Hi folks!
I'm having some sort of issue with a corrupt partition/SD card and need a little direction.
I'm stuck with the tablet stalling upon boot after birds/g-tablet screen (it doesn't loop back, so I'm not sure this is strictly the infamous loop issue).
Typical restore methods via APX (NVidia flash, FORMAT) result in no change from above.
Trying to format data, re-partition, and some other clearing methods via clockwork mod, but most of those (except wipe cache) SEEM like they stall out (unless they are just taking way more time than expected and CWM isn't indicating progress well, but the "please wait..." instructions run well into the 30-60 min range, before I've given up on them.)
When I mount to my PC, windows suggests there are issues with the drive and interaction is funky (can't delete/copy to it successfully).
I'm guessing I need to leverage some sort've ADB to fix the partition/clean up corruption, but I'm not very familiar with those, so suggestion on where to get started there (or anything else) would be appreciated. I suppose it could be hardware related, but based on the "unbrickable" reputation, I'm hoping there's a way to rescue.
Are you still running a stock rom or have you installed a modded rom?
Stock?
In most recent successful version, I was running Cyanogenmod7, but have made several attempts since to restore to stock via NvidiaFlash (which processes up to the boot problem). Thanks!
Nvflash will not be able to fix a corrupt SD card. Please see this post for why not. A factory reset, or, a format internal SD card using ClockworkMod is what you have to do to fix SD card corruption problems.
Also read through this thread. Do you have the same problem as user jroger0707? I need more info. from you to make a determination.
Boot into ClockworkMod recovery, connect to the tablet using the USB cable and send me the dmesg.txt resulting from this command:
adb shell dmesg > dmesg.txt
Related
Hi all,
I searched long and hard for an answer to this one, but I can't make heads or tails of it. It started when I noticed that any apps I installed wouldn't stay through reboots, and any uninstalled apps came right back. So I tried reflashing Flashback 7.0 and 7.2, but the apps were still there. It does look like 7.2 installed correctly, although the apps were still there.
Then I tried flashing several different roms (TnT, Cyanogen, Vegantab, stock), but they wouldn't boot. Flashing back to Flashback allowed the tablet to boot, but the data was still there.
I tried manually formatting /data through cwm, but I got the lovely "Error formatting /data" message. Doing the normal cwm data wipe and repartition (4096,0 and 2048,0) didn't do anything either. I tried NVFlashing back to stock 4349, no good. I tried Flashback loaded with cwm 3.0.2.8 and the stock 1.2 recovery, but no avail. I blew away the partition table and nvflashed, no good. I tried pulling the battery, no good. I tried flashing the FORMAT utility, still stuck with this data. No matter what I do, it will only boot after installing Flashback 7, and then it retains the state it was in before going wonky.
The tablet works more-or-less for every app currently installed, apps load fine, all hardware appears to work fine, but once it's rebooted everything goes back to how it was when it went belly-up.
This has gotten the better of me, I'm hoping there's some nuance that you brilliant folk know of that I'm missing. Thank you for your time.
Both /data & /sdcard reside on the internal sd and are not touched by nvflash or by installing a new rom (all of which go on the internal nand (not sdcard). There are serveral ways to clear them. You can clear /data by doing a "factory/data reset" & repartitioning in CWM wll destroy/recreate both /data & /sdcard (so make sure you backup anything you want to save on /sdcard before you repartition). The standard repartition is 2048,0, but in some situations it is benefitial to repartition to 4096, 0 & then immediately repartition back to 2048,0.
After installing a new rom you should always do a factory/data reset, wipe cache & wipe dalvik to clear out data/installs from the prior rom.
Al
Thanks Al,
I forgot to mention, I've already repartitioned several different times, going up to 4096,0 then down to 2048,0 as I've seen recommended elsewhere. The wipe data/factory reset option also doesn't seem to be affecting the data staying put.
I remember a person with a similar situation. I believe rajeevvp had the person do some testng & it came out (in that case) to be a bad internal sd. He developed a way to use the external sdcard as the internal sd. I'll see if I can find the post or you can PM him.
Al
See this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1156200 and specifically post #44 Guide to swap internal and external SD card assignments on the ViewSonic gTablet for users with partly-functional internal SD cards.
