Update – Debian on Agestar Firmware

Warning/Note: This is not an update to the existing firmware. This is for installing Debian. If you don’t know anything about Linux, this is not for you. This firmware DOES NOT contain web interface.

I haven’t looked again on Debian installer for Agestar, but I have built a new firmware for Debian on Agestar using the latest kernel patch (faster network). If you have installed Debian using the instruction in here, you can download zImage-20092008 to Agestar, and then do:

dd if=zImage-20092008 of=/dev/mtdblock1

If you haven’t installed Debian, then when following the instruction, but instead of using star.bin use star-20092008.bin. To make it clear, use zImage-20092008 to update existing installation, and star-20092008.bin for new installation (starting from the original Agestar firmware). If you made a mistake, then you need a serial port to unbrick your Agestar. NOTE: the web update method only works on agestar, other models can work by using serial port and latest patch for kernel source (2.6.29 or later).

If you are interested to make your own firmware, this is what you should do:

  1. Download armboot.bin and put it to a directory
  2. Download mergefile.c to the same directory as armboot.bin
  3. Compile mergefile.c (just do cc mergefile.c -o mergefile)
  4. Compile your kernel according to the instruction at http://tinyhack.com/2008/09/08/how-to-compile-kernel-for-agestar/ to create zImage, copy/move it to the same directory as armboot.bin
  5. Type ./mergefile to merge armboot.bin and zImage to star.bin.

You can use star.bin to flash (replace) original firmware. If you already installed Debian, and you want to update your kernel, you only need to build zImage and do dd if=newzImage of=/dev/mtdblock1.

117 thoughts on “Update – Debian on Agestar Firmware”

  1. Hi,

    I disassembled the complete AGESTAR NAS-there is no extra Real Time Clock
    or battery for such thing. I found a picture from starsemi with the function blocks of STR9100 which says the chip includes a Real Time Counter (not clock!). Maybe they use the X1205 driver because they have licensed parts of the intersil X1205 design. Could you try out if the X1205 driver is compatible to the internal RTCounter? Maybe it works?

    Manuel

  2. @Manuel: thank you for the information. I have tried using X1205 driver, and it didn’t work. From my disassembly of the kernel image, I think they modify the original x1205 driver.

    @ss: yes, you can flash ss to original firmware.

  3. Hello,
    Can you recompile your kernel with XFS support?

    I have the hardisk mounted on the nas formatted with xfs and full of movies. I have untarred (whithout deleting all the movies 😛 ) and configured your debian and flashed your firmware but after rebooting i can log on but i got Busybox.

    Looking to your kernel config on /proc/config.gz I fond the XFS support is disabled 🙁

  4. Hi,

    I just compiled the image with XFS enabled for you (I didn’t test it,
    but it should be fine, I just use the last configuration, enabled the
    XFS and compiled it).

    You can download it from:

    http://tinyhack.com/agestar/zimage-30-08-2008-xfs

    (md5 is 9c0771160853997ea093597d92e155)

    Write zimage-30-08-2008-xfs to /dev/mtdblock1 (dd if=zimage-30-08-2008-xfs of=/dev/mtdblock1)

    you can use USB flash disk or something to move the file to your
    Agestar (in case you don’t have enough space because you use XFS on
    all of your partitions).

  5. Hi Yohanes.
    Thanks for your firmware, I’m testing it on a fully top device.
    I use star-20092008.bin firmware and I’ve a issue.
    I want to test star.bin version (without latest network patch).
    -Can I do “dd if=star.bin of=/dev/mtdblock1” ?
    Thanks.

  6. @elbuit

    You need to skip the first 128k,

    dd if=star.bin of=/dev/mtdblock1 bs=128k skip=1

    or:

    – reinstall original firmware
    – flash with the star.bin

  7. hello again,

    I was just wondering can you do this agestar hack only with NSB3AS1T, or could it be done with NSB3AHT as well? do they have different hardware or anything, I’ve got both units and they seem to be same except for the case.

  8. Okay guys, I can confirm that this debian installation works with NSB3AHT as well, with no problems so far. I also took pictures from the unit, I’ll post them today as I have time.

