Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD - General Help and Assistance on using CHDK stable releases

Torrentus

3

Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD

« on: 01 / February / 2011, 14:58:30 »

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Dear forum members,

I've got a question, (new to CHDK), and would really appreciate some help.
For a project, in which a few CHDK camera's are send to space (using a weather balloon), I bought two camera's, a Powershot A540 and a Powershot A480. In the A540 i used a 32 MB SD-card for now (that's what it shipped with), and in the A480 i use a 32 GB card.

Installing CHDK works fine on both, however, the A480 resets to 'non-CHDK' mode everytime i restart the camera. It doesn't autoboot. I've walked through the process a number of times, but that didn't help.

Is it the SD card, 32 GB, being to big? Or is it the camera? Because on the A540 everything does work fine.
Really appreciate the work you guys have put into this project: It's great! Thanks a lot!

And thanks for any help, in advance!

Remco

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whim

2046
A495/590/620/630 ixus70/115/220/230/300/870 S95

Re: Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD

« Reply #1 on: 01 / February / 2011, 15:58:39 »

Hi, welcome to the forum !

To be able to boot from any card bigger than 4 GB, it needs to be partitioned, this post should be helpful

have fun with CHDK,

wim

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Torrentus

3

Re: Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD

« Reply #2 on: 01 / February / 2011, 16:08:31 »

Ok! Thanks, didn't know that.
So i used the following tutorial:

Quote

1- From the CHDK menu, call Miscellaneous stuff -> Debug parameters -> Create card with two partitions
2- Remove the card, use a card reader, format it, now you can access the first (2MB FAT12) partition
3- Copy the files DISKBOOT.BIN and PS.FI2 to the root (or unzip the whole CHDK package)
4- Now make the card bootable - this can be done either on a PC using a card reader (e.g. with Cardtricks)
or with CHDK (start manually, then call "Make card bootable..." from the "Miscellaneous stuff " menu)
5- Lock the card, CHDK should autoboot now - you can also start CHDK manually again...
6- Call "Swap partitions" from the "Miscellaneous stuff" - "Debug parameters" menu
Now the "big" partition is the first one an can be accessed...
7- Format this partition using a card reader (NOT in the camera !), unzip CHDK to the card
8- Start CHDK manually, then swap the partitions back.

However, after step 4, the card is still not bootable. Although it's now 2 MB's big and filled up with CHDK. I don't get it

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whim

2046
A495/590/620/630 ixus70/115/220/230/300/870 S95

Re: Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD

« Reply #3 on: 01 / February / 2011, 16:22:24 »

Hi,

Maybe you forgot to lock the card (= Slide the little tab away from the electrical contacts) ?

wim

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Torrentus

3

Re: Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD

« Reply #4 on: 01 / February / 2011, 16:23:49 »

Nope, did that every time.
I've however downloaded the program 'Cardtricks' and i'm busy with it now. Maybe that solves it all. I'll keep you informed!

Thanks for thinking with me, whim!

Torrentus

Edit:
Yep, Cardtricks did the job! It's now working fine.
Thanks!

« Last Edit: 01 / February / 2011, 16:30:14 by Torrentus »

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whim

2046
A495/590/620/630 ixus70/115/220/230/300/870 S95

Re: Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD

« Reply #5 on: 01 / February / 2011, 16:29:44 »

@Torrentus

No problem, keep reporting... This is tricky, especially the first time !

wim

edit: some more things:
- Don't forget that after every "Swap partitions" (from CHDK menu) you will need to shut down
and restart your camera (the camera will only read this information at startup)

- Once your installation is complete your card should have:

* on the small 2 MB partition: DISKBOOT.BIN
* on the big partition: CHDK directory + PS.FI2

- If CHDK boots, but creates a CHDK directory on your small partition that means
it can not 'see' the big partition (usually because it is not formatted)

« Last Edit: 01 / February / 2011, 16:53:55 by whim »

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hulland

34

Re: Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD

« Reply #6 on: 15 / February / 2011, 12:39:48 »

I hope I am not bullying my way in and hijacking a post? But I have tyhe exact same problem, I am at virtually the same spot ( with a Powershot SX30IS) and trying to format/partition my 32gig card. When I select "Create card with two partitions" in CHDK,--well it doesn't--still one big 32gig one. Nothing appears to happen, no flicker on camera LED, no movement in menu. What am I doing wrong Please?

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whim

2046
A495/590/620/630 ixus70/115/220/230/300/870 S95

Re: Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD

« Reply #7 on: 15 / February / 2011, 14:31:31 »

@hulland

Possibly nothing ... are you saying you checked the card after step 1 (referring to the list in Reply #2)

Note that 'Create card ...' will just write a new MBR to the card, and that the camera will not notice
this because this sector is only read once, at startup.
Besides that, this will clobber all data on the card, that's why step 2 says:

Quote

2- Remove the card, use a card reader, format it, now you can access the first (2MB FAT12) partition

let me know how you get along,

wim

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SkyWalker9

301
SX20 IS (fw 1.02b)

Re: Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD

« Reply #8 on: 15 / February / 2011, 19:00:55 »

A couple of days ago I was helping someone else who was having similar problems, so I uploaded a copy of a tutorial I created. I created the tutorial last September so not much has changed yet except the method for creating the badpixel file. It should help those of you who are having dfficulty setting up your SD Cards for CHDK when using the Windows OS. The tutorial has lots of photos to show what you should see at each step. Hope this helps...

http://hotfile.com/dl/104082286/06e667c/Installing_CHDK_on_SD_Cards_(Windows_OS).pdf.html

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hulland

34

Re: Installing CHDK autoboot on A480 - 32 GB SD

« Reply #9 on: 16 / February / 2011, 00:05:53 »

Many thanks- much appreciated.

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