Barely audible to no sound with new installation on x5

[arboreal]

  I got a used 20GB x5 off ebay that was hanging up at boot using the iaudio software.  I installed yesterday's build (7 May) and everything works fine except audio level (on files or radio).  I've seen a couple of similar posts in the archives but no answers on them.  I've read through the x5 rockbox manual, the FAQ, and searched a number of forums and the web to no avail.

  With Rockbox it now boots fine and has no problems with file transfer, text or image view.  All the menus appear to work just fine as well.

  In working through this, I've also installed the previous daily build (6 May) , as well as the build recommended for Mark Coleman's blackglass V2 theme (http://members.a1.net/maxwen/rockbox/rockbox-20070320.zip).

Finally, I've reformatted the drive (Fat32) and reinstalled the build from 7 May.

I've reset the settings on all three builds after install.

  Using all three builds the sound varies between complete silence, to hiss that increases with volume, to extremely faint but correct sound (same faint sound at all volume levels except mute).  I haven't been able to figure out a pattern of why sometimes it is completely silent or faint at all.  

  This is for both mp3 and ogg files and using the headphone jack with headphones that are known to work.  The line out jack is completely silent.

  On the first play of one ogg file, there was good sound for just a split second and then it became faint again.

  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[elborak]

Are you certain there's not a hardware problem? One common failure mode of many models of MP3 player is for the headphone jack to come loose or to lift a trace from the PCB.

[saratoga]

Confirm that the iaudio firmware works correctly.  If it does not, then rockbox is unlikely to.

[arboreal]

Good points, thanks.  I was told that the player funtioned perfectly before the boot hang started and that it wasn't dropped or otherwise abused, but I should know better than to take an ebay statement at face value.  I'll work on getting the Iaudio working first.