Al
Looks like the same issue all around. Thank a million, here's to hoping it works.
Get me a dmesg output first.
Second, since you're on the 1.2 bootloader branch, don't flash the custom CWM zip file which is only for bl 1.1. Just skip that step (step 1). The rest of the steps are bootloader-independent. Step 1. is only for letting you make backups and restores using the external SD card instead of the internal one.
Third, I'd like to see the results of the test commands given in the thread that aabbondanza posted above.
Finally, for CWM 3.x and higher, I have another (and easier) technique that I think will work for backups and restores, but, I never tested as I didn't want to change bootloaders. Let me know if you're willing to be a guinea pig for testing this.
rajeevvp, the result of the test directory/file creation on /data and /sdcard were similar to the other poster, with the directories and files not being retained after unmount or reboot.
The results of the test commands are attached. Thanks again for all your help. Additionally, of course I'm willing to be a guinea pig for anything you've got in mind.
sktsswth said:
rajeevvp, the result of the test directory/file creation on /data and /sdcard were similar to the other poster, with the directories and files not being retained after unmount or reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From the dmesg1.txt file I see that you have the non-standard internal SD card make that seems to cause this sort of problem:
<6>[ 10.001007] mmc2: new high speed SDHC card at address aaaa
<6>[ 10.007139] mmcblk3: mmc2:aaaa SE16G 14.8 GiB
<6>[ 10.011722] mmcblk3: p1 p2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can either return the tablet to VS or try my workaround hack along with a new CWM for 1.2-based bootloaders (soon).
Either way, I'd like to continue this discussion further in this thread.
rajeevvp said:
From the dmesg1.txt file I see that you have the non-standard internal SD card make that seems to cause this sort of problem:
You can either return the tablet to VS or try my workaround hack along with a new CWM for 1.2-based bootloaders (soon).
Either way, I'd like to continue this discussion further in this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since some of these tablets are showing up with different internal sd cards than most of us, is it possible that when we are having these people nvflash back to stock, that the bct's config of these new chips would be different & we are causing the problem by flashing the incorrect bct back to the device? Would it be safer to modify our nvflashes to read & use the user's bct when nvflashing back to stock?
for this fix, you will need to have a CWM sdcard ready and waiting followed by and drivers properly installed for your tablet.
YOU MUST have CWM running from sdcard to fix this issue. Otherwise nothing will happen.
instructions to install to sdcard are here (I suggest using windows)
Needed files for download:
just download this zip and run the script while booted into cwm from sdcard.
download it here.
Instructions: Boot from sd (don't worry, it will work), ensure sdcard is mounted, and then you just run the fix.bat from the computer after extracting.
Credits: Succulent for the xloader image
Fattire for the idea that it might have formatted mmcblk0p1 (which it dead instead of mmc1)
You're welcome.
Might want to add that the cause of the "brick" appears to be that CM7 is confusing mmc1 and mmc0 and instead of wiping the first partition of the SD card, it's presumably wiping the first partition of the emmc, which contains the x-loader.
I already have said it.
Ah okay... well glad everything is fixed now.
fattire said:
You're welcome.
Might want to add that the cause of the "brick" appears to be that CM7 is confusing mmc1 and mmc0 and instead of wiping the first partition of the SD card, it's presumably wiping the first partition of the emmc, which contains the x-loader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bowing head in shame here...... Rookie mistake!
Looks like we have to make a bit of a tweak to the system then do some testing.
New download link due to a small scripting error.
Need help
Hi Indirect. I see that you have fixed your NT. I did not use sd i did install cm7 internally but i did format all the mounts . And now it just restarts in CWM. What should i do. Any idea please
Well guys, I'm still having problems. I ran the brick fix before you updated it - didn't work. I then re-ran after you updated it - still didn't work. It'll boot to CWM from SD, but won't boot to any ROM. Tried re-installing CM7 (didn't work), then I tried the Nook141root.zip which supposedly installs the BN 1.4.1 from CWM (also didn't work). Tried re-running the brick fix a handful of times after and before installing each ROM with no luck. Then I tried running it without installing a ROM. Tried the brick fix then I tried the BN 1.4.0 restore file. I tried on multiple freshly formatted SD cards and I even tried on a computer I was working on with a fresh install of Win7 with a fresh install of the drivers just to rule that out.
