iHP-140 only starts with paperclip

[brismass]

ok, i'll do my best to describe the problem here as i've done all the research i can to try and eliminate the obvious

from one day to the next my rockboxed iriver suddenly wouldn't start at all using the play button, the only way to start it up is to use a paperclip in the reset button, pressing reset for around 1sec starts the player in iriver firmware

i've tried holding record and play to boot, booting with the usb cable in, checked the hold switch(yes), the battery is charged, the play button and the player as a whole work flawlessly(albeit not rockbox!) once i've got it up and running

so, in trying to just get it so that it boots at all without the paperclip i've tried to uninstall rockbox by removing .rockbox, replacing ihp_120.hex with the original from the iriver site and going through the iriver menus to the "upgrade firmware" option - as far as i can gather this is correct procedure to return to a default setup.

still no joy, any ideas?

is it possible this a hardware issue?

I'm still trying to understand this document on flashing, bootloaders etc. but its a bit over my head
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IriverFlashing

briefly, if i've followed the manual install instructions, have i "flashed" my player? is that what happens when i "upgrade firmware" from the iriver menu?

also (sorry, last question) i found the eeprom note here:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IriverFAQ#Problems_Troubleshooting_Questio
but is that only an H300 issue?

thanks and beers for all answers or insights

joe

[petur]

is it possible this a hardware issue?

Sounds like it, yes.

I'm still trying to understand this document on flashing, bootloaders etc. but its a bit over my head
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IriverFlashing

briefly, if i've followed the manual install instructions, have i "flashed" my player? is that what happens when i "upgrade firmware" from the iriver menu?

yes, flashing = upgrade firmware (in the original firmware). On h1x0 there is also a plugin to 'flash' a new bootloader.

also (sorry, last question) i found the eeprom note here:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/IriverFAQ#Problems_Troubleshooting_Questio
but is that only an H300 issue?

yes, this was an h3x0 issue only, have not seen it anymore lately. Sounds unrelated to your problem.

[brismass]

thanks for replying...

If it is a hardware issue its just odd that all the buttons are fully functional once i've started the thing up via the paperclip reset...

i can see the firmware file on the disk via usb so has anyone got any ideas as to what piece of hardware lies between the "on" switch and the firmware that is preventing the player from starting up?

I'm not a computer science graduate as you can probably tell 

[petur]

Have you searched the MR forum, I somehow think I have seen this issue before and there was some trick to fix it, probably USB port related...

edit: this is what I remembered: http://www.misticriver.net/forums/iriver-h1xx-series/51978-h120-not-powering-up-fried-but-not-dead.html

[brismass]

I'm searching now, yes, now that i'm back with original iriver firmware etc i guess its not so much a rockbox problem anymore - i'm trying to find out a little more before i give a reformat a try

thanks again

[petur]

edited my post above to add a link, then saw you already responded...