TL3/626 Can't write on internal memory

[Vita56]

To: bikeridercz

The solution is here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...0&postcount=93

[loki12345]

Originally Posted by zledas

Ok, I solved my problem.

Thank you for sharing, you solved mine, too.

I have a Pocketbook TL3 (Firmware U626 5.14) and suddenly the SD card was read-only (could not keep Wi-Fi password, firmware update failed silently). But now it is all working and even better the firmware update worked, too!

All steps simmer down to (assuming Linux PC):
1. Download serial.app from nhedgehog, extract and place the application folder on your new SD card, plug it in your PB and run @serial as instructed, you'll need device ID (YT12345...) and CID of the new, external(!) SD card (0x12345678).
2. Copy the old SD card to you new SD card ((as root) # dd if=dev/old-sdcard of=/dev/new-sdcard)
3. Download .freezestatus tool, extract, go to ./Linux run "make", switch to created serial folder and run ./serial with your device ID (YT12345...) and CID of the new SD card (0x12345678) as shown in the post of zledas ²
4. (as root)
# mkdir /mnt/9
# mount /dev/<new SD card>9 (mounting the 9th partition)
# cp ./.freezestaus /mnt/<new SD card>9/.freezestatus
5. Insert new SD card into internal SD card reader of PB and restart.

Update to the new firmware (U626-5.20.1157) worked without any problems.

¹

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

Here is a little app which writes the CID (and other infos) into a file (deviceinformation.txt) on the external card.

²

Originally Posted by zledas

Basically you can download an app (linked in the above post; reposting here as well: https://yadi.sk/d/bo7FNPlRy_fMzA ) and then use it to regenerate ".freezestatus" file (replace existing one with the new one at "/mnt/sde9/.freezestatus") with a command:

./serial --serial_number YT4517001251004000Y5 --sd_serial 0x12345678

[boiski]

Originally Posted by nhedgehog

To make it easier here is a little app for that.
It will read the CID of internal SD, create the file .sd_original_serial & copy monitor.app from cramfs.

Howto:
Use empty MicroSD, formated FAT32.
Copy the folder applications from the package (including SD_Prepare.app) into the root of this MicroSD.
Insert the prepared MicroSD into the Pocketbook.
Run the app @SD_Prepare, which is now available on the Pocketbook.

The file .sd_original_serial with your CID is created in the root folder of the external SD.
monitor.app is copied into the same folder from cramfs.

nhedgehog, you've done a great job! I have PB 624 and after firmware update over Wi-fi the touch panel stopped working. So now I'm unable to execute above instructions. I've tried several times to upload older version of the firmware on the internal SD and to install it but without success. The device is reproducing the latest update downloaded on the internal SD via Wi-fi. Next time when I read the card the version I have uploaded recently is missing and instead the latest version is still there (probably the SD is read-only?!). I've created a backup of the old SD. What are the options?

[nhedgehog]

Looks like a read only SD. Easiest way around: Burn your image on a new sd and follow those instructions:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...0&postcount=93

[boiski]

Thank you! So far I installed VirtualBox + Altlinux (I'm a Windows user). The next step is to obtain the serial number of the new SD card. I tried to do it via my Android phone (Redmi Note 9S; Android 10), but I'm unable to find "/sys/block/mmcblk1/device/serial". Do I need my phone to be rooted for that?

[nhedgehog]

I think you need root, why didn't you use my app on the Pocketbook external SD?

[Chipi]

Hello,

I have a Pocketbook 624 e-book reader.
One morning I wanted to turn it on.
The device does not load, only a sand clock is displayed.
The factory SD card cannot be read.
The card is dead.


I found an image file for 624 on the intener. This PocketBook 624 SD card Image
I downloaded it and wrote it to the new card using Win32DiskImage.


That didn't solve my problem.
What can I do?

The old factory card is dead so I can't read anything about it.

