Creative ZEN

[chrisjj]

Two more crash cases added to http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,13462.msg221281.html#msg221281 . The common factor seems to be the return to Files after playing.

[chrisjj]

Your link seems broken, I get a 404 error.

Oops, my reply of a week ago seems to have go lost. Sorry.

Amaury, that link worked when I tried it. And it works now. I guess your fail might have been due to Dropbox delay. Does it now succeed for you?

[chrisjj]

Update to http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,13462.msg221281.html#msg221281 re sensitivity to sub-folder.

[pamaury]

I changed the lcd power up sequence slightly in a recent commit, hopefully this should fix most of black/white screen issues.
On my ZEN the screen sometimes becomes partly white after backlight wake up, I have no fix currently, other than waiting for backlight to go off and on again.

[chrisjj]

I changed the lcd power up sequence slightly in a recent commit, hopefully this should fix most of black/white screen issues.

I just took  http://build.rockbox.org/data/rockbox-creativezen.zip. rockbox-info.txt now says Version: 1ef7b65-131119 .

The "return to Files" crash remains - details at http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,13462.msg221281.html#msg221281 .

Amaury, did you succeed in reproducing this crash at your end?

[pamaury]

I succeeded once so far but that's not enought to debug it.

[chrisjj]

I succeeded once so far but that's not enought to debug it.

OK, thanks. I take that to mean you don't see the 100% occurrence that I do. Would it help if I posted you a unit showing the 100% occurrence?

[chrisjj]

Amaury, it might help to know of this difference between the two versions I have tried, when upon the Return to Files crash, I see the Data Abort page and press Power to get a reboot.

On Version b170c73-131110, I see the screen go black then the CREATIVE logo appears. Reboot has succeeded.

On Version: 1ef7b65-131119, I see either the screen go white or the lettering go very light (giving a display that could be mistaken from solid white), and then no change. Reboot has failed. To reboot, I have to reset.

[chrisjj]

On my ZEN the screen sometimes becomes partly white after backlight wake up, I have no fix currently, other than waiting for backlight to go off and on again.

I assume "backlight wakeup" means exit from standby*.

I see Version 1ef7b65-131119 has "zen/zenxfi: implement lcd standby". Here standby causes the screen to go solid white. Keypress causes it variously to return to the regular image OK, or to a wrecked version which is largely white, with vertical stripes, and uncapturable by Screendump.

Chris

* By standby, I mean the state in which the ZEN enters upon expiry of the Settings "Backlight" period following a key press. This seems to be what http://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-ipodvideo/rockbox-buildch8.html#x11-1560008.6.2 calles "the backlight shines after a key press".

[pamaury]

Apparently, delete the .playlist_control file seems to help to reproduce the bug. It appears that the problem might come from the sd/mmc driver.
For the lcd, I think I'm going to disable standby completely and simply turn off backlight because it is too unreliable at the moment. I don't know why this lcd is so picky.

[chrisjj]

Apparently, delete the .playlist_control file seems to help to reproduce the bug.

Here, delete the .playlist_control file reduces the crash frequency. I'm guessing that is just because the frequency is generally sensitive to state of the storage. Once I've got the storage in a state that gives 100% crash, a change of state of the storage that has any effect can only reduce it below 100%.

For the lcd, I think I'm going to disable standby completely and simply turn off backlight because it is too unreliable at the moment.

Sounds wise, esp. since it seems to be obstructing reboot. Perhaps it is crashing the device silently (without an Abort report), thereby killing Power button service.

But I'd be interested to know: what effect does standby aim for other than just turning off backlight?

[pamaury]

Standby has nothing to do with backlight: it turns the lcd off to save power. You cannot see the difference since backlight is off.

I found the bug which causes the crash, it is not related to the ZEN. We have a pending patch under review, it should be comitted soon.

[chrisjj]

Standby has nothing to do with backlight: it turns the lcd off to save power.

Ah, I see. Thanks.

I found the bug which causes the crash, it is not related to the ZEN. We have a pending patch under review, it should be comitted soon.

Well done! I'll watch for the commit.

[MRJOE8010]

Thanks for reviving my tired Zen, the SD card integrates perfectly into the database which is just what I was looking for.  I am having two display issues though, on all screens the background is displaying vertical lines in dim colored dots.  The WPS now playing screen is not formatted, all the info is there but the theme (CabbieV2) is not applied.  Alternate fonts and some themes seem to work well on the menu screen but even applying failsafe or default icons can cause "Data abort at 60050298". Great work so far, looking forward to getting the kinks worked out.

[chrisjj]

Which version? I'm using RB Version ...-131119 on an 8GB ZEN.

on all screens the background is displaying vertical lines in dim colored dots.

I see similar, but only after standby.

The WPS now playing screen is not formatted, all the info is there but the theme (CabbieV2) is not applied.  Alternate fonts and some themes seem to work well on the menu screen but even applying failsafe or default icons can cause "Data abort at 60050298".

FWIW, all those features work fine here.