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Bear with me - mini 2g problem
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Topic: Bear with me - mini 2g problem (Read 3721 times)
Vair
Member
Posts: 8
Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
on:
December 04, 2007, 11:45:45 AM »
I have (or had) a semi-functional mini 2g. It suicided itself (threw itself into the toilet) a few months ago. A couple of days ago I discovered that it was working again but that the LCD was still busted. I figured that I could still use it if I loaded rockbox with speech support.
After a number of attempts I got the rbutil to recognise it as an iPod (on a 10.4 mac here and an originally Mac formatted iPod) and loaded it up. Everything looked OK but after I ejected and disconnected it, the backlight stayed on. No amount of holding down the menu button would turn off the backlight. When I plugged it back into the USB port, nothing happened: backlight stayed on nothing mounts. I popped open the terminal to see if I could find it in /Volumes and there was a folder in there with the right name but, it seems, that's all it was. A folder, containing the .rockbox folder. I removed it, reconnected the iPod and... nothing.
So, I put the iPod on a shelf overnight (makes a cute nightlight with the backlight stuck on) just to see if letting it decharge would make a difference but nada. Plugged into the box today, it just powers on the backlight and sits there like an overpriced USB lamp.
So, sorry for the long story and thanks for reading. Does anyone have any ideas about how I can get the computer to recognise the mini? I'd love to get rockbox running on it, just for the kicks, but I'd settle for a working USB storage device.
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Chronon
Rockbox Expert
Member
Posts: 4383
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #1 on:
December 04, 2007, 12:19:44 PM »
A first thing to try if it gets stuck like that would be the reset key combination (Menu + Select). See if you can get it to boot and shut down properly after you have reset it.
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Sansa e280, Gigabeat F40, Gigabeat S60, Sansa Clip+, iPod Mini 2g
Vair
Member
Posts: 8
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #2 on:
December 04, 2007, 01:07:21 PM »
It's not, as far as I can tell, responding to the manual reset. I've tried it a number of times now. The backlight stays stuck on and I don't hear anything through the headphones (such as a faint click) which might suggest that it's resetting. I have the voice files installed (theoretically) so, even if it's resetting into RB, I should expect to hear something, right? If it's working that is?
In case the backlight is just plain stuck on and the unit is silently resetting, I've tried holding down the MENU+SELECT buttons for different periods of time and sliding the HOLD switch to ON but I haven't had any success with that approach yet.
Someone has suggested to me that if I can't get it to reset via the scrollwheel, I might be able to reset it by disconnecting the battery. I'm wondering if I could leave it to discharge (backlight goes out when left alone overnight) and try to get it to load the apple firmware by turning hold ON before charging it back up?
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Vair
Member
Posts: 8
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #3 on:
December 04, 2007, 01:27:19 PM »
Well! That worked - discharged rather sooner than I expected and I gave it a shot. I can now see the iPod on the computer and in iTunes. I took a look in the disk and the .rockbox folder was empty so I assume the rbutil installed rockbox in that mysterious folder I found in /Volumes with the same name as the iPod instead of on the iPod itself.
I'm also assuming that the inability to reset the iPod is a problem with the iPod hardware itself rather than rockbox.
I'm going to play around with this more later and see if I can get things working properly. Until then, thanks for your patience
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Chronon
Rockbox Expert
Member
Posts: 4383
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #4 on:
December 04, 2007, 02:19:39 PM »
You mentioned that it was formerly an HFS+ formatted iPod. How did you convert it to FAT32?
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Sansa e280, Gigabeat F40, Gigabeat S60, Sansa Clip+, iPod Mini 2g
Vair
Member
Posts: 8
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #5 on:
December 04, 2007, 02:32:57 PM »
I followed the instructions here
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IpodConversionToFAT32
Though it took a number of goes to get it to take.
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Chronon
Rockbox Expert
Member
Posts: 4383
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #6 on:
December 04, 2007, 02:57:32 PM »
I guess that RButil properly recognizing it as an iPod and proceeding with installation should have told me that the formatting was okay. I just wanted to double check.
It sounds like RButil installed the bootloader and then something went wrong during the firmware installation. You could give RButil another shot, or you can try extracting the rockbox.zip (available from the "current build" page) to the root of your player. I know some mac users have issues getting it to extract properly as a directory named ".rockbox" so make sure that it does this properly. You might have to rename via the terminal to get the right name.
Oh, by the way, please use the modify feature if no one else has posted since your last post.
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Sansa e280, Gigabeat F40, Gigabeat S60, Sansa Clip+, iPod Mini 2g
Vair
Member
Posts: 8
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #7 on:
December 04, 2007, 03:09:06 PM »
Assuming that the bootloader is installed OK, I copied the rockbox.zip folder onto the ipod and extracted it in place. I've got the .rockbox folder, looks fine. I used rbutil to add the english.voice file, and that shows up fine too. Ejected, reset (light came on, I think that means the reset worked from the apple side) but didn't hear anything. Quite probably though, it's because the battery was still very low after decharging it overnight. I've got it plugged into the wall charger now and I'm going to give it a couple of hours before checking it out.
