A few days ago my empeg suddenly started making an awful noise right in the middle of playing a song which had always worked fine. Since then, it won't boot anymore. It gets as far as starting the player app and then it hangs in an endless loop saying "Loading music databases..." and "Loading playlist..." over and over again.

At the console, the following messages are displayed:

empeg-car bootstrap v1.00 20000601 (hugo@empeg.com)
If there is anyone present who wants to upgrade the flash, let them speak now,
or forever hold their peace...it seems not. Let fly the Penguins of Linux!

e000 v1.04
Copying kernel...
Calling linux kernel...
Uncompressing Linux..................................... done, booting the kerne
l.
Linux version 2.2.17-rmk5-np17-empeg52-hijack-v340 (root@ibbm) (gcc version 2.95
.3 20010315 (release)) #2 Wed Jun 18 18:40:14 EDT 2003
Processor: Intel StrongARM-1100 revision 11
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.94.1 (c) 1998 Corel Computer Corp.
empeg-car player (hardware revision 7, serial number 90000594)
Command line: mem=12m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 10960k/12M available (976k code, 20k reserved, 328k data, 4k init)
Dentry hash table entries: 2048 (order 2, 16k)
Buffer cache hash table entries: 16384 (order 4, 64k)
Page cache hash table entries: 4096 (order 2, 16k)
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP
TCP: Hash tables configured (ehash 16384 bhash 16384)
IrDA (tm) Protocols for Linux-2.2 (Dag Brattli)
Starting kswapd v 1.5
SA1100 serial driver version 4.27 with no serial options enabled
ttyS00 at 0xf8010000 (irq = 15) is a SA1100 UART
ttyS01 at 0xf8050000 (irq = 17) is a SA1100 UART
ttyS02 at 0xf8030000 (irq = 16) is a SA1100 UART
Signature is 67706d65 'empg'
Tuner: loopback=0, ID=-1
Scheduling custom logo.
empeg display initialised.
empeg dsp audio initialised
empeg dsp mixer initialised
empeg dsp initialised
empeg audio-in initialised, CS4231A revision a0
empeg remote control/panel button initialised.
empeg usb initialised, PDIUSBD12 id 1012
empeg state support initialised 0089/88c1 (save to d0005980).
empeg RDS driver initialised
empeg power-pic driver initialised (first boot)
RAM disk driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size
empeg single channel IDE
Probing primary interface...
hda: IBM-DJSA-220, ATA DISK drive
hdb: IBM-DJSA-220, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x000-0x007,0x038 on irq 6
hda: IBM-DJSA-220, 19077MB w/1874kB Cache, CHS=38760/16/63
hdb: IBM-DJSA-220, 19077MB w/1874kB Cache, CHS=38760/16/63
empeg-flash driver initialized
smc chip id/revision 0x3349
smc9194.c:v0.12 03/06/96 by Erik Stahlman (erik@vt.edu)

SMC9194: SMC91C94(r:9) at 0x4008000 IRQ:7 INTF:TP MEM:6144b MAC 00:02:d7:12:02:5
2
Partition check:
hda: hda1 < hda5 hda6 > hda2 hda3 hda4
hdb: hdb1 < hdb5 hdb6 > hdb2 hdb3 hdb4
RAMDISK: ext2 filesystem found at block 0
RAMDISK: Loading 320 blocks [1 disk] into ram disk... done.
EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached, running e2fsck is recommended
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
empeg-pump v0.03 (19980601)
Press Ctrl-A to enter pump...j)5change_root: old root has d_count=1
Trying to unmount old root ... okay
Freeing unused kernel memory: 4k initempeg init 0.8
I see this is a developer image!
Mounting proc
Mounting first music partition
Tried to mount /dev/hda4 as reiserfs but got error 19
Mounting second music partition
Remounting first music partition read-only
Remounting second music partition read-only
Press 'q' now to go into development mode. You Have Zero Seconds To Comply...
Starting player
Hijack: intercepting config.ini

