[UNBRICK] Repartition, Reformat, Restore and Rescue SDcard - Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet

OK, I had used the flashing_boot.img posted here to repartition my nook. However someone in that thread found it difficult to create a ext3 partition to add the necessary files
So here is a linux shell script to create that image with B&N Stock 1.4.2 that you can use to re partition and restore your nook tablet it will work on both 8 and 16GB versions. It will format all partitions and force you to unrooted stock 1.4.2
files are at devhost now
http://d-h.st/users/meghd00t/
It is better for you to make your own image, the script has been amended to download the files if they are missing in the current directory.
Instructions to use.
download the attached mkrepartimg.sh.gz
gunzip mkrepartimg.sh.gz
chmod 755 mkrepartimg.sh
if you already have 1.4.2 update put it in the same folder
ubuntu users check if you have kpartx installed
apt-get update && apt-get install kpartx
sudo ./mkrepartimg.sh
this will download the necessary files and create the repart.img
write the repart.img to a sdcard with dd
power off the nook completely (hold power button for 30 sec)
insert the SD card you made into the nook
force boot from USB -
either boot with n and power, wait until it turns on and off then boot normally
or
power off completely and power on by connecting usb cable to PC or charger
screen will show 3 red x and after some time it will show a green check
now remove the sd card, reboot and allow it to do the factory restore.
and you are done.
Windows users go here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1663836
I have had a few questions about the size of media partition.
You can change it very easily with sgdisk which was in my myrecovery.img and also in succulents CM 7.2 cwm images I have attached a script to download and make a suitable cwm image which you can run and then dd onto a sdcard boot into that cwm and issue these commands in a adb shell
for further details read this
Code:
sgdisk -e /dev/block/platform/mmci-omap-hs.1/mmcblk0
This will write the secondary gpt label and remove the parted prompt found error fix?
Code:
sgdisk /dev/block/platform/mmci-omap-hs.1/mmcblk0 -d 11 -d 10
first delete partition 10 & 11 media and userdata
Code:
sgdisk /dev/block/platform/mmci-omap-hs.1/mmcblk0 -n 0:0:+12G -n 0:0:0
sgdisk /dev/block/platform/mmci-omap-hs.1/mmcblk0 -c 10:media -c 11:userdata
now create both with the size you need for media (change +12G to whatever) and userdata will use the rest. and set the name of the partition
After that trigger a factory reset and that will format the partitions again or if you are already running something else first take a nandroid backup in cwm before you change the partitions and format these two in adb like this
Code:
mkdosfs -F32 -n MyNook /dev/block/mmcblk0p10
make_ext4fs -L userdata /dev/block/mmcblk0p11
again you will need my myrecovery cwm or succulents cwm these are the only ones with make_ext4fs
after formatting you can restore your nandroid backup
PS
No questions in PM please. I will not respond.
MLO - b&n 1.4.2
u-boot.bin - b&n 1.4.2
cyanoboot - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1522226
boot - clockworkmod http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1466583
altboot - b&n flashing_boot.img modified http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1554039
credits
fattire for cyanoboot
loglud for the page on hacking the kernel & boot.img
Indirect for the clockworkmod
AdamOutler for the ubuntu restore and the idea
jmeyerhead for the b&n flashing_boot.img
tselling for the partition hacks
succulent for sharing the device tree and answering all my questions on building a recovery and finally accepting all the patches.
and all the others on xda who have shrared all their knowledge and ideas that made this possible
PROs
simple no adb required
follows B&N partition table properly
keeps the Nook serial and other Information
works with all 8GB & 16GB tablets
CONs
inflexible about the 1.4.2 upgrade (otherwise no 8GB support)
You will get whatever B&N standard partition table is allowed for you device. Adam Outler suggested that I don't deviate from the B&N standard to keep the unbrick safe

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This is a great idea but I can't get it to go after multiple tries (different SD cards, different boot methods, etc). I suspect it may have to do with how the SD card is being formatted; is there a trick to this?
Edit: Do I need stock recovery & not CWM?

