Database Users

Problem booting from nand

Hi folks,
I've tried two different builds (a hero and donut with the proper flash for the resolution) and two different microsd cards in my vogue, but I can't get either of them to boot. They usually lock up somewhere around "copying rootfs to nand" or "copying systemfs to nand".
I've read and re-read through a ton of posts on here, and I think I'm following the directions exactly, but nothing has worked so far. I'm hoping someone here can offer up some suggestions on why I can't seem to get this going.
For the record I've been running nfsfan's roms for the last few months without any hitch.
Thanks for any info.
Shado

Just an update, I reinstalled winmo 6.5, and thats working fine. So I decided to take the sensehero build and run it under haret, and that works perfectly.
Hopefully someone here will have some idea as to why it crashes writing to nand...

had size microsd card are you using?

Its the 512mb microsd that came with my vogue....

Assuming you've followed all the guides and have all of the files on your card etc you may just have one of the incompatible phones. Several people have reported these issues as well. Only fix would be for someone to send one to DZO so as he can determine what the hardware change is that's causing the issue.

shadoslayer said:
Its the 512mb microsd that came with my vogue....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats odd....ill look into it.

I've love to send my phone, but then I'd have to use rabbit ears and a tinfoil hat to get my calls
I can take it apart to give some info on the internal components if that would help, or if there is anything I can run/do to provide any sort of debug information. Please let me know.
At this point the only thing I can say after flashing and booting a few dozen times is that it is something related to reading/writing/mounting the SD card. I also found another 256mb microsd and tried that with the same result (so I've ruled out the card). The majority of the time it just hangs on writing to nand, but occasionally it will segfault in that same area of the boot sequence and sometimes it will just hang mounting the sd card right shortly after it initializes bluetooth.
Cheers
Shado

shadoslayer said:
I've love to send my phone, but then I'd have to use rabbit ears and a tinfoil hat to get my calls
I can take it apart to give some info on the internal components if that would help, or if there is anything I can run/do to provide any sort of debug information. Please let me know.
At this point the only thing I can say after flashing and booting a few dozen times is that it is something related to reading/writing/mounting the SD card. I also found another 256mb microsd and tried that with the same result (so I've ruled out the card). The majority of the time it just hangs on writing to nand, but occasionally it will segfault in that same area of the boot sequence and sometimes it will just hang mounting the sd card right shortly after it initializes bluetooth.
Cheers
Shado
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well mind breaking down what you did to where it got stuck, as in each step beforehand.

I am having the same problem as well. It has to be hardware in my phone. I've tried the two different methods of flashing and both freeze up in linux when it is trying to flash. I've also tried two different micro sd cards and the same result happened on both. I flash windows mobile roms no problem.

gigermunit said:
well mind breaking down what you did to where it got stuck, as in each step beforehand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure.
(keep in mind the phone is already unlocked, so I'll skip all the unlocking stuff)
1) Downloaded Sensehero from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=603028 and also grabbed the hero.user.conf from that thread as well
2) Formatted the 512mb microsd in win 7. I did a full format (not quick format) and used fat32 (I also tried formatting fat)
3) Copied everything that came with Sensehero to the root of the sd (data.img, datafstonand, rootfs.img, rootfstonand, system.sqsh, systemfstonand), created a conf folder and copied the hero.user.conf there.
4) Ejected the SD card in Windows, popped it into my vogue.
5) Grabbed voguimg-320x480-17-12-09.nbh, renamed it to RUU_signed.nbh and flashed it (also tried VOGUIMG.NBH and flashing from sd). When I flashed from Windows, I put the phone in bootloader mode first.
6) After flashing, the phone restarted, and the kernel started its thing. The first time it locked up on writing rootfs to nand (it got to 4% I believe and locked up), I went to bed, so I know it wasn't because I didn't wait long enough.
After that, it was pretty much just a combination of resetting and popping the battery out and back in to restart it. Sometimes it would progress past writing rootfs and get to systemfs or datafs but it would always fail at some percentage along the way. Sometimes after just hitting the reset button (the little one on the bottom of the phone) it would freeze trying to mount the SD card. In ALL cases though, it made it to that point - it would never crash, segfault, etc. before it got to the SD card part of the kernel.
Also, thinking it might be something with Sensehero, I tried the Donut ASOP build from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=591104 along with voguimg-240x320-17-12-09.nbh. Exact same result.
The only thing I haven't tried is using any of the voguimg's with earlier dates, but I'm not sure what has changed between the different revisions that would make any difference. If you think I should, I can try those other builds to see what happens.
Hope this helps, let me know if you need any more info!
Cheers
Shado

