[solved!]iPod 5.5G: playback freezing constantly

[Elias_Maluco]

Long story short:

- Since I can remember (probably since I started using rockbox, altough I dont remember the problem happening so frequently on the beggining), I had the following problem: sometimes, when I added a bunch of very long songs (> 10 min, usually 4 or 5) to the playlist (and I mostlly listen to very long songs), any format, rockbox would play then all perfectlly, but at the last one, a few minutes before the end, playback would freeze. Rockbox would remain functional, I could go back to the menu a choose another song to play, even the same one that was frozen, and it would play normally. But if I tried to skip to the previous or next file, or tried to stop the playback (holding play/pause), then rockbox would freeze completelly, requiring a hard reset.

- Thinking it should be a bug, I opened a bug report on flyspray and posted "a long whinning post" here about it (and I apologize for all the whinning).

- People pointed that I seemed to be the only one having this issue, since nobody else reported it, so it was probably a problem with my iPod or rockbox config, not a bug.

- So I decided to do a fresh, clean, instalçl of both rockbox and the bootloader, completelly removing then both before.

- I used it for a few days, without changing a single setting, and had no frezees at all.

- Thinking I had solved the problem, I posted here about it and closed the bug report.

- But after that, I decided to change some setting. Among other things, I turned off the repeat, likle I always do.

- I start to get the freezes again. Suspicious that it might have something to do with turning the repeat off, I set it to "all" again.

- Since then, almost 2 weeks, I dint had a single of those freezes.

Conclusion: I could not find the cause of my playback freezes, but I found it only happens when I turn the repeat off. So the workaround is to leave it at 'all'. Is annoying, but a very minor issue compared to constant playback freezes.

I still dont know if that is a bug or a bizarre issue with my particular iPod, so I dont know if I should reopen that bug report or leave it. In any case, if somebody ever has a similar problem, here is how I solved (or avoided) it.

Thanks everyone for the help and advice.

[Llorean]

Uhm, if you're the only person experiencing it, then perhaps it IS stable on the 5.5G and only yours has a problem?

What bootloader version is installed on your iPod?

Secondly, the Wiki is community documentation: Anyone can quickly get permission to edit it. If it really needs updating, you can. But you really should try to figure out why your iPod is behaving different than anyone else's, first. If this were a widespread problem, we'd have many more reports of it. No matter what you seem to think, we have a LOT of 5G and 5.5G users.

In the future, please try to limit yourself to actually trying to get things improved, rather than wasting peoples' time by forcing them to read through a list of whining just to get to points that are actually of interest to those of us who want to see problems fixed. You seem to think we don't care, but you could encourage people to care more by trying to be helpful rather than just complaining.

Frankly, I don't care if you want to try iPodLinux, or go back to the original OS. Do so if you'd like. If you wish to continue using Rockbox, and see the problem fixed, we can give you some advice to track down when the bug started. But first you need to try providing a means for us to reproduce the bug. So long as you're the only person with it, there's nothing anybody else can do to fix it.

[Elias_Maluco]

Uhm, if you're the only person experiencing it, then perhaps it IS stable on the 5.5G and only yours has a problem?

What bootloader version is installed on your iPod?

Secondly, the Wiki is community documentation: Anyone can quickly get permission to edit it. If it really needs updating, you can. But you really should try to figure out why your iPod is behaving different than anyone else's, first. If this were a widespread problem, we'd have many more reports of it. No matter what you seem to think, we have a LOT of 5G and 5.5G users.

In the future, please try to limit yourself to actually trying to get things improved, rather than wasting peoples' time by forcing them to read through a list of whining just to get to points that are actually of interest to those of us who want to see problems fixed. You seem to think we don't care, but you could encourage people to care more by trying to be helpful rather than just complaining.

Frankly, I don't care if you want to try iPodLinux, or go back to the original OS. Do so if you'd like. If you wish to continue using Rockbox, and see the problem fixed, we can give you some advice to track down when the bug started. But first you need to try providing a means for us to reproduce the bug. So long as you're the only person with it, there's nothing anybody else can do to fix it.

Ok, you are right, I was really whining like a bitch and it was an annoying and long post. Im in a bad mood and I apologize about it.

Anyway, has I said, the freezes will almost always happens with long song (bigger than 15 mintues). So perhaps most people dont listen to songs that long that often, so thats why theres not a lot of people reporting it.

But at the same time, yes, it is possible that is something wrong here, and if that is the case, I will be very happy since it means I can find a solution for it and keep using rockbox.

