Database Users

[Q] NookColor does not boot from SDcard

Hi,
I've ran into a snag that I can't seem to figure out, my nookcolor boots normally but does not boot from uSD. In the past I've always been able to find answers by searching but this time, nothing I've tried has worked. I've been using phiremod on the nook for quite a while and recently updated to v6.1.
The first time I rooted the NC, I used a uSD with autonooter 3.0 and everything worked great. Flashed to phiremod 5.2 and have been using CWR off of the emmc to update versions.
Today, I decided to try a new rom and wanted to start fresh with a stock 1.1. I popped in the CWR sdcard I had from a while back and it didn't work, the NC boots normally in to phiremod.
After remaking a bootable CWR sdcard several times and failing, I thought it might be a corrupted boot partition. So I successfully reimaged the boot and system partitions via ADB and I was back to stock. I thought I was good to go except what I've got now is a stock NC that does not boot from the uSD.
I've tried 3 different perfectly good uSDcards with autonooter, monster's rootpack, CWR sdcards, nookie-froyo sdcards... nothing works. Failbooting 8 times causes the NC to reupdate itself to 1.1.
Has anybody encountered this before or some devs can shed some light why it does not boot from uSD? Any help is appreciated.
Edit: N+power causes the NC to do a Factory Reset. Done this twice already.
TC

This might work....
Look, I'm no expert at uSD's, but try this. Maybe your Nook thinks the sd card is an emmc partition. Try holding down the home button while booting? Like, hold the button and then power on. I hope it works for you. I know the pain as I have had many issues, too.

tuoc65 said:
Hi,
I've ran into a snag that I can't seem to figure out, my nookcolor boots normally but does not boot from uSD. In the past I've always been able to find answers by searching but this time, nothing I've tried has worked. I've been using phiremod on the nook for quite a while and recently updated to v6.1.
The first time I rooted the NC, I used a uSD with autonooter 3.0 and everything worked great. Flashed to phiremod 5.2 and have been using CWR off of the emmc to update versions.
Today, I decided to try a new rom and wanted to start fresh with a stock 1.1. I popped in the CWR sdcard I had from a while back and it didn't work, the NC boots normally in to phiremod.
After remaking a bootable CWR sdcard several times and failing, I thought it might be a corrupted boot partition. So I successfully reimaged the boot and system partitions via ADB and I was back to stock. I thought I was good to go except what I've got now is a stock NC that does not boot from the uSD.
I've tried 3 different perfectly good uSDcards with autonooter, monster's rootpack, CWR sdcards, nookie-froyo sdcards... nothing works. Failbooting 8 times causes the NC to reupdate itself to 1.1.
Has anybody encountered this before or some devs can shed some light why it does not boot from uSD? Any help is appreciated.
Edit: N+power causes the NC to do a Factory Reset. Done this twice already.
TC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My guess is the SD Card is not mounted, try going into the settings and make sure the card is mounted. You may want to unmount it, and then format it. Then unmount it, remove it and then reinstall cwr onto the sd card again. If that doesn't work, try another sdcard. If that doesn't work it could be a hardware issue... it could also be an issue with your card reader, they have been known to break at inopportune times, try a different card reader.
migrax

card reader
migrax said:
My guess is the SD Card is not mounted, try going into the settings and make sure the card is mounted. You may want to unmount it, and then format it. Then unmount it, remove it and then reinstall cwr onto the sd card again. If that doesn't work, try another sdcard. If that doesn't work it could be a hardware issue... it could also be an issue with your card reader, they have been known to break at inopportune times, try a different card reader.
migrax
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to the card reader issue. I have a perfect working cm7 build on my nook now, but it took some trial and error. The card reader on my computer looked like it was working fine, but when I would put the card into the nook it wouldn't boot to it. I finally did the same steps with the same card only this time using my phone (tp2) as the card reader plugged into my computer and it worked great.

It definitely was the card reader. Tried a different one and it booted just fine..
As a SDET by profession, it makes me sad I didn't think of this.
Thanks all.

