Garmin 265w boot loop, logo, white screen, 3+ years later

**flagmax** · 14th June 2014, 05:50 AM

So here are latest results.
With unit off, on first pre-boot, I can load sw 6.40 boot.bin only rgn, I see LOADER LOADING...SOFTWARE LOADING... then I see LOADER. Try to load fw_all only, get error "unable to program requested memory region" unit reboots. Then I use G7toWin GPS>Commands>Power off, unit reboots, hold top/left to get into pre-boot, now fw_all.bin only flashes successfully (~1min) with LOADER LOADING on screen. Now I can flash boot.bin only afterwards successfully (~3secs) on screen seen as above. Then I do G7toWin power off. Unit restarts into looping with logo white screen. I did verify region 14 does chance. No change to 5.

**kunix** · 14th June 2014, 08:19 AM

Region 5 is written by boot.bin (ldr.bin), when it's executed on the device.

Usually Garmin devices don't boot dues to corrupted contents in regions 41 and 48.
Now, when you can flash region 14, try erasing region 41 with ergn,41.
Then try entering the mass storage mode with QuickCure3 or GarminCure3 (fw_all.bin-only firmware, of course).
If it works, format the internal drive with RMPREPUSB.

Region 48 most probably can be flashed with boot.bin-less RGN. But you need a few first megabytes of a correct filesystem dump.
Region 41 most probably can't be flashed with boot.bin-less RGN. Both bootloader and boot.bin disallow this.
We can patch boot.bin, but if ergn,41 won't work, that means, boot.bin can't write region 41, and therefore you can't change it.

**flagmax** · 14th June 2014, 07:36 PM

So I tried to ergn 14, 16, 41 and 48 but all errors. Tried to xrgn 14 and 48 both errors. The Only thing that does write is updater.exe fw_all.bin only rgn in pre-boot. Its like other guy with 265w, loader can write fw_all, but boot.bin/ldr can not fw_all.

Lets try to wack the filesystem. How to make rgn with the correct header? I have 48.bin dumped already. I would also like to try rgn the logo using updater too as a test.

**kunix** · 14th June 2014, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by flagmax

So I tried to ergn 14, 16, 41 and 48 but all errors. Tried to xrgn 14 and 48 both errors. The Only thing that does write is updater.exe fw_all.bin only rgn in pre-boot. Its like other guy with 265w, loader can write fw_all, but boot.bin/ldr can not fw_all.

Yes, exactly.
As an experiment, I can try to make a special payload, which when being executed instead of boot.bin, patches the bootloader in the RAM in order to allow flashing region 41, and executes it (QuickCure3 does something similar, but without patching).
But this is quite complicated and I won't have time during the next two weeks.

Originally Posted by flagmax

Lets try to wack the filesystem. How to make rgn with the correct header? I have 48.bin dumped already. I would also like to try rgn the logo using updater too as a test.

As far as I remember, RGN_Tool doesn't allow manually specifying the region number, and it most probably won't detect region 48 by its contents...
So, you'd have to use this: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
Also, you can use gfw.exe, but it's a bit more complicated.

**flagmax** · 14th June 2014, 09:03 PM

Originally Posted by kunix

Yes, exactly.
As an experiment, I can try to make a special payload, which when being executed instead of boot.bin, patches the bootloader in the RAM in order to allow flashing region 41, and executes it (QuickCure3 does something similar, but without patching).
But this is quite complicated and I won't have time during the next two weeks.

Please help, I am willing to try anything.

So I tried to updater.exe region 16 and 41, it won't let me as you said. Whats region 15, you know?

However, region 48 seems to flash. I took 48.bin, with Ultraedit removed most of possibles and saved it. Then took 50mb of this file and made 48.rgn. Updater.exe accepts, Erasing... maybe like 5 mins then it writes 48.rgn successfully. No change with Garmin, still bootloops. Next, flashed 10mb of pure FF's to region 48. No change with Garmin.

**kunix** · 14th June 2014, 09:10 PM

I don't know what's inside region 15.
So most probably your Garmin doesn't work due to corrupted region 41, which you can't erase. Remind me in two weeks, I will try to make the payload, ok?
Aslo it's possible that fw_all.bin can't write flash regions similarly to boot.bin. We can't do anything then. But also we can't know for sure right now

**flagmax** · 14th June 2014, 09:26 PM

Originally Posted by kunix

I don't know what's inside region 15.
So most probably your Garmin doesn't work due to corrupted region 41, which you can't erase. Remind me in two weeks, I will try to make the payload, ok?
Aslo it's possible that fw_all.bin can't write flash regions similarly to boot.bin. We can't do anything then. But also we can't know for sure right now

Ok I will, thank you.

In mean time I will try to see if I really have hwid 827 with sw 6.40 boot.bin on this thing, it might be something else and maybe executing fw_all in wrong place (sorry wild uneducated guess )

I have verified 48.bin with updater.exe does flash by doing rrgn,48 and its FFed as expected.

fyi, found garminerror.xml inside filesystem.

Code:

Please Login or Register to see the links

**flagmax** · 3rd July 2014, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by kunix

I don't know what's inside region 15.
So most probably your Garmin doesn't work due to corrupted region 41, which you can't erase. Remind me in two weeks, I will try to make the payload, ok?
Aslo it's possible that fw_all.bin can't write flash regions similarly to boot.bin. We can't do anything then. But also we can't know for sure right now

Hi, If you have time and will, please make the payload.

Would like to Wipe region 41. Other thing I noticed is when updater.exe successfully flashes boot.bin only rgn, after the reboot, there is NO change to region 5 and still stuck on SW 6.40.

Thanks in advance.

**kunix** · 15th June 2014, 08:42 AM

Region 12 is a region in RAM (not flash!), where boot.bin/ldr.bin (ramloader, speaking generally) has to be executed.
Usually it's not needed to read it, only writing is used, and so sometimes reading is not implemented.

On almost all Garmin devices boot.bin contains bootloader and x-loader, and flashes them to regions 5 and 43, when executed.
Don't modify boot.bin and don't xrgn regions 5 and 43. If you stop bootloader or x-loader from being executed (by erasing or flashing a wrong version, for example), your device will be bricked forever.

**flagmax** · 15th June 2014, 10:59 PM

Do you think the code for ergn;xrgn in boot.bin somehow uses/requires healthy region 41 to accomplish the erases/writes? I do know the epprom chips regions 14,15,48,91 are writeable with updater.exe successful but same regions errors with ergn;xrgn. But updater.exe us not able to write to regions 16, 31, 41.

So my final verdict: ergn;xrgn always errors out on any region. Updater.exe erases/writes some regions but not others. Why?

Thread: Garmin 265w boot loop, logo, white screen, 3+ years later

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