Partition a disk as GPT & Restore ctrlX CORE X7

[MauroRiboniMX]

This How-to refers to the procedure necessary to factory reset a ctrlX CORE X7. The official procedure is explained in this DOCU.

Prerequisites and equipment

• Having a ctrlX CORE X7 to be restored.
• An empty USB-stick (max 32 GB).
  
  

Procedure

Step 1: Partition the USB stick as GPT and format it as FAT32 on a Windows system

GPT (GUID Partition Table) is used in various computing environments where modern partitioning methods and support for larger storage devices are required. It is the common approach to partition the storage devices in systems using UEFI firmware, such as ctrlX CORE X7.

The procedure here described has been taken from the official Windows documentation here. 

We plug in the device and start the Command Promp (CMD) in our Windows system as administrator. We need to proceeded with the following commands:

#start diskpart
diskpart

#list disk
list disk

#select the disk corresponding to the USB-Stick (our case disk 1)
select disk 1

#wipe it out
clean

#convert to GPT
convert gpt

Here is the output of the commands executed:

Commands to clean a device and set it as GPT

Now we have to create the FAT32 partition.

• Start the windows partition manager windows partition manager ("Create and format hard disk patitions")

Use the official Windows tool

• Create new volume

Create a new volume

• Use FAT32 as filesystem (Windows allows this only for disks smaller than 32GB)

Use FAT32

Step 2:  Copy the files to the USB-stick and restore

Now we have to

• Download the files from the collaboration roomCollaboration room image, the version is just indicative
• Copy them inside the USB stick

USB stick content

• Insert the stick directly or with an adapter into the XF01C port

X7 port Restore

• Reboot (plug out, wait, plug in)

Only necessary if BIOS Release CTL6R12 or earlier is installed on  the ctrlX CORE X7.
Because of a known bug in the BIOS only USB 2.0 sticks works but they are not detected automatically as a boot device.

As a workaround:

• connect a keyboard to the ctrlX CORE
• press F7 (BIOS Boot Menu) during the boot → BIOS password dialog will open
  it is not necessary to enter the BIOS password !!!
• press CTRL + ALT + delete to reboot the ctrlX CORE X7
  now the image update progress should start automatically from the USB stick

[stefanAT_ctrlX]

If somebody searches for the BIOS Version (like me 😁 😞 you can find it at Settings ( Information:

[HmiGuide]

CtrlX Core only has USB-C. If no USB-C stick is available, a USB-C hub into which the USB stick is plugged can be used instead.

[HmiGuide]

To use a USB stick that has more than 32 GB, the partition size must be limited to a maximum of 32 GB. The following steps are necessary:

• Create GPT as described above
• Start Window Partition Manager

Create a new volume (change size of volume to max. ~29000)

Assign drive letter

Use FAT32 as filesystem (Windows allows this only for disks smaller than 32GB)

There is unused space on the stick:

• You can ignore that (space can’t be used)
• You can create a 2^nd partition (space can be used). If this is larger than 32MB, it cannot be formatted with FAT32. Use NTFS instead.