    Thanks for Fabiano about the tip that they use same firmware, that made me just try it.

  9. I burn star-20092008.bin in my Agestar. Network interface has not work.
    Please help, what the syntax of the commands that write original firmware through uart. (i make interface com -> uart)

  10. FW upgrade new NSB3AS1T faild with “you upload wrong file” on any!!! file (star.bin or NCB3AST V04R11 from agestar.com) from linux or windows. How can i reflash my box ?
    PS: my board without UART pinout 🙁
    Thanks.

  11. Hello. I flash star-20092008.bin in my Agestar NCB3AST. Web interface has not work, but work telnet with username/password root/root on BusyBox. IP i see on my DHCP server. What flash original firmware or star-20092008.bin over telnet or this not possible? What flash original or star-20092008.bin firmware over UART-DEBUG? What start web server on BusyBox? Give me please any help! Thanx!

  12. @Hammer_NN:

    Can you send me the picture of the board of your nas?

    @Alex
    star-20092008.bin is for debian installation without for web interface. To restore, get your original firmware from http://www.tinyhack.com/agestar/oldfirmware.bin, unplug your harddisk from agestar, put on USB disk, plug the usb disk to your agestar.

    telnet to your agestar:

    mkdir /tmp/agestar
    mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/agestar
    cd /tmp/agestar
    dd if=oldfirmware.bin of=/dev/mtdblock1

    NOTE: I am not responsible if you make your NAS bricked. Please understand the commands before executing them.

  13. Hello yohanes. I`m need solution how install and configure any torrent (with web interface) like transmission. I`m got some errors with debian preinstall and can not fix it. So i need solution for linux lamers or download debian preinstall with integrated worked ftp/torrent software. Can help?
    2 question: how mount ext2/ext3 hdd over usb? My WinXp x64 can not worked with this device formatted to ext2/ext3

  14. i make console on my agestar NSB3AS1T , but when power on and wait about 3 seconds i receive only one string “åm[]¿Y=9)‹¿ŸŸ5“33‘9ëåsm]¿Y=9)‹¿ŸŸ5“53‘9ëå[}e¿y!#3-1-!#‹ëå{=#)¿¹Ÿ‹¿ŸŸŸŸŸŸŸŸ”
    i try any comm parameters,but nothing 🙁

  15. My next attempt 🙂
    What i can see is:
    =========begin======================================
    U-Boot code: 00000000 -> 0001AF60 BSS: -> 0001FED4
    IRQ Stack: 00e6ff7c
    FIQ Stack: 00e6ef7c
    RAM Configuration:
    Bank #0: 00000000 32 MB
    Flash Manufacturer: ST
    Flash: 8 MB
    In: serial
    Out: serial
    Err: serial
    PLL clock at 250MHz
    CPU clock at 250MHz
    AHB clock at 125MHz
    APB clock at 62MHz
    ## Starting application at 0x01000000 …
    Uncompressing Linux…………………………………………………….
    ……………………………………………… done, booting the kernel
    =========end======================================
    serial port 38400 8N1
    Can’t see cursor (but local echo on).What’s wrong ?????Any help ?

  16. Greetings yohanes!

    I have followed your instruction on installing debian. But for some reason when I used your new firmeware on my NSD-100. The upgrade went perfectly fine. However, when I unplugged my NSD-100 to plug in my Hard Drive that I repartitioned. The status light of my NSD-100 never goes to ready. And it doesn’t seems to registered itself on DHCP as well.

    Help!!!

  17. 2 days ago successful reflash my NSB3AS1T from original site with new V01R03 7.61 Mb. Then try reflash with star-20092008.bin , no luck 🙁 , again failed with “you upload wrong file”

  18. star-20092008.bin is for debian without webinterface.

    i used the file http://www.tinyhack.com/agestar/oldfirmware.bin

    but you can try, to setup a tftp server on your windows.

    ist simple if you use “WinAgents TFTP Server 4”

    if you use the default options. 😉

    only first start, and enable.

    copy your bin file to

    C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\All Users\Anwendungsdaten\WinAgents\TFTP Server 4\TFTPRoot

    now you must look on the nas, to see wich network option are set.