BTW When I get home later tonight, I'll reflash and write out exactly what it says during the kernel loading process (or try to take a picture).

shadoslayer said:
BTW When I get home later tonight, I'll reflash and write out exactly what it says during the kernel loading process (or try to take a picture).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done that, it doesn't help dzo said. Usually it processes further than it shows on the screen. I've pmed dzo and offered to send him my phone since I'm only a few towns away.

shadoslayer said:
Sure.
(keep in mind the phone is already unlocked, so I'll skip all the unlocking stuff)
1) Downloaded Sensehero from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=603028 and also grabbed the hero.user.conf from that thread as well
2) Formatted the 512mb microsd in win 7. I did a full format (not quick format) and used fat32 (I also tried formatting fat)
3) Copied everything that came with Sensehero to the root of the sd (data.img, datafstonand, rootfs.img, rootfstonand, system.sqsh, systemfstonand), created a conf folder and copied the hero.user.conf there.
4) Ejected the SD card in Windows, popped it into my vogue.
5) Grabbed voguimg-320x480-17-12-09.nbh, renamed it to RUU_signed.nbh and flashed it (also tried VOGUIMG.NBH and flashing from sd). When I flashed from Windows, I put the phone in bootloader mode first.
6) After flashing, the phone restarted, and the kernel started its thing. The first time it locked up on writing rootfs to nand (it got to 4% I believe and locked up), I went to bed, so I know it wasn't because I didn't wait long enough.
After that, it was pretty much just a combination of resetting and popping the battery out and back in to restart it. Sometimes it would progress past writing rootfs and get to systemfs or datafs but it would always fail at some percentage along the way. Sometimes after just hitting the reset button (the little one on the bottom of the phone) it would freeze trying to mount the SD card. In ALL cases though, it made it to that point - it would never crash, segfault, etc. before it got to the SD card part of the kernel.
Also, thinking it might be something with Sensehero, I tried the Donut ASOP build from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=591104 along with voguimg-240x320-17-12-09.nbh. Exact same result.
The only thing I haven't tried is using any of the voguimg's with earlier dates, but I'm not sure what has changed between the different revisions that would make any difference. If you think I should, I can try those other builds to see what happens.
Hope this helps, let me know if you need any more info!
Cheers
Shado
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow....im speak less, i don't know what the problem could be.

Well, thanks for trying to help out giger. Hopefully with Scizzle's phone dzo can discover whats causing our vogues to act up and we can finally get droid running from nand. And if anyone comes up with anything, I have no problem testing, so drop me a pm.
Thanks everyone!

I have very similar problems as reported here when trying to do this with one of the latest Hero builds. After many resets (due to lockups during the NAND writing process), I am able to get past the writing to get to the Hero/HTC animation screens, but if I'm lucky enough to get that far, it will lockup sometime during those as well.
Back to HaRET for me I guess.

Fairly new, help booting from sd card

Hey guys just got a nook color last night been doing some research but i made a card that I believe should have been able to boot from sd upon start up. I have not been able to get it to do this. I am not sure what needs to be done im running stock 1.2 and not feeling rooting yet just booting cm7 from the SD but if i need to root I can. Please advise i have looked around and searched and not found adequate information? Thanks
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

If you follow the instructions in the forum you should have no problems. My suggestion is to try verygreens SD size agnostic setup. Follow the instructions exactly and you should have no problems.
Sent from my NookColor using XDA Premium App

k that's the one i followed but do i have the card in the nook when i write the image to it? because it says after writing the image to it to place it in the computer... also do i need to hit anything specific to boot up from SD when i turn the nook on? because those are the instructions that i followed and i have had no luck
edit: also if i am writing the disc onto the SDcard while in the nook how would i go about doing so?

but do i have the card in the nook when i write the image to it? because it says after writing the image to it to place it in the computer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was also confused by this...

