4GB iPod Mini 2g - unable to install with utility or manually

[syslinkdown]

(I've tried to scour the Apple - Installation/Removal Forum looking for this issue and haven't found it. I apologize wholeheartedly if I've missed it, and would greatly appreciate a redirect.)

I'm attempting an initial installation of Rockbox on a 4GB second generation iPod Mini. It's in disk mode, iTunes and associated processes have all been killed, and the iPod shows up just fine as a drive.

Initially I attempted to use the Utility (Version SVN $Revision: 19701 $ (m.1.0.9)), but while File > Install Rockbox Utility on Player works (and does indeed install the utility on the iPod), it will not autodetect the player, and attempting to manually input the correct configuration and either installation option gives me a "No iPod detected!" error. About > System Info shows the player as "VID: 05ac PID: 1260, iPod".

Alternately, I downloaded the 3.1 build of Rockbox and unzipped it to the iPod - no problem there. However, when I run the ipodpatcher I get a "No iPods found, aborting" error.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing wrong, and haven't been able to find any solutions in the documentation or forums. Any assistance would be hugely appreciated!

[Llorean]

Are you sure you've got a Mini and not a Nano? Sometimes people seem to confuse the two, so I have to ask.

[syslinkdown]

The most definitive differential diagnostic I've been able to find is that the 2g Minis have the capacity engraved on the back - which this does. I've also got a black Nano floating around, and it's quite a bit smaller.

[linuxstb]

Assuming you're on Windows (I don't think this is needed on OS X), are you running rbutil/ipodpatcher as an Administrator user?  Which version of Windows are you using (assuming you are)?

[woyciesjes]

     No real ideas from me, but here is my experience:

     I'm running Windows XP SP2, user is part of the local administrator group, iTunes is not installed on the machine.
    First I used the Rockbox Utility. Didn't autodetect, so I manually specified it was a 30GB iPod video at e:\. Worked like a charm. Then when I went to installed a current version, unzipped the files to the iPod, and no problems.
    Have to ask, are you _certain_ all Apple & iPod processes are dead? Any other media player app that is watching & grabbing the iPod? Also, try uninstalling iTunes, or installing Rockbox from a PC without iTunes?

[bluebrother]

Rockbox Utility has a System Info dialog (About / System Info), which can be helpful in tracking down issues. You might want to paste its contents here. Furthermore, autodetection works 100% reliably for Ipods. If it does not find your Ipod you'll run into installation problems later, so manually selecting it isn't a good idea (unless you know *exactly* what you're doing )

[woyciesjes]

   Hmmm, then there must be something odd about my setup.... Don't recall details exactly, but the auto-detection seemed to hang for a few minutes. I had to kill Rockbox. I then went in and manually selected the right iPod version and mountpoint.
   I suppose I did something wrong with the autodetection, but I'm not sure what.

   Either way, it's working fine now...

[Steffjuh]

With me Ipod the Auto Detection worked fine.

However, Are you sure you downloaded the latest version of the Rockbox Utility, and not an older version?

[woyciesjes]

   For me, yes, I had grabbed the latest version of the utility. Maybe it was due to the fact that the laptop I was trying it on only has USB 1.1?

[bluebrother]

Maybe it was due to the fact that the laptop I was trying it on only has USB 1.1?

Pretty much. For detecting the disk of the Ipod is accessed and several Ipod-specific things are looked after. This obviously is way slower on USB 1.1 thus you need to give quite a bit of patience for it.

[woyciesjes]

   Yeah, okay, makes sense.

[syslinkdown]

@linuxstb: I am indeed running windows XP (SP3) as an administrator.

@woyciesjes: Yes, all Apple related processes are dead.

@bluebrother: ------------------------------------
OS
Windows version 5.1, build 2600 (Service Pack 3)

Username
Owner

Permissions
Admin

Attached USB devices
VID: 046d PID: c044, USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse
VID: 04a9 PID: 1091, iP1500
VID: 04b8 PID: 0103, Perfection610
VID: 05ac PID: 1260, iPod
VID: 093a PID: 2468, CIF Single Chip
VID: 0a48 PID: 3239, eM Bay Reader
VID: 0ecd PID: a100, Mass Storage Device

Filesystem
C:\, 127068 MiB available
D:\, 1526 MiB available
E:\, 0 MiB available
F:\, 0 MiB available
G:\, 0 MiB available
H:\, 0 MiB available
I:\, 0 MiB available
J:\, 3742 MiB available
------------------------------------

@Steffjuh: Yes, I am certain that it is the latest version of the Rockbox Utility.

@bluebrother, preemptively: The USB connection shouldn't be an issue - it's USB 2.0, and is not a case-front port.

[rabbitsf]

hello: Same problem here too with same ipod, XP, and everything else.  i do not have itunes, and the mini ipod has a new Kingston compact flash drive installed which is widely reported to work perfectly on the ipod mini. do i need to install the itunes and all that ipod crap on my empty flash drive, or can i install only rockbox?  i think the original poster has the same issue and question and same blank flash drive without the ipod operating system installed.  is this the problem? do you have to have functioning ipod software installed on the ipod before you can install Rockbox?  Or is there a way to make the Rockbox installer think the blank flashdrive is the ipod mini and only have Rockbox installed...no dual boot? thank -david

[Chronon]

I think that autodetection in Rockbox Utility will fail if you have nothing on the drive and a non-iPod partition table.  The bootloader installation might also have problems since it usually expects to find an Apple firmware to patch.  I think it's possible to manually install the Rockbox bootloader without the Apple firmware by using Ipodpatcher, but I'm not sure if it's possible within Rockbox Utility.

[linuxstb]

I think it's possible to manually install the Rockbox bootloader without the Apple firmware by using Ipodpatcher, but I'm not sure if it's possible within Rockbox Utility.

No, that's not possible with ipodpatcher - it requires a working copy of Apple's firmware on the ipod, which it then modifies.

On Windows, the easiest way to do that is with itunes.  On Linux, you can follow these instructions:

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/IpodManualRestore