    printenv.

    so you get some line like

    ethaddr=00:aa:bb:cc:dd:10
    ipaddr=192.168.10.2
    serverip=192.168.10.3
    netmask=255.255.0.0

    now connect the nas direkt to your pc. an set your pc ip config
    to the same range.

    like

    ip: 192.168.10.100
    netmask : 255.255.0.0

    now start up your nas.

    an type in

    tftpboot 0x1020000 star-20092008.bin

    now wait a litle bit.

    and when upload is finished type

    go 0x1020000

    on the same way you can try different fw without flashing.

    now it should boot up your image, if it without error so you can flash the original fw over the web interface.
    http://www.agestar.com/english/support/firmware.html

    and if ther some errors no problem it`s not flashed.
    only reboot the nas ands all reset.

    well if you brick your nas the way is the same.

    i`ve bricke my withe a false firmware so that my nas do not boot up.

    so i`ve tryed the way with the file

    http://www.tinyhack.com/agestar/oldfirmware.bin

    an reflash in the web interface so ive fixed the drive.

    sorry for my bad englisch. 😉

  19. Hello all! Please help – Is “star-20092008.bin” compatible with my Agestar LB1 ? Can I try to use the firmware in my device without any problem? I do not know the chipset # in LB1…

  20. Hello. First of all, thank you for your work, yohanes.
    I’m thinking do i really need to install debian, so the only thing which is unclear to me right now is: does it support WakeOnLan?

  21. Sorry, disregard the previous question — I have already found an answer.
    But now I have another one.
    Right now I’m trying to flash star-20092008.bin file. I cannot flash it through the web interface (since I’ve installed V01R03), but I can get root access via telnet with my original firmware.
    So the question is — do I need to skip 128k when I run dd?
    TIA.

  22. Hello! I have a problem in uploading star-20092008.bin to my NSB3AHT with V01R03 FW. The mistake “you uploading wrong file” is constantly appearing . Could you be so kind to help me asap.

  23. Colleagues!
    Could anybody help me and send a copy of your printenv for working NCB3AHT?

    my NCB is bricked 🙂 ARMBoot is available through the serial-cable, but:
    – no ping to 192.168.10.2(3) (ipaddr) (and after changing too) => tftp isn’t available 🙁
    – I’ve tried to upload oldfirmware.bin with loadb (kermit) to 0x1000000 – no results (try with 0x1020000 – will see… it takes ~ an hour….)

    any ideas?

  24. 0x1020000:
    ….and no results again…

    STR9100>go 0x1020000
    ## Application terminated, rc = 0x3a7d4

    after ‘reboot’:
    undefined instruction
    pc : [] lr : []
    sp : 0003a50c ip : 00000000 fp : 0003a524
    r10: 00000c92 r9 : 0003a7d4 r8 : 00000000
    r7 : 0003a52c r6 : 0003a7d4 r5 : 0003a530 r4 : 00000002
    r3 : 12ea0000 r2 : 0003a530 r1 : 00000001 r0 : 00000000
    Flags: nZCv IRQs off FIQs off Mode SVC_32
    Resetting CPU …

    ### ERROR ### Please RESET the board ###

  25. the problem was resolved….
    you can have some difficulties w/tftp server… I tried several of them and only one worked acceptable….(opensource: tftpd32)

    0. configure your network connection to 192.168.10.3/255.255.0.0
    1. start TFTP-server
    2. configure root folder for your TFTP server (Base folder in tftpd32 configuration)
    3. put your Yohanes ‘oldfirmware.bin’ into this folder
    3.1 I renamed this file to ‘bin’
    4. Start your agestar w/reset button (and Control-C to abort any tries to bootup from network
    5. type in serial console: tftpboot 0x1020000 bin (it will receive bin-file from TFTP)
    6. type in serial console: go 0x1020000
    7. enter to the web interface (192.168.16.1/255.255.255.0) for FW upgraed and upgrade it to current available FW for your device. For example v04r11 from http://www.agestar.com (AGE-V04R11.bin).
    …so now it works and after reboot too.