I'm having the exact same problem, and am having no luck on here trying to read and find the answer.
I just got my Nook Saturday night from Best Buy, and updated it to stock 1.2. It's not rooted. I haven't done anything to it yet. Spent most of the day yesterday just trying to get the loader image to burn to the sd card, kept refusing to do it. I am absolutely NOT a geek, and hubby (who is) finally figured out what I did wrong when he got home last night. Apparently the program I used to unpack it, had it bloated to 4 GB, instead of about 130 mb.
Well, he tried following verygreen's instructions to put CM7 on the card (8 GB class 4) so we could use that in the Nook. Can't get the Nook to boot with the card, it just keeps booting stock. Once booted, I can see the card in it, but it is not booting from it. Also, there is no Touch the future of reading screen on this nook, there is a screen that says Read Forever, if that matters. I'd sure appreciate any insight into why it might not be recognizing that it should be booting from the card.
I was really excited to get this, it's the only decent tablet I can afford, but I'm a bit frustrated. And hubby doesn't really have the mental energy to deal with this sort of thing during the week when he comes home from work. And I really wanted to learn how to do this myself, so I can do what's needed when he isn't here...
Thanks ahead of time if you read all that and can/want to help me!!

It seems likely that the card didn't get made into a bootdisk correctly.
1) Are you using windows, mac, or linux?
2) How was the μsd card connected to your computer when making it into the boot disk?
3) When you connect the card back to the laptop in the same way, what happens? What is the card labeled?
Oh, and it says "Read Forever" in 1.2. "Touch the future of reading" is from 1.1, and also CM7.

chinly43 said:
It seems likely that the card didn't get made into a bootdisk correctly.
1) Are you using windows, mac, or linux?
2) How was the μsd card connected to your computer when making it into the boot disk?
3) When you connect the card back to the laptop in the same way, what happens? What is the card labeled?
Oh, and it says "Read Forever" in 1.2. "Touch the future of reading" is from 1.1, and also CM7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for responding! I have actually fixed it finally. Seems the Microcenter card I was using must not have liked all this. So I had another card laying around, a 4 GB, no idea what brand, and tried it all again. This time it worked! So happy now, got it all going so I can play with it now!

Brand new NC w/ 1.2 no sd boot

***Edit as of 9:09 PM EST... We have confirmed that another "46" has rooted... Looks like my bud just has a partially broken NC, so move along....
Older info, left for posterity, incase the sky really is falling...
Please read carefully, I have tried everything. If you bought your NC within the past 3-4 weeks, please go to the last post on this thread, and create a new one with your serial number, leaving the last 4 as xxxx. We are trying to gather serial info, as I apparently have a "46", and no one else that we know of so far has anything newer than a "45"...
Ok, I've rooted about 20 of these so far. I know how to make a CWM 3.0.1.0 bootable microsd like the back of my hand. A Co-worked handed me his freshly bought NC. I noticed it was running 1.2. I turned it off. I popped the SD card in that I used to root one just this past weekend. I powered it back on, and it booted directly from emmc. I then went and made a brand new CWM SD card, using a different SD. Same behavior. Rebooted 8x, hoping that recovery would kick in. It did, but just brought me back to 1.2 again. Pondered, what would the XDA Gods do? ADB... Right, doesn't connect. Could be something on my machine, but I think it's due to USB debugging disabled, but I cant re-enable it from the sotck BN1.2 interface...
Has the end come? I dont want to yell that the sky is falling... I'll be here until 4p, and I'm willing to try anything other than breaking it open or returning it and hoping for an older 1.1x model.
Oh, and I know that the slot works, as after the boot, if I eject the sd and mount it on the pc, I see the lost.dir and other folders that android has created. (also, it can be seen on windows when I plug in the usb cable...)

