Sure.. but what exactly is "min-system"? A different kernel/initrd booted up
The 'mini system' is invoked when post-bootup checks suggest that there is a problem with the full system, for example after an upgrade to an incompatible firmware version.
It's a Linux image, shows in SADP typically as version 4.0.8, that doesn't load any of the application modules of the camera, but still does provide a good deal of functionality. Networking is active including telnet, and full access to the flash areas is available.
It may well be loaded from mtdblock8, that does have a Linux image, but I've never checked it out,.
Here is a log fragment below of 'mini-system' being invoked following installation of a tweaked version of the 5.3.0 firmware where a couple of status indicators were not left in the needed state, possibly due to a validity check.
[UPG][DEBUG_NOTICE][src/sys_firm_upgrade.c][firm_srcs_write][2080]:Firm file=t1 upgrade write beg.
[UPG][DEBUG_NOTICE][src/sys_firm_upgrade.c][firm_srcs_write][2102]:Firm file=t1 upgrade write end.
[UPG][DEBUG_NOTICE][src/sys_firm_upgrade.c][firm_part_finish][780]:UPG PART FINISH SET:iVersionFlg=0x10000,iUpgSuccCnt=0x3,iUpgFailCnt=0x0
[UPG][DEBUG_NOTICE][src/sys_firm_upgrade.c][firm_upglib_proc][2151]:Firm iPackIdx=0 upgrade end.
[06-25 15:36:54][pid:852][PSIA][ERROR]************* PSIA Upgrading END **************,iRet=0
[06-25 15:36:55][pid:852][OTHER][ERROR] checkUserIdValid is ERROR
[06-25 15:36:55][pid:852][SYSLOG][ERROR]Invalid userID 0
U-Boot 1.3.4-100728 (Nov 11 2014 - 13:58:34)
ARM Clock: 480MHz
DDR Clock: 336MHz
Hit Ctrl+u to stop autoboot: 0
|BIND err|
Unknown command:null
nand booting ...
load kernel...
load ramdisk...
init started: BusyBox v1.19.3 (2015-03-20 17:37:48 CST)
starting pid 378, tty '': '/etc/init.d/rcS'
Starting udev: [ OK ]
UBI device number 1, total 192 LEBs (24772608 bytes, 23.6 MiB), available 0 LEBs (0 bytes), LEB size 129024 bytes (126.0 KiB)
waiting for /dev/ubi1_0.
pri_iUpgSuccCnt:0x0, sec_iUpgSuccCnt:0x0
pri_part and sec_part data error.
cat: read error: Invalid argument
The system is going down NOW!
Sent SIGTERM to all processes
Sent SIGKILL to all processes
Requesting system reboot
U-Boot 1.3.4-100728 (Nov 11 2014 - 13:58:34)
ARM Clock: 480MHz
DDR Clock: 336MHz
Hit Ctrl+u to stop autoboot: 0
begin to enter mini system
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Are these CN devices exact hardware clones? Do they have minor quality cmos chips or something?
It's a bit of a myth that electronics manufacturing generates a high proportion of rejects. These days, especially with digital electronics, there is very little scrap.
In high-volume lines a single product is built, with the sub-options such as region or number of channels applied at the end of manufacturing.