Ipod turns on to a white screen sometimes

[Bojamijams]

Hi Guys.. first post here

I got an imod which comes with the 32mb logic board (30gb) version but has been upgraded to the 120mb drive..

I've had it running with 3.1 release and now 3.2 release

However periodically when I want to turn it on, all I get is the white screen. I don't see the apple logo on startup and I get a white screen.. everything runs because if I keep pressing select I'll eventually get my old playlist playing

Doing a hard reset (menu+select) over and over will eventually get it to boot up properly but its annoying and starting to become more common

I was thinking its maybe a bad ribbon cable for the LCD but I figure doing resets over and over wouldn't really fix that so maybe its something else?

[Llorean]

This isn't a question about installing Rockbox on an iPod. Please don't post things like this in the "installaion/removal" forum. There are helpful "POSTING IN THIS FORUM" posts everywhere that you should be reading. Even if you weren't certain where to post this, the one there should've made it absolutely certain that was the wrong place.

This sounds like a hardware issue. It may be just holding the buttons for the hard reset is squeezing something back into place.

[dreamlayers]

This certainly seems like a hardware problem.   The only question is whether it's a problem with the logic board or the LCD.

Do you ever get any display problems in Rockbox?  (eg. regular dark or bright lines, other forms of visual corruption or freezes)

What about the LCD sleep feature?  When Rockbox puts the display to sleep (by default 10 s after backlight off; see the LCD settings menu), can the display always wake up?

The iPod also has diagnostics in flash.  Immediately after turning on or resetting your iPod, press the centre and left buttons.  Press menu for manual test and try
NTF -> AutoTest -> Graphic Self Test.  There are also tests under IO -> Display.

If all of the above is ok, consider restoring your iPod from iTunes.

[Bojamijams]

Hi dreamlayers, thanks for responding

I don't ever get display problems once the screen works fine but if I do a restart, I'll sometimes see horizontal lines across the screen.. then when the restart finishes, I either get the apple logo then rockbox (working) or nothing and then white screen (not working)

I've run the diagnostic test and everything checked out fine.

Most times when I boot into rockbox and I get a white screen, if I plug the connector to my computer, it'll restart into rockbox charging mode and then screen works again.  However once while trying to do this I got corruption in the form of the top 25% of the screen was white and bottom 75% was green.. Because I wasn't sure if this worked, I unmounted the drive and then it restarted itself and screen worked again.. peculiar

With regards to LCD sleep, that's always worked fine... the white screen so far has always happened only when turning the ipod on

Will itunes restoring work on an ipod that has a custom drive installed?

[dreamlayers]

Does this modified build successfully turn on the LCD at startup?
http://drop.io/dreamlayers/asset/rockbox-r20562-ipodvideo-init-lcd-at-startup-zip
(This is not a Rockbox bugfix but a possible software workaround for a hardware problem.)

I suspect a motherboard problem.  Maybe voltages don't stabilize soon enough, or reset circuitry doesn't work right.

How's your battery?  Do you get decent battery life?  Do you get unexpected shutdowns when trying to spin up the hard drive.  A very worn out battery might cause power supply problems.

Restore via iTunes should work even with a custom drive.  Remember that a restore will delete all data on the iPod.

[Bojamijams]

Thanks again for responding dremalayers

Little update as I believe I'm little closer to figuring out whats going on.

I never noticed this before but it seems the white screen happens when I can't turn on the ipod normally.  Normal being that I just press SELECT button and then I see the apple logo and then I get rockbox.

However I've noticed that when its been off for a while that I can't turn it on this way. The only way I can do it is if I hold Menu + Select. Then it powers up but to a white screen. 

Then after a while, it'll reset/turn on normally and work normally.

Looks like maybe something with the capacitors in the power circuitry?

[dreamlayers]

I never noticed this before but it seems the white screen happens when I can't turn on the ipod normally.  Normal being that I just press SELECT button and then I see the apple logo and then I get rockbox.

However I've noticed that when its been off for a while that I can't turn it on this way. The only way I can do it is if I hold Menu + Select. Then it powers up but to a white screen. 

