Amlogic 8726-MX Create a Rescue SD Card

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[HOWTO] Create a rescue SD card for (pretty much) every Amlogic 8726-MXdeviceStarted by Christian Troy, Nov 08 2013 06:01 AM

Christian Troy

This tutorial will show you how to create a rescue SD card to bring up to life "dead" units (tablets, android tv boxes,

hdmi sticks, whatever) based on Amlogic 8726-MX that won't boot and will just show a black screen; that happens

because u-boot has been messed up.

You only need a stock rom which must include u-boot.bin file. In this case I'll show you how to create a rescue SD for

an OEM device.

Unpack stock rom and create a folder on it, I called it "_rescue", copy "u-boot.bin" to the newly created folder; launch

a terminal and chdir into that folder.

(http://i.imgur.com/JT2u3LS.png)

Now plug a SD card using an SD/MicroSD USB adapter to your pc and looking at "dmesg" take a look at the device

name, in my case it's "sdc".

As really first thing let's erase everything in the boot sector, to do that just look at which sector the first partition

starts with "sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdc"

Posted 08 November 2013 - 06:01 AM

[HOWTO] Create a rescue SD card for (pretty much) every Amlogic 87... http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/95977-howto-create-a-rescue-sd-card-fo...

1 of 11 1/30/2014 3:17 PM

In my case it starts at sector 2048. Now let's just erase the first 2047 sectors using a block size of "512" (the same as

the one reported by "Units" field in fdisk): "sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdc bs=512 count=2047"

Create a 512MB FAT32 partition on it

and format it using "sudo mkfs.vfat -F32 /dev/sdc1"

Let's fetch the headers of the drive to get the partition table info, since our partition starts at block 2048 and has a

block size of 512 bytes let's grab it using "sudo dd if=/dev/sdc of=header.img bs=512 count=2047"


2 of 11 1/30/2014 3:17 PM

Open "header.img" in an HEX editor (I use KDE's Okteta) and copy offsets 0x01bf-0x01df

Open in the HEX editor the "u-boot.bin" file we copied in our "_rescue" folder and let's replace the offsets 0x01bf-

0x01df with those copied in our clipboard and containing MicroSD's partition table.


3 of 11 1/30/2014 3:17 PM

to get something like this


4 of 11 1/30/2014 3:17 PM

And let's flash the modified u-boot.bin in the boot sector of our MicroSD using "sudo dd if=u-boot.bin of=/dev/sdc"

Type "sync" and try to re-plug your USB adapter to see if everything is alright and the partition can be mounted. If it

does mount it and copy all the stock rom content on it (don't use the modified u-boot.bin from the _rescue folder but

just the one that comes with the update package)


5 of 11 1/30/2014 3:17 PM

(http://i.imgur.com/v2JI4Rf.png)

Now you can just insert the MicroSD card in your unit, perform the steps required to trigger the reboot to recovery

action and it will work.

Optionally you can dump the img on your PC to save it for future use or share it on the web with "sudo dd if=/dev/sdc

of=rescue.img bs=512 count=1050623" (where count in this case is the last sector of the partition as shown by "sudo

fdisk -l /dev/sdc").

If you open the newly created rescue.img with an HEX editor you'll see u-boot stuff in the boot sectors

Enjoy.

Christian Troy

reserved


fuser-invent

You rule! Thanks for getting to this before me, with screen shots even

Posted 08 November 2013 - 02:40 PM

sup3rfly

I followed exactly the mentioned steps, and I can say that this method really works, I tried it on my deep bricked

tablet, and the tablet turned on when I pluged the sd card and pressed power + vol -. Unfortunatly only the backlight

was turned on, and a black screen, and that was because I found out later that my tablet was hardware broken. I

opened up my tablet and pressed some contacts over there and the recovery boot has appeared, but not for long. It

clearly had some wrong contacts. And after some time of trying to find out where the wrong contacts would be, I

messed up my tablet even more, with some little fire and some little smoke . And.... it's gone. Bye bye tablet. But

the point is this method really works, no matter how bricked the tablet is (as long it is not hardware broken). Mine

was in the stage where only the M3/M6 chip (world_cup device) could be recognized, and it turned on when I pluged

the rescue sd card made by following christian troy's steps.

Thank you very much, at leas I know how to unbrick my next tablet, if i will need it.

This topic should be sticked. It is way more simple and more sure than AML Flash Tool.



6 of 11 1/30/2014 3:17 PM

Thank you fuser-invent and thank you Christian Troy, you guys will save a lot of tablets from dying

Edited by sup3rfly, 09 November 2013 - 11:36 PM.

dlmlmd

Thanks for your research!

