serial log at power up (ip: 192.168.1.102) :


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 2.2.17-rmk5-np17-empeg52-hijack-v488 (hijack@rtr.ca) (gcc version 2.95.3 20010315 (release)) #2 Fri Feb 15 10:29:26 EST 2008
Processor: Intel StrongARM-1100 revision 11
Checking for extra DRAM:
c1000000: wrote ffffffff, read e28cc001
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.94.1 (c) 1998 Corel Computer Corp.
empeg-car player (hardware revision 9, serial number 30102286) 16MB DRAM
Command line: mem=16m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15000k/16M available (992k code, 20k reserved, 368k 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 20706d65 'emp '
Found custom animation at offset 0x9a38c
Tuner: loopback=0, ID=-1
show_message("Hijack v488 by Mark Lord")
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 d0004680).
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...
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x0080
hdb: ST9808211A, ATA DISK drive
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x0000
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaaaa
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5555
hda: IBM-DJSA-220, ATA DISK drive
hdb: ST9808211A, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x000-0x007,0x038 on irq 6
hda: IBM-DJSA-220, 19077MB w/1874kB Cache, CHS=38760/16/63
hdb: ST9808211A, 76319MB w/8192kB Cache, CHS=9729/255/63
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:d7:26:08:ee
Partition check:
hda: hda1 < hda5 hda6 > hda2 hda3 hda4
hdb: unknown 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...VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
change_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 parattempt to access beyond end of device
tition
03:44: rw=0, want=2, limit=0
dev 03:44 blksize=1024 blocknr=1 sector=2 size=1024 count=1
EXT2-fs: unable to read superblock
Tried to mount /dev/hdc4 but got error 22
Error mounting partitions (possibly already mounted)
Remounting first music partition read-only
Remounting second music partition read-only
No secondary hard disk
Press 'q' now to go into development mode. You Have Zero Seconds To ComðStarting player
Timezone: Atlantic/South_Georgia
player.cpp : 385:empeg-car 2.01 2004/07/06.
! tags.cpp : 61:Failed to open tags (0xc0041002).
Prolux 4 empeg car - 2.1434 Jul 5 2004
Vcb: 0x4086d000

Mmm.. is this a completely "blank" player (no tunes or playlists installed yet) ?

I think the Hijack servers do not start up unless a config.ini file exists on the player. That's something I ought to fix someday, but it is easier to just create the config.ini file.

Connect using ckermit or putty or even hyperterm over the serial cable, hit control^C, and type these commands at the prompt:

rwm
echo "[hijack]" >> /empeg/var/config.ini
rom
exit

Then cycle the power and try again.

Cheers

it's complete blank

log from diskbuild:


warning: can't open /etc/mtab: No such file or directory
Setting up swapspace version 0, size = 17027072 bytes
Warning: insecure permissions 0644, 0600 suggested
Adding Swap: 16628k swap-space (priority -1)
Making first drive...
mke2fs 1.14, 9-Jan-1999 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09
ext2fs_check_if_mount: No such file or directory while determining whether /dev/ hda4 is mounted.
Linux ext2 filesystem format
Filesystem label=
152000 inodes, 19451880 blocks
0 blocks (0.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=1
Block size=1024 (log=0)
Fragment size=1024 (log=0)
2375 block groups
8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group
64 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
8193, 24577, 40961, 57345, 73729, 204801, 221185, 401409, 663553,
1024001, 1990657, 2809857, 5120001, 5971969, 17915905,

Writdone
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

real 1m19.953s
user 0m0.450s
sys 0m5.430s
Partitioning second drive...
Partitioning /dev/hdb
hdb: hdb1 < hdb5 hdb6 > hdb2 hdb3 hdb4
Initialising /dev/hdb complete
Making second drive...
mke2fs 1.14, 9-Jan-1999 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09
ext2fs_check_if_mount: No such file or directory while determining whether /dev/hdb4 is mounted.
Linux ext2 filesystem format
Filesystem label=
609728 inodes, 78043770 blocks
0 blocks (0.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=1
Block size=1024 (log=0)
Fragment size=1024 (log=0)
9527 block groups
8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group
64 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
8193, 24577, 40961, 57345, 73729, 204801, 221185, 401409, 663553,
1024001, 1990657, 2809857, 5120001, 5971969, 17915905, 19668993,
25600001, 53747713,

Writing inode tables: done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

real 4m2.952s
user 0m1.890s
sys 0m14.420s
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
Stressing /dev/hda: Spinning down.
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
Stressing /dev/hda: Spinning up.
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
Speed checking /dev/hda3
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
Read/write of 8Mb took 6.64 seconds
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
Stressing /dev/hda: Spinning down.
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
Stressing /dev/hda: Spinning up.
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
Stressing /dev/hda: Spinning down.
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
Stressing /dev/hda: Spinning up.
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
hdstress.cpp 189 ( 54): Poll result=0 on fd=5
Drive length is 39070080 blocks, seek testing

The serial output seems to indicate it's doing the stress test, meaning the player software hasn't been installed. It looks like all it has in place is the builder, not the player. I think you need the player softare and hijack in place before FTP will work. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?

as i wrote the log is from the diskbuild process

Okay. Why?

