Will Rockbox work after DBAN?

[querent]

My H10, 20GB had been acting a bit funny.  (I bought it refurbished.)  the sensitivity of the scroll pad would wax and wane, sometimes choosing 'down' with an alarming determination.

Then, yesterday, it locked up mid song and now gives the "System Files Missing" message when I try to boot it.  And it will no longer mount as UMS using the UMS 'trick'.  It tries, then fails.  iRIver's recovery exe did nothing (I'm guessing this is because the thing won't even mount).

So now I'm thinking that perhaps I can wipe the thing with DBAN (if even DBAN sees it...haven't checked that yet) and install Rockbox.  Would that work?  or does Rockbox need some of what iRiver put there initially?  (If my questions are vague, it is because my understanding is, too.)

If this will work, how should I format the drive (fat32, ext2, ext3, etc)?

If this is a bad idea, does anyone have any others?

[karashata]

You could wipe it clean with any format utility of your choice as long as you format it as FAT32, and make sure to install the Rockbox version of the H10_20GC.mi4 in a directory called "System" (without the quotes, of course).

From the sounds of it, though, your drive may have died, or the battery isn't holding enough of a charge to even spin the drive up (though if it was the latter, it should display a "dead battery" icon before shutting itself back off).  It's also possible that you may need to replace the battery because the one in there has worn out (my H10 used to hold a charge for about 30 minutes or so of normal use, and would set the touchpad to "up" as it was dying, until I replaced the battery).

I would recommend replacing the battery since the old one probably needs it (you bought it refurbished and no doubt it's still using the stock battery, which no doubt has probably worn out due to age...).  If that doesn't fix everything, you may wish to check the drive in an external enclosure (to see for certain whether it's dead or not, it's a ZIF-40 1.8" drive...) and replace it if it's dead.

[querent]

Cool.  Thank you.  Any idea of where to get a replacement battery?  Is it a common type of battery.

I'm deadly short on cash, but when I do get around to trying this, I'll certainly come back and post the results.

Thanks again!

[karashata]

Search online for "iriver H10 20GB replacement battery" and scan through the results until you find one you're satisfied with.  You can probably get one with a higher capacity as well (meaning longer playing time), as long as it meets the approximate dimensions of the old battery.  Most of the results you get should be fine.  Since it's an internal battery, it's not exactly "common", but there are at least a few replacement batteries made for it.