Re: Centrios KW-1315117 Stereo

On Sun, 5 Jul 2009 00:09:52 -0700
Ross Jordan <[email protected]> wrote:

> Sounds like fun, though you may have made yourself a brick =)
>

Well it is currently behaving like a brick. Indeed, at present the unit
is a brick in several pieces.

> 
> Here's the typical things to try:
> 
> - Check for a system reset button or master restore combination in the
>   manual if that exists (or maybe tech support knows one). If you're
>   really lucky, there will be a 2nd copy of the original flash which 
>   you can restore with this trick

Tried all sorts of trick, to no avail.

> - Check for a "debug" mode. Some embedded systems can be put into a
>   debug mode, where they, for example, send out dhcp requests on boot
>   and you can tftp a replacement ROM. Unfortunately, the exact
> sequence of steps may be non trivial to figure out. Again, tech
> support could be helpful

I did some research before I even began this project and one of the
things I found out is that the design for the main board is a fairly
straight forward extension of an application note "Building an MP3
Player on the uClinux Operating System using the ColdFire MCF5249" from
Freescale Semiconductor. The app-note goes in great detail how to
create the operating system and upload it through the one of the
onboard serial ports. With luck the production model has the debug
monitor included and the serial ports accessible.

My experience in embedded apps leads me to believe that this should be
the case.


> - What is the current state of your device? 
>

In pieces. Never fear, I intend to put it back to together. Once I find
the serial ports (there are no connectors making it obvious) I will add
the appropriate connector to the side of the box. Do you know how to
make nice neat holes in plastic?

> If it boots up, there may
>   be another way to get files onto it. When I was hacking the WRT54G,
>   the original trick to move files to the device was to use the ttcp
>   program (a tcp testing tool which just happens to have a bare bones
>   file transfer capability).

I have a lot of experience with embedded apps. Most that I've dealt
with have an external serial link to do just that. Some also activate
their network connection but only very few that I've personally worked
on.

> However, you would also need a way to
>   control the execution of programs. On the WRT54G, we found a hack
>   on the webpage where the web-based ping program would not validate
>   arguments (so you'd run "ping `ttcp -r > /tmp/telnetd`")
> - Otherwise, you'd need to inspect the board and try to get lucky with
>   ports or pinouts either for JTAG or some kind of serial. Typically,
>   the pins are removed on retail devices, but you can often solder on
>   the correct pins to the blank pinout and get a useable port.
> 

And thus why my unit is currently in pieces. I was hoping for an
obvious 9-pin connector (wild hope, I know) but there is a 6-pin JTAG
header which is enough pins for two serial ports at least.

I'm working with a guy in the Netherlands who has got a similar unit.
These things are built in bulk in Taiwan and branded the suit. The
Source calls it Centrios but there are half a dozen different names for
the same unit.

I'm going to buy another one today because I rather like the system.
It's under $100 so it's cheap enough.  This will leave me free to play
with the other unit without fear of turning it into a brick. I should
say, turning it into another brick.

Cheers,

Francis

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