H120 with Rockbox, on startup says Result: -4 then boots to iRiver firmware

[Muse]

My friend dropped his iHP-120 and now he gets this when he turns it on. The device appears to be loading the Rockbox firmware but before the basic menu appears this appears on the screen for about 1/2 second:

Result: -4

Then that disappears and the player boots the iRiver firmware. What is going on?

[AlexP]

The hard drive on the H100s is connected via a little daughterboard that can come loose, which I suspect has happened when he dropped it.  Try opening the player and reseating all the connections.  I haven't actually looked up what the -4 error is, but I suspect this.

Does the disk work in the OF?

[Muse]

The hard drive on the H100s is connected via a little daughterboard that can come loose, which I suspect has happened when he dropped it.  Try opening the player and reseating all the connections.  I haven't actually looked up what the -4 error is, but I suspect this.

Does the disk work in the OF?

Can you please look up the error? Or can you tell me how/where to look it up? Thanks!

"Does the disk work in the OF?" What is OF?

I was able to see the drive and its data when connected by USB to this laptop. I was also able to listen to an MP3 using the iRiver firmware (it would NOT boot to Rockbox, although it tried!). On a lark (didn't know what else to do), I downloaded the Rockbox installer for the latest stable version (from September 2009), and installed it on the player, basically overwriting the Rockbox install that was already there. Amazingly, the player successfully booted to Rockbox then! I haven't done a thing with it since (it was bedtime, I just sent an email to the owner and turned in). Now, I figure something may still be wrong and I'd like to fix it before handing it over to him. It's some trouble to get it to him, requiring me to make a trip, and if it still has problems that would require at least two extra such changings of hand. Thanks for the help. What do you think I should do?

PS  I myself have an H120 and H140 and have the tools to open them. I had to replace the HD on the H120 shortly after I got it. So, I could open his H120 and reseat things, although I haven't opened mine in a couple of years and don't remember what exactly I'd reseat.

[Multiplex]

Can you please look up the error? Or can you tell me how/where to look it up? Thanks!

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/IpodBootloaderErrorCodes
Says iPod but the iRiver (I guess all) are the same last time I looked.

What is OF?

Original Firmware - the iRiver firmware

Given the error and what 'fixed' it I guess that there is some disk corruption - I'd do a checkdisk or similar from your PC, then do something like a database build - that will force Rockbox to read just about every file on the drive. If that's OK maybe your friend is lucky.

[Muse]

Can you please look up the error? Or can you tell me how/where to look it up? Thanks!

http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/IpodBootloaderErrorCodes
Says iPod but the iRiver (I guess all) are the same last time I looked.

What is OF?

Original Firmware - the iRiver firmware

Given the error and what 'fixed' it I guess that there is some disk corruption - I'd do a checkdisk or similar from your PC, then do something like a database build - that will force Rockbox to read just about every file on the drive. If that's OK maybe your friend is lucky.

Thanks. Yes, the OF seems to be working although I didn't do much, just listened to some music. I think, however, that a long track stopped in the middle and another started to play. I guess I can run chkdsk in some fashion. How do I do a database build? What's that? Is it a function in Rockbox? He's not so concerned with the data on the disk as being able to use it to record MP3s from line-in. That's his primary use for the device.

Should I open up the H120 and reseat the connections before doing anything else?

Edit: I'm running the following at the command prompt,

chkdsk E:/r

It's saying 0% completed...   after ~3 minutes!  Says 2% completed after 9 minutes. Well, I suppose it will complete eventually, but at this rate it's going to take 7.5 hours.

[AlexP]

Good find from multiplex - it looks hopeful that it is just disk corruption.  Run chkdsk before opening or anything drastic like that.

[Muse]

chkdsk seemed to be running OK and I saw reports of bad sectors in files, at least 10 probably and it got stuck at 38% and things got very sticky. The machine would not see the drive, and got to the point where my laptop would not function with the drive plugged in. The device would turn on and turn off, I was getting a Result: -1  error, which means "file not found." It was impossible to unzip Rockbox into the player at this point. My desktop likewise was completely non-functional when the device was on and attached.

