Hi all, I was uploading an album to the empeg and the DB sync crapped out on me. Now I can't get Emplode to even access the player. It quits witht that annoying "Rio Emplode has encountered an error..." and quits on me.
I have tried reflashing beta 13 to no avail. It takes the flash fine bit Emplode won't rebuild the DB. Any ideas? Do I need to wipe it out (i.e. format) and reload ~45 GB of songs? Please say no...

HELP!!!

Easy fix (usually). Probably in the FAQ, too!

Essentially, you have to connect up the serial cable, hit 'q' to quit the player, remount the music partition(s) rw, delete the database files, and then start the player from the command line. It will rebuild the databases then, and after that finished you kill it again, remount the music partitions r/o, and exit the shell.

Check the FAQ for more info.

Cheers

But only if he has the developer version, right?

The FAQ entry on how to rebuild the database is here.

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the help. Tony I swear I searched the FAQ for "rebuild database" and "Building Music Databases" and it only found the loose cable problem. I searched for sync issus too, but couldn't find it. Anyway...

I loaded the developer image, but I can't seem to get into it. When booting I get all of the scrolling info, and then a message that says "Hit q to enter developer mode - you have zero seconds to comply" I have tried repeatedly hitting q enter to catch it, but it s not working. Is there something I am missing?

Have you tried Ctrl-c instead of q?

/Michael

Just hit q later, after all else finishes.

If that fails, hit control^C instead.

If that fails, install v2final and try again.

Mark and all, I get the following, and then nothing happens - Ctrl C nor q enter do nothing. I have tried both v.2 final and beta 13.

empeg-car bootstrap v1.02 20001106 (hugo@empeg.com)
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
If there is anyone present who wants to uea Universit
Copying kernel...
Calling linux kernel...
IrDA (tm) Protocols f
Uncompressing Linux..................................... done, booting the kernerDA: IrCOMM protocol ( revision:Tue May 18 03:11:39 1999 )
l.
Linux version 2.2.14-rmk5-np17-empeg51 (mac@aphex) (gcc version 2.95.3 20010315 ( revision:Wed May 26 00:49:11 1999 )
(release)) #16 Wed Jul 24 18:19:54 BST 2002ing kswapd v 1.5
SA110
Processor: Intel StrongARM-1100 revision 11options enabled
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.94.1 (c) 1998 Corel Computer Corp.a SA1100 UART
ttyS01 at
empeg-car player (hardware revision 9, serial number 40103932)

empeg dsp audio init
Dentry hash table entries: 2048 (order 2, 16k)xer initialised
emp
Buffer cache hash table entries: 16384 (order 4, 64k) initialised, CS4231A revision a0
Page cache hash table entries: 4096 (order 2, 16k)nel button initialised.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIXlised, PDIUSBD12 id 1012
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
empeg state support ini
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
empeg RDS d
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
empeg power-pic drive
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP
TCP: Hash tables configured (ehash 16384 bhas 16 RAM
SA1100 serial driver version 4.27 with no serial options enabled48kB Cache, CHS=58140/16/63
ttyS00 at 0xf8010000 (irq = 15) is a SA1100 UARTtialized
smc chip
ttyS01 at 0xf8050000 (irq = 17) is a SA1100 UART9194.c:v0.12 03/06/96 by Erik Stahlman (erik@vt.
ttyS02 at 0xf8030000 (irq = 16) is a SA1100 UART

SMC9194: SMC91C94(r:9) at 0x4008000
Signature is 636f6972 'rioc'0:02:d7:28:0f:5
Scheduling custom logo.
empeg display initialised.tition check:
empeg usb initialised, PDIUSBD12 id 1012ktime reached, running e2fsck is recomme
empeg state support initialised 0089/88c1 (save to d0005e00).
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
empeg RDS driver initialisedp v0.03 (19980601)
empeg power-pic driver initialised (first boot)FS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
RAM disk driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size
change_root: old root has d_count=1
empeg single channel IDE
Trying to unmount o
Probing primary interface...
Freei
hda: FUJITSU MHL2300AT, ATA DISK drivenit 0.8
hdb: FUJITSU MHL2300AT, 28615MB w/2048kB Cache, CHS=58140/16/63rst music partition read-only
empeg-flash driver initializedc partition read-only
smc chip id/revision 0x3349
Press 'q' now to go
smc9194.c:v0.12 03/06/96 by Erik Stahlman (erik@vt.edu).
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...VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
change_root: old root has d_count=1
empeg 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
player.cpp : 385:empeg-car 2.00-beta13 2002/07/24.
Prolux 4 empeg car - 2.1434 Jul 24 2002
Vcb: 0x4086d000

It seems to hang here.

Whatever you could tell me would be most appreciated

Joe

Looks like the databases are fine -- no complaints in the log.

But at the point you get to at the bottom of the log, Control^C works (on v2.00 final developer release). If you cannot get it to work for you, then try a different terminal emulation program on the PC/mac/whatever. Kermit works.

Cheers

Tony I swear I searched the FAQ for "rebuild database" and "Building Music Databases" and it only found the loose cable problem.

