iriver H10 20GB problems

[PSBlake]

I've been playing around with Rockbox on my H10 for a while now, and recently, it has begun behaving erratically.  I update at least weekly, and starting about a month ago, I began experiencing random lockups during play.  At times, I could pause playback, then press play again and all would be well.  At other times, the unit became completely unresponsive to all input, even though the "lock" switch was in the unlocked position.

More recently, the unit has taken to going into complete lockup when I use the "resume playback" function, or attempt to load a bookmark.  The "Loading" dialog will show, but the unit will completely freeze, and will not respond to controls.  I've waited 10 minutes and more, so it is not simply a case of me being impatient.

Now the unit completely fails to load audio files at all.  It will lockup on the "loading" dialog.  Additionally, the screen will remain active, although the settings are configured to power it off within 5 seconds.  I have attempted backing up the contents of the h10, then re-formatting its drive.  When I restored the contents, it still suffered from the same problems.  I then attempted re-installing Rockbox freshly, complete with the most recent bootloader.  Now the unit refuses to boot beyond the initial iriver splash screen.

Any advice would be more than welcome.

[LambdaCalculus]

What's the last SVN build you've been using before this happened? Also, is yours a 5/6GB unit, or a 20GB unit?

From what I've gathered from some recent posts, it looks like some of the PortalPlayer targets are having some pretty bad problems, ranging from data abort errors to frequent lockups.

I can't tell for sure what the extent of the issues can be. My iPod video is running SVN build r14640-070908, and is doing just fine right now. But like I said, I'm not sure what the extent is. Maybe a search on the forums might turn something up?

[PSBlake]

It's a 20GB version, as stated in the subject of this thread.  

As for the SVN, there's really no telling.  I recall having these problems as long ago as 6 weeks, but not to this extent.  How recently was the H10 bootloader updated?  Is there somewhere that older bootloaders are archived?

[PSBlake]

As a temporary fix, I've rolled back to r13749-070701, which works well enough.

[bluebrother]

Can you try several archived builds to narrow down when the problem was introduced?

[pixelma]

And also: do you use voice?

[vencabot_teppoo]

Hello all; this is my first post here, but I hope that, with some instruction, I can also help to resolve this matter with some testing.

I just purchased an H10 specifically for use with RockBox (delicious FLACs...), but I just installed the "current build" and am having the exact same problems. Everything boots fine, but whenever I try to play the one MP3 file that I uploaded to it (as a test file), I get a "Loading..." message, but then the player locks up and I have to reboot with the "reset" button.

Since I just purchased this player, I promptly went back to the iRiver firmware and tried playing the same file. I've played it a few times now, and it works perfectly, so it must be a problem with the Box -- and, from what I've read here, a recently introduced one.

I'm going to try installing an older build (the same one that the OP suggested, if I can find it) to see if that solves the problem.

-David

[vencabot_teppoo]

Me again! I don't know if I was clear enough in my last message, but I, too, have a 20gb H10 with RockBox installed. When I installed yesterday's "current build," I was immediately having the lock-up issues that the OP mentioned: that is, when I tried to load a song, my player was stuck with a "Loading..." message. I also had the problem when using the Data Base's search functions.

Since then, I rolled back to the earliest RockBox build that I could find (r14288-070812), and I've been astounded at the quality of this firmware. For crying out loud, it's awesome... but I'll take my worship to the General board later. Suffice to say, I had absolutely no problems with r14288 after a few hours of play. I was so content that I almost didn't want to continue experimenting, but if there's anything that I can do to contribute to this project...

So anyway, I skipped right to r14560-070901 after that, figuring that, if I got the same problem, I could then narrow it down to being somewhere in August. I've been listening to it on that firmware for about a half hour now, and I haven't had any problems, so, unless my playlist starts freezing up or something, I'd bet that the problem was introduced somewhere between now and the beginning of the month. I'll keep testing, though.

-David

[vencabot_teppoo]

Well, I'm done with my testing, I think, but I didn't get as definitive a result as I was hoping for. I played with the firmware pretty extensively, bobbing from date to date to narrow down where I noticed the change. On the Sep. 3 build, I had no problems. On the Sep. 5 build, and for every build beyond it, I locked up with a "Loading..." message when I attempted to play a file.

On the Sep. 4 build, I also locked up. I was surprised, since I had expected Sep. 5 to be the dividing line, so I rebooted the H10 to make sure that it was indeed -070904. It was, so I figured I'd try to play the file again... This time, no problems.

Now, I had chalked this problem up to being 100% reproducible -- an assumption that I made because, when I first had the problem on the Sep. 11 build, I tried three times and got the same frozen screen every time. Since then, I never booted any firmware more than once: if it froze, I moved onto the next firmware, and if it didn't, I listened to a couple of albums and called it error-free.

At least for the Sep. 4 firmware, rebooting the H10 seems to have fixed the problem. I'll keep using it for awhile, to see if it freezes again, and when... In the mean-time, I'd say that I THINK the problem was introduced around Sep. 3 - Sep. 5.

If there's anything else you'd like me to test, I'd be happy to follow any instructions that you give to help fix this problem.

-David

[vencabot_teppoo]

Getting sleepy, but want to make this last post. I'm still using the Sep. 4 build, and it hasn't given me much trouble, except now it won't boot Rockbox at all; it just freezes on the Rockbox splash, with the "Loading..." message. In this case, though, I think that it could be a battery issue... The player is pretty exhausted.

-David

[vencabot_teppoo]

Last night, as my battery got lower and lower, the Sep. 4 build gave me more and more problems. A song froze in the middle of playing, and when it stopped letting me get past the Rockbox splash screen time and time again, I decided to charge it up. No problems since it reached max charge. Skeptical about some of my previous results, I moved onto the Sep. 5 build, which I had declared faulty. I'm using it right now, and no problems so far.

When I first tried the Sep. 11 build, it froze on me a couple of times, and I was at full charge, so the battery levels can't completely explain it... but, due to my experience with Sep. 4 build last night, I think that things start getting really erratic at lower battery levels.

-David

PS: Spoke too soon. Just as I finished typing my sig, my player completely froze. Haven't even been running Sep. 5 for five minutes, and I'm still at essentially full charge. Tried to boot it, and it wouldn't get past the splash screen. And again, won't get past the splash screen. Stuck at "Loading...". Third time, and it booted all the way up, and then immediately froze again.

I'm going back to Sep. 4 to see if I have the same problem.

[vencabot_teppoo]

Been using Sep. 4 build for an hour, and no problems what-so-ever. I'm going to chalk last night's problems up to low battery. The more immediate problem of erratic locking up was definitively introduced in the Sep. 5 build. I couldn't get it to run nicely for five minutes at a time, after several attempts.

And no, I don't use voice.

-David

[Llorean]

Seriously, did you read the forum guidelines as you agreed to when registering? Six posts in a row is very much in violation of the "please don't post multiple times in a row" one.

[vencabot_teppoo]

Sorry. In typical manner, I skimmed it, but I guess that part didn't sink in. I'll keep it in mind.

-David