( How - To : CM7 to SDcard with easy updating)

[neoblood3d]

The directions and credit are found here
[ROM][CM7] Size-agnostic SD Card image and CM7 installer for SD Cards. with updater - xda-developers

by VeryGreen

I am just pasting this here because it was a PITB to figure this stuff out for myself and find all the information and so it will all be dumped on this forum with the rest of the helpful threads.

A few helpful suggestions/tips I can make are to use Win32DiskImager .1 to burn the img file found in that thread to your sdcard. Once you get to the part where it says to hold down the two buttons to enter recovery mode make sure you hold for 6 seconds and trust the timing. It will work eventually. If you hold a tad to long the screen will shut off just try again till it takes. This method should process your sdcard and make the proper sized partitions but if something goes wacky use minitool partition wizard to fix it. The instructions for adding the overclocked kernel are outdated so don't attempt that part of it. An easier method for managing kernels is being worked on currently and should be available soon. You will still be able to overclock with an older version or from within CM7 controls to 950.
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Due to popular demand I have created a size-agnostic SDCard CM7 installer.
Also allows to install unmodified CM7 builds on SD card.

Grab the installer image here:
http://nook.handhelds.ru/sdimage/gen...rd-v1.1.img.gz
it's a ~9M image that would unpack into ~130M disk image.

Write the image on your SD card. I tested with 2G and 8G cards and both worked.
Any uSD card of 1G or bigger in size should work if it is recognized by your nook.

After done with writing, eject and then insert the uSD card into your computer.

Now download a CM nightly build from here CyanogenMod Mirror Network - Powered by TDRevolution
Or get my last build from here: Index of /cm7
Or just use your own update-cm-*-KANG-signed.zip file that is produced if you do your own builds.
The image would correctly detect unmodified CM7 builds and would make necessary adjustments to make them work on SD card.

Put the file to the SD card (there is only one partition). Don't change the name of the file.

unmount the uSD card and insert it into the nook.
Boot from this SD card. It'll boot and will update you on progress.
When it's done, it'll blank the screen, but won't reboot (I am still looking into it).
Press the power button for 8 seconds or so to turn off, then turn on.

That's it, you now have CM7 on your SD card.

How to install market and gapps:
After you have booted into the CM7 on SD card for the first time and set up wifi access (important!)
Go to Main Page - CyanogenMod Wiki and at the end there is a table with various google apps versions. Get the one suitable for your cyanogen version (CM7 is the latest for now). The file is named gapps-....zip
shutdown your nook and take the SD card out, insert it into your computer.
Copy the gapps-... file to the SD card on the first partition (titled boot) without changing the file name.
Insert the uSD card back into the NOOK and boot into "Recovery mode" (hold nook N key and then press and hold power for ~6 seconds, the bootloader message should be on the screen for a second or so before you release both buttons. If the screen went off while you were holding the power key, that means you were holding it for too long).

How to update to a new build:
put the new build you want to try on the first partition. (the name must be update-cm-*.zip or cm_encore_full*.zip or just update-*.zip)
Boot from the SDcard in the recovery mode (see above) and the new snapshot would be installed.
The partition layout would be preserved, filesystems are NOT reformatted, so your data should be safe.

Installing other stuff:
Booting in recovery mode would install all files that are named "update-..." and end with .zip The files would then be deleted! Most of the packages should work, but I only tested a subset and not entire syntax of updater script is implemented. Certainly format and delete are not implemented.

Partition layout for the SD cards depends on size:
Less than 600M - unsupported.
up to 1G cards gets: system of ~300M and data of the rest of space. No FAT partition
2G cards (more than 1G up to 1800M) gets: 300M system, 612M data, rest is FAT sdcard
more than 2G cards gets: 460M system, 975M data, rest is FAT for sdcard.