You used the 1.2 Manual Nooter?

mr_fosi said:
You used the 1.2 Manual Nooter?
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Click to collapse
No, Step 1 of the manualnooter is booting from CWM sd. When I make the sd, and pop it in, it doesnt boot from it, it goes directly to emmc.

My bad.
So you are using 3.0.2.8 as recommended and you have tried the card you burned in another NC that you know boots from the SD?

Yep, well 3.0.1.0, but yes. I 've tried 2 cards, 1 of them I just used this past weekend to successfully root a stock 1.1.

Hrm.
I know it sounds dumb since you say that at least one of these cards worked just a few days ago, but I would create an upgraded 3.0.2.8 and try it again.

Winimage is writing now... I'll edit this post when its done, and I've updated to 3028
*edit* Yep, still no sd boot.

Interesting... Sucky, but interesting. Could it be a bum unit?
This makes me wonder things... Like why we use uSDs when B&N built in an update mechanism that only requires the update files to be placed in the USB-visible directory on the EMMC.

Sad turn of events if true. OTOH, it makes our NC's more valuable on the used market.

Dumb question, but I presume he had already registered the device? Also, maybe try a different card, it's possible that there may be something on that actual card that may cause a problem. As a last resort, return it to the store and ask for another? dunno Maybe see if the model number on the back is different? or see what serial number range it came from?

Registered status has nothing to do with the ability to boot from SD. The ability to boot from SD is set in the firmware, and apparently BN has changed it in the most recent version. I've tried 2 cards that I have used before. No dice.

computercarl said:
Registered status has nothing to do with the ability to boot from SD. The ability to boot from SD is set in the firmware, and apparently BN has changed it in the most recent version. I've tried 2 cards that I have used before. No dice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could this mean an end to an era???????

computercarl said:
Registered status has nothing to do with the ability to boot from SD. The ability to boot from SD is set in the firmware, and apparently BN has changed it in the most recent version. I've tried 2 cards that I have used before. No dice.
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Click to collapse
Oh noooooo.

One incident is not a pattern, it could be a fluke.
We won't know until we get more reports. I'm inclined to think that this is a faulty unit.

mr_fosi said:
One incident is not a pattern, it could be a fluke.
We won't know until we get more reports. I'm inclined to think that this is a faulty unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope your right.
Carl, Can you return the device for a replacement??

I'm instructing the actual owner to take it back to the BN store, get a refund, walk across the parkinglot to Staples and get a new one.

I like this plan.

computercarl said:
I'm instructing the actual owner to take it back to the BN store, get a refund, walk across the parkinglot to Staples and get a new one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have the serial number? Specifically, mine starts with 2004.. what does that one start with?

201146003592xxxx

Did you see if you could even read the SD from stock 1.2? Sure, android created some folders, but maybe the slot was not working well. My USB micro SD reader sometimes gives me errors when trying to copy files over. It will copy a fe MB, then it quits and the card disappears. I have to eject and reinsert the device a few times to get things working.

[Q] SD Partions for SD CM BOOT

Ok, I have run this install method 2x today http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1000957&highlight=verygreen+sd+bootable *VeryGreen*
Now, I am not new to rooting but haven't been keeping up with my nook as I passed it on. Went from CM7 stable to MIUI couldnt' stand the market issues and didn't want ot deal with removing the up dater..blah blah blah ok enough of that
I have followed the instructions and was have booted CM fine but each time I look at my SD card I only have the one partition. Should I be partitioning it myself before doing the steps metitioned or should the install make the partions for me then I just write the FAT or FAT32 (<---top of my head) myself post install.
I wanted a dual boot but figured I would wait for CM9 to come out and wanted to test the SD install. Also, the system seems laggy and I would attribute that to the card i'm using but was also wondering if maybe it was from the partitions? I believe the card is only showing 120 mb used and 14 unused.
Thanks, for any help I have been working on this for 3 days different scenerios and used searches but I get so many dated threads.
~D