Linux Issue
I know this is rather an old thread, but just in case someone has this problem and is running Linux (I'm running Ubuntu) here is what happened to me. After dd'ing the CWR image several times, I could not get the NC to boot to the sd card. I tried multiple cards and multiple readers, no joy. I thought perhaps something was wrong so I looked at the card in gparted. What I found there was that there was a 1mb of unallocated partition space before the CWR partition. I used gparted to move the partition to be at 0 position and it booted up like a charm.
Don't know if I was doing something wrong the command I used was
Code:
sudo dd if=2gb_clockwork-3.0.1.0.img of=/dev/sdd1 bs=1M
At any rate, if any other linux users run into this, that's how I fixed it.
Randy

rwreed said:
I know this is rather an old thread, but just in case someone has this problem and is running Linux (I'm running Ubuntu) here is what happened to me. After dd'ing the CWR image several times, I could not get the NC to boot to the sd card. I tried multiple cards and multiple readers, no joy. I thought perhaps something was wrong so I looked at the card in gparted. What I found there was that there was a 1mb of unallocated partition space before the CWR partition. I used gparted to move the partition to be at 0 position and it booted up like a charm.
Don't know if I was doing something wrong the command I used was
Code:
sudo dd if=2gb_clockwork-3.0.1.0.img of=/dev/sdd1 bs=1M
At any rate, if any other linux users run into this, that's how I fixed it.
Randy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the problem is you put it on the first partition rather than the card itself. Note the instructions in the forum say device of card. ie: /dev/sdd

I also had an issue where I could create the SD card, and the Nook could see it, but it wouldn't boot from it. It turns out this was because I was using the internal card reader in my laptop to write the card. Once I switched to an external USB card reader, the Nook booted from the card just fine.

I've just come across the same problem.
I started two days ago with this: [ROMS]NEW! Dualboot Mirage CM7 / ICS CM9 Image for SDcard.
I liked ICS so much, I asked the developer how could I just stick with CM9?
He pointed me to this tutorial: Installing CM9 on Nook Color microSD.
It seems as though all the steps are going fine, up until step#10, where I am supposed to reboot INTO a freshly installed nightly.
I have Ubuntu 11.10 reliably running in VirtualBox. Plenty of memory and space.
I run GParted and view the partitions, and they are as expected.
I know Ubutu well enough to follow well-written directions.
The sdcard in my Nook is properly mounted - I think.
After reading this thread, I went to Amazing and bought a new SD card reader.
OH, and all this has been done on a new SD card, 8GB, class 4.
Hopefully it is due to an aging card reader. I'll get the new one in a couple of days and report back.
I really hope that's it!

OrganizedFellow said:
I've just come across the same problem.
I started two days ago with this: [ROMS]NEW! Dualboot Mirage CM7 / ICS CM9 Image for SDcard.
I liked ICS so much, I asked the developer how could I just stick with CM9?
He pointed me to this tutorial: Installing CM9 on Nook Color microSD.
It seems as though all the steps are going fine, up until step#10, where I am supposed to reboot INTO a freshly installed nightly.
I have Ubuntu 11.10 reliably running in VirtualBox. Plenty of memory and space.
I run GParted and view the partitions, and they are as expected.
I know Ubutu well enough to follow well-written directions.
The sdcard in my Nook is properly mounted - I think.
After reading this thread, I went to Amazing and bought a new SD card reader.
OH, and all this has been done on a new SD card, 8GB, class 4.
Hopefully it is due to an aging card reader. I'll get the new one in a couple of days and report back.
I really hope that's it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rather than a card reader, I use Kingston uSD usb stick adapters for my uSD card writing, and they've worked flawlessly. Just an option , if your new card reader doesn't solve your problem. The adapters were "dirt cheap".

brentb636 said:
Rather than a card reader, I use Kingston uSD usb stick adapters for my uSD card writing, and they've worked flawlessly. Just an option , if your new card reader doesn't solve your problem. The adapters were "dirt cheap".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great idea.
They're small enough to carry worth me. Thanks.

Can't boot from SD Card

I have a new-to-me Nook Color running the 1.4.2 firmware. I did a factory reset and set up my Barnes and Noble account. Yay me. However I can't FOR THE LIFE OF ME get it to boot off the SD card.
I've tried two 2GB cards (Samsung & SanDisk) and one 8GB SanDisk card. Also used three different card readers to burn the .IMG. What am I missing? I stick them in the Nook and the Nook just boots up as normal without hesitation. I've been rooting cell phones for years but this tablet has me stumped.
Is there another option I can use to flash CWM? Once I get it flashed I'm sure flashing the ROM is a breeze...
EDIT: After more and more digging, it might be an issue with writing to the wrong partition. How can I check to see if I'm installing to the write partition? I've formatted my cards multiple times. This is the stuff I see in a lot of answer posts:
of = /dev/disk# (good)
of = /dev/disk#p# (bad)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

have you wrote an sd card that will boot (ie. Clockwork 4 gig et al). Can you read and write to it from within stock? More data please, what were you writing to what partition?
When I use the uSD card to boot and it is plugged into the computer you should hear three da-da-das.