OC Kernel installation instructions:
After you have a running CM7 by doing the steps above.
Get CM7 OC kernel from Dalingrin's thread. Unpack the zip file, the result should be a file with the name "kernel" and some other stuff. Rename the kernel file to uImage.
Shutdown your nook and take the uSD card out (make sure the nook is not plugged into USB bus or it'll boot into eMMC then).
Plug the SD Card into the computer, copy uImage file you just created to the first partition (the partition name would be "boot") instead of the existing file with this name (might want to save the original file just in case).
Now you are ready to go again.
You'll need to repeat these steps every time you upgrade to a new nightly build, because they carry their own kernels with them.

How to update if you already installed using v1 of the installer and don't want to reinstall (understandably):

Get u-boot.zip file from attachment in this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...&postcount=153
Unpack the u-boot.bin file and put it onto parttion 1 of the SD card instead of the one there.
Rename file named uRecImage on the first partition to uRecImg (doh!)
Get this uRamdisk file, rename it to uRecRam and then put the result to the 1st partition on the uSD card instead of the file with the same name there

Last edited by verygreen; 20th March 2011 at 10:22 PM. Reason: v1.1 update

 

[roberto]

That method has worked quite well for me, however I have run into some problems installing Dalingrin's overclocked kernels, with the following error message:

updating kernel
creating symlinks and updating permissions
/etc/init.d/S99initialinstall: /tmp/updatescript: line 1: syntax error: unexpected word (expecting ")")

Digging around on the XDA-Developers site I found the following trick from DizzyDen:

1. With NC running CM7 connect to your computer
2. adb remount
3. adb push contents of system folder from extracted kernel update to system folder on SD (e.g. adb push system /system)
4. turn off NC take SD card to computer and copy uimage to the boot partition
5. put SD in NC and boot it up

This is a bit more work, but seems to avoid that error (although I haven't seen anyone explain why the error occurs).

 

[rvhighway]

Following instructions but . . .

Okay, tell me where I've messed-up.

I've followed these instructions four times as of this point. Everything seems to be going well until I reach the point where the installation gives the following message . . .

"Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information:" It has a blinking cursur after the colon.

I've let it sit there for quite a while, but it goes no further. At one point the screen does go blank, but when I lightly touch the screen everything comes back. When I leave the NC alone, it will go blank again, so I've assumed it's the the screen dim power saving feature of the NC. I've also assumed that since the cursur is still blinking and the line remains the same that it's still doing what it says it is doing . . . or that it's simply hung at that point of the installation. I really don't know.

During one of the installs I did continue with the remainder of the instructions and rebooted the NC after the screen went blank but with the same message remaining when the screen comes back on. When I did that, all I got was an "Android" in the bottom left of the screen upon reboot. It did nothing else.

So, do I need to wait a lot longer at the "Writing superblocks . . . " point in the installation?" As it stands I've waited about 1 hour.

It's obvious that I'm not skilled in any of this stuff. My education and experience is elsewhere. That's why I've come to the well of knowledge so that someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

On Edit: If it helps, I've been sitting here with the "Writing superblocks . . ." message for about 1.5 hours this time. The screen has dimmed-out at least three times during that period without the message changing after I reactivate the screen. With the repeated dimming, that's what makes me think it's the screen time-out and not the blanking suggested in the instructions.

I'm also using a 16gb PNY microSD chip.

Thanks again.

 

[neoblood3d]

RV the whole process should only take about 15-20 minutes. If you are struggling that badly I would reformat the chip and start over from scratch. Just read the directions slowly till it clicks what you are supposed to do and what is going on with it. You are basically 1) burning the img file to the card 2) dropping the CM7 on there and booting to recovery flash mode in your nook 3) dropping the market file on and booting to recovery to flash in nook
On first boot it will take a little while at the spinning logo but you should get to that logo in a reasonably fast amount of time.

 

[rvhighway]

Thanks for your help neoblood. I was following the directions over and over and over and getting the same result . . . nothing. It turned out to be the sd card. I dumped the 16 gb card, put an 8 gb card in and tried the process again. It worked, so now I'm running CM7 off the sd card.