hijack: removed menu entry: "Hard Disk Detection"
hijack: removed menu entry: "Tuner RDS Control"
hijack: removed menu entry: "Serial Port Assignment"
khttpd: listening on port 80
kftpd: listening on port 21
player.cpp : 385:empeg-car 2.00-beta13 2002/07/24.
player(9): memory violation at pc=0x02034e00, lr=0x0216f13c (bad address=0x16173
63c, code 2)
pc : [<02034e00>] lr : [<0216f13c>]
sp : bffffa34 ip : 00000000 fp : bffffa84
r10: 00000000 r9 : 0216f130 r8 : bffffab4
r7 : 00000000 r6 : 0000060e r5 : 0216f0e8 r4 : bffffa40
r3 : 16173638 r2 : 050006c2 r1 : 0216f13c r0 : 0100015a
Flags: nZCv IRQs on FIQs on Mode USER_32 Segment user
Control: D038117D Table: D038117D DAC: 00000015
Function entered at [<02034cec>] from [<02034ba8>]
r10 = 00000000 r9 = 00000000 r8 = BFFFFAB4 r7 = 00000000
r6 = BFFFFA88 r5 = 0216F0E8 r4 = 021810E4
Function entered at [<02034a90>] from [<02036864>]
r8 = 0210F6CC r7 = 00000000 r6 = 0216F0E8 r5 = 00000C49
r4 = 00000C1F
Function entered at [<02036680>] from [<0202f7f8>]
r10 = 00000000 r9 = 0210F400 r8 = 0214A1A8 r7 = BFFFFD88
r6 = BFFFFD84 r5 = BFFFFD80 r4 = BFFFFD8C
Function entered at [<0202f494>] from [<0202f1e0>]
r10 = BFFFFEE4 r9 = 00000001 r8 = 0214A1A8 r7 = BFFFFEE8
r6 = 00000054 r5 = BFFFFDF4 r4 = BFFFFDF4
Function entered at [<0202f1a0>] from [<020310f0>]
r6 = 00000054 r5 = FFFFFFFF r4 = BFFFFDF4
Function entered at [<02030eec>] from [<0203121c>]
r10 = 020311B8 r9 = 00000000 r8 = 0210F0E8 r7 = 00000000
r6 = 020000C0 r5 = 00000001 r4 = BFFFFF64
Function entered at [<020311b8>] from [<020c5f30>]
r5 = BFFFFF64 r4 = 00000001
Function entered at [<020c5e54>] from [<02000104>]
r10 = 00000000 r8 = 00000000 r7 = 00000000 r6 = 00000000
r5 = 00000000 r4 = 00000000
Restored terminal settings
Remounting first music partition read-only
Remounting second music partition read-only
Abnormal player termination
Player received signal 11
Starting player
Hijack: intercepting config.ini

The last part (starting with the line "player.cpp etc...") is repeated over and over again.

This has got me scared. Could the filesystem be corrupt? Would it be safe to reinstall an image? How can I determine whether a corrupt filesystem is indeed the problem and if so, how can I fix it and is there any chance of compounding the problem by trying?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give!

Oops. I found out how I could get a command prompt (pressing Ctrl+C instead of q), but when I then tried running fsck, this happened:

empeg:/empeg/bin# fsck.ext2 -f /dev/hda4
e2fsck 1.19, 13-Jul-2000 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09
ext2fs_check_if_mount: No such file or directory while determining whether /dev/
hda4 is mounted.
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
(... a few minutes of the harddisk rattling ...)
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787720, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787719 sector=33575438 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787721, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787720 sector=33575440 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787722, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787721 sector=33575442 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787723, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787722 sector=33575444 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787724, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787723 sector=33575446 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787725, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787724 sector=33575448 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787726, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787725 sector=33575450 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787727, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787726 sector=33575452 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787728, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787727 sector=33575454 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787729, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787728 sector=33575456 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787730, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787729 sector=33575458 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787731, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787730 sector=33575460 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787732, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787731 sector=33575462 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787733, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787732 sector=33575464 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787734, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787733 sector=33575466 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787735, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787734 sector=33575468 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787720, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787719 sector=33575438 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787721, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787720 sector=33575440 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787722, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787721 sector=33575442 size=1024 count=1
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=16787723, limit=16569
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=16787722 sector=33575444 size=1024 count=1
fsck.ext2(31): memory violation at pc=0x0200ca24, lr=0x0200cc0c (bad address=0x0
201883c, code 2)
pc : [<0200ca24>] lr : [<0200cc0c>]
sp : bffff7f8 ip : bffff808 fp : bffff804
r10: bffffaf4 r9 : bffffa94 r8 : 00000000
r7 : 00000000 r6 : 02024b20 r5 : 0001000e r4 : 0001000e
r3 : 00000000 r2 : 00000000 r1 : 0201883c r0 : 0001000e
Flags: nzCv IRQs on FIQs on Mode USER_32 Segment user
Control: C809917D Table: C809917D DAC: 00000015
Function entered at [<0200ca10>] from [<0200cc0c>]
Function entered at [<0200cbd0>] from [<02005274>]
r10 = 015CA74B r9 = BFFFFA94 r8 = 00000000 r7 = 00000F8C
r6 = 02024B20 r5 = 0001000E r4 = 00000000
Function entered at [<020050b8>] from [<0200ea38>]
r10 = 00000200 r9 = 00000000 r8 = BFFFF96C r7 = 02065EA0
r6 = 00000080 r5 = BFFFF974 r4 = 00000000
Function entered at [<0200e7e0>] from [<0200ed64>]
r10 = BFFFF974 r9 = 00000100 r8 = 00000038 r7 = BFFFF96C
r6 = 020660D8 r5 = 0000000E r4 = 00000000
Function entered at [<0200eb34>] from [<0200f464>]
r10 = 00000000 r9 = 00000000 r8 = 02024D50 r7 = BFFFF974
r6 = BFFFFA48 r5 = 0000000C r4 = 00000000
Function entered at [<0200f1cc>] from [<02004b30>]
r10 = 02024B20 r9 = 02059BFC r8 = 00000D85 r7 = 00000008
r6 = 02024B20 r5 = BFFFFB2C r4 = 02065CA0
Function entered at [<020049f8>] from [<0200481c>]
r10 = 02065CA0 r9 = BFFFFAF4 r8 = 02024928 r7 = 00000008
r6 = 02024B20 r5 = BFFFFB2C r4 = 00000420
Function entered at [<0200474c>] from [<0200470c>]
r10 = 02024B20 r9 = 00000000 r8 = BFFFFC08 r7 = 00000000
r6 = BFFFFC8C r5 = 00000036 r4 = 02024B20
Function entered at [<020046ec>] from [<020124ec>]
r5 = BFFFFC08 r4 = 020668A8
Function entered at [<02012490>] from [<0200444c>]
r8 = BFFFFC38 r7 = BFFFFCA6 r6 = 02065CA0 r5 = BFFFFC08
r4 = BFFFFC8C
Function entered at [<0200386c>] from [<02002fd0>]
r10 = 00000000 r9 = 020246F0 r8 = 020244B8 r7 = 00000001
r6 = 00000000 r5 = 020244C0 r4 = 00000000
Function entered at [<02002f5c>] from [<02002aec>]
r5 = 02025288 r4 = 00000000
Function entered at [<020023e0>] from [<40037040>]
r10 = 400FF128 r9 = 020023E0 r8 = 02016DD0 r7 = 02000EE8
r6 = 4000C2A8 r5 = 00000003 r4 = BFFFFE04
Function entered at [<40036ee4>] from [<020013e4>]
r10 = 4001D858 r9 = 00000000 r8 = 00000000 r7 = 00000000
r6 = 020013C0 r5 = 00000000 r4 = 4001E5EC
Bus error
empeg:/empeg/bin#

After that, any attempt to run fsck.ext2 resulted in a similar error message, even when I just tried "fsck.ext2 -?"!