Before all this I had CWM and CM7 installed internally - if that makes a difference. Ideas?
Edit: More info. When trying to wipe data/factory reset in CWM I get the errror "E:format_volume: make_ext4fs failed on /dev/block/mmcblk1p2"...this occurs right after rebooting from the brick fix.
Edit 2: More info yet...in the brick fix I'm getting the text "error: device not found" twice right after entering "y" then again a handful of times later. Is there anything special I have to do in CWM to get it to detect it? I have sdcard mounted...
Im geting this and then my nt restarts by itself and then im back in cwm again so nothing is fixed.
Fatos said:
Im geting this and then my nt restarts by itself and then im back in cwm again so nothing is fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you have mounted to get it the fix to detect the tablet? Does it matter?
scsione889 said:
What do you have mounted to get it the fix to detect the tablet? Does it matter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually with mine it does not matter . I get till the step y or n without mounting nothing. Than i mount the sd card and press y and enter.
Than as u can see does try to write something and than my nook does reboot .
And the ending is the same. So no progress so far.
Fatos said:
Actually with mine it does not matter . I get till the step y or n without mounting nothing. Than i mount the sd card and press y and enter.
Than as u can see does try to write something and than my nook does reboot .
And the ending is the same. So no progress so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you running from internal or SD when it bricked?
Does it boot to CWM on it's own without an sd in the slot? If it does have you tried restoring/flashing a backup?
Reason I say about the backup is I just bricked my own systems on purpose when running from sdcard, it kept gpoing back to CWM after the xloader was returned to it. Restored an original backup and all is well again
CelticWebSolutions said:
Were you running from internal or SD when it bricked?
Does it boot to CWM on it's own without an sd in the slot? If it does have you tried restoring/flashing a backup?
Reason I say about the backup is I just bricked my own systems on purpose when running from sdcard, it kept gpoing back to CWM after the xloader was returned to it. Restored an original backup and all is well again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i have had it internally.Not in an sd.
Yes mine doew boot to CWM on its own without and sd in slot. And yes i have tried restoring to re flash back up. Cause i have installed CM7 once and it did run well. But than after installing some programs became slow so i wanted to redo it again. And than i did format all: bootdata, cache, emmc, rom, system,sd-ext.
And then i installet cm7 again and all the installing went well againg . But it just want start cause is missing something in one of the mounts. So what i think is only needed if ill be able to restore the data that is in all those small partitions like emmc. I know that bootdata,and cached gets backed up but i dont know if the orthers are backed up or not.
Thanks for trying to help.
Edit: I have to go to university now. But if it would make it easier for you to help, I can shot a video afterwards with all the steps what i have done and how is my nook behaving now.Just let me know .
Edit1: I did try to restore to stock or update to 1.4.1 but it tells me MD5 mismatch.
Is it possible that i can push in with adb the files that are in the boot data, eMMc and other mounts i mean one by one.
I was running internal when it bricked. Only boots to cwm from SD now.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA App
Fatos said:
Yes i have had it internally.Not in an sd.
Yes mine doew boot to CWM on its own without and sd in slot. And yes i have tried restoring to re flash back up. Cause i have installed CM7 once and it did run well. But than after installing some programs became slow so i wanted to redo it again. And than i did format all: bootdata, cache, emmc, rom, system,sd-ext.
And then i installet cm7 again and all the installing went well againg . But it just want start cause is missing something in one of the mounts. So what i think is only needed if ill be able to restore the data that is in all those small partitions like emmc. I know that bootdata,and cached gets backed up but i dont know if the orthers are backed up or not.
Thanks for trying to help.
Edit: I have to go to university now. But if it would make it easier for you to help, I can shot a video afterwards with all the steps what i have done and how is my nook behaving now.Just let me know .
Edit1: I did try to restore to stock or update to 1.4.1 but it tells me MD5 mismatch.
Is it possible that i can push in with adb the files that are in the boot data, eMMc and other mounts i mean one by one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat...I think when we did a format of the rom partition, we lost some data that was not backed up...That being said I have done a lot of reading and I think all hope is not lost.
