From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from server1.lazerlink.net ([199.234.153.21]) by pentafluge.infradead.org with smtp (Exim 3.22 #1 (Red Hat Linux)) id 16mx3s-0002FQ-00 for ; Mon, 18 Mar 2002 13:20:28 +0000 From: "Stephen Bardsley" To: "David Woodhouse" Cc: Subject: RE: bad block recovery Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 08:31:53 -0500 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In-Reply-To: <29597.1016456563@redhat.com> Sender: linux-mtd-admin@lists.infradead.org Errors-To: linux-mtd-admin@lists.infradead.org List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Linux MTD discussion mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: > sbardsley@rlwinc.com said: > > My understanding is that the chip is now "unreliable", which I can > > live with for now. Does unreliable mean I can still use the chip if I > > can somehow format it? > > Yes. Blocks can go bad during normal operation, and we have to be able to > deal with that case _anyway_. My nftl_format program can be made to do some > primitive tests on each erase block, and mark the completely broken ones as > such before formatting. But (for the benefit of the peanut gallery) you > should _only_ use nftl_format if you have already lost your bad block list. > > -- > dwmw2 Dave, thanks for the prompt response. I built the mtd/utils, and read the FAQ. All indications are that the bad block table is gone. So I ran nftl_format and received the message "Erase size not 8Kb - I'm confused". What exactly does this mean? I took a quick look at the code and see that meminfo.erasesize is used to scale various values. I don't see why 8Kb is a limit. I have found that my chip's erase size to be 16Kb; is there any way for me to use nftl_format? If necessary, I don't mind modifying the code, but I don't want to screw it up. Any hints? Steve _____________________ Stephen Bardsley RLW Inc. Malta, NY