Author Topic: My new useless Nspire  (Read 30393 times)

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Offline critor

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My new useless Nspire
« on: February 02, 2011, 11:06:18 am »
Look at this very rare TI-Nspire CAS prototype - even DataMath.org doesn't have it.



You can easily mistake it for a commercial TI-Nspire CAS... be carefull when buying online!

Notice the small icon at boot time in the top left hand corner of he screen.




It has early versions of the 1.1 boot1/boot2/diagnostics:
Boot1: 1.1.8129 (instead of 1.1.8916)
Boot2: 1.1.8310 (instead of 1.1.8981)
Diagnostics: from 2007.03.31 (instead of 1.1.8769 from 2007.04.17 - version is not shown on early diagnostics and only readable in the dump)


It does reject all commercial CAS & basic OSes 1.1-2.1.
The OS is rejected at the end of the download (so, something to do with the validation).

It probably had a 1.1 OS prior to 1.1.9170.
Yes, "had"... being unable to update the OS, the previous owner thought it would work better after erasing the OS through the maintenance menu.


The calculator is now totally useless.

Do you have any idea on how i could dump those early versions of the boot1/boot2/diagnostics, and on how I could install a working OS?

Remember: no OS -> no Ndless... ???
« Last Edit: February 02, 2011, 03:20:38 pm by critor »
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Offline Ranman

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2011, 12:07:23 pm »
Sounds like a great challenge for some of the community NSpire programmers.

Anyone up for a challenge?
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Offline AngelFish

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2011, 12:50:59 pm »
It probably had a 1.1 OS anterior to 1.1.9170.
Yes, "had"... being unable to update the OS, the previous owner thought it would work better after erasing the OS through the maintenance menu.

Are you sure they weren't part of the TI Mathprint dev team?
∂²Ψ    -(2m(V(x)-E)Ψ
---  = -------------
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Offline critor

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2011, 12:56:05 pm »
No idea about that.
I bought it to a TI-Bank user who bought it online.

He just sent me the link to the seller page.
I'm going to ask...
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Offline Silver Shadow

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2011, 01:34:38 pm »
It probably had a 1.1 OS anterior to 1.1.9170.
Yes, "had"... being unable to update the OS, the previous owner thought it would work better after erasing the OS through the maintenance menu.

Are you sure they weren't part of the TI Mathprint dev team?
Haha, I doubt that the Mathprint dev team would even know the existence of the maintenance menu. ;D

EDIT: I know this requires some soldering and tinkering with the hardware, but couldn't we sort of connect some parts of this Nspire to another one that works?
« Last Edit: February 02, 2011, 01:40:00 pm by Silver Shadow »
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Offline Galandros

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2011, 01:48:39 pm »
Last time I saw someone saving bricked calculators was Brandonw through a link port overflow exploit on TI-84+SE.

Finding an exploit in the usb transfer that makes you run some assembly code, maybe?
If it is a prototype maybe it can only accept OSes signed from the development team, it would be odd to allow all OS transfer to not try install anything. I bet it would be very interesting to know how that specific boot code validates the OS.
No one was able to read the memory of Nspire by hardware for some reason, it seems another dead end.

Truly a challenge for hackers.

I noted a mistake in your topic: "anterior" doesn't not exist in English, translation is prior or previous.
« Last Edit: February 02, 2011, 01:50:38 pm by Galandros »
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Offline critor

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2011, 04:19:04 pm »
I noted a mistake in your topic: "anterior" doesn't not exist in English, translation is prior or previous.

Thank you. I've just patched my post :P
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Offline bsl

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2011, 05:53:48 pm »
Try connecting one of your CAS+ calculators to it to see if it will transfer the OS ??

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2011, 06:03:41 pm »
That sucks, I always thought all prototypes had a + besides the logo... now people are trying to rip off others by passing these prototypes as final release Nspires...

In any case, be careful if you buy something from Ebay. One first step is to ensure the seller rating is 99% or higher.

Offline critor

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2011, 06:09:32 pm »
Try connecting one of your CAS+ calculators to it to see if it will transfer the OS ??


Thank you for the idea, but unfortunately it won't work for 2 reasons:

1) Different transfer protocols. The CAS+ needs the TI-Nspire Computer Link 1.0 and is not detected by further versions. The CAS+ cannot exchange documents with commercial basic or CAS TI-Nspire. And this prototype is detected by the TI-Nspire Computer Link 1.4, which means it is not using the CAS+ transfer protocol anymore.

2) Anyway, the "Send OS" menu item is disabled on the 1.0.554 OS which is the one running on both CAS+ I have. Joerg from datamath.org noticed the same problem with his CAS+ with the 1.0.554 OS, but told me that this menu is enabled on his prototype with the older 1.0.494 OS.


Maybe if we could dump/ndless the 1.0.554 OS, we could figure out some things...
One of the Ndless 1.7 exploits is triggering things on my CAS+...
« Last Edit: February 02, 2011, 06:22:57 pm by critor »
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Offline bsl

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #10 on: February 02, 2011, 06:20:52 pm »
Try a simpler protocol than USB - RS232 !!!
Try setting up a "null modem cable" type of connection between the CAS+ and this calculator
Gnd -> Gnd
Rx -> TX
Tx -> Rx

You only need three wires , 6 solder connections - much easier than making an RS 232 adapter
Code: [Select]
CAS+   other calc

 GND -----GND


 Rx\     / Rx
    \   /
     \ /
      X
     / \
    /   \
 TX/     \ Tx
« Last Edit: February 02, 2011, 08:12:36 pm by bsl »

Offline critor

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #11 on: February 02, 2011, 07:53:36 pm »
If it is a prototype maybe it can only accept OSes signed from the development team, it would be odd to allow all OS transfer to not try install anything

So now, the big question... where can I get any 1.0/1.1 OS signed from the development team? . . .
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Offline Happybobjr

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #12 on: February 02, 2011, 08:06:02 pm »
Just remember, Ti-cares.
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TI-Nspire    |||  Lent out, and never returned
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Offline critor

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #13 on: February 02, 2011, 08:15:00 pm »
Just remember, Ti-cares.

Err... I wonder if TI-Cares has blocked my email...
They haven't been answering me for months now...

3 weeks ago, I asked them about the screen capture software for the TI-80 viewscreen (yes that special TI-80 has a link port).
No reply...


I might have a very bad reputation amoung the TI-Cares guys for various reasons, you know...


Anybody who can email in my place?
You've got all the informations above: boot1/boot2 versions, and even the serial.
« Last Edit: February 02, 2011, 08:16:44 pm by critor »
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Offline jnesselr

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Re: My new useless Nspire
« Reply #14 on: February 02, 2011, 08:19:11 pm »
This would be a great calc to try forcing boot1 on it.  It's not like it can get any worse, right? riiight?