Question about using rockbox for audio and original firmware for video- ipod 5g

[GodEater]

No idea.

If you're ejecting it properly it shouldn't happen. I have the exact same iPod as you do, and the exact same PC setup - it's never happened to me once.

[mrufino1]

Two thoughts just came to mind- is it possible it is something in the bootloader? I seem to remember reading something about the new bootloader not being developed by the rockbox people? Maybe I'm wrong, but it came to mind. Also, when I boot into the apple firmware, how long am I suppoosed to leave the switch on hold and how quick do I put it on? I just saw the post about deleting the config file- is it possible that that is what I have been doing? And when I connect it now, should I be doing it in disk mode? The only thing I can think that is happening is that I am doing something wrong, I really can't see how it would be a hardware problem that only happens sometimes. But just some thoughts. If it is the bootloader, is there a different one? And also, is it at all possible that I would have better luck with an older build of rockbox?

[GodEater]

There are two bootloaders available for the ipod in order to make it load an alternative firmware. There is the Rockbox bootloader, and Loader2 (which is from the iPodLinux project). We only support the Rockbox one (obviously). The bootloader is extremely unlikely to be the cause of your problems. It's the thing we release least often for any target - thus most people all end up running the exact same version - and I've yet to hear of another person having your issues.

With regards to turning on the hold switch:

1) No - clearing your config settings won't cause file corruption like you're seeing. It just resets everything in the rockbox config.cfg file back to the shipped settings.

2) In order to boot into the original firmware, you turn on your ipod by hitting either select or menu, and then *immediately* turn the hold switch on. If you wait for the backlight to come on - you've waited too long, and will clear your settings in Rockbox.

With regards to Original Firmware / Disk mode :

It doesn't really matter which you use - although a lot of people find the OF faster than disk mode when transferring a lot of files. This only really matters on a Nano where the difference is enormous - it's no so pronounced on the iPod Video.

[mrufino1]

Man, no easy answer here! I appreciate the help, this is very strange.

[GodEater]

Next time your loading up your iPod - instead of ejecting from the Ubuntu desktop - trying do it from the command prompt instead. (It might after all be a bug with the HAL layer in Ubuntu). I tend to do this out of habit (because I've only recently moved to Ubuntu - so I'm still used to doing it from the command line).

You'll need to do this first :

Code: [Select]

sudo umount /media/IPOD

(Note: /media/IPOD maybe different on your box - check to make sure where your iPod gets mounted.)

followed by :

Code: [Select]

sudo eject /dev/sdb

(Again, /dev/sdb may not be your iPod device - the properties of the icon on the Ubuntu desktop should help you figure out which device is the right one).

If after doing this the problem goes away - we know it's a Ubuntu problem, not a Rockbox or iPod one.

[mrufino1]

Great, I will definitely try that. After your last answer, I was thinking that this has to be an ubuntu issue and since I am new to linux and ubuntu, I do not fully understand the ins and outs of the file structure, mounting, etc. I am working on it, but it is not my area of expertise. The ipod shows up on windows all of the time, but when the file system is corrupted that is when I get the black screen on my ipod saying rockbox is not there and then windows says it can't read from the disk. So my thought is that when ejecting it from linux something is happening to the file system. I will try what you said and report back in a few days with hopefully good news.

EDIT: I did it now and it seemed to work, so hopefully that keeps up-thanks.

[mrufino1]

Hi, I don't mean to respond to my own old post, but I just wanted to say that I gave up on rockbox after all of that, and tried to use apples firmware, but just couldn't stand it. I was about to sell my ipod last week when I decided to give rockbox one more try. I have a different machine now, a better understanding of ubuntu (still not great but I can get around better than I could in November), and when I installed rockbox this time everything seems to be great. I don't want to jinx it, but I felt I should say this since so many people tried to help me before. I was using an emachines m6805 with the 64 bit ubuntu and no knowledge of it really. Rockboxed ipod shows up pn my desktop every time now on my IBM (and 32 bit OS, don't know how much different that is but all of my drives automount now). So I just wanted to say thank you and I am glad to be back with rockbox. Hopefully it all continues well.