We did not format the "factory" partition which from what I have been reading may contain a backup of the "rom" and other partitions.
I wonder if it is possible to pull the data from the factory partition, extract the data that we need and then push the appropriate files back to where they belong? It's way beyond my expertise, although I do have ADB working and I think if someone could point us in the right direction, it wouldn't be that difficult...I could be completely off base though...Good Luck and If I make any progress I'll make sure I pass the info along.
Need help!
I got the bloody ADB issue.... I was able to boot to CWM from SD card, and it's mounted. BUT! Adb devices gives me nothing, no device. I did all the troubleshooting of the driver, i got the "Android composite ADB interface" device but still no adb device appearing. Please help! My only idea if this fix can be incorporated into a flashable zip. May be there is some other way?
Thanks.
ElectroMike said:
I got the bloody ADB issue.... I was able to boot to CWM from SD card, and it's mounted. BUT! Adb devices gives me nothing, no device. I did all the troubleshooting of the driver, i got the "Android composite ADB interface" device but still no adb device appearing. Please help! My only idea if this fix can be incorporated into a flashable zip. May be there is some other way?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly what I've got. I'm going to spend a little time on fixing that up today. ADB just won't work through CWM for me.
ElectroMike said:
I got the bloody ADB issue.... I was able to boot to CWM from SD card, and it's mounted. BUT! Adb devices gives me nothing, no device. I did all the troubleshooting of the driver, i got the "Android composite ADB interface" device but still no adb device appearing. Please help! My only idea if this fix can be incorporated into a flashable zip. May be there is some other way?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had thought about a flashable zip. I will look shortly and build one
I tried repartitioning my nook and it really bricked it now. It won't boot from SD. Tried a different card and fresh download of CWM. I think it's totally borked.
Edit for clarification: repartitioned from within CWM on SD
Edit2: Tried a 3rd card (first 2 were 32gb, 3rd was 16gb) and it let me back into CWM. ADB still isn't working though.
Edit2 clarification: I only say ADB isn't working because the brick fix says device not found. If I'm wrong please feel free to correct me.
scsione889 said:
I tried repartitioning my nook and it really bricked it now. It won't boot from SD. Tried a different card and fresh download of CWM. I think it's totally borked.
Edit for clarification: repartitioned from within CWM on SD
Edit2: Tried a 3rd card (first 2 were 32gb, 3rd was 16gb) and it let me back into CWM. ADB still isn't working though.
Edit2 clarification: I only say ADB isn't working because the brick fix says device not found. If I'm wrong please feel free to correct me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mne does not say that but it restarts my nook. But it does not fix it. I think its just some small starting files missing. But im not so good so i cant help it. So im just sitting and watching around internet if there is any fix. It looks that they have had the same problem with NC to start with to.
my tablet just turned itself of and when I wanted to turn it back on, it was stuck in a bootloop. I automatically enter CWM. adb parted says that the partition table is damaged. What am I supposed to do (already tried ot restore B&N firmware)
Did this occur after an attempt to repartition? Do you have CWM installed internally or on an SD? If this was after an attempt to repartition using the B&N method, did you still have CM7 installed when you tried? If you had CM7 installed there may be conflicting remnants of it... As noted, the B&N method flashes the stock ROM to your device.
I had problems during my experimentation with the B&N repartition image; The image that meghd00t worked out enabled me to reinstall the system. You could try that image, I've got it hosted for the time being.
Worst case you should be able to recover with AdamOutler's Ubuntu recovery.
Any updates?
it occured after repatitioning and making the internal SD card visible throught the build.prop edit on CM 7.2. I did the manual work with the repartitioning over parted, I wanted to have more internal sd storage then the standart .img file gives you which succeded at first. I was already searching for an answer to my problem, which apparentely more people have and I got this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1513583 the fix error method didn't work because fixed the 2 problems before that partition table defect occured. lavero.burgos that she found a method to fix that problem though, Ihope she'lll upload the steps tomorrow.....
Ok. I'm glad you're getting it sorted out. I was a little worried that it happened from trying the SD method. If you should need the file I PM'd you about I'll leave it up for a few days for you to download.
