Booting up _ Iriver / Rockbox - will try almost anything to get it working again

[Davo4309]

Hi,
I have a H300 Iriver which refuses to boot into Rockbox or Iriver. All I now get is an Iriver screen which comes prior to the loading screen. I cannot get the computer to recognize USB connection now so I have exhausted my knowledge thus far.
Is there a way to get this working again?? My understanding of the situation is that the player isn't recognizing the boot firmware. Is my assumption correct?  

[pabouk]

Do you see the Rockbox bootloader screen during booting? If not it seems that the Rockbox bootloader is not installed and the problem is probably not related to Rockbox. Which model of the player do you have? H300 is a series of players.

[Davo4309]

Thanks for answering. I assume it is a H320, there ia a 20gb toshiba drive installed. There is nothing to confirm that it is a H320 on the player. I was given this player amongst a lot of computers which I recycle to give away to kids without computers. I was hoping to give this player to my grandson.  As far as booting nothing at all, just lights up the screen with the iRiver image. David

[pabouk]

Yes, it is probably H320. The 20 GB harddisk is 5 mm thick while the 40 GB harddisk is 8 mm thick. If the harddisk was replaced there would be an extra space inside the player. There is also an American version of the player which supports DRM and has a slightly different hardware and uses different firmware.

If the player does not write "Rockbox boot loader" after turning on it means that the boot loader is not installed or the flash memory content is damaged and you cannot use the handy boot loader USB mode nor you cannot boot Rockbox without flashing the player.

I would recommend the following:
- clean the player inside including the internal connectors using for example clean isopropyl alcohol
- check the battery voltage and check whether the charging works
- try to turn on the player without the harddrive to see if it writes an error message
- check the harddrive in a computer (you would need an adapter)
- try to format the harddrive (FAT32)
- unfortunately for flashing the player when the firmware is not working you would need a special equipment

[Davo4309]

Thanks will try that. I will see if there is adaptors available in Australia and go from there.
Regards..David