IPod Mini 2nd Gen buttons problem

[jgardia]

Dear All,
First of all, thanks for the nice software you have. I really like it.
Now, the problem... 
I have an Ipod mini 2nd gen, with a compactflash instead of a hard drive (I don't think it makes any difference). I enjoyed using rockbox for a long time, but one day the buttons became less responsive, and now it's impossible to select anything. I'm able to use the wheel, but the menu, center, play, fwd and rwd buttons are dead. I though it was a hardware problem, but I'm able to reboot with the standard firmware if I left menu and center pressed, and the put the lock, and also I'm perfectly capable of using the player with the standard firmware.
I though it was maybe some corrupt configuration, so I deleted the .rockbox directory, and tried with versions 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2 without any improvement.
I have no idea how this is implemented in hardware, but I thought that maybe they have some kind of analog value (measured with and adc), and my ipod is just out of the limits defined in rockbox.
Please, any idea is welcome, I'm really frustrated using the standard firmware again...

Thanks!

Jose

[Chronon]

Strange.  Obviously, the  buttons physically work if it registers a hard reset (Menu + Select).  Also, the fact that they work in the Apple firmware casts doubt on it being a purely hardware issue. 

How old was the build you were using prior to updating to Rockbox 3.0?  Does installing a new bootloader help you?  Is there any evidence of file system damage?

[gevaerts]

Do you have enough padding around the CF card? The thickness of the disk/card in a mini is important to keep the buttons responding properly

[jgardia]

Hi,
I just formatted my ipod, and reinstalled rockbox + bootloader, and I have the same behavior.
I don't have a padding, in fact I didn't even think about that. I think I could open it and try.
I had Rockbox 3.0 working perfectly for about 4 months, since about October 2008, and then I went for vacations, and after a rough day, the buttons (but not the wheel) became almost non-responsive. I stored it, since I thought it was dying. some weeks ago, I plugged it again to recover some data, and I found that with the original firmware it was working. Then I tried reinstalling rockbox, and also with the newer versions 3.1, 3.2 and a daily snapshot from last week. All of them behave in the same way.
So, my theory is that the buttons are detected with some kind of ADC, and the values are still within Apple's range, but outside Rockbox's. Does it sound reasonable?
I'm downloading the source code, to see how the buttons' detection is done, and I will try to tweak it.
If someone has a different idea, please tell me.

Thanks for the support!

Jose

[gevaerts]

I recommend putting bits of cardboard on the CF card until it's as thick as the hard drive (i.e. 5mm, the hard drive is CF type II)
The way the mini is designed, the buttons are held in place by the disk, so making that thinner allows the button assembly to be pushed back.

[Chronon]

Good call, gevaerts.  That sounds promising. 

[jgardia]

Dear All,
I found it!
After a couple of hours navigating trough the source code, trying to understand what was being done with the inl and outl functions, I decided to let this thing rest for a while, and try to go for the hardware solution.So, I decide to open the Ipod, when I was doing that, I found that the wheel connector was a bit loose. Well, I pressed it firmly, and the buttons started to work as intended...
So, now I have my Ipod working! I really feel like I should have checked that first, but since the original firmware was somehow working, I didn't think the problem was something so obvious.
Sorry for the time I took from you, and thank you very much for the support!

Cheers!

Jose