I have a novo7 elf I, one day I did not charge the battery and turn it on. the next day I turned on the machine that is

not running. Charging half a day and I turned but saw nothing. Plug the USB into the computer, the report does not

recognize the device.

I've been looking on the net for the original rom for novo7 elf to as your image folder but can not find this type of

rom. So I can use rom on anoil and used USBburntool and insert the file from the file like in the topic: [HOW TO]

Unbrick your Ainol (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-

keywords=ainol&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aainol) Crystal?

thank your research.

I novo7 machine elf (1) after the last day to charge the battery and, with deep brick.

I can not find the file containing the standard rom as in your photo. That only one img file.

What do I do?


mrsburnout

'Christian Troy', on 08 Nov 2013 - 08:01 AM, said:

This tutorial will show you how to create a rescue SD card to bring up to life "dead" units (tablets, android tv boxes, hdmi sticks,

whatever) based on Amlogic 8726-MX that won't boot and will just show a black screen; that happens because u-boot has been

messed up.

You only need a stock rom which must include u-boot.bin file. In this case I'll show you how to create a rescue SD for an OEM

device.

<...snip...>

+1 promoting to 'Post of the Week'

Thanks, Christian Troy


fuser-invent

'dlmlmd', on 11 Nov 2013 - 06:59 AM, said:

Thanks for your research!

I have a novo7 elf I, one day I did not charge the battery and turn it on. the next day I turned on the machine that is not running.

Charging half a day and I turned but saw nothing. Plug the USB into the computer, the report does not recognize the device.

I've been looking on the net for the original rom for novo7 elf to as your image folder but can not find this type of rom. So I can use

rom on anoil and used USBburntool and insert the file from the file like in the topic: [HOW TO] Unbrick your Ainol

(http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ainol&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aainol)

Crystal?

thank your research.

I novo7 machine elf (1) after the last day to charge the battery and, with deep brick.

I can not find the file containing the standard rom as in your photo. That only one img file.

What do I do?

The Elf 1 uses a different SoC and I think I remember it using LiveSuite software. The SlateDroid subforum for your

tablet is here (http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/279-ainol-novo-7-elf/) , along with a firmware / development

section with the ROM's you can use. You can't use the ROM's in the Unbricking thread because they are a different

SoC.



7 of 11 1/30/2014 3:17 PM

sweetinvader505

Thanks for this tutorial is there any way to do it on windows? I broke my ainol (http://www.amazon.com

/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ainol&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aainol) novo 7 venus

and need your help for this rescue image...

'fuser-invent', on 11 Nov 2013 - 8:25 PM, said:

The Elf 1 uses a different SoC and I think I remember it using LiveSuite software. The SlateDroid subforum for your tablet is here

(http://www.slatedroid.com/forum/279-ainol-novo-7-elf/) , along with a firmware / development section with the ROM's you can

use. You can't use the ROM's in the Unbricking thread because they are a different SoC.

Hi sir, my ainol (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ainol&

rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aainol) novo 7 venus was bricked and i want this tutorial available also to windows because i am

not a linux user..is there any way?..Thanks


fuser-invent

'sweetinvader505', on 12 Nov 2013 - 01:06 AM, said:

Thanks for this tutorial is there any way to do it on windows? I broke my ainol (http://www.amazon.com

/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ainol&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aainol) novo 7 venus and need your

help for this rescue image...

Hi sir, my ainol novo 7 (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=novo+7&

rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Anovo+7) venus was bricked and i want this tutorial available also to windows because i am not a linux user..is

there any way?..Thanks

To be honest, I was going to buy an Ainol quad core tablet and make custom ROM's for them and also make an

unbricking guide but the donations dropped off dramatically and there just isn't enough money there to invest in one.

There is a quad core subforum on SlateDroid but I don't know if any Venus stock ROM's were posted. I know there is

software to flash them, so if there is a stock ROM, you should be able to flash it through the software to unbrick your

tablet but Ainol isn't the best company for releasing their stock ROMs.


hamhir

Christian Troy

what version of ubuntu you used ..

I'm new to ubuntu is giving me a headache: (


Christian Troy

'hamhir', on 12 Nov 2013 - 05:56 AM, said:

Christian Troy

what version of ubuntu you used ..

