MP4054 - SD Card for restoration is required

[sandmanmac]

Full Disclosure:
I'm responsible for this entire problem, and am hoping for a life line to get me out of the $hit Creek :

My apologies for this being bit lengthy, but I always try to provide as much info upfront as I can.

I was checking over an MP4054 that I'm planning to buy for resale.
When I went to check the network printing/etc, I found the ethernet port on the machine had been damaged and was not connecting properly. It would pick up an IP address, but no printing, and a ping only returned 3/4 results.
I'm lucky to have such a great relationship with my wholesaler, and they agreed to let me swap the controller from a really filthy, high meter unit, that they were shipping overseas.
I swapped over the damaged controller and NVRam to the dirty machine and it booted perfectly.
When I swapped its controller and the original NVRam over to the 'good' machine, it booted to the Screen SD Card for Restoration is Required. Please Call Service

I've found a few threads, including this one, related to the topic and with instructions what to do both with or without the Encryption Key:
SD card for restoration is required

Obviously I don't have access to the encryption Key, so I first tried to put everything back the way it was and rebooted the machine - Same message.
Next I re-swapped the Boards and NVRam back and again, got the Crappy machine working and put it aside.

I then tried the process to restore the machine without the Encryption Key which there was a link to in that thread - even though it's for a different model.
I thought I had it resolved when the machine booted up to a screen that said something like "are you sure you want to clear the contents of NVram?"
When I press OK nothing happened - even after waiting for several minutes.

Here's a link to the instructions I followed. I later checked the MP4054 manual and it's identical:
Encryption Key Restoration

One thing I noticed is that the message both at the top of the page, and in step 4 of the section relating How to do a forced start up with no encryption key states the message I mentioned as well as " turn the main power switch off, and set the sd card.."

My gut tells me that I've just paid a pretty high price for what is now a parts machine, but I'm hoping that someone out there may have had a similar experience and can pass along some advice that might save me

I would appreciate confirmation that I've completed steps 2 and 3 properly, because I find them to be pretty poorly worded - just in case something is slightly off that's affecting the process?

Here's what I did:

- Format SD Card
- Folder named restore_key
- Text file within that folder named nvram_key
- Contents of that text file nvclear

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for any advice you may have!

[slimslob]

If my memory serves me correctly, an encryption key is only needed when you replace a controller on a machine that has an encrypted HDD. If you are not wishing to use HDD encryption, try replacing the HDD with one that is not encrypted or low level formatting one of the HDDs in a USB drive tray attached to your computer.

[MIKON]

that looks like it should work did you format with fat16 ?
use all lower case letters and lower sd card slot

[sandmanmac]

If my memory serves me correctly, an encryption key is only needed when you replace a controller on a machine that has an encrypted HDD. If you are not wishing to use HDD encryption, try replacing the HDD with one that is not encrypted or low level formatting one of the HDDs in a USB drive tray attached to your computer.

Hey Tim.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I was very optimistic about trying your suggestion, since I had sort of tunnel vision and never even tried it without the original HDD connected (even by accident) or another HDD, despite having removed and replaced it over a dozen times, but unfortunately, the same issue

that looks like it should work did you format with fat16 ?
use all lower case letters and lower sd card slot

Thanks for the confirmation.
Yes, it was all lower case and formatted correctly, and I even found another version of that solution with slightly different filename/ folder sequence but that didn't work either.



So it seems that my gut was correct....I've bought myself a pricey parts machine. I've already made a deal with them for an additional unit.
I'm trying to look on the bright side...I've been trying to find a machine that I could strip (at a lower price of course), because I don't have many spare parts or consumables on hand at my shop for this series, and this one has basically all brand new ones, and everything on it is in perfect condition (except the controller of course ), so all is not lost.

Live and learn......

Thanks guys!
It's Friday now, so Beer me!

[Elmo]

Creating Restoration SD

1) Freshly formatted SD card, completely blank.
2) Create a directory named: restore_key
3) Inside the newly created 'restore_key' directory, create another directory named the same as the target machines serial number : A12BC345678 (example only)


4)Create a text file inside the newly created 'serial number' folder named in the format key_serialnumber.txt
:key_A12BC345678.txt (example only)


Note that you do not add the .txt to the file name if you are hiding known file extensions in your file browser, you will end up with a file named key_serialnumber.txt.txt that WILL NOT work.


5) Edit the newly created key_serialnumber.txt file to contain the text string:


nvclear

[sandmanmac]

Creating Restoration SD

1) Freshly formatted SD card, completely blank.
2) Create a directory named: restore_key
3) Inside the newly created 'restore_key' directory, create another directory named the same as the target machines serial number : A12BC345678 (example only)


4)Create a text file inside the newly created 'serial number' folder named in the format key_serialnumber.txt
:key_A12BC345678.txt (example only)


Note that you do not add the .txt to the file name if you are hiding known file extensions in your file browser, you will end up with a file named key_serialnumber.txt.txt that WILL NOT work.


