unable to get the boot menu

[Joel Newkirk]

On Mon, 2 Mar 2009 20:56:59 +0100
Bram Mertens <mertensb.mazda at gmail.com> wrote:

> So now I have what I believe to be everything I need on the SD but I'm
> unable to boot it!
> 
> I've tried several times to follow the instructions on
> http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Booting_the_Neo_FreeRunner as well as
> those on http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Bootloader but I cannot get the
> device to display the boot menu.
> 
> From the above I understand that the following should suffice:
> 1) shut down the device and disconnect it from the computer
> 2) remove the battery for at least 30 secs
> 3) press and hold the AUX button
> 4) press and hold the power button until the boot menu appears
> 
> The first thing I see is "OpenMoko", then the initialization messages
> scroll by and FDOM is started.  (The AUX button flashes once shortly
> before "Openmoko" is displayed on the screen.)

Just to clarify and be sure:
3) Press and hold down AUX button
4) while AUX is still held down, press and hold power button until the
boot menu appears.  Then release both buttons.

That should present you with the NOR boot menu.  The NAND boot menu
(the one that can be readily overwritten) is accessed by:
3) Press and hold down Power button
4) while holding down power button, and /before/ booting begins (IE,
within 5-6 seconds should be fine) press and hold AUX, then release both
buttons after boot menu appears.

I've never found the powerdown process to be so sensitive...  The issue
with external power (step #1 refers to AC power as well as USB-port from
a host computer) is that when you plug in, it often starts booting
without needing a power press.  In this situation, however, if you're
holding down the AUX button when you plug it in you'll end up with the
boot menu.  Other than removing the battery to effect a hard-reset, I've
never performed step #2 above.

Generally you'd want the NAND boot menu to actually boot, since it's
presumably at least as new as the NOR, but potentially much newer,
possibly drastically different (Qi vs uBoot).  Use the NOR boot menu
when flashing, however.

j