I'm new to ubuntu is giving me a headache: (

I don't use Ubuntu, I use Gentoo. You could be able to do it from Windows but I don't know any Win tool that works

as easy as GNU's "dd"

Anyway you should be able to do it even just booting a Fedora live image on an emulated VirtualBox machine



8 of 11 1/30/2014 3:17 PM

cxz

'fuser-invent', on 12 Nov 2013 - 04:56 AM, said:

To be honest, <snip> I don't know if any Venus stock ROM's were posted.

<snip> but Ainol isn't the best company for releasing their stock ROMs.

There are plenty of them for the quad cores. Just use the search...


cxz

For Windows Amlogic has made at least two programs to do the job a bit easier.

They can be found for example from my collection: http://www.slatedroi...ost__p__1093169

(http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/41478-how-to-unbrick-your-ainol-crystal

/page__view__findpost__p__1093169)

The other (SDTool) is in English, the other one (SDcardMaker) is in Chinese but I've translated it.

There is also BubuMarimba's (4pda) tool mkbootsdcard that does the trick

after you have done partitioning for example with bootice.

The Amlogic programs should be run in WinXP sp3 mode and with admin rights...


Christian Troy

Thanks @cxz, anyway I'm an old school guy which doesn't like the AIO tools because I have no control over it (and I

like learning something whenever I do something I didn't knew anything before)

But I agree that most people prefers being spoon-fed


khandrilyas

'cxz', on 12 Nov 2013 - 10:30 AM, said:

For Windows Amlogic has made at least two programs to do the job a bit easier.

They can be found for example from my collection: http://www.slatedroi...ost__p__1093169 (http://www.slatedroid.com/topic

/41478-how-to-unbrick-your-ainol-crystal/page__view__findpost__p__1093169)

The other (SDTool) is in English, the other one (SDcardMaker) is in Chinese but I've translated it.

There is also BubuMarimba's (4pda) tool mkbootsdcard that does the trick

after you have done partitioning for example with bootice.

The Amlogic programs should be run in WinXP sp3 mode and with admin rights...

I created sd card using this method it didn't work for me. It was a 512mb card. I have another 16gb card which doesn't

work either.

Can anyone do a video tutorial for linux method. Coz i install ubuntu yesterday and i am lost in all those steps. My

ainol aurora 2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&

N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=aurora+2&x=14&y=18) is stuck at green android logo.

I flashed cm10.2. It worked fine for a month. Also i flash twrp ext4 into nand. Few days back i wanted to update to

latest build. I wanted to use old sd card. By mistake or say my bad luck that sd card contain old stock recovery. When

i tried to boot to recovery it stuck on green android logo. I tried various methods. The old usb tool unbricker method

doesn't work anymore. Previously it had revived my tablet several times. Please help??



9 of 11 1/30/2014 3:17 PM

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

vampirefo

This is interesting, I am working on a similar method for Coby tablets.

I am using this guide.

http://adityagilra.blogspot.com/2013/03/unbricking-upgrading-gadmei-e8hd.html?m=1#!/2013/03/unbricking-

upgrading-gadmei-e8hd.html (http://adityagilra.blogspot.com/2013/03/unbricking-upgrading-gadmei-

e8hd.html?m=1#!/2013/03/unbricking-upgrading-gadmei-e8hd.html)

I am on cell phone so can't really see your pics to be able to see the differences in the methods.

Edited by vampirefo, 13 November 2013 - 02:09 PM.


khandrilyas

I think my tab is permanently dead now. because it doesn't boot now. No backlight whatsoever. Just randomly shows

backlight after 1-2 mins.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited by khandrilyas, 14 November 2013 - 04:44 AM.


fuser-invent

'khandrilyas', on 13 Nov 2013 - 8:39 PM, said:

I think my tab is permanently dead now. because it doesn't boot now. Now backlight whatsoever. Just randomly shows backlight

after 1-2 mins.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk (http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1)

I don't understand, you say it doesn't show the backlight and then say it does show the backlight. Even if it appears

completely dead you can try a deep brick method from my unbricking thread but if it does show a backlight at any

point you should be focusing on the sd card method.


khandrilyas

I mean when i leave it for sometime. Randomly on its own it shows backlight for a minute then black outs. When i

press power button it does nothing.



fuser-invent

'khandrilyas', on 14 Nov 2013 - 06:43 AM, said:

I mean when i leave it for sometime. Randomly on its own it shows backlight for a minute then black outs. When i press power

button it does nothing.


Then you should be focusing on soft brick methods at first. If it shows life then the sd card method should work if you

do it. Especially CT's Linux method.



10 of 11 1/30/2014 3:17 PM

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Amlogic 8726-MX Create a Rescue SD Card

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