After bricking a used Spondoolies ASIC Bitcoin miners, I quickly realized that finding decent documentation on how to recover them is difficult to find. These are interesting machines, you can find them relatively cheaply compared to the Bitmain hardware (although Spondoolies are not as profitable as the old-standby Antminers).

I've compiled the latest instructions that Spondoolies Tech shared prior to their site going down. DISCLAIMER: I did not write this manual, but am merely sharing it for others to take advantage of.

SP10/SP2X/SP3X RECOVERY SD-CARD/BOOT SD-CARD CREATION INSTRUCTIONS

Here are the instruction on creating recovery sd-card and boot sd-card to recover bricked SP10/SP30 miner in case your mmc image got broken.
Before doing this, if your WebUI works - try returning the miner to factory settings from the settings tab.

There are 2 types of images:

1. sd-boot image - for RUNNING from SD card, in case of physical problem with mmc. You will need to keep the SD in your miner forever.

2. sd-recovery image - for RECOVERING MMC from SD card. After this update you must remove SD card from miner, and reboot the miner.

Most clients will want the sd-recovery image.

!!! Never load SP10 image on SP3x/SP2x or other way around !!!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR WINDOWS MICROSD CARD CREATION FOR SP3X/2X:

You will need a micro-SD of at least 4GB and micro-SD-to-USB converter (card reader).

Install Win32 Disk Imager .
Download the sd-boot or recovery disk compressed image file from here:
sd-boot_image
sd-recovery_image
Extract the file from #2, and store it in a location of choice. (e.g. C:\Users\Public\bootsd.img - note it's a 2GB file)
Insert an microSD Card - either formatted or blank - to the card reader.
Make sure that the card can be seen as a disk drive. (If it's not formatted, and windows pops-up a format request – you can dismiss it).
Using Win32 Disk Imager write the image file (from step #3) onto the microSD card disk drive. This will put all the needed files on the microSD.
Validate: Eject the microSD and insert it back in, ensure that you can see files (e.g. MLO , u-boot.img ) on the microSD.
Now it can be used as a the miner working / recovery media.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR WINDOWS MICROSD CARD CREATION FOR SP10:

You will need a micro-SD of at least 4GB and micro-SD to USB converter (card reader).

follow steps 1-7 from section Instructions for Windows microSD Card creation for SP3x/2x.
Download the SP10 image content file .
Extract the spond_images_sp10.zip file. It will create folder named spond_images_sp10 with the required files.
It has two folders - one for SD recovery and one for booting from SD. You probably need the recovery, unless your mmc is bad.
Each folder has two folders inside - one for each partition of the SD card.
Copy the files from the first partition to the SD-card. DON'T override the MLO file. Do override all other files.
Now it can be used as a the miner recovery media.
skip to Instructions for SPXX miner recovery or Instructions for SPXX miner sd-boot.
.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR LINUX MICROSD CARD CREATION FOR SPXX:

The commands here are for Ubuntu, but they can be done from any distribution with the relevant adjustments.
Things to prepare:
MicroSD card of any size that you don't mind formatting
MicroSD to USB adapter
spond_images_spXX.zip file with the image (Downloadable from here SP10 or SP2x/SP3x )
cfdisk utility (sudo apt-get install cfdisk)
mkfs.xfs utility (sudo apt-get install xfsprogs)

1. Open shell
2. Execute "ls /dev | grep sd" to see what storage devices you have.
3. Insert SD card
4. Execute "ls /dev | grep sd" to see what storage devices were added. Lets say it is /dev/sdx and /dev/sdx1
   (if sdx1 was auto-mounted, un-mount it by executing "umount /media/<micro-sd-directory>")
5. Execute "sudo cfdisk /dev/sdx" // use your device here - be careful not to format main drive!!!
   • delete all partitions on sd-card

• Create first partition (boot)
  • Create "new" -> "primary" partition of size 400MB from the "beginning" of the sd-card.
  • Mark it as "bootable"
  • Select type 0b (W95 FAT32)
• Create second partition (config)
  • Create "new" -> "primary" partition of any size bigger then 1GB
  • Select type 83 (Linux)
• Select "write" and "quit"
  6a) Execute "sudo mkdosfs /dev/sdx1" // use your device here - be careful not to format your main drive!!!
  6b) Execute "sudo mkfs.xfs /dev/sdx2" // use your device here - be careful not to format your main drive!!!

1. Type "sync", remove and insert the sd-card from the USB slot and open the new partition
2. Open the spond_images_spXX.zip - it will create spond_images_spXX directory with the needed files. It has two folders - one for SD recovery and one for booting from SD. You probably need the recovery. Each folder has two folders inside - one for each partition.
3. Copy the MLO file from the "1st partition" to the sd-card first partition (msdos) - this must be the first file you copy to the sd-card
4. Copy the rest of the files from directory 1st-partition to the sd-card 1st partition, including sub-directories (uImage, u-boot.img etc`)
5. Copy the files from directory 2st-partition to the sd-card 2nd partition (can be empty)
6. type sync and unmount your micro-sd
   skip to Instructions for SPXX miner recovery or Instructions for SPXX miner sd-boot.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPXX MINER RECOVERY

1. Insert the sd card to the sd slot in front of the miner machine
   SP10 - with the metal connector facing upwards.
   SP2x - with the metal connector facing upwards.
   SP3x - with metal connector facing down.
2. Remove the power cord for 15 seconds and put it back in (especially important for SP35).
3. Wait for 2 minutes (both lights in front of the machine will start to turn on/off alternately in a Christmas Tree like fashion -Green ... Yellow ... Green... Yellow... Green... Yellow... ............. ).
4. Remove the sd-card from the miner
5. Disconnect the power cord for 15 seconds and put it back in.
6. Once the system is up, do SW upgrade from the webUI and update your wallet and the pool.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPXX MINER SD-BOOT

1. Insert the sd card to the sd slot in front of the miner
   SP10 - with the metal connector facing upwards.
   SP2x - with the metal connector facing upwards.
   SP3x - with metal connector facing down.
2. Remove the power cord for 15 seconds and put it back in.
   If you want to reuse the micro-SD, you can reformat it with cfdisk on Linux to it's original size.