1) Buy a 4GB Adata SD card on eBay
2) Try it on your PC, and notice that somehow it doesn't work
3) Ask yourself "Will it work on the GP2X?"
4) Answer your question by inserting the Sd into the GP2X
5) Turn it on
6) stare in horror at a screen saying "firmware update in progress"
7) panic and turn off the unit

now you can enjoy lots of white screens alternated by color-bars




any clues on what to do, besides sending back the unit?

I guess that finding a flashing-compatible card, loading it with a good firmware and popping it in the gp2x would do the trick.

Good luck though, I've got 3 1GB cards and none of them will let me flash.

The worse case scenario is that it tried to update your U-Boot. Then you're screwed without a JTag cable.

You can try serching the forum for "Unbricking"... DJWillis made a good guide.

Nope, won't help. The autobricker ALWAYS tries to update U-Boot.
The only solution here is:

1. Put in your SD Card AFTER the gp2x booted
2. Use Art's U-Boot which has autobricking disabled (but we're talking about U-Boot here - it might brick while flashing and is still a bit incompatible with various SD-Cards)

I stated in another thread that the gp2x autobricks if the filesystem on the SD-Card is faulty - as it didn't work on the PC, the SD-Card filesystem was probably screwed up (screwed up by Windows, as it couldn't recognize the card).

If it just brings up the color-bars, the Unbricking Guide won`t help. Even if you don`t want to hear it, the best thing is to send the unit back.

EDIT: Beaten by the evil dragon...

i have a question about updating your U-Boot, art has a big disclaimer saying not to use it, is it really that unsafe to fix the U-Boot? kuz i don't want an autobrick, but i don't wanna brick it while updating the U-Boot, and i don't have a JTag cable i'm off to find that Unbricking topic for reference if i ever need it.

Looks like a JTAG fix is required here
Quite a few are having problems with SD Cards,personally I would have Formatted the card 1st and checked it in windows before going anywhere near my GP2X.
Did you use a mains adapter ?
ALWAYS use a good mains adapter (or new Alkalines) when updating Firmware
I've mentioned elswhere I don't think Rechargables provide enough voltage for good flashing
Updated mine from 1.2.1 to 1.4.0 with a Dane-elec 512Mb SD no probs.
Also using a Sandisk 2Gb this is faster than the Dane-Elec and seems ok for general use have'nt tried flashing with this yet.

Well, it's not THAT hard and unsafe. Haven't had a single fallout when flashing correctly.
However, the chance that it bricks your gp2x is there - and therefore, a disclaimer can't be big enough.

I flashed my unit 3 times, allways with "no name" cards and i never had problem.
Is it a matter of luck, or as you said file format issues (i checked each time the card, the 2 first time i formated the card, the third time it was with a different card, 1 gb, still no name, but i checked the card was not faulty).

The problem here is that he wasn't trying to flash. The gp2x just misread the damaged filesystem on the sd card and decided to copy junk over the boot loader.

JTAG it is then.

Have looked around a bit trying to get a hang of this JTAG thingie. Apparently there is no ultimate JTAG4GP2X howto.
I found a few schematics for building cables, and they look quite easy to build (I already have a tv out cable to cannibalize), on these sites:

http://jtag-arm9.sourceforge.net/
http://www.cobbleware.com/gp32/gp32jtag.html (not sure if this works on gp2x as well)
http://hri.sourceforge.net/tools/index.html#jtag (this is the one mentioned on the wiki, but it has a transistor with no label)

so now I have to figure:
- which is the correct interface to build (the cobbleware one looks easier, but will it do?)
- what software to use to flash the gp2x (I am familiar but no expert with linux and its devtools)

anyone can help a bit and provide some clues?


and no, I do not want to send back my gp2x. I consider this a chance to play around a bit

Are you sure the batteries are good?

It is connected to a 30A PSU set at 3V with correct polarity...