Conclusion: I have to think that the HD is essentially dead and I informed my friend who bought another one online (this one the 30GB Toshiba MK3006GAL, which is what I bought when my H120's HD died), and it's being shipped to me, and I'll replace it myself since I have the tools and knowhow.

[Multiplex]

It might be worth trying to format the old drive - Use the PC (full format not quick) or the Original Firmware. But it does seem likely that the drop killed the drive.

I have put that drive in my wife's H100 and in my H300. The upgrade on the H100 was fine - the H300 caused a few problems (see elsewhere here if you're interested). You will need to format the drive as most come Apple iPod partitioned/formatted - but I guess you know that from your own upgrade/fix.

[AlexP]

I dropped my H140 and killed the drive - it wouldn't access after the first 3 GB or so.  I bought a 60 GB replacement and have been happy ever since

[Muse]

It might be worth trying to format the old drive - Use the PC (full format not quick) or the Original Firmware. But it does seem likely that the drop killed the drive.

I don't see how I could try to format the drive because the moment I connect the H120 to either machine, that machine becomes completely inoperative until the H120 is disconnected (or turned off). I don't imagine this could possibly be caused by a faulty connection between the daughterboard and the HD, is that correct? Is it worth trying to reseat that connection or can I "safely" assume that the HD faulty at this point? My friend tells me that the replacement drive should arrive by courier tomorrow.

[Multiplex]

... can I "safely" assume that the HD faulty at this point?...

Well I'd join you in that assumption - especially with Alex's comment.

I'll keep my my fingers crossed that you just need to change the drive.

For what it's worth, my memory is that both the HDD connection and the USB is on the daughter board so it is unlikely to be a poor connection that is causing the lock-up - probably (hopefully?) it's the state of the drive.

[Muse]

... can I "safely" assume that the HD faulty at this point?...

Well I'd join you in that assumption - especially with Alex's comment.

I'll keep my my fingers crossed that you just need to change the drive.

For what it's worth, my memory is that both the HDD connection and the USB is on the daughter board so it is unlikely to be a poor connection that is causing the lock-up - probably (hopefully?) it's the state of the drive.

Yes, I was getting many "bad sectors" messages from chkdsk citing specific files, saying it was replacing them. That was shortly before the process got locked up. I had dialogs saying:

[Continue]  [Cancel]  [Ignore]

I tried clicking all of those in turn and none of those actions stopped the dialog from immediately reappearing. I had to End the process. Eventually the entire computer went haywire and I had to disconnect the drive.

Before replacing the HD I'll likely try reseating the daughterboard connection and giving it a try, it's easy enough. That failing, I'll swap the HDs.

[Muse]

Well, I got the new HD today, a Toshiba MK3006GAL, I took apart the H120, discovered that the side piece with the hold switch was broken in two! Bummer. I replaced the HD, managed to get the unit together OK and hooked it up to a USB cable and plugged it into my laptop. I figured to format it in FAT32 if it wasn't already. My notes indicate that I formatted my own MK3006GAL after putting it into my own H120. The unit turned on and indicated that it was in Bootloader USB Mode, just like my own H130 does. However, it was not showing up in Windows Explorer. I hit F5, opened a new Explorer window and it was still not seen. A moment later I notice that the device had turned off and now it does not respond to the On button. Yikes!   Is there anything I can try, or do I just have to tell my friend that I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do? 

Edit: I came upon a page a few minutes ago that gave me much much new hope! It's here:

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,95239.0.html

Very very nice post and reading with interest about this person's experience in experimenting with putting a CF card in his H120, he came to a point that got my special attention: He said that his player stopped working at all, no response until he did a reset! Ah, so I poked a paper clip in the reset hole and voila! it came back to life. But, neither of my laptops will mount the H120. It seems to be OK, and both make a beep when I connect or disconnect it via USB but neither shows the drive in Explorer and the Rockbox installer says it can't mount the drive. What do I have to do here?

Edit2: OK, I see that the Rockbox bootloader is already on the player. Guess that's in firmware, not on the HD. So, how do I get the H120 to mount?

Edit3:  Ah, I think I've figured this out. Went into Disk Management and saw the disk, put a primary partition on it and am formatting it. Think things might be OK now!

Edit4: Yup, seems fine now. Gave it back to the owner a few hours ago, working again.