  26. Hi Yohanes,

    I had a play around with ur firmware. As you mention the network speeds aren’t so good. Probably packet loss? I can see that you compiled with NAPI enabled so speeds should be at least as good as the original firmware.

    If you have some time please can you look into the networking driver.

    It seems to me that all the NAPI function calls are correct in the code you provided so therefore without doing any testing I can only assume that the correct IRQs are not being enabled/disabled correctly on network read/write.

    There is some discussion regarding porting to OpenWRT here and also a link to info about the new networking api and how to correctly port drivers to it: http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=18977&p=2

    Cheers

  27. Another possible cause of slow speeds is bad Ethernet autonegotiate. I haven’t looked at the code, but this is an area worth checking.

    One more thing, is there any chance u can compile an armel firmware instead of arm and post a link to the debian armel filesystem. So that Debian v6 and newer .debs can be used on the box?

  28. @Z3r0

    The network driver problem only happens on certain hardware. The network driver works perfectly fine on the agestar ncb3ast, and i got a very good speed.

    I have looked at the thread at openwrt forum, and currently I am in contact with arteqw, and I am currently asking him to try out couple of things.

  29. That’s great to hear.

    This is the hardware I have: http://www.agestar.com/english/products/nsb3as1t.asp

    I think it came with fw V04R09 for the NCB3AST. It’s currently running V04R11.

    The retail box is marked as model NCB3AST and there’s another code XC4677.

    The board is marked AS208 V1.5 and the unit was manufactured in June 2007.

    It has a STAR STR9104 SoC,
    EON EN29LV640H-90TCP (flash memory),
    Samsung K4H561638H-UCC (ram),
    JMicron JM20337 (looks like USB/IDE/SATA controller?),
    and an IC IP101A (network controller).

  30. Hello,

    I’m recently brought an AgeStar LB2 Box. All nas box of ageStar seems almost similar. but i don’t want brick my device with an incompatible firmware.

    Acctualy my device have the officiel V01R03 version directly from the agestar website.

    So i think my device is ‘compatible’ with your fimware yohanes. but i’m not sure.

    If someone can confirm it ?

  31. i’m read all Post, Flash from V01R03 seems non working all people say “… WRONG file…” Maybe its a bug or a protection ??

  32. I have look the firmware with an Hex editor and the begin of file look like different beetwen V01R03 (15 00 00 ea) and V04R11, star.bin, star20082009.bin (12 00 00 ea). This is maybe the reason Why the upgrade fail

  33. Oh no, device using V01R03 firmware doesn’t look like using STar9100 no any reference in firmware file.

  34. On The V01R03 Firmware :
    bootcmd=firstbootbootdelay=0baudrate=38400ethaddr=00:aa:bb:cc:dd:10ipaddr=192.168.10.2serverip=192.168.10.3netmask=255.255.255.0cpu_clock=250

    On The V04R11 Firmware :
    bootdelaybootcmdfirstbootSTR9100>

  35. @c4softwareon

    Where did you get the firmware for LB2 box? the firmware update page only contains firmware for:

    NSB3AS, NSB3AST, NSB3AS1T, NSB3AHT, and CFB3A

  36. In fact when the original firmware of my LB2 box is V01R01 but i try to flash with the V01R03 for NSB3AS, NSB3AST, NSB3AS1T, NSB3AHT, and CFB3A. And its works ( So i think NSB3AS, NSB3AST, NSB3AS1T, NSB3AHT, and CFB3A and LB2 are really close).

    I try to open my LB2 but right now i don’t find the way to open it (no screw, just plastic clipping i think)

  37. uname -a
    Linux NAS 2.6.16-star #812 Mon Nov 17 15:27:34 CST 2008 armv4l unknown

    cat /proc/cpu-info
    Processor : FA526id(wb) rev 1 (v4l)
    BogoMIPS : 200.29
    Features : swp half
    CPU implementer : 0x66
    CPU architecture: 4
    CPU variant : 0x0
    CPU part : 0x526
    CPU revision : 1
    Cache type : write-back
    Cache clean : cp15 c7 ops
    Cache lockdown : format B
    Cache format : Harvard
    I size : 8192
    I assoc : 2
    I line length : 16
    I sets : 256
    D size : 8192
    D assoc : 2
    D line length : 16
    D sets : 256

    Hardware : STAR STR8131
    Revision : 0000
    Serial : 0000000000000000

  38. How get Root acces on Original Firmware :

    – Format in XFS a drive With the Web interface
    – On the web interface Create One user (create Also a Share) in my case “user”

    – Unplug the Drive, and plug it to you computer (Running on linux).

