Gigabeat F60 new member

[Barbershopjohn]

Hi thanks for being there to talk to.
I've not been happy for some time with my GF60 and decided I'd remove all the music files after backing them up in WMV or MPG format using WMP10.  I deleted them on the F60 using Window file manager for speed.
I tried to install Rockbox stable and thought I'd followed all your instructions but the Rockbox screen didn't appear after reset just the normal Gigabeat screens.
I read quite a bit to see what I could do and found nothing about why the Rockbox screen might not appear, so I saw the download for the empty Gigabeat System files which I downloaded and extracting into my Gigabeat.  I guess I must have missed a step because.....

Now when I power up the F60 the action bar goes only to the middle and stops, the F60 appears frozen to all commands and even though I'm connected to the pc by usb the pc cannot see it.  Have I bricked by F60?
regards John

[Llorean]

Please say exactly what you did when you "tried to install Rockbox" and what you mean by "reset" your player. Did you toggle the battery switch off while unplugged?

[burkejavier]

I think you are correct that you might have missed a step.   You may need to do a recovery to fix (the Rockbox wiki goes into details about that).

In a nutshell - the /GBSYSTEM/FWIMG/FWIMG01.DAT is the main firmware file that gets replaced. I think you need the other two DAT files, too (be it the original ones, or the dummy Rockbox ones).   Are you getting a system error, when it boots up?

[Barbershopjohn]

Hi, thanks
all I did was to run your file that copied the empty gigabeat system files.  I didn't copy the 'other two dat files' and now I'm not able to do anything.  Yes I did toggle my battery switch(reset).
Now when my F60 boots the screen lights up and shows the 'gigabeat' logo screen.... the blue horizontal action bar starts in the middle but only gets to half way and then stops.  None of the buttons do anything.  The 'hold' is not on.  My pc, or my laptop, do not show the F60 as attached.
John

[burkejavier]

Do you hear the HDD power off, and do you get a "SYSTEM NOT FOUND ON HDD" or similar message?   If so, you'll need to open the player up to get it into a mode where you can access the partition (again, I believe the wiki goes into that, or I can explain).   

[Barbershopjohn]

Hi thanks again,
First in my last reply I said the 'action bar starts in the middle' but I meant it starts and then stops in the middle.
Ok in order to turn it off I have to switch the battery switch to off as none of the buttons work at that stage and so I don't get any message at shut down, but I can hear the HDD shut down. When I turn the battery switch to on and press the 'power up' switch I can hear the HDD power up, so I can see that the HDD isn't siezed.
Again there's no message as it starts straight into the logo screen.
I couldn't find the details on wiki that you refer to so it would be great if you could either explain or detail a link for me.
kind regards B'john.

[AlexP]

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/GigabeatFXPort#Gigabeat_Recovery_Procedures

[burkejavier]

Hi thanks again,
First in my last reply I said the 'action bar starts in the middle' but I meant it starts and then stops in the middle.
Ok in order to turn it off I have to switch the battery switch to off as none of the buttons work at that stage and so I don't get any message at shut down, but I can hear the HDD shut down. When I turn the battery switch to on and press the 'power up' switch I can hear the HDD power up, so I can see that the HDD isn't siezed.
Again there's no message as it starts straight into the logo screen.
I couldn't find the details on wiki that you refer to so it would be great if you could either explain or detail a link for me.
kind regards B'john.

I'm not too sure about this one - if the partition was corrupt, I think you'd get a specific error on the screen.   I would suggest trying to go through the recovery procedure, via the Wiki link that BigBambi mentioned.  I'm guessing that you might be missing one of the firmware files, but I'm not 100% sure of that.

[Barbershopjohn]

 , Hi and many thanks for all your help-success!

I read and reread the instructions.  The smallest philips screwdriver I had was one of those cheapy precision $2 sets but still not small enough so finally got an $11.50 set from Jaycar and the No.00x50 SNCM fit, phew.  Followed through and all went well.  Although I had to use my old laptop with XP to use Gigabeat Room.

I've now loaded Rockbox (manually) and it's worked fine and uploaded some music to test, all's well, and now to reload all my music.  I look forward to using Rockbox and coming back here to find out improvements etc.

again many thanks. 

Bi for now, Barbershopjohn.