If you are using windows you will only see the first partition.
Sent from space

That would be why, hadn't thought about that but was going to into partitioning i myself this evening in linux either would have seen this or been worse for the wear. Thanks, seems it's still not running as smooth and I am thinking it' the card, I'll just got with old faithful for now and work on it more after NYE have a trip coming up and would rather have it in state I know works.
Cheers

[Q] Chronic "Unexpected Lack of Boot Partition on the SD card! Please Report"

[Q] Chronic "Unexpected Lack of Boot Partition on the SD card! Please Report"
Hi,
First let me say - YES, i have searched all of the forums here (and a number of other sites) and seem to have tried almost every option.
I have Chronic "Unexpected Lack of Boot Partition on the SD card! Please Report" problems. The farthest I get guaranteed is the cyanogenmod boot and menu (if I try and bring it up). I'm simply trying to get the SD card with cm7 to boot reliably and not eventually loose the boot partition.
Off and on since spring I was able to burn a CM7 image (verygreen's size agnostic, and one or two others I have since lost track of) to a SD card; have had it boot to cm7 and it work for awhile - but then eventual degraded into the no partition found error. the majority of the time it just doesn't work and results in that annoying purple black screen.
When it does work, it only works for awhile and then the boot partition can't be found; a few very small 3 of times - if I copied a new update it woke back up ad worked for a couple of reboots then lost the partition again.
Anybody got time to take pity on my melted brain and take a few guesses?
Clearly I'm not only missing something - but as things have gotten worse, am now missing more (if that is possible) as I'm going backwards to see why it no longer works at all.
At this point wrong has happened so often, I'm just lost on what even worked way back when I started.
I'm trying to backtrack to where it at least worked a little for a few days...but noob world is decaying into worse world.
I tried a couple of other, older processes and a multiboot menu one that seemed promising (plus could handle the new naming conventions for 7.2 CM7); but that one never even got past the missing boot partition.
I have tried approx 10 2gb SDCards, Sandisk, Kingston, Unknown; Class 4 and mixed.
I have tried 3 8GB SD Cards, Sandisk, class 4
I have tried 1 16gb SD Card, Sandisk, class 4
I have tried a Vivitar Micro SD Card Reader
I have tried the micro SD card Adapters in a laptop, and then in a sandisk USB adapter.
I even tried doing it all using the Nook color via a USB cable.
I even tried leaving the nook color off and connecting the USB cable to the PC to initiate a boot.
Using Windskimager
Using SD formatter
Have formatted Full erase and overwrite.
Tried leaving partition size alone
Tried partition resizing up to 250mb
Tried cm7 zip alone and with gapps
WinXP on 2 desktops and a laptop

It sounds like you have run the gamut of attempted resolutions.
That message is part of the verygreen partitioning script that runs every time the verygreen recovery is run. So, that means the normal boot kernel for CM7 is not loading.
The way the verygreen SD should operate is it starts with uImage and uRamdisk on the boot partition. Those are verygreen's recovery files. The first time it is booted, it looks at your emmc to be sure it is a nook. Then it looks at the SD to see if it has been partitioned yet. If it is not, it partitions it into those partitions necessary for installing ROMs. After partitioning, it looks for a zip to install. If it does not find one, it shuts down and the next time it boots it does the same thing until it finds the first ROM zip to install. If it finds one, it installs it. The first time it installs a ROM, it renames those uImage and uRamdisk verygreen files to uRecImg and uRecRam and they become the verygreen recovery files. And it installs new uImage and uRamdisk files from the zip to become your CM kernel and ramdisk. These are what normally will load in the future to start CM.
Now, with the disk partitioned and CM installed, ordinarily, after the cyanomod logo comes up, it boots by default to CM via the uImage and uRamdisk files. If you intercede with the boot menu and tell it to boot to SD recovery, it looks for uRecImg and uRecRam to load the verygreen recovery. If that is loaded, the verygreen script does all its checking again, it verifies that emmc is a nook, then tries to verify if the SD is partitioned. If it is, it looks for a new zip to install. If, in checking to see if it is partitioned, it cannot find partition 1, it gives that message that has been bugging you.
So I see two things that are happening to you.
First, it is booting to the verygreen recovery first instead of CM. That could be due to a recovery bootloop happening. Look at my tips thread linked in my signature to see an explanation as to what that is and how to possibly get out of it.
Second, after it boots to the verygreen recovery, it does its checking and cannot find partition 1 of the SD and gives you that message.
What I cannot understand is, if you have no partition 1 on your SD, how is it booting to the verygreen recovery?
What you have not told us is what you have on emmc. Stock? Does it boot properly without the SD installed? Or does it go to stock recovery?
After this happens to you again, take the card out and put it in the PC. Tell us what you see. What files are there? Maybe look at it with Mini-Tool Partition Manager and see what partitions it reports.