I thought maybe we were still working on the bad sectors (?).

Cheers

weare.. i just wrote the log so you could see whee i was in the progress...

for now i have done:

1. diskbuild
2. install ver 2.01 devel
3. installed newest hijack
4. run the commands:

rwm
echo "[hijack]" >> /empeg/var/config.ini

but it says that the command row can not be found... but there is the commands ro and rom (pressing the tab key)...

edit: none of those 2 did work

He meant "rom".

Yes. Thanks Bitt. Now fixed in original posting.

the commands did the work.. did not even had to cycle power

Restored terminal settings
Remounting first music partition read-only
Remounting second music partition read-only
Abnormal player termination
Player received SIGINT, user interruption
Switching to shell-player loop
Starting bash.
empeg:/empeg/bin# rwm
empeg:/empeg/bin#
empeg:/empeg/bin# echo "[hijack]" >> /empeg/var/config.ini
empeg:/empeg/bin# rom
empeg:/empeg/bin# exit
logout
Shell exit
Starting player
Timezone: Atlantic/South_Georgia
Hijack: intercepting config.ini

hijack: removed menu entry: "Hard Disk Detection"
hijack: removed menu entry: "Serial Port Assignment"
khttpd: listening on port 80
kftpd: listening on port 21
player.cpp : 587:empeg-car 3.00-alpha11 2005/07/25.
! tags.cpp : 61:Failed to open tags (0xc0041002).
Prolux 4 empeg car - 2.1485 Jul 25 2005
Vcb: 0x4073a000

i did get the .bin file to player by reading the faq..

right now i'm doing the test as the faq says... but no errors for hda so far...

is it usefull if i put together a guide?

got errors on /dev/hdc:

Linux version 2.2.17-rmk5-np17-empeg52-hijack-v488 (hijack@rtr.ca) (gcc version 2.95.3 20010315 (release)) #2 Fri Feb 15 10:29:26 EST 2008
Processor: Intel StrongARM-1100 revision 11
Checking for extra DRAM:
c1000000: wrote ffffffff, read e28cc001
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.94.1 (c) 1998 Corel Computer Corp.
empeg-car player (hardware revision 9, serial number 30102286) 16MB DRAM
Command line: mem=16m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15000k/16M available (992k code, 20k reserved, 368k 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 20706d65 'emp '
Found custom animation at offset 0x9a38c
Tuner: loopback=0, ID=-1
show_message("Hijack v488 by Mark Lord")
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 d0005400).
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...
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x0080
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x0000
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaaaa
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5555
hda: IBM-DJSA-220, ATA DISK drive
hdb: ST9808211A, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x000-0x007,0x038 on irq 6
hda: IBM-DJSA-220, 19077MB w/1874kB Cache, CHS=38760/16/63
hdb: ST9808211A, 76319MB w/8192kB Cache, CHS=9729/255/63
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:d7:26:08:ee
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.
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
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
Timezone: Atlantic/South_Georgia
Hijack: intercepting config.ini

hijack: removed menu entry: "Hard Disk Detection"
hijack: removed menu entry: "Serial Port Assignment"
khttpd: listening on port 80
kftpd: listening on port 21
player.cpp : 587:empeg-car 3.00-alpha11 2005/07/25.
! tags.cpp : 61:Failed to open tags (0xc0041002).
Prolux 4 empeg car - 2.1485 Jul 25 2005
Vcb: 0x4073a000
Restored terminal settings
Remounting first music partition read-only
Remounting second music partition read-only
Abnormal player termination
Player received SIGINT, user interruption
Switching to shell-player loop
Starting bash.
empeg:/empeg/bin# cd /tmp
empeg:/tmp# ./smartctl.bin -l error /dev/hdc
smartctl version 5.33 [arm-empeg-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-4 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Error Log Version: 1
Warning: ATA error count 0 inconsistent with error log pointer 4

ATA Error Count: 0
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 0 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 3887 hours (161 days + 23 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in a vendor specific state.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
51 01 01 00 00 43 a1 Error: UNC, IDNF, AMNF at LBA = 0x01430000 = 21168128

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
40 20 fe f9 6f 00 00 f6 12d+10:16:25.350 READ VERIFY SECTOR(S)
00 20 fd f9 6f 00 00 f6 00:00:43.016 NOP [Reserved subcommand]
00 20 fb f9 6f 00 00 f6 00:00:40.968 NOP [Reserved subcommand]
00 20 f9 f9 6f 00 00 f6 00:00:38.920 NOP [Reserved subcommand]
00 20 f7 f9 6f 00 00 f6 00:00:36.872 NOP [Reserved subcommand]