First off, I am no expert so please be gentle! I previously rooted my old Samsung Galaxy S i9000 and installed ICS, which went OK, but the phone became quite slow and unstable. I was advised to install RemICS and downloaded all the zip files from this forum, and put them on the external SD card. I followed the developer's instructions to the letter, as well as reading everything I could find on the subject. The reset and data wiping went fine, but the installation of the ROM didn't. It halted with an error message -`ROM incompatible, trying to use an invalid partition'. I repeat that this is supposed to be the specific ROM for the i9000. The phone now won't boot into recovery. It stops with an orange Android logo and the text `Powered by Mackay Kernel'. It won't boot into download mode either. The Mackay screen stays there however long I leave it. I really need help from the ROM developer but I can't post to that forum. How can I either boot into recovery or into download mode? Is this ROM reliable? What could I have done wrong?
More info:
Presumably everyone is on holiday! But just in case anyone is reading, there is further news. The reason I could not start recovery mode was that the button sequence was different from what I had been told. It now boots reliably into Mackay (which of course is TWRP). I have found that the phone is unable to mount the partitions DATA and SYSTEM - they seem to be corrupted. Hence it has not wiped DATA, although TWRP wrongly reports success. I have tried updating the partitions to ext3 or ext4 but this fails every time. I could format the thing from Windows but that will wipe everything including recovery of course. I need a tool to repair these partitions, but have not found anything so far. This may well have been the reason the phone was getting creaky in the first place.
I have copied a new ROM to the external SD card, using a card reader, and inserted this into the phone. Strangely the TWRP file manager reports that EXTERNAL SD is a sub-folder of SD CARD, and that is empty. The file manager does not show the real external SD card. But the real external SD shows up on the Windows USB connection. What is going on?
When I try to mount the partitions, DATA and SYSTEM can't be checked - the other partitions (Cache, sdcard, and emmc are all checked).
kingGrn Copeland
Well for the benefit of anyone else with the same problem, I have managed to re-flash the ROM back to stock. It just took 3 days of intensive web browsing until I understood how to do it, and found software that worked - a lot of stuff out there has errors.
To summarise, the problem was:
1. Data and System partitions became damaged, so phone became unstable.
2. Attempt to upgrade ROM failed because of damaged partitions.
3. Could not boot phone into recovery or download because button combination was different from what I was told.
The solution was:
4. Boot into download mode using correct button combination.
5. Re-flash back to stock ROM and re-partition using Odin.
Yes, someone did tell me that, and I would have done that straight away if I could have gotten into download mode. We live and learn
The solution was:
4. Boot into download mode using correct button combination.
5. Re-flash back to stock ROM and re-partition using Odin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks this wa useful for me too.
[UPDATE #2]
I am now back on 1.4.2 stock (whew!!). Using the Ubuntu Recovery Unbrick sdcard did the trick. After doing that, I then flashed the raywaldo.com "repart.img" (which restores to 1.4.2). Thanks to all who offered advice. I've learned quite a bit about my NT during the past 24-28 hours. I'll hopefully get 10.2 successfully flashed tomorrow -- no more formatting! Only a safe wipe!! Cheers!
[UPDATE]
I now am able to boot from at least one SD card. I was able to put an sdcard image of 10.2 on a 4gb card and it DOES boot just fine. So it would appear that in worst case scenario, perhaps I can find a 16gb card that will boot and just use that (vs. internal memory). Does having a booting/working sdcard version of 10.2 give me any tools/etc. that might let me work on this internal memory (i.e. terminal emulator)?
I have a 16GB Nook Tablet that had been running a CM11 (KitKat) nightly. I was having WiFi issues (constant disconnects), so I decided to go back to 10.2 (or even 10.1.3). I did a stock reset to 1.4.2, and then flashed 10.1.3. It was acting flaky, so I thought "Oh, I didn't wipe everything before flashing, need to try this again". So during THIS "wiping" process, I was multi-tasking and went brain dead for a minute (I was on a conference call at work, IIRC). As I always do with my HTC phones, I went into "Mounts and Storage" in CWM and proceeded to format everything that shows up (yes, everything -- /rom, /bootdata, /factory, /system, /cache, /emmc, /data). When I put my full attention back to what I had just done, I had a VERY bad feeling..... (Trust me, I have already insulted my own intelligence enough over the past 24 hours -- so please, no posts telling me how stupid that move was...)