    Modify :

    File SMB.conf, Add to the “sh_user” share section :
    root preexec = echo pts/0 >> /etc/securetty;/usr/sbin/telnetd

    – Replug the Drive, to your NAS.
    – In your PC connect you to you nas with smbclient :

    smbclient //IP_OF_NAS/sh_user -U user

    Right now you have one telnet daemon with root acces on your nas.

    telnet IP_OF_NAS
    login: root

  39. Hi! I have same problem as Sergey on my NSB3AS1T! Im attempt update star-20092008.bin on my device and i get “you uploading wrong file”! What is wrong??

  40. Hi Yohanes!
    Thanks huge for Debian! But I have one question…in some devices (for example Emprex NSD-100) installed 64Mb of RAM and more. I have NSB3AHT, and it have only 32Mb. I have changed the memory chip to 64Mb, but no result…Debian has shown only 32Mb…What`s wrong? May be bootloader…? Need help….
    ———–
    Sorry for my bad english…

  41. Hi c4software,

    I am not really sure that my firmware will work on your hardware. If you can install a serial port to the box, then may be you can help me test the firmware, because there is a possibility of the device being bricked (but can be restored using serial port).

  42. Hi yohanes; on my device no any Serial Port… to bad. You think i can add an Serial Port on the box ?

    I have acctualy acces on the box like i said before but not with an serial acces.

    With the telnet acces i can do anything ?

  43. @c4software

    On all of the device that i know of, you need to add your own serial port. Unfortunately, i haven’t found anyone doing it for agestar lb2, so you have to find out yourself where to solder the serial port.

    Once you reflashed the firmware with Debian/other Linux, the telnet access will depend on the new firmware.

  44. I acctually have an telnet acces on the original LB2 firmware, no way to use this acces to try something ?

  45. Hi Yohanes,

    That’s great news that you’ve fixed the networking.

    Is it possible for you to make a firmware with armel support so that we can use debian 6.0?

    Also would you mind putting a new firmware image with the working networking code for your debian installation (with XFS support compiled in too)? Cheers!

    Thank you!

  46. Hi someguy,

    ouch add an Serial Port directly on the main chip. I just have to connect the pin 5 and 6 to an serial port ?

  47. Hi yohanes, i’m playing with my box with Debian. A lot of things works fine, but after update debian i loose the acces to the debian all applications using network say network is down. maybe due of thhe chroot ? Really Strange. I think also i need more swap for debian. i will looking in that way.

  48. hi yohanes, i tried uploading your firmware following your instruction. i was able to get to the part where the web uploader says firmware upload failed. i restarted the unit and i can see that it is connecting as a dhcp client to my router. my problem is i cannot seem to telnet or ssh to it. i can still use it as a usb drive though. is my unit bricked? it is an agestar NSB3AS1T.
    thanks.

  49. @ breynded

    if it still request for DHCP then I think it is not bricked. I will guide you through email, and will write a new post for others that experience problems like you.

  50. Hi yohannes,
    I have a not so unique problem with uploading star.bin to Agestar NSB3AS. The web uploader says it’s a wrong file. I really really want to throw away the built in torrent-like crap from this little thingy. Please help me! Is there a solution for my problem? May be your NCB3AST has a different firmware and star.bin is based on that? Than it might be possible to create a NSB3AS compatible bin..
    Thank you
    and I’m amazed of your great work!

  51. Dear yohanes,
    Thanks for the answer, I’m waiting for the new firmware…
    I just left my notes home, but as I remember, the NSB3AS’s controller is a STR8132.
    Again, thanks a lot for your effort.

