Greetings All,

I'm a new empeg user having just purchased a MK2 via ebay. Wouldn't you know it, it arrive DOA. The seller promised me that it was working great when it was shipped, but somehow it is now displaying the infamous "No hard disk found" message. I managed to connect to the unit with minicom and here is the output-

empeg-car bootstrap v1.02 20001106 (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 kernel.
Linux version 2.2.14-rmk5-np17-empeg51 (mac@aphex) (gcc version 2.95.3 20010315 (release)) #17 Wed Jul 24 18:23:20 BST 2002
Processor: Intel StrongARM-1100 revision 11
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.94.1 (c) 1998 Corel Computer Corp.
empeg-car player (hardware revision 9, serial number 10101767)
Command line: mem=16m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15024k/16M available (964k code, 20k reserved, 372k 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)
Linux-IrDA: IrCOMM protocol ( revision:Tue May 18 03:11:39 1999 )
ircomm_tty: virtual tty driver for IrCOMM ( revision:Wed May 26 00:49:11 1999 )
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 206f6972 'rio '
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 d0004b00).
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: ÿ, ATA DISK drive
hda: ÿ, ATA DISK drive
hda: ÿ, ATA DISK drive
hda: ÿ, ATA DISK drive
hda: ÿ, ATA DISK drive
hda: ÿ, ATA DISK drive
ide0: unexpected interrupt, status=0x58, count=1
ide0 at 0x000-0x007,0x038 on irq 6
hda: ÿ, 2088991MB w/32640kB Cache, CHS=65535/255/63
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:d7:22:06:e7
Partition check:
hda:hda: status error: status=0x58 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest }
hda: drive not ready for command
ide0: reset: master: error (0x00?)
hda: set_geometry_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: set_geometry_intr: error=0xff { DriveStatusError BadCRC UncorrectableError SectorIdNotFound TrackZeroNotFound AddrMarkNotFound }, CHS=65280/0/81, sector=0
hda: read_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x00 { }
hda: read_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x00 { }
hda: read_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x00 { }
ide0: reset: master: error (0x00?)
hda: set_geometry_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hda: set_geometry_intr: error=0xff { DriveStatusError BadCRC UncorrectableError SectorIdNotFound TrackZeroNotFound AddrMarkNotFound }, CHS=65280/0/81, sector=0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:00 (hda), sector 0
unable to read partition table
RAMDISK: ext2 filesystem found at block 0
RAMDISK: Loading 320 blocks [1 disk] into ram disk... |/-\|/-\|/-\|/-\|/-\done.
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
empeg-pump v0.03 (19980601)
Press Ctrl-A to enter pump...attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=2, limit=0
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=1 sector=2 size=1024 count=1
EXT2-fs: unable to read superblock
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:05

Can anyone help me interpret this spew? Is my hard disk dead? I know the shock absorbers in these things are great, so could UPS really have messed it up in transit (the box appears in tact), or is it plausible that maybe a magnetic scan of some sort fubar'd the system and it just needs a re-intall? I have read the FAQ that everyone gets pointed to and have searched the forum, but I would still appreciate some expert advice from seasoned users.

BTW, I did crack the case and a preliminary visual inspection revealed nothing obvious was busted or loose.

Thanks for any help,
Ryan

It could be the disk, but it could equally be a couple of other common problems.

Read the following page:

http://www.riocar.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&file=index&myfaq=yes&id_cat=8&faqent=221#221

Especially if it was shipped in working order. The hard drive connector may have come loose from the IDE header on the main board. A common problem.

Yea I bet its the cable. Mine was working fine till I was making my dash kit and moved it around a bit. And it did the HD failure message. I checked the cable and what you know, it needed to be smashed more. Fixed and works great now.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll check the cable connections. However, I have two follow up questions-

1. Is it safe to assume then, after looking at the bootup spew, that it is a hardware problem and that I can rule out any software problem completely? Such as a magnetic scan of some sort during shipping? emptool and upgclient don't even see it. BTW, the IDE ribbon is glued in place on the disk end. not sure about the MB end.

2. I thought these things are supposed to be robust?! It seems like they are plagued by loose connections. I was planning to put this thing in a 4x4.. bad idea?

Thanks again.

IMO/IME they are decently robust - I'd say atleast comparable with other head units - excepting a couple of points that aren't very hard to fix: the IDE cable (had the problem myself, recrimped the connectors in a small vice and no problems for 2 years now) and the IDE header (easily [if you have the proper equipment] solved by reflowing the connections). There's also one "hard" sensitive point - the fill nipple on the VFD. If dropped (don't do that!), depending on how it lands, there's a risk of the fill nipple breaking off, requiring the VFD to be replaced. I dropped a MkI from 1.5m height onto concrete and the nipple held, others have dropped theirs from lesser heights onto softer surfaces and had the nipple snap...

When I initially bought my first empeg there was a thread about a guy having it in a car that he drove pretty hard over "washboard" roads to get to surf spots - no problems while he never had had a CD player not skip on the same roads.
I've had mine for 3+ years in a lowered car on low profile tires (ie pretty hard ride) w/o any problems (excepting the IDE cable as stated above)

/Michael

Yes it is a hardware problem, the boot log shows that.

I was planning to put this thing in a 4x4.. bad idea?

I have had mine in my lifted jeep wrangler for around 3 years with no problems other than one dead hard drive. It has even been offroading a couple of times. There are a couple of known weak areas (the IDE cable and header) but other than that people seem to have very few problems.

-Mike

Thanks All, turned out that all I needed to do what push the IDE connector into the MB a bit. Seems kinda odd that this could have worked itself loose so easily, but there ya go.

all I needed to do what push the IDE connector into the MB a bit. Seems kinda odd that this could have worked itself loose so easily, but there ya go.

If it was only the connector loose, consider yourself lucky.

However, check to make sure that it's not the IDE header solder joint problem. If it is, pushing on the connector might seem to temporarily solve the problem but it will come back later.

Since it was just shipped, the bouncing of the postal employees may have jogged the connector loose. It was the reason hot glue was added in the first place. But Tony is right - as long as you have it open, you might just want to inspect the cable connectors and IDE header.