Rockbox kernel panic - defaulting to original firmware

[erinspice]

hi! after about 6 months of using Rockbox successfully, my iPod won't boot anymore and gives me a Kernel panic instead. My iPod then says "defaulting to original firmware" and boots the Apple firmware. I'd like to remove Rockbox, but I can't get Windows to recognize my iPod. I've tried all the steps that Apple and other iPod related forums have suggested, like performing a hard reset on the iPod,  upgrading iTunes, restarting my computer, and restarting the Windows iPod service. My only idea now is that somehow this original firmware (which is 2 years old) can't connect to the new version of iTunes. How can I remove Rockbox if my computer doesn't recogize the iPod when plugged in and Rockbox won't boot?

[bluebrother]

You probably have the old bootloader - new build issue. To solve that, simply upgrade the bootloader using ipodpatcher to the latest version.

For accessing the ipod use emergency disk mode. To enter that mode, reset the ipod (by holding Menu + Select) and when it resets (i.e. the apple logo appears) hold down Play + Select. This will enter emergency disk mode and you can access the ipod as a mass storage device. To leave emergency disk mode you need to reset the ipod again.

[erinspice]

Thanks, I tried to put it in disk mode already... I'll try again, but it didn't work last time.

Edited to add: nope, my computer still doesn't recognize that it is plugged in. It can, however, recognize other mass storage devices.

[bluebrother]

if emergency disk mode doesn't work you have a serious problem with the hardware as it is a buildin mode. Make sure to press the buttons soon enough, it happend a couple of times that users did this button press too late (on my ipod it's before the backlight comes up, directly after the (unlit) apple logo appears -- no idea how it looks on color ipods)

[erinspice]

It went into disk mode, my computer just still doesn't see it.

[bluebrother]

Possible reasons:
- a hub between ipod and computer does unwanted things
- bad cable -- if possible, try a different cable
- your computer doesn't like the ipod as generic device -- try a different computer or different OS

[erinspice]

Thanks for helping me on this.  I'm not using a hub.  I just tried to connect it to my husband's Fedora Core 6 machine, and not only did it not mount, it didn't even create a device for it! Uh oh.

[bluebrother]

I sometimes have the same issue (computer doesn't recognize the Ipod, running on FC5). Check the output of dmesg and fdisk -- possibly your partitions are messed up (in which case it won't appear as a drive, neither in Windows nor Linux)

[erinspice]

dmesg says:

ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.0: auto-wakeup
usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 13
usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usb 1-2: USB disconnect, address 13
usb 3-1: USB disconnect, address 2

How can I fdisk it if Linux doesn't create a device for it?

[bluebrother]

Sorry, I possibly was a bit unclear. dmesg won't show you if the system created a device file for the Ipod. To me it looks like the ipod is detected (and the "disconnect" line gets added when you disconnect the Ipod). You can run "fdisk -l", this will display the partition table for all attached disks. Check for the disk size to find the Ipod. The Ipod also has (if the partition table on it isn't broken) a partition of type 0 (empty).

[erinspice]

fdisk only finds the two internal drives.

[bluebrother]

Then you should check the cable. If that is not the cause I don't have any other ideas -- but it unfortunately seems to be a hardware issue.

[erinspice]

OK, thanks, I'll see if I can get somebody to loan me one to test.

[erinspice]

Updating for anybody else who has this problem - my real problem was that USB doesn't work on my mini. I hooked it up with a Firewire cable and was able to get rid of Rockbox and put the original firmware back on. Now I just have to figure out how to fix the USB interface. Does anyone know? Is this a known issue?

[bluebrother]

My Mini works fine with usb -- have you checked the usb cable? There is no known issue with usb being unfunctional, but there is a known issue (which happens rarely, but it is known) Rockbox hanging at the usb screen when trying to reboot into disk mode. But this is somewhat different to the problem you described initially ...