  52. dear yohanes,
    is there an easy way to make a new firmware for the str8132 (agestar nsb3as) that I can boot the debian from the hdd? just asking…

  53. Hi yohannes,

    Does the new firmware file solve the problem with reflashing through the web updater on NSB3AHT. When are you going to finish it?

  54. c4software, yohanes,
    Excuse me, whether but I and have not understood probably work debian in age star lb2?

  55. Yohanes:

    The site above also has the LSDK, toolchain, updated this week!!!
    Hope it helps to easy our advance with this interesting platform.

    Rgds,

  56. @Retrocelli:

    I have made some progress, and currently am able to make a firmware for str8132 that loads via tftp into RAM (Still gathering and validating information about the flash that my device uses…), and from that firmware I can chroot into the Debian available here. I’ll keep you informed.

    @Yohanes:

    Can you describe how to pass from the firmware initrd to Debian root in the boot process, so /sbin/initrd already run from Debian, instead of running chroot and initial script by hand? Send me an e-mail, if you prefer.
    Thanks.

  57. I’m using a serial console and a custom image made with the lsdk 6.8.2 ( http://www.cnusers.org/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=32&func=select&id=41 ).
    I have to boot and break into uboot, and make a tftp of the bootpImage.8132 made with the toolchain above.
    This way, the firmware loads in ram, and I get access to the linux in the device, following a chroot.
    After that, I just run a couple of commands to bring network and ssh up (/etc/init.d/hostname start; /etc/init.d/networking restart; /etc/init.d/sshd start).

    Drop me a message:
    snaker0001 * yahoo.com.br

  58. Yes, I have added it. You can get the pins from the documentation to add on your device. On mine, the board already have the pin holes, so I just soldered and got it running. Please note that you have to use an RS232-TTL adapter too.

  59. Nice Thanks for the link.

    And i see the only way acctualy to get Debian working i have to add an serail port .

  60. I have ordered a second unit to play with… Will start to test web firmware update next week. Rgds.

  61. I’m intereseted to test it. but i see on your google board, u don’t have exactly the same device than me. but if the processor is the same i think its can be work

  62. The device I have (WLX-652), has only 4MB flash. If we can get something working on it, I’m pretty sure that it will work on other str8132 based devices.

  63. Hi.
    I bought AgeStar NSB3AST (STR8132 chip) recently and decided to put Debian on it.
    First I tried to flash the star-20092008.bin through the web interface. This was unsuccessful because the firmware was V01R03, and I got an error message.
    After that I got access to box via telnet, and tried to flash the star-20092008.bin via telnet:
    “dd if = star-20092008.bin of = /dev/mtdblock1”
    Thus, I make bricked my device 🙂
    After that I made usb-com-uart converter and connected it to my brick.
    By the way, here is pinout, determined experimentally:
    Pin 1 –> TX NAS (data from NAS)
    Pin 2 –> RX NAS (data to NAS)
    Pin 6 –> GND
    Serial settings: 38400 8n1

    Here is HyperTerminal output:
    ———————-
    U-Boot 1.1.4 (May 23 2008 – 15:31:39)

    U-Boot code: 00000000 -> 0001AF60 BSS: -> 0001FED4
    IRQ Stack: 00e6ff7c
    FIQ Stack: 00e6ef7c
    RAM Configuration:
    Bank #0: 00000000 32 MB
    Flash Manufacturer: ST
    Flash: 8 MB
    In: serial
    Out: serial
    Err: serial
    PLL clock at 250MHz
    CPU clock at 250MHz
    AHB clock at 125MHz
    APB clock at 62MHz
    ## Starting application at 0x01000000 …
    data abort
    pc : [] lr : []
    sp : 00e6db84 ip : ffffffff fp : 01000070
    r10: 00e6dcee r9 : 00e6ddee r8 : 00e6ffdc
    r7 : 00e6ddee r6 : 00000002 r5 : 00e6dca4 r4 : 01000000
    r3 : 78000000 r2 : 00000001 r1 : 10000031 r0 : 30000000
    Flags: nZCv IRQs off FIQs off Mode SVC_32
    Resetting CPU …
    ————————
    and so on in a circle.