Except for the white screen, this is a known issue.  (Sometimes Select won't turn on 5G iPods and to turn on they have to be reset via Menu + Select.)  For example, see this thread:
http://www.rockbox.org/mail/archive/rockbox-dev-archive-2009-02/0122.shtml

Most people believe this is not due to Rockbox.  I don't know.  You could try this patch, which makes original firmware in flash perform the power-down when shutting down Rockbox:
http://drop.io/dreamlayers/asset/5g-shutdown-by-of-patch
(You may see a flash of the low battery icon at shutdown.  Don't worry about that.)

Then after a while, it'll reset/turn on normally and work normally.

Looks like maybe something with the capacitors in the power circuitry?

It might be the reset circuitry.   Maybe the reset pulse is too short and hardware fails to fully reset.  If power circuitry was at fault, I'd expect problems when turning on normally using the Select button.

[Bojamijams]

How would I go about installing this .patch?

[dreamlayers]

How would I go about installing this .patch?

You need to apply it to the source and recompile.  See: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/DevelopmentGuide

Or here's a pre-built copy:  http://drop.io/dreamlayers/asset/rockbox-20590m-ipodvideo-shutdown-by-of-zip
Note that I gave you another copy with a different workaround earlier:  initializing the BCM and display at Rockbox startup.   That workaround is not in this file.

[Llorean]

I'd like to ask - considering iPods without Rockbox installed do this, why do you disagree with the proposal that it's not due to Rockbox?

[dreamlayers]

I'd like to ask - considering iPods without Rockbox installed do this, why do you disagree with the proposal that it's not due to Rockbox?

I did not say that it definitely is due to Rockbox.  I just said that I don't know.  So far, with 5g_shutdown_by_of.patch I never had to reset my 5G 30GB iPod to turn it on.  I'm growing more and more convinced that the patch helps, but I want to give it more time.

I recognize that even if the patch helps, that doesn't mean that there is a bug in Rockbox.  There might be a bug in the OF which is triggered by Rockbox.

[Bojamijams]

Hi Dreamlayers

I haven't installed any of your patches yet because I discovered a new thing today so I wanted to get your opinion on it.

For the first time ever, today while listening to a track, the player shut down completely and I wasn't able to start it up with just pressing Select (or any button) and I had to the Menu+Select though it started back up properly (no white screen)

Does this mean is the power circuitry? and if so, is there a software patch for it?

[dreamlayers]

How is your battery?  A severely worn out battery might cause problems.  What's your typical battery life?  If you're unsure, run use the battery_bench plugin to check.  See:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/PluginBatteryBenchmark

If an unexpected shutdown happens when the battery is not worn out or discharged, power circuitry and related electrical connections could easily be the cause.

I provided the past two software workarounds because I felt I had a good understanding of what could help, and the workarounds were safe.  I am not providing a workaround for the unexpected shutdown because I do not have a good enough idea of what could help.  I'm not even sure if the problem can be helped via software. 

BTW Note that a workaround isn't a fix.  It doesn't fix the problem, it just does something differently to try to avoid the problem.  The first one reinitialized the LCD when Rockbox starts.  If the firmware in flash fails to initialize the LCD, Rockbox initializes it and hopefully all is good.  The second one was an attempt to reduce the number of times you have to reset your iPod to turn it off.

[Bojamijams]

Well I left it playing one album overnight on repeat while running the battery benchmark and when I woke up, it was off. I turned it on (was able to do it normally) and battery is at around 40%, so it turned off on its own again at some point last night.

I've attached the file on what data it has so far, however I don't have excel so I can't actually plot the data Any chance I can bug you for a minute of your time so you can tell me if this is good or not?

Also I've had a better battery installed in this player (850 mah) but I only ever get about 8-10hrs playtime MAX which to me seems on the low side for an 850mah battery (though I do play a lot of FLACs)

[Bojamijams]

Well I think more and more its the connector itself as when I played with it, I actually managed to cure the white screen once.. however since its been happening more and more.

I've sent it back to the guy who modified it for me to verify these findings.. I think the wire gauge and the bend in the line out dock (imod version) was too much stress for the connector

I'll report findings later when he receiver it and inspects it for anyone curious

Thanks for trying dreamlayers