leapinlar said:
What you have not told us is what you have on emmc. Stock? Does it boot properly without the SD installed? Or does it go to stock recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto on that - especially as it boots happily to that error message time after time after the green cyanomod screen appears and I can also do the menu trick to get it to go into recovery.
Just as a clarifier: A number of times it tried to do the install (text flowing by) and at the end claims it can't find the boot partition - odd (unless I have less of an idea of what I am doing than I think) as isn't all that running from that partition? A fairly even number of times it doesn't even run the install and just errors out right up front.
Once in a great while it all works, and I'm good for a few days - but eventually upon rebooting to get it back to normal (either by menu choice or by pulling the sd card) - all I get is that lack of partition again.
leapinlar said:
What you have not told us is what you have on emmc. Stock? Does it boot properly without the SD installed? Or does it go to stock recovery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes with the SD card out it boots to stock, although a few time what looked like the CWMod menu came up after I shut down and started up without the SD card installed. Maybe only 2 or 3 times out of WAY to many boots to stock so the kids could read their books while I went to work.
I have even tried resetting the nook to factory on the off chance I did something dumb while mucking about to cause that.
leapinlar said:
After this happens to you again, take the card out and put it in the PC. Tell us what you see. What files are there? Maybe look at it with Mini-Tool Partition Manager and see what partitions it reports.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do so later tonight and will read the notes in your signature as well.
I saw something go by about the boot partition having to start at the 63 block or something - I can't believe ALL my SDcard adapters / writers are bad, but could the nook reader be screwy? Anyway to do a real test? I've been using the Easeus Partition Manager, but will try the Mini-Tool Partition Manager.
Thanks for the step by step explanation of exactly what happens in the process so I can again get a handle on what it's all doing. That all makes sense to what it looks like it tries to do. Deeply appreciate the time!.

You know, I am beginning to suspect something is wrong with your card reader built into the nook. Some sort of intermittent thing like a pin not making a good connection to the card. Put an ordinary SD in it and see if your stock can consistently read it.
Is your unit still under warranty? You might want to explore seeing if you can get it replaced.

Your downloaded verygreen image might be corrupted. Have you tried re-downloading it?
Sent from my NookColor using xda app-developers app

leapinlar said:
You know, I am beginning to suspect something is wrong with your card reader built into the nook. Some sort of intermittent thing like a pin not making a good connection to the card. Put an ordinary SD in it and see if your stock can consistently read it.
Is your unit still under warranty? You might want to explore seeing if you can get it replaced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had thought of that too - at stock it seems to have no problems reading consistently; I've done surface tests using partition manager - but haven't located any real other options of hard testing like once done for hard drives.
Plus the fact that sometimes, it will work for days before it craps out.

j8048188 said:
Your downloaded verygreen image might be corrupted. Have you tried re-downloading it?
Sent from my NookColor using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A number of times - I went through and wiped all my downloads for the latest try.