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meghd00t said:
so to simplify matters for all those who have bricked their nook here is my solution
.....STUFF SNIPPED.....
Format SDCARD < 2GB, Fat32 LBA Boot
copy the contents of this sdcard/ directory on to the root of the card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do we do this step ?? I mean I know you want us to format our SDCARD 2GB or bigger as Fat32 LBA Boot. BUT How do you go about doing that ?? What do you use ??? ADB ? DOS/Win ?
Thanks !

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Thibor69 said:
How do we do this step ?? I mean I know you want us to format our SDCARD 2GB or bigger as Fat32 LBA Boot. BUT How do you go about doing that ?? What do you use ??? ADB ? DOS/Win ?
Thanks !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I can only tell you how to set it for boot and LBA in Linux or with a GParted Live disc. You may be able to do it with "Parted" via ADB. I'll try it and post back shortly.

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my linux doesn't want to recorgnize adb when I'm in clockworkmod

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If you're in Linux just use GParted to format the card and set the flags once the volume is created.
For those running Windows you can do this via ADB (I have to boot CWM and then go into ADB for Parted to work). This comes up often but I couldn't find a how-to on it to link to... kind of surprising that it wasn't already out there.
Format your sd card first... just personal preference so I can be sure the empty disk I'm looking when in parted is the one I want to adjust.
Open CMD as Administrator
(Type and execute what's written in blue below. Read comments in parenthesis but don't type them.)
parted /dev/block/mmcblk1
print
(verify that the disk listed is the correct one, there should only be 1 partition #1 it should be FAT32)
set 1 boot on
set 1 LBA on
print (look at the right under "flags" to be sure that "boot" and "LBA" are now set.)
quit
exit ADB as usual or continue as needed.
EDIT: Oh and SDCARD < 2GB means 2GB or smaller. You may have issues trying to use a card larger (this includes larger cards which are partitioned smaller).

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Ok here is a sdcard image that you should be able to use with dd or win32diskimager to make the sdcard. This will work on any card 512MB or larger. I have made a 500MB partition and added the necessary files, you will still have to add the factory.zip (b&n 1.4.2 update)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64885133/meghd00t-r4.zip
and
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64885133/meghd00tr4-sdimg.zip

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Awww.... I thought the disc was easy enough to set up.
I've been playing around with this and it works fine. I found it responds the same way it did for me when I did the reformatting the past couple times: The "DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR DEVICE" warning doesn't go away. There's just a red X in the upper right corner which indicates it is working and not safe to turn off the device and after a minute or two it is replaced with a green check mark at which point you press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds to turn off the device. Remove the card and power back up.
The first time I ran this I was greeted with the notice that there was a problem and to restart the device and if the error occurs again to contact B&N support. Upon restarting it went through the first boot process normally.
I've been asked about the results from the former thread. I'll host a copy of the image file I've used to repartition as they're doing at B&N (5.50GB/7.45GB) with 1.4.0. I'll host it for a week or so, but it's 270MB so if someone wants to put it on a torrent of whatever, feel free.
Do a CWM backup first. Verify the MD5 checksum of the img file inside of the zip file after you download the image, before you burn it to make sure it's not corrupt... that would suck. MD5 = ae1d489a3b33f3e69360cc8e9c0bc096 You can check the checksum in Windows using a free app called WinMD5Free and you can burn the image with Win32DiskImager. This image does NOT load a boot manager. It boots straight in and repartitions and restores 1.4.0 with no prompts. Don't boot with this image if you are ready.
ONLY FOR 16GB NTs!!! --> http://www.fadingworld.com/NT/repart.img.zip
All credit for getting this img figured out (particularly the whole getting the NT to boot after the repartitioning) goes to meghd00t and probably the folks he thanks too.
EDIT: Finally compressed the img file and uploaded it so it's down to 270MB. This is a COMPLETE image, you don't need to change anything as long as you're fine with 1.4.0 and B&N's new partitioning scheme.

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hmm the image doesn't work on CM7 do you need to have the stock rom installed ?

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Pete1612 said:
hmm the image doesn't work on CM7 do you need to have the stock rom installed ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't even need to look at the script to be quite confident that there is a check to ensure that the device "qualifies" before continuing... This is all based on B&N's own reflash system. These cards flash your NT with one version or another of the stock OS... you should revert to 1.4.0 - 1.4.2 first... They will not leave CM7 intact.
EDIT: Now megdh00t's image should still boot into cyanoboot and be able to load CWM. The image I've supplied just boots and runs the partitioning script immediately. If you're trying meghd00t's and it's not booting at all then verify the download and try booting from the card by turning off the Nook, insert the card, plug in the factory charge cable and that will turn it on and it should boot from the SD.... if that still fails try a different card. I keep a few 1GB and smaller SDs on hand just because larger SDs are problematic sometimes.