 

[treocon]

CM7 SD card on top of the 1.2 update

Can I use the method(s) described above to install CM7 on top of the 1.2 upgrade?

 

[roberto]

Yes, it doesn't touch the eMMC so 1.2 won't even know it's there.

 

[gbaron]

This was fine with1.1 but 1.2 will not boot to recovery mode using the documented process so now what?

 

[roberto]

I use a j4mm3r's dual-boot menu, which allows me to select recovery mode: [ADV] Boot menu for the Nook Color [2011-03-19] - xda-developers.

 

[panamamike]

Yes, it doesn't touch the eMMC so 1.2 won't even know it's there.

I'm assuming this install is similar to Nookie, meaning the install doesn't affect the Nook internal memory, CM7 is completely on the SD card.

Is this correct?

Mike

 

[third son]

Awesome setup! Thanks!

 

[Segovia]

So I just did this tonight on my NC. I got cm7, the marketplace, and the overclocking installed on the sd card. Everything seems to work, except the wifi connection to my d-link DIR-615 router is awful. Downloading apps is essentially impossible. First off, the notifaction bar now says somethink like "Downloading Dolphin Browser and 28 other apps"; I clearly did not try to download 28 apps at once, and in the market app it only lists the 4 I actually want to download (The 28 apps are obviously a mistake). Second, even if its a single app downloading it gets stuck at "Starting download...".

Also, just using the stock browser is painfully slow compared to the stock NC browser.

Looking around the internet, there appear to be some issues with NC's running cm7 with dlink routers; I have only found a fix for instances where cm7 is running off the internal memory.

Any thoughts at all? I'd really like to be able to get on the internet with this thing...

 

[mvpilot172]

Bought 2 Nooks yesterday, easy setup, they run great on a Sandisk 16gb class 4 card.

 

[third son]

So

Looking around the internet, there appear to be some issues with NC's running cm7 with dlink routers; I have only found a fix for instances where cm7 is running off the internal memory.

Any thoughts at all? I'd really like to be able to get on the internet with this thing...

I use and older D-Link router and am having no problems. I did not overclock my device. that is the only difference between you and me...I can't believe that is the problem tho.....

 

[jedipunk]

I have CM7 on a Transcend 8gb class 6 uSD. I am seeing "force close" prompts to the point it is unusable.

For example, I installed Aldiko book reader. Attempted to import the library and it did a force close and I was unable to open it again without rebooting. FBReader, Moon+Reader, etc. all the same. Off and on one part of another of google framework will throw the prompt.

At this point, I am ready to reflash the uSD or try Honeycomb.

I even returned my Autonootered NC back to stock (still waiting for the update).

 

[panamamike]

I have CM7 on a Transcend 8gb class 6 uSD. I am seeing "force close" prompts to the point it is unusable.

For example, I installed Aldiko book reader. Attempted to import the library and it did a force close and I was unable to open it again without rebooting. FBReader, Moon+Reader, etc. all the same. Off and on one part of another of google framework will throw the prompt.

At this point, I am ready to reflash the uSD or try Honeycomb.

I even returned my Autonootered NC back to stock (still waiting for the update).

Your SD card is too slow, I had the same issue with several different cards.

Mike

 

[jedipunk]

Your SD card is too slow, I had the same issue with several different cards.

Son of a...

I thought transcend class6 was the way to go. I am off to one of the uSD recommendation threads.

 

[roberto]

I have used three different SanDisk class 4 cards (8 and 16 GB) without any issues.

 

[jedipunk]

xda-developers - View Single Post - SD Strange-results - or - How I learned to love CM7

sd benchmarks

 

[G-Man2879]

CM7 vs Honeycomb vs Autonooter

Bought 2 Nooks yesterday, easy setup, they run great on a Sandisk 16gb class 4 card.

I also bought a Sandisk 16g class iv and want to root and this seems like the simplest method. Are there any advantages or disadvantages between the differant processes, autonooter, Honeycomb or CM7. This is a totally new field for me and I'm wanting to know the best root for the NC.