Okay So As I mentioned I went back and wiped everything I had downloaded and restarted (again).
Current status is it's working BUT:
suspiciously too easy this time, worked first shot
- (having said that, I've had looking stupid and asking suddenly means it all starts working - so if it's that I'm good with this)
I've only rebooted into CM7, not back to stock at any time
Have not removed the SD card
I've not had time to load up the apps I like, just the kids games
- (sometimes I think it's the more wanted, the less reliable)
Obviously because I haven't removed the SD card, i haven't been able to retry things enough to recreate the other problems of boots right, yet can't find the partition when it really counts.
Changes (listing stupid things too, just because):
-Went back to my sandisk class 4 16gb HC card
-changed USB adapter back to sandisk one, using a sandisk micro to SD adapter that specifically says sdhc (although I think that is really just marketing
-Formatted the SD in the Nook x2, and did not use SDformatter
-Looked at the partition on the card with MiniTool not Easeus partition manager
-There is a step in verygreen's where you pop the card out and reconnect to the PC BEFORE adding the cm zip, made sure to do that - but could swear I had done it before.
Full painful boring steps that SO far has gotten it past the first stage of creation (again the full test is when I boot into stock a few times, or remove the SDcard for anything, or load my really wanted apps on the android side):
--Also note my lack of class 4 Sandisk cards, I only had one after all. BUT I have had this all work to this point with the 16gb only to have it go south.--
Painful details is so I can catch what is really worthwhile different as even WHEN I get it to work, I'm going back to try all the other cards because it worked so oddly and failed so oddly and differently - but that's just me.
> The 2GBs are:
6 Sandisk SD, don't see any class Rating
2 no brand SD, don't see any class Rating
1 Kingston SD, don't see any class Rating
> The 8gb are SDHC "Adata" Class 4 SDHC
> The 16gb is a Sandisk Class 4 SDHC
Using the 16GB Sandisk Class 4
--------------------------------
> Nook booted to stock
Inserted SD Card
Unmounted
Formatted sucessfully
unmounted and removed
> Put in Red SD / SDHC Adapter
Put in Sandisk MicroMate SDHC to USB Adapter
Put in Front USB spot
> Mounted as E Drive
E Drive shows standard Nook Folders:
.amdroid_secure
B&N Downloads
LOST.DIR
My files
> MiniTool Partition Wizard
Surface test = all good.
>Write the image on your SD card
Used Win 32 Disk Imager
After done with writing, eject and then re-insert the uSD card into your computer.
Two Partitions - 118 and 14.72gb
>Copied to card:
update-cm-7.1.0-encore-signed.zip
Installed correctly
configured wireless
Rebooted = OK
Rebooted = OK
>Turned off
Removed SD Card
Put in Red SD / SDHC Adapter
Put in Sandisk MicroMate SDHC to USB Adapter
Put in Front USB spot
copied gapps
>Boot into Recovery
Gapps installed
> boot
all good
did all set ups like before
added apps (7 games for kids)
rebooted twice
started using
added one app I really like (newshog)
Listening for drumming... nothing so far (Dr. Who reference)
I'm going to go the weekend before rebooting to stock as I can do some adding, and rebooting to android.
Maybe backup the droid side this time around.
THEN the death tests on Monday
-thanks for listening_
p.s. - Yes, I still suspect the card reader somewhat as REMOVING may be where it breaks down.
However, once or twice when I had the Unexpected lack of boot partition error - I was able to bring it back by doing a CM7 update via recovery, despite it refusing to find the boot partiton immediately previously - of course that means the SDcard was removed and reinserted. Most time reinsertion = no help.

You do not need to remove the SD to test booting to emmc. Just press and hold the n button during the boot until the boot menu comes up. Then select emmc/normal and boot. It will boot to stock. The only problem with doing that is now your SD boot partition is 'sdcard'. But should work for testing stock.

leapinlar said:
You do not need to remove the SD to test booting to emmc. Just press and hold the n button during the boot until the boot menu comes up. Then select emmc/normal and boot. It will boot to stock. The only problem with doing that is now your SD boot partition is 'sdcard'. But should work for testing stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I know - but it's two separate tests to see which one caused the problem.
Turns out that neither was needed - it was easier to create; my son simply turned it off (not a reboot cycle as I had been doing which worked).
When it was turned on, it no longer boots - it goes straight to BSOD (actually deep purple).
Booting into recovery gets me:
Penguin Logo
rcS!
Populating /dev using udev: done
Initializing random number generator.... done.
modprobe: chdir(2.6.32.9): No such file or directory
Starting Network...
Detected Standard B&N nook layout, emmc first
Error! Unexpected lack of boot partition on the SDCARD!
Please Report!
Poweroff when ready
Since I'm till held to the noob reposting limit of once every 5 minutes and the captha I can barely read - I'll post MiniTool result in about 5 minutes. I'll link a screen capture if i can here.

