iPod Nano - RAM?

[AVT]

I've got an iPod nano with some problems:

1) Apple firmware refuses to boot
2) Will boot after 30-40 restarts, but upon restart the flash memory is corrupted
3) Rockbox firmware boots
4) After ~20mb of songs have been played, major sound distortion problems
5) Rockbox sometimes crashes

I originally thought my problems were caused by the flash memory the firmware was on being defective, but I've done some testing, and it appears to be fine.

I now think that the RAM on this iPod may be defective. The only thing about the RAM I can find on Google is there's 32mb of it.

Is there some way to test the RAM through Rockbox?

What's the manufacturer/model of the RAM?

Thanks in advance!

edit: Alternatively, is there a way I can restrict Rockbox to only using 16mb RAM? This would confirm that this is the problem.

[dreamlayers]

The Video iPod has diagnostic mode, which may be reached by turning on or restarting and holding REW (left) and select (middle) buttons when the Apple logo appears.  Based on a quick web search, it seems the Nano also has diagnostics which may be reached the same way.

[AVT]

I've already looked at diagnostics, which shows no way to test the RAM.

[dreamlayers]

I've already looked at diagnostics, which shows no way to test the RAM.

Are you sure?  Do you really have no SDRAM tests like here?

You could try building a custom version of Rockbox with smaller RAM size.

[AVT]

I've already looked at diagnostics, which shows no way to test the RAM.

Are you sure?  Do you really have no SDRAM tests like here?

You could try building a custom version of Rockbox with smaller RAM size.

My iPod doesn't have SDRAM in it's diagnostics, so I can't test for it.

I could probably build a custom version. If I do this, I could probably also strip it down quite a bit, since there's many features that I have no need for. I DL'ed the source, and am now going to take a look at it to see what I can do. If you have any tips to point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

edit: The source is bigger than I thought. No way I'll be able to find where the RAM information is just by looking, especially since I'm somewhat unfamiliar with C.

[dreamlayers]

RAM size is set by tools/configure.  Look for "export MEMORYSIZE=32" in the generated Makefile.

[AVT]

Thankyou! I would've definitely never found that. Line 1085 appears to have what I'm looking for:

Code: [Select]

    memory=32 # always

under

Code: [Select]

   21|ipodnano)

Now, to figure out how to build the whole thing.

edit: Found instructions on how to compile, looks like this will take some time.

edit3: Compiled. Transferring to iPod..

[saratoga]

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

It sounds like you did not add the compiler to the your path.

[AVT]

YES!!

Booted into it, problem gone! No more corrupted sound!

Firstly, allow me to thank everyone that helped! My iPod is now usable even with the damaged hardware.

Now, with it established that I have bad RAM, I may look into finding a replacement chip. Does anyone here by any chance know the manufacturer/model of the RAM?

Thanks again!

[dreamlayers]

I'm glad to see you got it working.  You might want to leave it that way because the Nano uses flash storage, so there's probably very little penalty for accessing it more often due to a smaller buffer.  Re. the RAM IC:
SEC 534 BG75 K4M56163PG - Samsung 4M x 16Bit x 4 Banks Mobile SDRAM
(info from http://www.ipodlinux.org/wiki/Generations#iPod_Nano_.28Nano1G.29 )
See http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/productInfo.do?fmly_id=136&partnum=K4M56163PG