Anyway, here's where I am at this point:
CWM 6.0.2.5 Recovery is installed (internal). Any boot attempt just goes straight to CWM.
SDCard boots will not work unless I use the "plug the USB cable into computer first" trick (prior to this, sdcard boot worked fine). I tried the sdcard boot with the "repart.img" (which should supposedly fix partitions and get me back to stock 1.4.2), but I now get the RED "X" instead of the GREEN check, so that was a dead end. FWIW, I have used this method twice previously after other issues and it always worked perfectly.
This NT was purchased (sealed) as a part of a "lost freight" auction, so it can never be registered with B&N (which is fine with me). I only point that out as it relates to any "fix" process wiping out serial number, etc. -- in this case, that really doesn't matter to me. And considering I formatted /rom, it's probably already gone anyway.
(EDIT: I should have mentioned that I am also unable to use adb via USB cable with a computer. I've tried both a Win7 box and an XP box -- neither will ever install any drivers. It detects a new device, "NookTablet", then searches/fails to find driver, and then when I try to manually point it to driver in Device Manager, it says it can't find compatible driver. I'm using the standard usb drivers found here in several NT threads. I've used the NirSoft USB viewer and uninstalled the Nook-related entries several times and retried, but still no joy. )
So where do I go from here? Any attempt to flash anything using CWM doesn't really appear to do anything (well, it APPEARS to complete just fine, but when I reboot, it just goes back to CWM). Is the Ubuntu brick fix SDCard the best approach for me?
I basically just want to get some advice before I start trying things. I'm usually successful at self-fixing my messes, but this time I thought it might save me some headaches to ASK FIRST.
Thanks in advance!!
kltalley said:
...
I went into "Mounts and Storage" in CWM and proceeded to format everything that shows up (yes, everything -- /rom, /bootdata, /factory, /system, /cache, /emmc, /data). When I put my full attention back to what I had just done, I had a VERY bad feeling.....
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In formatting /rom and /factory you wiped out the all factory-installed individual device data (serial no., MAC address, security encryption keys, etc.) which NT requires in order to operate (see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2575489 for more info).
Have you considered the unbrick methods described at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=49638948? and http://raywaldo.com/2012/06/how-to-un-brick-a-nook-tablet-8gb-or-16gb/?
digixmax said:
Have you considered the unbrick methods described at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=49638948? and http://raywaldo.com/2012/06/how-to-un-brick-a-nook-tablet-8gb-or-16gb/?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The sdcard "repart.img" I mentioned earlier was an attempt at the raywaldo.com unbrick. I immediately get the red "X" in the corner (vs. the green checkbox which indicates that it worked).
It would appear that the Ubuntu recovery/unbrick sdcard (that you linked to) might be my only viable option at this point.
Thanks, digixmax!
kltalley said:
The sdcard "repart.img" I mentioned earlier was an attempt at the raywaldo.com unbrick. I immediately get the red "X" in the corner (vs. the green checkbox which indicates that it worked).
It would appear that the Ubuntu recovery/unbrick sdcard (that you linked to) might be my only viable option at this point.
Thanks, digixmax!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Believe it or not, but I also did something just as bad as you did. Basically, I wiped out my Nook Tablet 16GB's entire partition table. However, I DID make dd dumps of all the important partitions such as /boot, /recovery, /factory, xloader, and /rom.
After rebooting the tablet, it obviously failed to boot, so I had to use a bootable CWM card. Plugged into my computer, adb shell, ran gdisk (GPT version of fdisk, because the NT uses GPT partition table), manually recreated partitions, then dd flashed the backed up partitions I made a long time ago (I always prepare for the worst in advance, just in case).
If you have a full backup, I believe you can recreate the /rom partition and extract the specific partition's contents into it.
Also, you should try installing a Linux distribution (I personally recommend Debian, but Fedora or OpenSUSE are also excellent. Ubuntu I do not recommend, funny as it sounds). Trust me, adb DOES work, even if you formatted everything. It's probably something with Windblows that is preventing you from accessing the NT's adb shell.
All is well again -- I have my NT back on 1.4.2 stock (see original post for details). Thanks to everyone!