n8nmad said:
have you wrote an sd card that will boot (ie. Clockwork 4 gig et al). Can you read and write to it from within stock? More data please, what were you writing to what partition?
When I use the uSD card to boot and it is plugged into the computer you should hear three da-da-das.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never successfully created an SD card that will boot on the Nook. Outside of the Nook, I have no way of testing to see if works or not.
You asked what partition, but I only have one partition on the card. If I open up the card in Disk Manager, there's just one allotment of space. When you burn the Image, is that supposed to create a separate partition that's visible in My Computer? If so, that's not happening because all the data is in one spot on the card (from what I can tell)

You need to flash the card. I suggest starting here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=922870
or any of the other dev threads dealing with dual boots or whatever it is you are trying to accomplish.
Does your stock nook format sd cards to write books and such? If not that would be a big clue that it is a hardware issue

n8nmad said:
You need to flash the card. I suggest starting here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=922870
or any of the other dev threads dealing with dual boots or whatever it is you are trying to accomplish.
Does your stock nook format sd cards to write books and such? If not that would be a big clue that it is a hardware issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the stock Nook picks up the cards and formats them when installed. I've used these cards for all my smartphone rooting without any issues.
I've also formatted the cards and burned the CWM images using the windiskimager tool. It's just not bootable for some reason

The very first fundamentally step is to check whether it is a NOOKcolor or Nook Tablet.

votinh said:
The very first fundamentally step is to check whether it is a NOOKcolor or Nook Tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy balls, I feel like an idiot. I had no idea the two were so similar. I am almost certain I have the Color (going by what it says on the case) but I'll look closely when I get home

It's the Nook Tablet. Wow....just...wow
On the bright side, at least my technical experience isn't the problem. My common sense on the other hand...

I believe you still can root the NT or run the pre-alpha ROM from it.
Unsure if it's able to run from uSD yet or not.

[Q] Unable to boot my ~unmodified~ Nook Color from SD card.

I just got a refurbished Nook Color. Seems to work fine but you have to push the power button hard to click it.
Haven't rooted, installed roms, anything yet. But I can't get it to boot from my SD card. I have a 4GB (class-4) microSD card. (I have checked the sdcard for bad blocks using the linux "badblocks" command.) I have followed instructions detailed here:
glasskeys. /2011/06/27/how-to-make-a-bootable-sd-card-running-cyanogenmod-for-the-nook-color/
and here [note - new users are forbidden from posting links here - in the above and below links, I left out the "com" after the dot in the website address]:
nookdevs. /Nookie_Honeycomb:_Burning_a_bootable_SD_card
. I use Ubuntu Linux 10.11 "dd" command to write the .img files to the SD card. However, once I write the SD card and put it into my Nook, the nook won't turn on. Just won't turn on. As soon as I take the card out and try again, I can boot up the nook to the locked-down, walled-garden stock Android on the device.
Help! Is something wrong with my SD card, or with my device? I have a 2GB microSD card somewhere I can find if I need to...

Re:
Can anyone help me find the source of the problem? Is it my SDcard, my card-burning technique (i followed the dd instructions word for word), my computer or is something wrong with my Nook?

What I might suggest is to discard your original source of instructions and start fresh. Search the xda forum for clear information on 1) proper mSD card to use; 2) proper card burning software; 3) the most appropriate rom(s) to use for what you want your Nook to do for you, and 4) if necessary, very explicit instructions to troubleshoot any problems you may encounter with your processes. I'll not point to specific locations here, because I'm not sure what you actually want to do, But the search engine is very thorough and the threads are numerous.
Good luck. I'm sure you'll be quite content with your newly rooted/rommed NC.