Error -1 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 34824 hours (1451 days + 0 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in an unknown state.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
19 43 f7 51 01 00 00 Error:

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
00 19 f7 20 0a 76 0d 2f 00:14:28.352 NOP [Reserved subcommand]
00 18 f7 20 ce 74 0d ef 00:14:11.968 NOP [Reserved subcommand]
00 18 f7 20 97 74 0d af 00:14:11.968 NOP [Reserved subcommand]
00 18 f7 20 8e 74 0d 6f 00:14:11.968 NOP [Reserved subcommand]
00 18 f7 20 31 98 0d 2f 00:14:11.968 NOP [Reserved subcommand]

Error -2 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 0 hours (0 days + 0 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in a vendor specific state.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
d0 00 6f 16 f7 51 01

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
76 cf 6f 16 f7 20 0a 02 22d+22:06:06.861 SEEK [RET-4]
74 cf 2f 16 f7 20 ce 02 22d+16:20:57.485 SEEK [RET-4]
74 cf ef 15 f7 20 97 02 22d+15:20:53.005 SEEK [RET-4]
74 cf af 15 f7 20 8e 02 22d+15:11:03.181 SEEK [RET-4]
74 cf 6f 15 f7 20 87 02 22d+15:03:24.429 SEEK [RET-4]

Error -3 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 3721 hours (155 days + 1 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 d0 ef 12 f7 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0712efd0 = 118681552

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
20 00 02 cf ef 12 f7 00 6d+09:37:51.899 READ SECTOR(S)
20 00 02 cf af 12 f7 00 6d+09:37:51.888 READ SECTOR(S)
20 00 02 cf 6f 12 f7 00 6d+09:37:51.883 READ SECTOR(S)
20 00 02 cf 2f 12 f7 00 6d+09:37:51.879 READ SECTOR(S)
20 00 02 cf ef 11 f7 00 6d+09:37:51.873 READ SECTOR(S)

Error -4 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 0 hours (0 days + 0 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was in an unknown state.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
00 00 00 43 a1 01 00

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
d0 00 0d 00 00 40 00 8a 40d+09:21:05.071 [RESERVED]
cf 00 0d 00 00 00 02 81 40d+04:43:38.927 [RESERVED]
cf 00 0d 00 00 00 02 76 40d+04:43:38.863 [RESERVED]
cf 00 0d 00 00 00 02 6f 40d+04:43:38.799 [RESERVED]
cf ff 0c 00 00

sorry but empeg:/tmp# ./smartctl.bin -l error /dev/hdc freezed so thats why the sudden stop

Okay, so smartctl tells us that the drive definitely has media errors -- and so there is no need to blame the cables/connectors (yet).

If you have the patience to continue writing zeros until all of the errors are repaired, then go for it. But at this point I would pull the drive and send it in for a warranty replacement.

Or at least install it in a PC and run a Seagate low-level format on it. That is, assuming that Seagate provides software (web site?) to do this, like other manufacturers.

Cheers

Google seems to have found it for me.

Or, on a more modern Linux system (than the empeg),
one could use: hdparm --security-erase NULL /dev/sdc

Cheers

i have the time, but can i do the "zero fill" thing in the empeg?

the problem is that the disk is an OEM from seagate and i can't remember how i got it

and i would be happy if i could avoid opening my laptop to repair the drive

btw... can i configure network on the player through putty?

for some reason my old laptop cant find the player through emplode but it can with putty (the drives spins up when opening emplode but it will go on searching for the player forever - if setting it to search my network it finds it in a flash)

i just want to assign the player a fixed ip

If you don't have anything that you care about in the config.ini file, then just connect over serial again, and do this:

## Hit control^C to get a shell prompt, then do:

## Enable read/write access to all disks:
rwm

## Replace config.ini with new contents,
## (edit the IP addresses below to suit your network):
cat << EOF > /empeg/var/config.ini
[Network]
Gateway=192.168.0.1
Netmask=255.255.255.0
IPAddress=192.168.0.9
EOF

## Switch back to read-only disk access again:
rom

## Restart the player s/w:
exit

Sure, just keep attempting the 11-hour operation until it succeeds completely:

cat /dev/zero > /dev/hdc

But on a PC, a reformat/erase operation would take only a single attempt, and complete in less than an hour.

Cheers

Mmm.. perhaps I really should update the empeg's IDE (disk) drivers to support modern hdparm features. Then we could simply let hdparm fix the bad sectors, or do the erase operation, etc..

Not for one person, though, but the need for this sort of thing does seem to be growing in general.

Someday perhaps..

Okay, I'm actually having a go at this now, hopefully for Hijack v490.

Awesome. Thanks for all the work you've put in on this, Mark.

Okay, it is done.

wow... have to have a look at it

sorry for the late answer..

i have done a very careful inspect of the whole mainboard... no bad solders or loose conectors