    Then I tried to turn on the device with the reset button pressed, and tried to load “oldfirmware.bin”:
    ———————
    U-Boot 1.1.4 (May 23 2008 – 15:31:39)

    U-Boot code: 00000000 -> 0001AF60 BSS: -> 0001FED4
    IRQ Stack: 00e6ff7c
    FIQ Stack: 00e6ef7c
    RAM Configuration:
    Bank #0: 00000000 32 MB
    Flash Manufacturer: ST
    Flash: 8 MB
    In: serial
    Out: serial
    Err: serial
    PLL clock at 250MHz
    CPU clock at 250MHz
    AHB clock at 125MHz
    APB clock at 62MHz
    Star Equuleus # tftpboot 0x1020000 oldfirmware.bin
    Check Link Status .Up
    TFTP from server 192.168.10.3; our IP address is 192.168.10.2
    Filename ‘oldfirmware.bin’.
    Load address: 0x1020000
    Loading: #################################################################

    ############################
    done
    Bytes transferred = 8126464 (7c0000 hex)
    Star Equuleus # go 0x1020000
    ## Starting application at 0x01020000 …
    ———————-
    Device hangs, terminal does not respond, network interface did not work.
    After that I spent a lot of experiments with the bin-files, trying to revive the device.
    What I have achieved is described below.
    The original firmware V01R03 from AgeStar I cut from top to 256kbytes using WinHex and tried to load instead of “oldfirmware.bin”:
    ————————
    U-Boot 1.1.4 (May 23 2008 – 15:31:39)

    U-Boot code: 00000000 -> 0001AF60 BSS: -> 0001FED4
    IRQ Stack: 00e6ff7c
    FIQ Stack: 00e6ef7c
    RAM Configuration:
    Bank #0: 00000000 32 MB
    Flash Manufacturer: ST
    Flash: 8 MB
    In: serial
    Out: serial
    Err: serial
    PLL clock at 250MHz
    CPU clock at 250MHz
    AHB clock at 125MHz
    APB clock at 62MHz
    Star Equuleus # tftpboot 0x1020000 age1.bin
    Check Link Status ..Up
    TFTP from server 192.168.10.3; our IP address is 192.168.10.2
    Filename ‘age1.bin’.
    Load address: 0x1020000
    Loading: #################################################################

    ############################
    done
    Bytes transferred = 8126464 (7c0000 hex)
    Star Equuleus # go 0x1020000
    ## Starting application at 0x01020000 …
    Uncompressing Linux…………………………………………………….
    ……………………………………………… done, booting the kernel.
    ———————–
    Device hangs 🙁
    Some progress appeared – Linux kernel tries to boot, then hangs. Internal red LED blinks, network interface is dead, terminal does not respond.
    Do anyone have any ideas what to do next?

  64. Yohanes, thanks.
    But it’s too late 🙂
    Seems that I fully bricked my box.
    I have used bootpimage.8132, and loaded Debian successfully. After that I downloaded zImage-20092008 and entered command:
    “dd if=zImage-20092008 of=/dev/mtdblock1”
    Got an error, and system does not produce any output to serial console after reboot. System doesn’t boot even when reset button pressed during turning on.
    I think I’ll go and buy another box, more expensive and faster.

  65. @Rostilav

    Can you still boot with bootpimage.8132 tftp procedure?

    If you can, your device is not lost. Let me know your e-mail.

  66. @Rostislav

    Nevermind, now I had read again and realized that you have lost your serial console… Only a JTAG interface can recover your uboot partition, if it’s your problem.

  67. @Snaker
    rost-80 (at) yandex.ru
    I would like to talk with you about the possibility of recovering of the box.

  68. @daklan i’m really interesting you have try to chroot your device on mine i have a lot of problem with the network not you ?

  69. @c4software: so far i haven’t had any problems. What I have done so far is to decompress the squashfs rootfs, copy the contents to the hard drive, and test this rootfs by running chroot. Networking works as it should, most probably because the network driver was compiled in the kernel (which resides in /dev/mtdblock1). There are no loadable modules in the rootfs of this device, as far as I can tell. I’ll be testing debian on this device as soon as I have the time to play with it again.