yanom said:
Can anyone help me find the source of the problem? Is it my SDcard, my card-burning technique (i followed the dd instructions word for word), my computer or is something wrong with my Nook?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a section in my tips thread linked in my signature that deals with bootable SDs, but I'm not sure it's going to help you. I was helping another user that had the same exact problem where the Nook would not power on with the SD in. One of the things I had him do was fully charge his Nook. I can't remember how he resolved it though, if he did. But I suspect a faulty Nook or SD. Pins bent or something.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk

leapinlar said:
I have a section in my tips thread linked in my signature that deals with bootable SDs, but I'm not sure it's going to help you. I was helping another user that had the same exact problem where the Nook would not power on with the SD in. One of the things I had him do was fully charge his Nook. I can't remember how he resolved it though, if he did. But I suspect a faulty Nook or SD. Pins bent or something.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. It's worth noting that, if I get an SD with normal data (photos, etc) on it and put it in while the nook is booted normall, the nook can read the card and see what's on there. So the nook can read cards. That doesn't mean the boot-up bits aren't screwy.... this is refurbished.

Update
Update: I got it to work. However, it's quite laggy, possibly because it's Honeycomb on a class 2 (low IO speed) card. Can anyone point me to a super-slimed android (don't care what version) .img file I can put on my card?

yanom said:
Update: I got it to work. However, it's quite laggy, possibly because it's Honeycomb on a class 2 (low IO speed) card. Can anyone point me to a super-slimed android (don't care what version) .img file I can put on my card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, do not use Honeycomb. It is terrible. Use CM 7.2. They just this weekend came out with a stable version. Cyanogenmod.com. Look for encore stable. And your class 2 should work great.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk

leapinlar said:
Oh, do not use Honeycomb. It is terrible. Use CM 7.2. They just this weekend came out with a stable version. Cyanogenmod.com. Look for encore stable. And your class 2 should work great.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me +1 the latest and greatest CM 7.2. I was using a supposedly faster card with 7.1 on an NC and I also experienced a lot of lagging.
Switching to a class 4 SanDisk card and going to 7.2 fixed the problem. Since I did both at the same time, I can't tell you what exactly made the difference but if installing 7.2 does not fix the issue, try changing your card.
I followed these instructions which installs CM7 on your SD card so you can dual boot if necessary. Also, this has the same exact info written in a slightly less techie language. (I am not sure why he is trying to use the hardware keys to reboot into the recovery mode when it can be done easily from within CM7.)
Good luck!

I know this is a super old thread, but it seems like an appropriate place to post. I've got three Nook Color tablets from my niece and nephews. I flashed them with Mirage Cyanogenmod 7.2 via CWM on an SD card. Once I got the SD setup, I went through two of them in 10 minutes total. No sweat. I installed two fresh, out-of-the-box SD cards in each tablet, which left the modded, CWM SD card untouched after flashing the first two. The third one was missing for several weeks. They just found that one. They dropped off the third tablet along with the modded SD card, which was sealed in a ziplock bag, to me. I installed the card into the third Nook Color, which was untouched after flashing the first two, and the third Nook Color booted right past the SD card and into the stock OS. I've reflashed the same .img file and others, including verygreen's onto this SD card. It simply refuses to boot from the SD. I've tried writing the .img file from WinImage, and WinImage32 through the SD slot on my laptop, an SD card adapter via USB, and through the nook itself as a mass storage drive. I'm stumped. Any thoughts?
On a side note, I don't have access to the first two to confirm the SD card is still on track, nor do I, at this point, have a spare SD card to troubleshoot with. Those are my next steps to take, but I am curious what the experts might have to suggest in the mean time. Thanks in advance, and I'll post my solution, if I solve this.

Are you sure the third one is a Nook Color? It could be a Nook Tablet. They look the same, but the Tablet has a silver bezel instead of black. Those cards will not boot on a Tablet.
Sent from my Nook HD+ running CM10 on Hybrid SD

leapinlar said:
Are you sure the third one is a Nook Color? It could be a Nook Tablet. They look the same, but the Tablet has a silver bezel instead of black. Those cards will not boot on a Tablet.
Sent from my Nook HD+ running CM10 on Hybrid SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My first thought was "that's a ridiculous question. Of course it's a Color!", but then I peeled the cover off, and the bezel is indeed silver. Looks like I have some more reading to do. Thanks for saving me a TON of grief and frustration.

Just to follow up, I followed the instructions for flashing Cyanogenmon on the Nook TABLET, thank you Leapinlar, and everything is good. Thanks again.

[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.

[Q] Is there a way to recover from a /boot format?

