Bricked SG-3100
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Hi All.
We use SG-3100 devices and have a large number bricked units after failed flash updates etc and piling up in the workshop. When pluggin in the console cable we're seeing garbage on the Serial connection. So the proper 'run recovery' process cannot work becuase you do not receive the normal prompts becuase the uboot partition is corrupt.Having spent a lot of time looking into this it turns out the winbond flash device is totally corrupt.
We've now got a fix for this and have bought every one of these back to life and been able to access the serial console again etc.
Its an involved proceedure, PM me if you want to know more. Its too involved to document here and will require specilist tools and component level pcb repair skills to perform etc.
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Hello!
@steveb53 said in Bricked SG-3100:
Its too involved to document here and will require specilist tools etc.
Oh, I dont know....I dont think you are going to find any group on the face of the earth more capable of absorbing "involved documentation" or "specialized tools" when it comes to netgate devices and pfsense.
I am pretty sure I wont understand any of it, but I will enjoy watching and learning...
So have at it, or are you just trying to part these people from their hard earned cash?
John
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@serbus said in Bricked SG-3100:
Hello!
@steveb53 said in Bricked SG-3100:
Its too involved to document here and will require specilist tools etc.
So have at it, or are you just trying to part these people from their hard earned cash?
Well John, You know what they say about a fool and their money.
I'm looking to help like minded persons who have already tried the simple things and have worked out that it will require direct reflashing and the removal of SMT devices. Its involved and beyond the causual electronics individual working at a board level on their device.
Bit like a mechanic saying all you need do is take out the engine, far easier said than done.
I've already had direct messages since the post, two sounded like they could carry out the process and seem to have the hand skills, tools and knoweldge required, one sounded like they best leave alone and one person is getting more info together.
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If you are seeing garbage your terminal connection serial speed is incorrect.
Slow down or take a step back and get a known-good serial console device (as in one that works fine with an SG-3100 that you don't think is "bricked") connected at 115100,n,8,1, power on one of these devices, and post a copy of what you see there.
If you still get "garbage" then post that.
They are probably not "bricked."
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@Derelict said in Bricked SG-3100:
If you are seeing garbage your terminal connection serial speed is incorrect.
Slow down or take a step back and get a known-good serial console device (as in one that works fine with an SG-3100 that you don't think is "bricked") connected at 115100,n,8,1, power on one of these devices, and post a copy of what you see there.
If you still get "garbage" then post that.
They are probably not "bricked."
'my' post doesnt relate to incorrect baud rate setting, there are plenty of informed people posting on that topic. We're aware of the published way of recovering these devices, but that only works providing the Uboot hasn’t been damaged and isn’t corrupt. If it is corrupt then you get garbage and it doesn’t matter what baud rate you set you'll not see the uboot prompt to begin the recovery from.
the 'serial console device' is actually a USB cable that connects the FTTI virtual serial interface to the ARM processor in the firewall. Swapping the USB cable isnt a fix if the virtual device is showing in the device manager.
I am posting about a scenereo where a device is actually bricked and cannot be comminicated with via the USB console port.
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Hmm, if you are seeing that it's something we have not seen as far as I'm aware.
Certainly not that exact behaviour
I'd love to know more.
Steve
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Hello!
I had a somewhat similar issue with a sg-3100. I just contacted netgate support and they took care of it.
Did you talk to them about the problem with all of your sg-3100s?
Their support is not top notch, IMHO, and a very good value.John
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@serbus said in Bricked SG-3100:
Their support is not top notch, IMHO, and a very good value.
Did you mean to say top notch? This statement doesn't make a lot of sense.. So its not top notch, but a good value? <confused>
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Seriously though if you're seeing some issue with SG-3100s that is corrupting or erasing the SPI storage that holds uboot we want to know about it. As far as I know we have never seen that ourselves.
Feel free to PM me the details or open a ticket with us directly.Steve
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@johnpoz
Doh! Sorry...yes, TOP notch. -
@stephenw10 When we first experianced the issue we did contact the distributer back then. When they checked the warranty they lost interest suggesting we'd need to buy another which at that time is what we did. We have had a couple replaced under waranty too so somewhere Netgate has some faulty ones. We have dozens of Netgate devices in the group and failed firmware update and then garbadge on the output when trying to recover has happened quite a lot which is why they came back to our support workshop and piled up.
The problem is a corrupted Winbond flash device , if the uboot becomes corrupted during a firmware update then the normal recovery process cannot work becuase the uboot isnt running.
Given the thosands of netgate devices out there it seems hard to believe that a corrupted uboot problem hasn't been reported by someone else before now? Never mind we've bought ours back to life and judging by the PM's I've received it isnt so rare.
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@serbus I agree it is extremely good, when the product is in warranty.
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As far as I know we have never seen that. This thread is the first time I've been made aware if it.
Please PM me the details.
If we know what's happening there we may be able to prevent it.
If it's possible to recover a device that has hit this then we may be able to write something up to allow people to do that.
Steve
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@stephenw10
HI,Unless people have an equiped workshop with rework tooks and good SMT skills and the nessasary programmers and code then its not a viable for people to do.
Speak with the people who repair your devices at component level they will have certainly come across the problem and know how to resolve it.
I've now had quite a lot of people contact me saying that they have a bricked device with the same symtoms we experianced and the serial console regardless to baud rate setting is displaying garbage. It seems its more common than has been talked about. Happy to help anyone who has the nessasary tools and skills to be able to recover their device.