I tried to boot per menu to the EMMC stock; Clockworkmod Recovery v3.2.0.1 came up. I know I did emmc and what ever the second default is (which should be normal) - I'm pretty sure it was normal.
I offed it and did the same and confirmed it was the default; THIS time it came up Nook stock.
Is there some way I installed something to the stock NOOK and didn't remove it when I restored to factory? The other day I did the restore from that same clockworkmod screen NOT from the stock Nook environment.
I'm wondering if I somehow created my own monster way back when I first started this and was playing in the android environment.

I just edited what I wrote a few seconds ago. The reason it went to emmc recovery is because the recovery flag was not reset when that SD Recovery told you that error. Did you read my tips about recovery bootloops? When you exited 3.2.0.1, it cleared the flag and booted normally.
I still suspect hardware issues.

Just for Ha, Ha's I hooked the Nook via USB to the PC.
G Drive "Removable Disk G" (wants a disk to be inserted)
E Drive "MyNookColor" ( Lots of what I assume to be standard Nook folders.

See my edit above.

Attachement # 1 SD Card from Mycomputer:
Attachment # 2 MiniTool View of SD Card

Boot Partition
Properties using Minitool Partition Wizard (attached):
Used
Partition Info
File System Info
Surface Test of Boot Partition:
Perfect - so no picture.
This is SO aggravating - I almost would accept just knowing why rebooting wrecks something if I knew WHAT).

leapinlar said:
I just edited what I wrote a few seconds ago. The reason it went to emmc recovery is because the recovery flag was not reset when that SD Recovery told you that error. Did you read my tips about recovery bootloops? When you exited 3.2.0.1, it cleared the flag and booted normally.
I still suspect hardware issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, apparently not closely enough - got lots of time again.
....didn't expect that anyone would be watching, was busy posting pictures so I could go away and read and think...
Probably is hardware - wish I had some way to vigorously test that, I get that basic use in Nook Stock doesn't really prove everything is good.
Plus I bought refurbished and I have to go dig up the warranty, it was months ago, so not too hopeful and boxes long gone. Don't know how nice B&N is, free replacement charger and cord is one thing - whole another refurb unit is different if I can't show stock SD card reading is an issue, not sure how much they check, but I don't think they care about CM7 off a SDcard not working!

Everything looks perfect on that card. All the right files, partition sizes, etc. You have stock on emmc, CWM 3.2.0.1 on emmc recovery.
I still suspect hardware issues. Powering off makes card semi-unreadable. Can still boot to it but when checking for partition information on SD fails.
If you registered your nook, the serial number is all you need. Refurbished usually have a one year warranty. Mine did. Just tell them card reading is intermittent. Which it is. They are pretty generous. You still have stock on there.
Edit: Try just an ordinary SD and power off, reboot, and repeat many times and in between check card reading ability.

leapinlar said:
Everything looks perfect on that card. All the right files, partition sizes, etc. You have stock on emmc, CWM 3.2.0.1 on emmc recovery.
I still suspect hardware issues. Powering off makes card semi-unreadable. Can still boot to it but when checking for partition information on SD fails.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, it's really the only thing that hasn't been able to be changed through all of this.
I've mostly gotten these results - I've managed to make it worse as I redid things and apparently got sloppy. But when going back to methodically following instructions I have what I had months ago. I had hoped buying other cards would make it at least act differently.
Thanks for all of the reviews and double checking, at least I now it's not something obvious (but wasn't obvious to me) that I missed along the way!
I'll have to call B&N and see how strict they are and if they take the "It just has trouble reading any SD card consecutively".
Now where was that review of the Nexxus 7.... and I wonder how all the tablet prices are going to drop especially for the Galaxy Tab. Buying is not as fun but I am completely beat with modding failures.

We are too fast with each other. Lol. See my edit above.