It probably came up in the search but you didn't click on it because the title of the FAQ entry wasn't good enough. I've now changed the title of that FAQ entry to make it more obvious.

Hey Guys,

Mark, that suggestion worked - at least it let me get in and delete the databases. Hyperterminal was the problem. Thanks.

I have a continuing problem however - the playlists are completely hosed. I have to redo 700 plus CD's - put them back into their master playlist and put those into my categories. Is there any way to do this outside of the very labor intensive drag and drop means via Emplode?

If not you guys have saved me hours of uploading regardless. Thanks.

Joe

I have a continuing problem however - the playlists are completely hosed.

Unless you're having problems with the disk drives or the cable connections, your playlists should not be hosed after rebuilding the database. Please check this problem and this problem.

Hey Tony,

First thanks to both you and Mark for doing all of this, I would have been up a creek without you guys. I am moving to the Bay Area in a couple of months, if I recall you are out there too. Maybe we can hook up at a meet or something.

My playlists came back, but they were all screwed up. All of the music is there and available, but if I looked under better than half of the artist for example the albuns were empty. I had artists gruped into genres, and they were all moved around or not associated with the genre. So I just started to go through and put them back in their categories, which isn't terrible, but for 600 albuns dragging and dropping them around in an explorer type interface is not the best way. I was just wondering if anybody had come up with anu other means of arranging playlists.

Joe

but for 600 albuns dragging and dropping them around in an explorer type interface is not the best way. I was just wondering if anybody had come up with anu other means of arranging playlists.

If it's really that hosed, I'd just run a builder image on the empeg's hard drive to bring it down to bare metal, and start over again. Preferably after organizing my PC's hard disk the way I want it, first.

I still don't understand how your playlists got hosed unless you're having disk trouble. You said you were only adding one album. The other playlist files should not have been messed up, even if that one did get messed up.

Hey Tony,

This will work for me for the most part. I have some stuff spread over several PC's. but 80% is on one machine and I can do this. What about the Empeg to Empeg clone program. Does that look to see if the music is there? My other Empeg is a lower serial number and I could do the clone if its not going to copy the music too, otherwise it will take way too long.

What happened to cause this was I was uploading a new album from my laptop at work. This is my work Empeg, which just sits on my desk (although i brought it home this wekend to try and fix this problem). The sync failed and when it did it came up with the "No Playlist Found" issue. I tried several syncs to no avail, tried installing v2 final, beta 13 a couple of times, and reisntalling Emplode. I tried this on three different PC's thinking maybe the PC was the problem. Then Mark suggested the database rebuild. I tried that (installed the developer beta 13, then the developer v2 final) but it turned out that Hyperlink on my laptop wasn't happening. Once i got a different TE program it worked. My databases were all on drive 0 - nothing on drive 1. I deleted them all, ran the rebuild, but when it came back they were all screwed up. I did several syncs but they got no better. I eventually just deleted all of the playlists amd now I was rebuilding them. Your idea of building it that way on the PC will absolutely make it a lot easier for me. All of the music is still there under the Artist and Album trees, but the playlists were just completely hosed. Thanks for all your time again. I'm moving to Alameda - you anywhere near there?

Joe

My databases were all on drive 0 - nothing on drive 1.

Keep in mind that the playlists and the databases are two different things. The databases get built from the playlists, and it's possible you might have playlists scattered among both drives. A temporarily-missing drive1 (say, because of cable problems) might cause the symptoms you describe, especially if it was MIA during the database rebuild.

I'm moving to Alameda - you anywhere near there?

Nah, I'm on the other side of the state, near Lake Tahoe. But I go to all the Bay area meets.

OK - I give up. I must have some drive problem. Tony or Mark, is there a diagnotic I can do?


I ran into the same problem half way through my rebuild. A sync failed and all of my playlists are gone. I get "None" on the player and the sync times out.

I'd have a hard time believing it was a cable problem, the unit worked fine for two years, and it has been sitting on my desk (not in a car or moved around) for 6 months. I would much more likely suspect a bad drive.

I have an extra drive. Is there anything I can do to test to see which of the two it is or if it is both? I guess i could buy a second 60 - I have one laying around, and make this 60 GB unit a 120 instead of a 90, but I prefer to not spend the green right now.

Joe

Just repeat what you were doing, except this time with something set up to capture the output from the serial port. If it's a hardware failure, there should be some diagnostic messages there.

-ml

I must have some drive problem. Tony or Mark, is there a diagnotic I can do?

Yeah, what Mark said, and carefully and methodically, without skipping anything or "assuming that thing is good", go through every bullet point here.

Tried to sync with too many tunes for the drives.
From Hyperterminal after following the FAQ to force a rebuild of the databases::


Starting player
player.cpp : 385:empeg-car 2.00 2003/04/01.
! tunedb_disk.cpp :1255:Database appears to be truncated.
Prolux 4 empeg car - 2.1434 Mar 26 2003
Vcb: 0x4086d000

Edited:

Got the databases to rebuild. What's the easiest way to wipe all the tracks off and start over?