I've been using the uploader included in 4-20204-UploadRebootTest.zip

Brian

-See my empeg here-

I've been using the uploader included in 4-20204-UploadRebootTest.zip

Interesting. There is a slightly newer one here that I posted earlier today that works slightly differently. Just for ha-ha's, do you wanna try that one and see if it induces the bug? If the first one didn't, then this one shouldn't either, I just wanna be sure.

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Tony Fabris

That newest version works great. Didn't have to manually kill power to load images. And again no garbage screen.

Brian

-See my empeg here-

That newest version works great. Didn't have to manually kill power to load images. And again no garbage screen.

And you said you're running a custom kernel right now? Did you compile that kernel yourself? Depending on the outcome of a test I hope to do tomorrow, I might have you and Richard compare notes on how you're building that kernel.

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Tony Fabris

the new one

Frank van Gestel

Correct. I compiled my own kernel with Richard's voladj patch and Frank's IR hack patch.

Could you do me a favor? Could you compile a Mark1-player 1.01 version of that kernel, zip it, and e-mail it to me? I would like to test to see if I can induce the behavior with that in place.

If the reboot works OK with your kernel but not with Richard's kernel, then we need to compare the difference between the way you build your kernels and Richard builds his kernels.

By the way, this morning Mike told me that even the Empeg folks haven't gotten to the bottom of the "garbage screen after soft reboot" problem, it seems to happen intermittently to them.

But on my player I'm able to reproduce it every time under controlled conditions (stated elsewhere in this thread).

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Tony Fabris

The "garbage after soft reboot" is a known problem, though I've not seen it for quite a while now. The SA1100's LCD controller appears to go loopy.

Hugo

Well, Brian e-mailed me his kernel compilation and it appears as though the kernel really is the deciding factor. With Brian's kernel, there is no garbage screen, with Richard's kernel, there's a garbage screen every time. At least on my player.

I'm e-mailing Richard with this information, perhaps he and Brian can compare build techniques and decide where the problem lies. Once they've gotten to the bottom of it, then we'll make that information public and we can all sleep better.

At least it's not my uploader that's causing the problem. Phew!

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Tony Fabris

The "garbage after soft reboot" is a known problem, though I've not seen it for quite a while now. The SA1100's LCD controller appears to go loopy.

Yeah, Mike said that.

But read farther down in this thread... I can now reliably reproduce the garbage screen every time under controlled conditions, and I can make it go away under the same controlled conditions by altering one variable.

The one variable is: Who compiled the kernel, Brian or Richard?

I'm composing an e-mail to Richard right now, so that he and Brian can compare the method they're using to build the kernels. If that reveals anything, we'll be sure to share it with you.

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Tony Fabris

I don't believe it is just the kernel-compilation.
On tuesday I reinstalled my custom kernel. Everything was fine, no garbage on screen after reboot. This morning I modified config.ini and added the following items :
[Startup]
reservecache=32
[menu]
quit=1

After reboot the garbage reappears. I deleted the above items from config.ini again, but the garbage still appears !
I can't get rid of it anymore other than reinstalling an upgrade... (maybe a default kernel would work, but I haven't got one around)
This is starting to get really confusing...

Frank van Gestel

(maybe a default kernel would work, but I haven't got one around)

No, I think it might have something to do with the way the kernel is built. Richard sent me a "plain vanilla" kernel that he compiled, and it induced the bug. The kernel I got from Brian never induces the bug, despite having several major modifications.

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Tony Fabris

This is a question for Frank. Where did you get your toolchain? Or if you compiled your own what versions of the various packages did you use? I guess the same would go for Richard if he's around.

Here is a list of the packages I used to make my toolchain

• binutils-2.9.5.22.tar.bz2
  
• gcc-2.95.2.tar.gz
  
• gcc-2.95.2-diff-991022.gz
  
• chris-rutter-patch-for-gcc-2.95.2
  
• glibc-2.1.3.tar.gz
  
• glibc-crypt-2.1.tar.gz
  
• glibc-linuxthreads-2.1.3.tar.gz
  
• And the empeg kernel from Version 1.01
  

Also if someone would like to ftp me their kernel source tree I could compile it and see if the resultant zImage is different.

Brian

-See my empeg here-

I actually compile the kernel on the empeg itself.
Here are the packages I use (potato-dist) :

binutils 2.9.5.0.31-3

gcc 2.95.2-13

libc6 2.1.3-8

I do not know dpkg well enough to get the info I want ( how do I do an rpm -q -a ?)

As I said, it is a standard potato distribution residing on the empeg(+/- 500Mb). The kernel source is the one from the empeg web-site with all the patches installed. I got the config file from Kim Salo, as it was posted somewhere on the BBS (I own an MK2).


Frank van Gestel

I'm not sure if that will make a difference or not. If you want to compare your config file with mine I've attached it here. It was originally based on a config file I got from Mike.


Brian

-See my empeg here-

I actually compile the kernel on the empeg itself.

This got me thinking.
How did you install the kernel afterwards? Did you transfer it to your PC and then used the supplied utilities? Or is there a way to install the kernel on the empeg directly? If so, how?

cu,
sven
(MkII 12GB blue, #080000113)

Good question,sven. Me too would be interested in flashing the kernel from the empeg itself.
I currently copy it to the PC and use tony's excellent logo-editor to flash the kernel-image to the empeg.

Frank van Gestel

I currently copy it to the PC and use tony's excellent logo-editor to flash the kernel-image to the empeg.

Aw, an endorsement, thanks.(blush)

I'm glad you find that feature useful. I find it quite useful, too. Now that I've got 32-bit common dialogs working, I really like being able to use that screen to pick my kernel file.

In fact, since my program deliberately does a long-to-short filename conversion before launching Upload.exe, you can now even name your kernel files with spaces in their names if you want. I dunno if anyone caught that yet or not...

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Tony Fabris

> I'm glad you find that feature useful.
It's great...I've got a short-term memory for numbers ( and I'm afraid of writing the kernel at the wrong address ) so every time I've got to find out the right address. Now I can blame your program instead of my stupid typo when my empeg gets screwed up. hehe...

Frank van Gestel

Do we know the ".upgrade" file format? It would be really conveniant if we could put together a "developer-extra.upgrade" package that included binutils, gcc, libc6, and other packages that are of interest to programmers.

I'd love to be able to compile the kernel and other user programs, at a shell on the empeg, but I don't have the patience to manually install each package after every major release by the empeg guys. Instead, we could just tack our extras onto the end of each developer.upgrade they release.

Do we know the ".upgrade" file format?

No, we don't at the moment. There was already a thread on this subject recently... anyone have that link?

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Tony Fabris

yup ... link


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