Having said this, I can't remember if I left it in the apple firmware or rockbox - it will charge in rockbox mode, right? That's taken care of in hardware, isn't it?
Edit (advice noted!): Curiosity got the better of me, and I'm glad it did. It was in apple mode (I put a song on it in itunes and some other songs directly onto the disk so I would be able to tell by listening). When I tried to reset it, I realised that it was not resetting into rockbox mode, it was just turning on the backlight which is the default behaviour when you hold down the menu button for two seconds. Pressing play confirmed that I was still listening to the song on the iTunes side. This confirms that it's the device that has a problem with resetting - nothing to do with rockbox. Perhaps the select button is faulty, since I haven't been able to test that properly.
So... I guess I'm stuck waiting for it to discharge again and reboot itself into rockbox, then charge it up again for a couple of hours.
It
does
charge in rockbox mode, right?
«
Last Edit: December 04, 2007, 03:16:48 PM by Vair
»
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Chronon
Rockbox Expert
Member
Posts: 4383
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #8 on:
December 04, 2007, 03:16:20 PM »
That all sounds promising so far.
Yes, charging is handled in hardware. I recall at one time that the presence of a wall charger would cause the iPod to reboot into Disk Mode unless "Menu" was held during insertion of the cable. Disk Mode would then reset the player after failing to find a USB host. Rockbox would boot, detect the USB charger and reboot into Disk Mode, etc. However, there's a new USB stack for the PortalPlayer targets that requests the full current from the host so I'm not sure what the current behavior is regarding wall chargers. It may be safer to leave the Hold switch on while charging so that if it does reboot it goes into the Apple firmware, thereby negating the possibility of any loops. Good luck! (Going to lunch now. . .)
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Sansa e280, Gigabeat F40, Gigabeat S60, Sansa Clip+, iPod Mini 2g
Vair
Member
Posts: 8
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #9 on:
December 04, 2007, 03:18:49 PM »
...
I edited my last post to reflect my new discoveries which, having read your post, may have some significance.
Have a nice lunch!
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Chronon
Rockbox Expert
Member
Posts: 4383
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #10 on:
December 04, 2007, 04:29:12 PM »
Yes, it charges fine in Rockbox. However, without a Select button your options for starting Rockbox are limited. I think that disconnecting the battery may be the only way to do this now since holding Play in the Apple firmware only enters a sleep mode and does not actually turn the iPod off. It's starting to sound like a lot of work for a half-broken player.
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Sansa e280, Gigabeat F40, Gigabeat S60, Sansa Clip+, iPod Mini 2g
Vair
Member
Posts: 8
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #11 on:
December 04, 2007, 05:43:52 PM »
Yep, it's a lot of work. But I had nothing much else to do today. The select button, I've since discovered, does work because I can cycle through the menus and count the differing number of clicks. In fact, it seems as though all the buttons work but that pressing firmly causes the wheel's edges to sink down below the edge of the case - if I press the menu button firmly, it sometimes also activates the forward or back button - and I think this problem is what's preventing the double press from working properly.
Now, I realise that while I'm in the apple's firmware, it's going to be a big hassle trying to get it to discharge unless I can find the menu list that will take me to the repeat option in settings and run it overnight (or however long it takes depending on the level of charge).
But, yes, having to do that every time I add or change content on the computer means that it really won't be worth the effort. And I guess, I can still use like a shuffle and an external USB drive. Maybe I'll come back at a later date and see if any future improvements to Rockbox make it a feesable option.
Thanks a ton for your help and patience.
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cool_walking_
Rockbox Expert
Member
Posts: 695
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #12 on:
December 04, 2007, 07:19:02 PM »
I believe this may be helpful:
http://www.wikihow.com/Escape-from-a-Bear
However, since the Bear is with you, you may not have time to read that article, so I will try to give you what I feel is the most important point:
If the bear tries to eat you, do not let it - this may be detrimental to your health. Fight back.
Good luck!
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Chronon
Rockbox Expert
Member
Posts: 4383
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #13 on:
December 05, 2007, 02:08:04 AM »
I guess not pressing the Menu button so hard should help, then.
Place the iPod on a table or flat surface
Turn the Hold switch on, then back off
Gently press the Menu and Select buttons -- you should be able to feel when the buttons have
Keep holding these buttons, being careful not to wiggle your fingers
Hopefully you can get the iPod to reset by doing this. I don't have a whole lot else to offer unless you can get Rockbox to load, unfortunately.
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Sansa e280, Gigabeat F40, Gigabeat S60, Sansa Clip+, iPod Mini 2g
Vair
Member
Posts: 8
Re: Bear with me - mini 2g problem
«
Reply #14 on:
December 05, 2007, 09:07:32 AM »
Yes, I have experimented with various differing levels of pressure on the buttons but with no luck, I'm sad to say. Gentle presses just result in the 2-second backlight toggle, as though only the menu button were being held down. I don't hold out much hope for it to start working properly now but I'll continue to give it a go from time to time and if I ever succeed, I'll let you know
Anyway, thanks again for your assistance Chronon. I appreciate the time you've taken to help me out.
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