Nook Color, 8Gb uSD card, was running CM7 and intended to load CM10.
I got in a hurry / wasn't watching closely enough and mistakenly formatted /boot using CWM. Now I've got a black, blank screen. No sign of life at all. No way to get into Recovery mode to flash.
Tried so far: have researched question, followed several different threads. (Many dead links). Reloading available uSD bootable images on uSD doen't to work.
Is there another solution or do I go buy another (used) Nook Color.

zancro said:
Nook Color, 8Gb uSD card, was running CM7 and intended to load CM10.
I got in a hurry / wasn't watching closely enough and mistakenly formatted /boot using CWM. Now I've got a black, blank screen. No sign of life at all. No way to get into Recovery mode to flash.
Tried so far: have researched question, followed several different threads. (Many dead links). Reloading available uSD bootable images on uSD doen't to work.
Is there another solution or do I go buy another (used) Nook Color.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to LeapinLar's tips thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1621301
You will be able to recover and reboot the Nook.

zancro said:
Nook Color, 8Gb uSD card, was running CM7 and intended to load CM10.
I got in a hurry / wasn't watching closely enough and mistakenly formatted /boot using CWM. Now I've got a black, blank screen. No sign of life at all. No way to get into Recovery mode to flash.
Tried so far: have researched question, followed several different threads. (Many dead links). Reloading available uSD bootable images on uSD doen't to work.
Is there another solution or do I go buy another (used) Nook Color.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you format /boot and do not immediately flash a new ROM before rebooting, there is nothing in /boot and it will not even turn on. The solution is to use a bootable SD in the slot and then it will turn on and boot to the card. Like the previous user said, go to my tips thread and make one of my bootable CWM SDs. It has been modified to help in these situations.
Sent from my Nook HD+ using Tapatalk

Thanks... but.... still looking for a new solution
Thank you both for responding, I appreciate the effort.
As I said in the original post, I've consulted the threads mentioned (and several more, including RileyGrant's and thecubed's.) I tried formatting a bootable CWM uSD card using several different files. Actually, two uSD cards, one 4Gb and one 8Gb, using WinImage to create the image. I tried to extract the image file from the 1.4.3 update, and too many other "fixes" already mentioned in the forum to list. The results are the same, nil; just a black screen with no indication of life.
As a side note, MANY of the threads on the forum are either dead or files have been deleted. An example is the legacyschool site.
Again, I appreciate the suggestions and I'll keep looking.

zancro said:
I tried formatting a bootable CWM uSD card using several different files. Actually, two uSD cards, one 4Gb and one 8Gb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying you never successfully burned my CWM card? That is going to be your only way out is to do that. As I said, mine has been modified to fix your problem.
Keep trying to burn it. Don't use winimage. Use win32diskimager. And don't use your internal card reader, use an external USB type. And run the software in administrator mode in windows.

Are you able to fully charge the Nook?
Edit: download the BN image zip file. Place on blank sd card. Insert in nook. Press volume + and power buttons at same time.

Still No-Go
leapinlar,
Thanks for your response.
I suppose I haven't been very clear... I did successfully burn the bootable CWM 5.5.04 image to both a 4Gb and 8Gb cards, in addition to the many other attempts using an exhaustive combination of different image files, different uSD cards, different USB drive card readers, etc. As the title suggests... no-go. Does not boot. Black screen. Nil. Kuput. That pooch is screwed.
I appreciate your help, but realize it is time to move on.
Regards, zancro.

zancro said:
leapinlar,
Thanks for your response.
I suppose I haven't been very clear... I did successfully burn the bootable CWM 5.5.04 image to both a 4Gb and 8Gb cards, in addition to the many other attempts using an exhaustive combination of different image files, different uSD cards, different USB drive card readers, etc. As the title suggests... no-go. Does not boot. Black screen. Nil. Kuput. That pooch is screwed.
I appreciate your help, but realize it is time to move on.
Regards, zancro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, one more suggestion. Charge the battery. It may have run down while all this was going on. Then try my card again.
Edit: If you are truly giving up, don't throw it away, send it to me, I always could use a spare that I know how to fix. I'll even pay the shipping cost.
Sent from my Nook HD+ using Tapatalk

I had the same situation. No screen back light or any flicker at all just like it was dead. No indication that it was charging. I held the power button down for 30 or more seconds and it came to life.

Gave it up
Thanks for the suggestion #2. Nothing worked. Nook Color now history. Moving on.