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Thank you for the image. Quick ?s. Will this image work for a NT, with CM7 running on SD card only, stock B&N 1.40? And can I use this without hooking up the NT to a computer? If so, do I just pop the SD card with the image on it and viola I am repartitioned and still have 1.40? Any help will greatly be appreciated by this newby chick. . .

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I've used the image I posted on two NTs now and I've tried both methods numerous times on my NT. I haven't had a single problem (except for when I do it on purpose). Both of the NTs were stock, rooted NTs. I don't have CM7 and have little interest in setting it up so I can only certify that this does work on a factory NT. If you have an alternate boot manager or CWM or CM7 flashed internally then you may very well have problems. If you're booting straight from SD and nothing has been changed in the NTs internal memory then it should run with any problem.

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I've used the image you kindly provided CRE. It is stuck on the "Please Do NOT Turn Off Your Device. Installing New Software..."
There is a picture of a Nook in the center and a green check mark in the top right corner. How long should this take (I'm assuming it reboots itself after finishing)?
Edit:
I found your post from the previous thread:
"When I was ready to go it took several times of pressing the power button (I probably pressed every combination possible out of desperation) before it came to life. It booted up and came to the "DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR DEVICE" (or similar text) screen and a red X was in the upper right corner. Where I'm used to seeing this message go away and the Nook prompting me to eject my card before turning the device off all that happened was it remained on the warning screen but the red X was replaced with a green check mark after a couple minutes. Being paranoid, I probably left it on that screen for 30+ minutes before I finally forced it off, took out the card, booted into CWM, restored my backup image and now I'm all set! (My serial number was uneffected despite all my clumsy efforts to kill this NT). I had 1.4.0 installed and this image was made using files from the 1.4.0 acclaim_update.zip."
Thanks to you, meghd00t, and all others involved!

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CRE said:
...If you have an alternate boot manager or CWM or CM7 flashed internally then you may very well have problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it does seem to be a problem, as it does not execute the scripts from the boot card.

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Hey, I have an 8gb NT sitting on my desk which is bricked. I'll check this out tonight. If it works, then for sure I'll request that my Ubuntu Recovery be removed and yours take its place in the stickies. I just ask that you consider making one for the stock partition tables.. that way it can be official stock and not just an unbrick.

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Cre- re repartion image
CRE, GOT YOUR P MESSAGE, NOT SURE HOW TO ANSWER PLY, BUT I WANTED TO THANK U. YES I AM BOOTING FROM SD WITH STOCK 1.4O. BUT I TAKE IT THAT I MUST CONNECT THE NOOK TO A COMPUTER, WHICH MUST BE DONE COVERTLY.:cool

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AdamOutler said:
Hey, I have an 8gb NT sitting on my desk which is bricked. I'll check this out tonight. If it works, then for sure I'll request that my Ubuntu Recovery be removed and yours take its place in the stickies. I just ask that you consider making one for the stock partition tables.. that way it can be official stock and not just an unbrick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the feedback.
I have remade the images as per your instructions. Now you will get exactly what B&N gives you Only changes are in using the vfat portion of the sdcard to hold the factory.zip.
If you have some hosting then perhaps the original image with the ext3 partition for the factory.zip as per the details here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=23946133&postcount=21 would also work. (now image attached here as bn_142_factory_recovery.zip )
Please review and let me have your comments
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64885133/READMEv2.txt
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64885133/meghd00tr4-v2.zip
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64885133/meghd00tr4-v2-sdimg.zip
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/64885133/bn_142_factory_recovery.zip

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Error 404
I try to download file: bn_142_factory_recovery.zip from the link above, but get Error 404. Please, put this file back. I am still try to unbrick Nook Tablet 8Gb. Thanks a lot!

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hang on for a bit its uploading to dropbox very slowly, OK have at it it has uploaded now.

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Thanks! I got it!