (Live or Live Plus).

[recliq]

I have also experienced this with corrupted root.bin, so try also to re-download, re-extract, re-copy, etc...
You may also try to re-format the usb drive or use a different one.

[chaghi]

Make sure you have the correct version for your device (Live or Live Plus).

I double-checked that, and downloaded it again, just to be safe. My device is a Live one (not Plus). I've downloaded this release:
http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=6104

I have also experienced this with corrupted root.bin, so try also to re-download, re-extract, re-copy, etc...
You may also try to re-format the usb drive or use a different one.

I downloaded the zip again. MD5 tells me that it's exactly the same I used yesterday. Just to be safe, uncompressed the zip in my laptop, md5sum'ed the root.bin, transferred it via scp, and md5sum'ed again in the disk attached to the WDTV. Everything seems fine.

Still no luck, the device won't boot as long as it finds a root.bin.

The filesystem is clean. Formatting the drive is out of the equation: I have almost 1TB of data there, transferring data via USB is very slow, I don't feel like starting again from a backup. And again, it's a perfectly normal ext3 filesystem, completely clean.

Any other idea? As this is a ext3 filestem I wonder: Should the root.bin file have to have any special attributes/ownership/permissions assigned?

[chaghi]

Ok, a couple more tests:

• Just for the sake of testing (because there's no point in getting this to work in a disk other than the one I originally tried), I tried with another USB disk (a smaller one, 250GB, also formatted in 3xt3). It didn't work, either. Same problem: The WDTV gets stuck at the WD logo;
• Using the original disk (the 1TB one), I tried the .rootFS method. It won't work. Same problem. But as I never tried the .rootFS thing before, I'm not sure if I set it up right. Here's what I did, in my laptop:

Code: Select all

mount -o loop root.bin /mnt
mkdir /media/My_Passport/.rootFS
cp -pR /mnt/* /media/My_Passport/.rootFS


... then I rebooted the WDTV with the disk attached.

I've run out of ideas

[mad_ady]

Not sure why it doesn't work for you (and it would be difficult to troubleshoot since you would need a serial cable to do it), but you can also try the .rootFS approach from svn.
Follow the instructions here: http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=228 (option 2).

The issue might be that the file doesn't boot because the drive doesn't come up fast enough for the boot process to use it. Try to boot the root.bin from a small usb drive to rule out this possibility.

[chaghi]

The issue might be that the file doesn't boot because the drive doesn't come up fast enough for the boot process to use it. Try to boot the root.bin from a small usb drive to rule out this possibility.

Mh... I didn't think of that. The strange thing is that the smaller external drive had worked in the past booting 1.03.49_V-WDLXTV-LIVE-0.4.7.3, but then again, the WDLXTV version I had flashed was also older.

I tried the ROOT_UUID setting to force the boot, but it didn't work either.

Ok, I'm going to try with a pendrive or something and let you know. Unfortunately I don't have a spare pendrive to try this out atm.

One more question: If the problem turns out to be the speed of the drive to come alive, and I get it to work with a small pendrive, will it work with a USB hub? I already have both USB ports used:

• One with a wifi-dongle
• One with the external 1TB USB drive

... so I will need a hub. I don't think the disk will work with a hub, it's very picky with the usb cable used, so I will need to put together in a hub both the wifi dongle and the boot-pendrive.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[recliq]

Important tip:

- Save your config in WEC
- Reset the complete config in WEC
- Reboot (from usb)

I ran into the not booting problem when i switched between 1.02.21 and 1.05.04 root.bin's and it turned out it was related to some config setting. Now I have a 1.02 config backup and a 1.05 config backup. Before booting into a different base fw i restore the corresponding config.

[KAD]

I also might add with the .rootFS option

it does require a fast drive, I can remember b-rad said, he tested 10 drives and only 3 were fast enough to boot with a .rootFS

on the other hand root.bin, I've never heard of drive speed being an issue

KAD

[chaghi]

Important tip:

- Save your config in WEC
- Reset the complete config in WEC
- Reboot (from usb)

Thanks for the tip! That makes sense, because I used the root.bin method a couple of times in the past, with older WDLXTV versions, without problems. When I get home tonight I'll try your tip before trying anything else.

I also might add with the .rootFS option

it does require a fast drive, I can remember b-rad said, he tested 10 drives and only 3 were fast enough to boot with a .rootFS

on the other hand root.bin, I've never heard of drive speed being an issue

I had never tried the .rootFS option until last night. Yes, b-rad even documented his experience about the 3 drives working out of ~10, but I missed it completely until I read the intructions pointed out by mad_ady a couple of posts above

But as you said, I understand that the root.bin option should work regardless of the speed of the disk... so maybe it has to do with som weird setting as recliq suggests.

I'll try again later and report back the results.

Thank you!