iRiver H120 CF Mod Attempt - Success!

[GodEater]

Stupid questions first :

Are you running a recent current build Jeff ?

[Jeff]

Stupid questions first :

Are you running a recent current build Jeff ?

Yes, the newest build available

[GodEater]

That's pretty curious - I'm looking in ata.c at the moment, and can't see anywhere obvious that a -80 result would be returned from.

I'll attempt to attract some ATA black belts to take a look in IRC.

[scharkalvin]

I'd try the following things first....
ONE: run scandisk or fsck on the disk, and see if that solves the problem.
TWO: comment out the reset code in ata.c as was needed (sometimes) for the ipod mini.  Look for the ifdef NANO section, that's what you want to remove.

I've seen some disk errors from time to time with rockbox on my flash converted gigabeat.  Usually when this happens during start up it will fail once or twice and then start ok on the next try.  I had some problems with missing configuration data, this went away after running scandisk.

[Jeff]

I've run scan disk but as far as commenting out lines in ata.c, I don't even know where ata.c is or how to go about it.  A walk through would help greatly.

Edit:  after scanning the CF card, error: -80 still pops up when trying to boot into Rockbox.

[Phobia]

Jeff : I read either here or on MisticRiver that the Transcend cards had given other folks issues too - something about them not meeting the full IDE standard. Could that be the reason you are getting an error?

This is a very exciting development - I never thought I would be able to get my H120 beyond its 20gb ... if/when the 32gb+ CF units improve in performance, its a real option!

-- Phob

[petur]

A-Data 8GB 266x also gives ata -80 in my h320

[Davide-NYC]

A-Data 2GB give the same ata error -80 on my H120.  

I put up a wiki page. Please fill it with your findings!  

http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/CFModGuide

[Arni]

I just succeeded doing the CF-mod on my rockboxed iHP-120! 

What did I do on my iHP-120:

(0. Order the CF-to-IDE-adapter => ebay)

1. install the latest H120 rockbox-build from today

2. download the necessary "7pre4"-bootloader for the H120 here:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/viewfile/Main/IriverFlashing?rev=1;filename=bootloader_h120_7pre4.zip

3. copy the "7pre4"-bootloader to your H120´s harddisk(root directory)

4. FLASHING:
First Initialize your player as follows: (Stop audio playback).

Set "Show Files" to "All" in General Settings.
Enter the File Browser through the Files entry in the Rockbox menu.
Then I navigated to "bootloader.iriver".
I placed the cursor over "bootloader.iriver" and LONG pressed joystick, (navi), then I selected "Open with...".
From the list of plugins, select iriver_flash and execute.
If the requirements are met, a confirmation message is displayed,
Press PLAY to confirm, the firmware flashing starts, (rockbox now overwrites iriver firmware).
If everything went fine, you should see, "Success" and the player will return to the file browser.

5. Copy the complete rockbox directory to your PC

6. Put your CF-card into the iriver by using the CF-to-IDE Adapter mentioned in this thread on page 1.

7. Bend down the adpater´s jumper, otherwise you´ll run into issues later on

8. Copy the folder from your PC back to the CF-card

9. Fix the 8 torx screws and you are DONE!




I use a SANDISK 8GB extreme III CF-card, which has ONLY 133x speed(about 20MB/s read and write).

No errors on boot-screen.

NO SOUNDS of my former harddisk anymore too HAHA!

System/Rockbox-Info shows 7.xx GB as supposed to.

here some pics from my "challenge":

My 8GB CF card put into the ebay-Honkong-"CF-to-IDE adapter" : You can see how I needed to bend down the blue jumper.









 

[Rapide_23]

I'm about to plunge on a 32GB Cf card for my H320. Which ones are known to work with the H320, as I don't want to order it, than find out that it doesn't work...

I'm thinking of getting a Ridata one, but are there any others that are known to work?

EDIT: This is the one I'm going to get http://www.apahk.com/bbs/redirect.php?tid=2887&goto=newpost&sid=3SriCq

The wiki isn't exactly user friendly...

[MarcGuay]

Check out the CFMod page in the wiki.

[petur]

so far all cards work, there is no reason to assume yours won't, and if it doesn't, there's no reason to assume it can't be fixed

You need to flash the bootloader that's on the wiki page (upgrade firmware in the iriver firmware) before swapping out the harddisk!

good luck

[Rapide_23]

Rightio. Fingers crossed than.

Petur, what do you mean by "no reason to assume it can't be fixed"?

Which brands were the ones that caused most people headaches? Was it the Transcend cards?

[petur]

Petur, what do you mean by "no reason to assume it can't be fixed"?

Well, if there is an issue, we can look into it and fix it
You might be asked to give some info and get some test build to try. But I really think the card will just work, all cards have, so far...

Which brands were the ones that caused most people headaches? Was it the Transcend cards?

hard to tell, it was a mix of cards from different brands, but that was all solved.

[Rapide_23]

EDIT: Just put my 32GB CF card into my beloved H320. It works a treat!!