Playing some files crahses rockbox, original firmware works fine

[mcc01]

Hi,

I have some (longer) files (mp3/flac) which play nice with the orginila firmware
but crashes rockbox (dev build).

One file is free and legal downloadable from the internet.
It is called "One 2" by "Seconds before Awakening" and downloadable
from here:
https://archive.org/download/SecondsBeforeAwakening-One/02One2.mp3
(The other one is a personal record).

How can I handle this?
How can I fix this?

Best regards,
mcc

[saratoga]

That file decodes normally on the Sansa Clip Zip using today's build. 

[mcc01]

Hi Saratoga,

That file decodes normally on the Sansa Clip Zip using today's build.

sorry for the delayed answer ... I did some more tests.

It seems, that every song which exceeds a certain length (I have more of these ~20minute-pieces
on my sdcard, is affected by the problem.
Th efollowing happens:
I select the file via "files" (not via the database entry) and play it.
It starts, the sound "shows" (somehow the wrong word for something audible... ) no
anormalies.
Then after 3.5 minutes (another did this after 7:20 minutes) one hears something which
sounds like one would pull the earphone jack while play and .... end.
Backlight dimming works, long lines still move back and forth.
Sometimes it is posible to go back some menu items.
But often pressing a button displays [LOADING] and the Clip freezes.
A cold reset is necessary to pull the player back to life.

Same sdcard, same song and it plays fine with the OF.

The sdcard (16GB) was formatted with this command (I am on linux):
mkfs.fat -F 32 -I /dev/sdb
as root.
I used a devbuiild of rockbox.

I still hope that all this is due to a damned error I made myself
and the player is still ok.

But I dont know, how to proof it.

Is it possible, that rockbox runs with other
sdcards than the OF?

What sdcards (16GB) are proofed to work with rockbox?

Best regards and thank you for your help in advance!
mcc

[mcc01]

Hi me,

what I did:
I removed the SDcard and booted into the OF.
I reformatted the internal flash and the sdcard with the OF.
I reinstalled rockbox with the RockboxUtility.
I populated the sdcard with the music again.
I boot into rockbox.
I did NOT change the themes settings or anything else.
I did NOT build the database.
I played a file (FLAC).
I stopps playing after about 4 minutes suddenly.
After that shutting down the player takes a long time (timeout?).
Then I (tried to) copy that file to the internal flash memory using the rockbox firmware.
This takes a llllooooonnnngggg time and ended with an write error.
I removed the corrupted file.
I repaired the internal filesystem (again).
I booted into the OF and used it to copy the file to the internal flash.
This works as expected fast and reliable.
Now rockbox could play that file.

For me it looks like:
The USB and/or flash driver of rockbox needs to be fixed.
And after that it needs to be checked, whether my sdcard needs to be replaced.

What do you think?
Best regards,
slightly frustrated
mcc

[saratoga]

If reading from your SD card is unreliable, then it seems like a reasonable conclusion that something is wrong with the card or the driver. 

[mcc01]

Hi Saratoga,

...and since writing to internal flash is also unreliable when using rockbox
and fine when using the OF I think that there is definitely something with
the rockbox flash/usb driver which could be -hrrrmm- changed (at least)

To summarize the adventure here again is only for the purpose of makeing
it easier for others to find a solution.


Player: Sansa Clip ZIP bought April/May 2014
Rockbox: Stable and current developper builds.
Symptoms:
Database initializing and updates hang or crashes the player.
Longer songs (~20minutes) and sometime even shorter Songs suddenly stop
and the player becomes unresponsive directly or after some clicks later.
Due to the need of doing "cold restarts" (pressing on/off for so long that the
shutdown is forced) lead to filesystem corruption of the external flash (bad)
and internal flash (worse).
This also effects the original software while shareing the same internal flash as
rockbox do. And writing to a corrupted filesystem is worst. Ask a UNIX sysadmin

What follows has worked for me. That does not mean, that it will work for
others...but why not to give it a try?
I am using Linux for all this and can only describe things related to it.
But I am shure, that other operating system will have similiar tools...

BIG FAT RED WARNING!

Carefully select the <player device> (see below)!
Selecting the wrong one will definitely brick your player.
Before doing anything else try mounting the device. If it says
"no such device" or "device is write only" or similiar you have
choosen the wrong one
Keep your hands off this device!

Each time you connect the player, check the device! Dont rely
on the nameing of the device being  the same as last time you connected the player!

If you can mount the device and list its contents it is either
the internal flash (it contains the ".rockbox"-folder) or the
extern flash of your sdcard in the player.

How to check for a corrupted filesystem:
Do this only when the device is not  mounted!
Unmount it, if it is mounted!
Select the correct device! (See above).
Use
fsck.vfat -n /dev/<player device>; echo $?
to check the filesystem without doing any changes.
If it prompts "0" everything is ok, if there is a number greater than "0", then
the filesystem is damaged.
By removing any files, which were written after the last "ok" status of the filesystem
you can try to remove any questionable data.
AFTER doing so, try doing
fsck.vfat -a /dev/<player device>; echo $?.
Repeat until you get a "0" back.

If things are screwed up and you cannot trust the integrity of the
filesystem any more (still getting symptoms as described above) boot
into the original firmware, and format the according flash.
YES, you are allowed to format the internal flash. But do it ONLY
via the original firmware! DONT try using tools like mkfs.vfat or such alike!!!
After that you:
Lost any data you put onto the flash drive.
The filesystem is clean again.
When booting then you will get something like "rockbox folder not found"
DON'T PANIC!
Simply boot into the original firmware and install rockbox again. Don't
install the bootloader again though -- it is still in place.

If you still get sudden stopps of the playback, hangs, crashes and such
you have a sdcard in use which may be readable and writeable by the
original firmware but unfortunately it is not while using rockbox.

I bought a new card and up to this moment I am writing this the
problems are gone.
The card is a
32 GB TOSHIBA MICRO SDHC High Speed Professional Class 10  SD-C032UHS1
(19EUR)

May be one time the original firmware and rockbox are able to read and write
the same flash cards.
And:
Using a """bad""" external flash even seems to influence the capability of
rockbox to write to the internal flash. May be they are hanging on the same bus structure (I2C???)
or such??? ... dont know.

Again: This has worked for me. And this does NOT imply that it will work for you.
I cannot held responsible for damages which may result directly or indirectly from
applying what I have described. Therefore this help is given free of charge.

May the rockbox be with you, Luke!

Best regards,
mcc

[saratoga]

I think you just have a bad player.

[mcc01]

...it works fine with the original firmware...

[[Saint]]

That mis-mash of semi-truths is going to get someone into trouble...


[Saint]

[mcc01]

Hi Saint,

could you please explain what you meant?
Dont understand...

Thx!
Best regards,
mcc

[mcc01]

Hi Saint,

still dont rembering what you meant with this:

That mis-mash of semi-truths is going to get someone into trouble...
[Saint]

An answer would help me, would help other ...
So...why not to answer?

Best regards,
mcc