So, please help me understand whats happening here, and do provide me information on how to track the problem. I already described how it happens, but here goes a more detailed description: I put some long songs on the playlist (usually four). Rockbox plays fine until the last one, and then it freezes some minutes before the end. The playback freezes, but rockbox remains functional, I can even play/pause, although it does nothing: playback remains frozen. I can go back to the menu, select another song, access the database normally, etc. However, if I try to stop the playback (holding play/pause), or if I try to skip to the previous song on the wps, rockbox will freeze completelly, requiring a hard reset.

About the bootloader version, I really dont know. I guess I never updated it since I first installed rockbox using the Utility. I guess I should try updating it (using the utility, since is the only way I know), I will do that.

So, sorry about all the whining, but please help me make this work.

[Llorean]

Well, to start, we'll need:

The SVN revision of the most recent build you experienced this on, the SVN revision of the oldest one you did, whether you're using a build for 32mb iPods or 64mb iPods (30gb, or 60/80gb).

[Elias_Maluco]

Im using r17705-080609 right now, and it happens a lot on it. Im using the build for the 30 gb one, so I believe is the 32mb version.

I cant really tell exactlly on what build it started. But I remember not seeing this happen when I started using rockbox, around 2 or 3 months ago (I can try to get a more exact date later, sorry).

Anyway, thanks for trying to help.

UPDATE: I just tried installing the bootloader using the utility, and it reported that it is already installed and up to date. So I guess this is not the problem (but I reinstalled it, anyway).

[spike66]

And perhaps you should update the wiki, rockbox is really not stable on the video 5.5, unfortunatelly is not.

I find Rockbox quite stable on my ipod video (*), so I got curious and I'd like to try and simulate what you report; I have a playlist with 4 mp3 long songs (over 15min each, VBR aprox. 256kbps); since it seems to happen near the end of the last song, do you use "repeat" on? (or any other feature that should be considered)

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(*) when this http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=15542.msg126570#msg126570 works fine 

[Elias_Maluco]

And perhaps you should update the wiki, rockbox is really not stable on the video 5.5, unfortunatelly is not.

I find Rockbox quite stable on my ipod video (*), so I got curious and I'd like to try and simulate what you report; I have a playlist with 4 mp3 long songs (over 15min each, VBR aprox. 256kbps); since it seems to happen near the end of the last song, do you use "repeat" on? (or any other feature that should be considered)

--------------
(*) when this http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=15542.msg126570#msg126570 works fine 

Nope, never used it. Actually, I disabled everything that might affect the playback. Anyway, has Llorean said, it might be that the problem is in my ipod only. Now I just tried something different: instead of just overwriting the rockbix dir with a new build, I completelly removed it and then reinstalled using the utility. I will put the exact same song I was hearing the last time it froze, lets see with anything changes

[spike66]

ok i tried it three different times and it did work fine, the problem you described did not occur (mine is an 80gb ipod video though)

[Elias_Maluco]

So I did what I said on the last post (reinstaled the bootloader, completelly removed rockbox dir and then reinstaled it using the utility), and it seens like my problem is gone. Ive heard quite a numer of songs that were almost always freezing near the end, and none did. So there was really something wrong here, not with my iPod, but with my rockbox.

Conclusion: rockbox IS very stable on the iPod video 5.5 and I was very wrong. And Im very happy that I got this thing working properly again.

I wonder what I did to screw it up (so I wont do it again)? Am I really supposed to first delete the rockbox dir everytime I update (I used to just overwrite it with the new build)? I never did anything too advanced or unorthodox on it, only installed a couple of themes, made some small changes on one. Also, I only changed the settings to disable anything that could drain the battery faster (stuff like fades, etc).

Anyway, sorry about the false bug. I requested the closure of the bug report i made, and sorry for wasting your time.

[bascule]

I requested the closure of the bug report i made, and sorry for wasting your time.

Bug closed in Flyspray. And thanks for coming back and explaining/apolgising; so many people just disappear when their particular gripe/problem/bug is resolved without saying a word...

[AlexP]

I'm not sure what could have caused it - unzipping new builds over the top is the standard upgrade method - I never do and you shouldn't have to delete the folder each time.  None of what you said you have done should cause this, perhaps something got corrupted?  Have you tried a chkdsk on it?

Other than that, it is currently in the weird corner

[Elias_Maluco]

Actually, it seens like I spoke too early. Just had another of this freezes: big symphony (bigger than  1 hour), froze 4 minutes before the end of the last movement.

I only changed 2 things on the setting from yesterday: I raised the scrolling speed, lowered its delay, and turned off the repeat. I wonder if its related? I will turn it on again, and keep testing.

So perhaps it is some kind of bug, or perhaps there is something wrong with my iPod, I dont know how to be sure about that. Any advice is very welcome.

[Elias_Maluco]

Solved, explanation above, on the original post.