5) Edit the newly created key_serialnumber.txt file to contain the text string:


nvclear

Thanks.
This is the alternate method I found and tried. Although the message on the screen was a little different from the other process, I could not get past it and nothing happened.

[CopyBats]

When you say nothing happens after you press ok, does the machine allow you to press ok and it goes into its processing or it does not register the OK as a command ?


I've been through a situation where I had same scenario and machine wouldn't let me press OK even though the SD card was setup properly.

I thought perhaps I might have damaged NV ram after swapping it so many times.

New NV ram was solution for me. Surprisingly not as expensive as I thought in Ontario

Full Disclosure:
I'm responsible for this entire problem, and am hoping for a life line to get me out of the $hit Creek :

My apologies for this being bit lengthy, but I always try to provide as much info upfront as I can.

I was checking over an MP4054 that I'm planning to buy for resale.
When I went to check the network printing/etc, I found the ethernet port on the machine had been damaged and was not connecting properly. It would pick up an IP address, but no printing, and a ping only returned 3/4 results.
I'm lucky to have such a great relationship with my wholesaler, and they agreed to let me swap the controller from a really filthy, high meter unit, that they were shipping overseas.
I swapped over the damaged controller and NVRam to the dirty machine and it booted perfectly.
When I swapped its controller and the original NVRam over to the 'good' machine, it booted to the Screen SD Card for Restoration is Required. Please Call Service

I've found a few threads, including this one, related to the topic and with instructions what to do both with or without the Encryption Key:
SD card for restoration is required

Obviously I don't have access to the encryption Key, so I first tried to put everything back the way it was and rebooted the machine - Same message.
Next I re-swapped the Boards and NVRam back and again, got the Crappy machine working and put it aside.

I then tried the process to restore the machine without the Encryption Key which there was a link to in that thread - even though it's for a different model.
I thought I had it resolved when the machine booted up to a screen that said something like "are you sure you want to clear the contents of NVram?"
When I press OK nothing happened - even after waiting for several minutes.

Here's a link to the instructions I followed. I later checked the MP4054 manual and it's identical:
Encryption Key Restoration

One thing I noticed is that the message both at the top of the page, and in step 4 of the section relating How to do a forced start up with no encryption key states the message I mentioned as well as " turn the main power switch off, and set the sd card.."

My gut tells me that I've just paid a pretty high price for what is now a parts machine, but I'm hoping that someone out there may have had a similar experience and can pass along some advice that might save me

I would appreciate confirmation that I've completed steps 2 and 3 properly, because I find them to be pretty poorly worded - just in case something is slightly off that's affecting the process?

Here's what I did:

- Format SD Card
- Folder named restore_key
- Text file within that folder named nvram_key
- Contents of that text file nvclear

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and for any advice you may have!

[sandmanmac]

When you say nothing happens after you press ok, does the machine allow you to press ok and it goes into its processing or it does not register the OK as a command ?


I've been through a situation where I had same scenario and machine wouldn't let me press OK even though the SD card was setup properly.

I thought perhaps I might have damaged NV ram after swapping it so many times.

New NV ram was solution for me. Surprisingly not as expensive as I thought in Ontario

When I pressed ok, the icon just blinks and doesn't stay lit. Nothing happens - even after several presses and waiting at least 20 minutes or more.
Interesting call on the NVRam. I just checked the price and it is inexpensive.

I've checked the manual, and I only see a process for NVram replacement in a working machine where you download the data first, etc. What is the process if I decide to go down this road, and can get it to boot up? Do I just need to enter the S/N in SP mode?

[CopyBats]

When I pressed ok, the icon just blinks and doesn't stay lit. Nothing happens - even after several presses and waiting at least 20 minutes or more.
Interesting call on the NVRam. I just checked the price and it is inexpensive.

I've checked the manual, and I only see a process for NVram replacement in a working machine where you download the data first, etc. What is the process if I decide to go down this road, and can get it to boot up? Do I just need to enter the S/N in SP mode?

I had the exact same situation with the OK button not doing anything.

Yes I just replaced NV ram and had to change the serial # in sp.

Only downside is counter reset. Explaining that to a customer is a challenge of its own lol.

I'm wondering if I just got lucky but given that the nvram is less than $100 i would try it.

[Oze]

I had the exact same situation with the OK button not doing anything.

Yes I just replaced NV ram and had to change the serial # in sp.

Only downside is counter reset. Explaining that to a customer is a challenge of its own lol.

I'm wondering if I just got lucky but given that the nvram is less than $100 i would try it.

Sadly, in most instances that I've had of this, replacing the NVram and blowing away the meters was the only thing that worked for me.