Posketbook 624 Image Back
Posketbook 624 Image Sand Glass

[nedtod]

Hi everyone!
I have problem with my PB 626 SD card and start repair it. But I need help because I'm 65 years old and start learning Linux before about 10 days. I can not manage with doing folder "serial" from progs and to regenerate ".freezestatus".
Please help with more details instruction about, like for a dumies.
Ecxuse me for my bad english - i'm bulgarian.
Thank you in advance! All the best!

[nedtod]

THANK YOU to nhedgehog for the responsiveness, desire and knowledge!
THANK YOU!

[Tos]

Hello,

I want to thank everyone who contributed to this thread and especially to grysun_an who shared the right solution on the Russian forum.
My PBTL3 is now like a new one, with 16GB of internal memory

[arn3]

Hi all and thanks for sharing solutions to save those doomed devices

My PB626 was also affected by memory death a few days ago and so I found my way here... I have read the whole thread and also the translated instructions from the russian forum linked in #93, but so far I have not succeeded in saving my device.

I ran firmware 5.20 when the card became read only and maybe that could be a problem... but I rather think I'm probably just stupid.

First thing I did was to create an image of the original SD. Then, reading this thread from the beginning, I tried "the old method" of reading out the original Sds serial and patching the monitor.app. That did not work of course, because as I read later on, this method does not support firmware 5.20.

Next I tried the "new method" of patching and replacing the .freezefile - also no success. First time I messed up by using the original SDs serial, but as I understand it, with this method I need to use the new SDs serial.

So I made a script for the PB writing out the external SDs serial:

echo -e "$(cat /sys/block/mmcblk1/device/serial)" > /mnt/ext2/sd_ext_serial.txt

and used this with the "russian tool" to generate a patched .freezefile. I replaced it with the original .freezefile and double-checked it was updated by checking the files timestamp and verified it did not change attributes.

I still get the never-ending hourglass. Double-checked I entered my devices serial correctly recreating the .freezefile. Lots of zeros (and no O) but that seems correct.

Started all over for a third time, but no luck. I was not sure if I was using the right SD serial (hex or binary value) using the "russian tool", so I tried both, but still no luck. Also found a screenshot somewhere that shows the hex value needs to be used.

I thought it might be because my fw image was at 5.20, but since the original SD is read only now, I don't want to risk a downgrade on it. But it seemed like I could, downgrade the new SD with the cloned 5.20 image down to 5.14. The firmware-upgrade screen finishes, but afterwards it does not start. Maybe the downgrade process won't finish because the serial is checked in the process. But also after patching the .freezefile to that moment, it would neither continue nor start, but just show me that never-ending hourglass.

Last thing I might try is to pull the image of the original SD again, in case it was faulty. But I'd rather not stress it anymore than necessary. Or I might just order a fresh SD from the friendly russians

But I feel I it must be something really stupid I am missing and I'd much more prefer to find my error and fix it myself!

So if anyone has a clue what it is, I'd really appreciate it!

Cheers!
Arne

[rkomar]

When I did this myself, one of the original filesystems was full of errors because it was failing, and these got copied to the new SD. I had to run "fsck -r" over the partitions with filesystems on the new SD card to repair the damage. Perhaps it would help in your case, as well.

Also, the file name is .freezestatus, not .freezefile. It should only be four bytes long.

[arn3]

Originally Posted by rkomar

When I did this myself, one of the original filesystems was full of errors because it was failing, and these got copied to the new SD. I had to run "fsck -r" over the partitions with filesystems on the new SD card to repair the damage. Perhaps it would help in your case, as well.

Wellwell! Thank you very much! That did it

Originally Posted by rkomar

Also, the file name is .freezestatus, not .freezefile. It should only be four bytes long.

I got that confused, but used the right file during the process. But I was wondering about the small size. And that could as well have been my mistake, it would have been typical

So thanks again. May the reader get some more time

Cheers
Arne

[merouman]

Hi I would like to thank you. I successfully repair my PB626.

[sdasda7777]

Hi, I'd like to fix my PocketBook Basic Touch, but the SD inside is completely dead. Any pointers on what I should do? I don't think the method described above will work, because I can't retrieve the old CID, and unfortunately the link to that special image above is dead.