iPod 4g Mono Charging problems

[popper]

This is strange.  Did a search on this forum but found nothing on this.  Have an iPod 4G mono w/a 60 GB HD (oldie, goodie, love the thing).

Now, when I charge it via USB in the computer, while in RockBox mode it charges quickly and efficiently.

When I charge it via wall while in iTunes mode, it charges quickly and efficiently.

However, when I charge it via wall while in RockBox mode, it does not charge at all.  It says that it is charging, and the battery icon does blink on and off, and if I go into SYSTEM it says "Charging". 

But it does not.

Is this a RockBox bug.  Cannot imagine I am doing anything wrong.




--Popper

[saratoga]

Sounds like you need to change this settings:

http://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-ipod4g/rockbox-buildch8.html#x11-1440008.5.2

[popper]

The 4G mono charges via computer USB, and in the wall while in iTunes.  However it does not while in Rockbox mode when plugged in to a wall. 

I do know of that setting, and it should make no difference.



--Popper

[saratoga]

The 4G mono charges via computer USB, and in the wall while in iTunes.  However it does not while in Rockbox mode when plugged in to a wall. 

I do know of that setting, and it should make no difference.

To be clear, you are referring to the 'charge off the ac adapter' setting?

[torne]

The 4G mono charges via computer USB, and in the wall while in iTunes.  However it does not while in Rockbox mode when plugged in to a wall. 

I do know of that setting, and it should make no difference.

I implemented that setting, and I assure you it will make a difference Set it to force. It wil then charge from the AC adapter. Is the manual not clear on this? It says:

To use a USB AC adapter, select Force to instruct the player to also charge when USB power is available but no connection is established.

The reason it is like this is we haven't yet implemented AC charger detection, so for now to use an AC charger you have to override the USB charging management. This is not enabled by default because it could potentially cause problems with some accessories/docks/etc, but if you're using an Apple charger then obviously it's fine.

[popper]

Apologies, but I now have a confused look on my face.  Just installed RockBox 3.6 on my iPod Mono G4. 

/Settings/General Settings/
/System
/Battery (8.5.2)

under /Battery is Battery Capacity only.
 
The Charge During USB Connection option is not there.


Just went down the listing, and the rest appears kosher -- Disk (8.5.3) has subdir Disk Spindown & Directory Cache.
 
Limits has 2 subdirs, all there.

USB Keypad Mode (8.5.8 )  is all there. 

Rest appears there.

 

However, under Battery the subdirectory Charge During USB Connection is not there.

Am I missing something, or my this version of Rockbox missing something (and my suspicion is that it is I - and I apologize if I am missing something too obvious).



--Popper

[AlexP]

The USB charging settings were implemented after 3.6, so you are not missing anything, just some slight confusion over versions

Try a current build and it should all be there and work.

[popper]

Too funny.  Thank you. 

Yes, I always get the stable version, and not the daily "current build".  Will get it tomorrow and trust you are correct.

Just an unrelated note.  When I download RockBox on my 4G Mono, I get all the themes by default.  However, some of the themes are so dark that they cannot be read on my Mono-screen (I suspect they are meant for the 4G-Color). 

Not a real problem, just thought someone should know that there are some themes which come w/ the 4G Mono download which do not work.



--Popper

[bluebrother]

To use a USB AC adapter, select Force to instruct the player to also charge when USB power is available but no connection is established.

While this is rather clear from my point of view it might be a good idea to slightly modify that sentence to make it clearer (changes hilighted):

To use a USB AC adapter, select Force to instruct the player to also charge when USB power is available but no data connection is established.

Technically speaking there is a connection, even if it's a power only connection

[yapper]

Just an unrelated note.  When I download RockBox on my 4G Mono, I get all the themes by default.  However, some of the themes are so dark that they cannot be read on my Mono-screen (I suspect they are meant for the 4G-Color).

The themes get selected based on screen size, not colour depth so you also get the non-monochrome themes. Some are usable, some aren't, depending on the colours that were used and how they map on to the limited number of greys the mono screen supports.

[pixelma]

The themes get selected based on screen size, not colour depth so you also get the non-monochrome themes. Some are usable, some aren't, depending on the colours that were used and how they map on to the limited number of greys the mono screen supports.

It's a bit off-topic but I just want to give a bit more accurate information:

Themes get selected based on whether they pass a run through the checkwps tool or not. Some colour themes made for targets with the same sized screen pass it if they either don't use viewports in their WPS at all or - if they do use them - don't set colours there - they are technically "correct".

The problem comes with themes that set the colours globally in the configuration file to white or something bright and use a dark backdrop image. On greyscale screens such as the original poster's 4th gen Ipod, the dark backdrop is used but greyscale screens don't know the foreground colour setting and just use black text for it so it gets mostly unreadable. On a monochrome screen these themes are no problem by the way because these can not show the backdrop.

Just a note while at it: the colour themes you see were not made for the 4th gen Ipod Colour because its screen size is bigger but for the Iaudio X5, the big H10 and some other which also have a 160x128 sized screen but have colour displays.