"Can't open boot device" XO laptop firmware/OFW issue?

[Adam Holt]

Attached photo (in-lined below) should be an easy firmware/boot issue to
solve I hope! Can anybody remind me what's need / what I need to try next?

Clarif: this is an XO-1.5 (SKU100) with:
- up-to-date RTC clock
- up-to-date firmware (Q3C17)
- up-to-date OS (OLPC OS 13.2.9)

And yet I can no longer boot it (it did boot earlier today, with an earlier
OS).

Thanks all for ideas!

[image: Inline image 1]

[James Cameron]

Either there is an SD card in the external slot with unsupported partition
table, or there is a fault with the internal microSD card or slot.

[Adam Holt]

Post by James Cameron
Either there is an SD card in the external slot with unsupported partition
table, or there is a fault with the internal microSD card or slot.

I reflashed it a 2nd time and it came back to life (boots properly, for
now!)

I've seen this symptom (sometimes intermittent, sometimes permanent) on a
few similar XO-1.5's.

Seems the internal microSD's are sometimes/likely running out of steam for
mysterious reasons, despite minimal usage (though after ~7 years one cannot
complain, and at least these microSD's are replaceable on the XO-1.5 !)

Thanks James.

--

Post by James Cameron
James Cameron
http://quozl.netrek.org/
--
<http://quozl.netrek.org/>
<http://quozl.netrek.org/>
http://unleashkids.org !

[James Cameron]

As it ages, the microSD card takes longer and longer to erase and
write blocks.

Eventually the time it takes to erase and write may exceed the few
seconds between end of reflashing and the reboot power cycle.

In those situations, use fs-update instead of the four button method,
and leave the system on for five minutes before the first reboot.