Help!?!?!

Okay. That looks ugly.

You might want to check for a loose cable / bad solder connections on the IDE port. If this was a sudden loss, you might just have a connection problem on the IDE bus.

I've tried tightening all the IDE connections, but that didn't make a diference. Both harddisks spin up and are found by the kernel while booting. The IDE socket on the motherboard appears to be correctly attached to the motherboard, I don't see any pins that are loose.

I've tried checking the filesystem (which worked), but it didn't find any errors, at least not on /dev/hda4, /dev/hda6 and /dev/hdc4.

Fdisk claims that /dev/hd[ab]3 is of type OPUS, is that correct?

Also, when I try to check any of the other paritiions that fdisk claims are "Linux", fsck complains that it can't find the superblock, is that correct too?

My last resort was trying to reinstall version 2.0-b13 of the software to see if that made a difference (perhaps the boot partition had become corrupted or something), but to no avail, the problem is still unchanged.

I can't think of anything else to try! Help! Has my empeg died?

Is Rob doing support again?

Reinstall the player software (this won't wipe out your music) from the .upgrade file again. The player executable looks corrupted, or else the DRAM is getting errors.. most likely the latter.

-ml

I already tried reinstalling the player software, that didn't work. So it looks like it's the DRAM... :-( Is Rob once again providing support?

Ooops.. SRAM, not DRAM (my mistake). That's my guess as to the possible problem, but I might be wrong. Anyone else got a better suggestion?

Rob is not yet providing support.

Cheers

Oh yeah..

Have you installed the car2-developer image for v2-final yet?

If not, do so, If that succeeds in installing, then the issue likely is NOT the SRAM, but rather some corrupt data somewhere.

In which case, delete the database files and let the player try to rebuild them. If that fails, then you can always rerun the disk builder to wipe everything clean and start over. Sure beats replacing the SRAM..

Cheers

You might also want to try running the self tests. A control T at boot should give it a good test. I *think* there is another one that does just memory, but I do not remember (no pun intended) at the moment.

I meant to say that I could reinstall the software, but the problem was still there afterwards. I had already installed v2.0-final, but went back to beta 13 because of problems with the tuner in the final version. I'll give installing the final version a try (and if that fails, 3.0-alpha), I'm pretty much grasping at straws now... :-(

If you can reinstall software, then RUN THE DISK BUILDER and WIPE EVERYTHING CLEAN!!!

Cheers

That would be the last resort, it would be a *huge* pain in the ass to have to upload all my music again, especially if I would then discover that it was a hardware problem after all...

I think I've cracked it! In the FAQ (thanks Tony!) I found that you can start the player with -i to make it not read the current playlist. It was enough to do that once, now it boots again. The first thing I'm going to do is make a backup of the disks now...

Is there a way of obtaining a new IDE cable, other than through Rob? I suspect that a bad cable caused the problem in the first place so I want to replace it as soon as possible.

I found that you can start the player with -i to make it not read the current playlist. It was enough to do that once, now it boots again.

There's a chance that the problem was an incompatible MP3 file. Do you happen to know which track it was trying to play? Perhaps that track simply needs to be deleted from the player.

I think it had played the offending track succesfully previously. Also, the crashes trying to run fsck make me think it was originally a hardware problem. I suspect that it was the IDE cable. Does anyone have a spare IDE that they would be willing to sell me or is there some other way of obtaining one?

I suspect that it was the IDE cable.

There is a large list of things that could cause disk drive trouble, make sure to go through the list carefully.

Does anyone have a spare IDE that they would be willing to sell me or is there some other way of obtaining one?

You could try simply squeezing it, too...