  70. hi, i followed the instructions and was able to ssh to my box. but it seems it did not load debian since after logging in i get:

    BusyBox v1.10.4 (2008-07-20 00:43:02 ICT) built-in shell (ash)
    Enter ‘help’ for a list of built-in commands.
    #

    what did i do wrong?

    thanks

  71. hi,

    i rechecked and reinstalled debian base package and was finally able to ssh into it. now my problem is i always get perl errors about my locale not being set properly. i can live with this though. my question now is, what bittorrent client to install. i will be trying to install transmission and access via webgui.

  72. @breynded

    for locale problem:

    # dpkg-reconfigure locales

    i am not using bittorrent anymore, you can try to look at what people are using with their NSLU2.

  73. Hey there. I killed my Agestar NSB3AST with uploading mtdblock3.bin
    Serial connection works, but device hangs on “booting the kernel”.
    I was trying to tftp original firmware (without first 256k), everything the same. Then I downloaded star-20092008.bin, cut 128k, and still nothing happens (just “booting the kernel” and then hangs).
    Any ideas?

  74. @yohanes

    I read this, communicate with Rostislav. Trying everything except of LPT programmator – it’s so difficult for me to unsolder flash (btw, I don’t have a good solder).

  75. @yohanes

    It’s you who make a star-xxx.bin? I found bootpImage.8132, it works on my device (loads debian from usb flash). But when I enter cat /proc/mtd I see
    dev: size erasesize name
    mtd0: 003f0000 00010000 “ALL”
    mtd1: 00040000 00010000 “ARMBOOT”
    mtd2: 00100000 00010000 “Linux Kernel”
    mtd3: 002a0000 00010000 “MTD Disk1”
    mtd4: 00010000 00010000 “MTD Disk2”

    But I need
    dev: size erasesize name
    mtd0: 00040000 00010000 “Bootloader”
    mtd1: 007a0000 00010000 “HI,Kernel & Ramdisk”
    mtd2: 00010000 00010000 “configure”
    mtd3: 005c0000 00010000 “squashfs”
    mtd4: 00800000 00010000 “STR8131 SPI”

    Can you help me? I need just replace mtd3 in device with my original file, which I can put on the usb stick.

  76. btw, if someone have an account on cnusers.org – please help me to download some sources for STR8132.
    mailto expressioned gmail.com

  77. @yohanes

    Have you tried putting Snake OS on the ncb3ast? If so, how did you do it? It wont let you install via the web interface

    Thanks
    -=t=-

  78. @ Turrican

    SnakeOS directly incompatible with NCB3AST (STR9100). It even incompatible with NSB3AST (STR8132, just the same like in Dealextreme-nas).
    For your device Debian – best choice. But you can find a way to compile programs for this chip and put them in through unsquashfs/squashfs, then dd in mtdblock3.bin. See links in Sallaxer’s comment.

  79. Hi everybody,

    I updated the firmware of my STR9104 chipset NAS (http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/35-inch-hdd-nas-with-print-server-and-bit-torrent/) a few times and all goes well, but with this Debian firmware it seems to break.

    The network port never ask for IP so I cannot do anything.

    It doesn’t have a serial port; only one USB for an external HD and other USB for the printer.

    Any idea of how to solve the problem? The only solution is to change the firmware? grrr…..

    Also I tries to use the Hardware Reset button but nothing happend.

    Thanks in advance,
    Diego

  80. I can run debian on this box by folllow upgrade without serial instruction and work for while. I download zImage-20092008, the file size was around 4 M for upgrade this box again with this command

    dd if=zImage-20092008 of=/dev/mtdblock1

    It show that the process was successful and I reboot the system, system was not boot into debian and it seem to be not boot from my hdd. I am not sure what i do wrong. Is it brick or not? How can it get it unbrick?

    Thank for your help.

    Isara

  81. Hello!
    I have an Agestar NSB3AS. I’d like to install Debian on it, but my firmware doesn’t accepts the star.bin through the web interface. I tried to downgrade the firmware to V04R11, but neither it works. It seems that the oldest version it accepts is V01R07…
    Can I flash somehow from telnet (using dd from the original firmware)?

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