My 2 gig A-DATA sd card ( http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16820211020 ) worked just fine for everything. i've flashed the firmware and all that jazz. i did format it before i put it in my gp2x tho. i think it was fat 16 but don't quote me on that

First thing to do when it's been unbricked:
get Art's U-Boot
http://www.artaylor.f2s.com/gp2x/dev/u-boot.html

Or just never boot it with the SD card inserted

i'll give you a £5 for the SD card

I've tried with many cards without luck as well. Is there anyway to flash ART103's U-Boot without good card? I have a serial cable as well if that helps.

He has this on his page


I'm assuming that has to be done from a u-boot prompt but not linux, but how to get to a u-boot prompt?

There is.
Look here: Thread

A real change that needs to be made in future firmwares is activating firmware update via a program PC-style, not from within the boot process .. it's too easy to accidentally trigger in the godawful-faulty firmwares Dignsys has been sending our way. You should be able to boot off an SD card with a firmware and a flashing program on it and take care of it that way. You can't ACCIDENTALLY flash nothing to the NAND memory that way.

First time I fashed mine I though what! No "are you sure you want to flash" message. I've killed the odd console devkit in my time but always without fail be it Sony, MS or Nintendo thier "flashing" software asks first with a big message "this could kill the kit!"

They must in the next release add a "is it ok to continue?" and then again with a "Are you sure?" defaulting to the NO button.

Has anyone posted this as a sugestion on thier site? ( hoping someone has )

At least then if it reads in garbage, you can choose not to write said garbage

For about 5 minutes I thought I had just bricked my GP2X. I got a new SD card in the post today (one of those cheap 1GB ones from 7dayshop) and decided to update to cramfs. Before I installed cramfs I thought it would be an excellent idea to flash u-boot with art103's using my untested SD card. I first flashed the kernal, which went without a problem and then decided to do u-boot. I turned the GP2X, selected "Update Firmware" it stuck on the Updating... screen. I left it about 7 minutes and then decided to just turn it off.
When I turned it back on I was greated with lines and then suddenly the blue screen popped up and all was well

This was all done using batteries that have been in the GP2X for about 4 days.


I'm one lucky git



Edit: 11 second boot time from moving the power switch 4tw

OK, I'm off to building a JTAG interface. I will let you know if it works out, and eventually I might also write a small tutorial for the wiki

If anybody cares I managed to do this today. Found the kernal image in /dev/mtdblock/1
Used dd to overwrite it with art103's kernel relocated u-boot. That didn't quite work, u-boot complained of a checksum error when loading the kernel and droped me into a prompt.
I then downloaded the image via serial using the instructions on art103's page, rebooted and it worked.
Now I don't have to continue the search for a card the original u-boot will init.

Success!!! I've been able to unbrick my dead GP2X with a selfbuilt JTAG interface, following the instructions mentioned here:

http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=25615&hl=

I used a gph tv-out cable and added the jtag cable by connecting the appropriate pins. The only problems was that the pins of that particular connector are mapped differently from what the wiki says, so I had to figure them out by myself. Would have been an easy task if that damn connector weren't that small...

Anyhow, now everything works, and I have my GP2X back with art's uboot and cramfs

Please post the correct pinouts on the wiki, might save other people a lot of work

30 Amps?!

30 amps at 3V isn't really that much power. (90 watts.) You'll see about that much on your average PC PSU from the 3.3v rail ...

Yeah, but it just seems awful... wasteful.

Though I suppose the wall-wart on that SOB could save him on heating bills in the winter.

I just have this 30A 0-30V Daiwa regulted PSU sitting around, so I used it for everything

I did the same thing :/. Dont know what i was thinking.

So any chance of sharing those updated pinouts? (The wiki still says its wrong)

I am very sorry, but I just scratched the required pinouts on a piece of paper while building the interface, and that piece of paper is lost

What I did was take the pinout from this page

http://wiki.gp2x.org/wiki/EXT_Port

and look for the correct pins on the back with a tester...

Sorry I can not help more than this...