# Executive Directive: diaganose and resolve format error after fresh smi install.

Status: ready-for-prm
Type: idea-brief
Role: project-executive-directive-v1
Updated: 2026-09-30
Next Action: reissue this exact directive to delegate or resume it through the Plan Cycle
Readiness Review: performed by the receiving Plan Cycle; ask the CEO only about material ambiguity
Produces:

## CEO Directive

diaganose and resolve format error after fresh smi install.

## Desired Outcome

After a fresh SMI firmware installation, SD-card initialization/formatting should complete on the first attempt and leave a usable HPT log store. Diagnose the observed first-attempt failure, correct its proven cause in the common firmware path, and retain enough failure detail to distinguish media I/O from invalid metadata on any future occurrence.

## Current Position

The owner reproduced the first-format failure on two controllers with different SD cards running the latest GitHub release, v00.05.01. The second format succeeded in the same powered session, without card removal or intervening diagnostics. The first screenshot under `work/01-q&a/` reports failure during "commissioned-media reopen": media status 0x05 and SD driver 0x00000000. The second screenshot reports success. These captures establish the symptom, not its root cause.

Source trace: `initializeHptWholeCard()` completes format, formatted-media reopen, and the three-lane commissioning append before the failing reopen (`src/Thread_SdCard_entry.c`). Status 0x05 is HPT_STATUS_CORRUPT. `HptTripleCircularOpenQualification()` can return CORRUPT for invalid metadata or some failed reads (`src/HptTripleCircular.c`). The adapter resets its displayed last SSP status after a successful read, and the legacy probe can obscure the original failure (`src/HptLogStoreRenesas.c`, `src/HptLogStoreQualification.c`). No service 467/468 or CID was captured before the successful retry, so metadata validity, driver I/O, and close/reopen behavior remain unresolved. This new incident overrides historical first-pass success claims for this release.

## Progress

- [x] Directive captured exactly in canonical project state.
- [ ] Codex has delegated the directive into a bounded plan and execution chain.
- [ ] The requested outcome has evidence and is reconciled.

Only check a milestone when canonical lifecycle state or linked evidence supports it. Codex updates
this section as work moves; the generated `work/100k.md` never guesses progress.

## Recommended Next Action

Ask Codex to delegate or resume this directive when you want it worked.

## Why This Next

The directive is safely batched, so delegation is the next action that advances its outcome.

## Blockers

- None.

## Operator Needs

- None.

## Completion Condition

- Reproduce or isolate the first-attempt failure with the exact v00.05.01 format/commission/reopen sequence. Preserve failing phase, first SD error and sector, and which superblock, retirement snapshot, checkpoint, or lane-header check rejected the store; do not infer card damage from 0x05 alone.
- Identify a supported root cause and implement the smallest general correction. Preserve fail-closed behavior for actual transport errors, invalid metadata, and incomplete commissioning. Make diagnostics retain the original failure instead of showing a later success as its cause.
- Verify the correction with focused format/reopen and fault-injection checks, including one-attempt success after a fresh SMI install, interrupted or failed reads/writes, and a subsequent reopen/readback of the commissioning record. Run the canonical managed Debug rebuild and record artifact identity.
- Obtain separately authorized physical qualification evidence on both affected controller/card combinations, using approved expendable media: service 467 CID identity at baseline and after any powered-off card replacement, initialization, or reboot relevant to the result; service 468 terminal status; exact firmware image identity; and first-attempt pass/fail. Do not perform or request powered SD removal, and do not initiate destructive physical reformatting solely from this directive.
- Reconcile the result against v00.05.01 and update current release/qualification truth before declaring the outcome complete. A retry-only success is insufficient.

## Authority And Delivery Boundary

- Preserve any endpoint, target, timing, non-goal, or authority language stated in the directive.
- Without explicit delivery language, source-changing work stops at a verified Work1 candidate.
- Interrupt only for a genuine material decision or authority boundary.

## Delegation Contract

Initial issuance is durable intake only. Tool Shed appends this Idea through canonical planning
order, checkpoints it, and stops so other directives may be captured first. Reissuing the exact
active directive delegates or resumes it when doing so will not preempt another working campaign.

The Plan Cycle interprets this directive, the Roadmap Cycle organizes it when needed, the Milestone
Cycle materializes bounded campaigns, Campaign Cycles execute, and Evidence/Outcome Cycles report
the result back to 100k. The CEO is not required to select those internal mechanics.

## Exploration Log

### 2026-09-30

- Directive issued after first format failed and second format worked on two controls with different SD cards following a fresh SMI firmware install.
- The owner confirmed both attempts occurred in one powered session; no diagnostic service capture was made between attempts. The latest GitHub release at intake is v00.05.01.
- Screenshot evidence: `work/01-q&a/first format attempt failed, second worked, reproduced on 2 controls, different sd cards.png` and `work/01-q&a/second format attempt worked.png`. No firmware change or physical test was made during directive intake.


