problems updating the database

[garybeck]

ever since i installed Rockbox on my Sansa Clip+ I've been having trouble updating the database.

I've tried  "update" "initialize", rebooting several times, and it doesn't refresh the database.

I just ran a test -- I removed all the songs from my player.    The database still thinks they're all on there but when I try to actually play a song, it realizes there's no file there to play and it just goes back to the current list in the database.

ONLY ONE time has my device refreshed the database properly.  It was when I was turning it on, and it said " "committing database" for a few minutes.  then after that, the database actually matched what was on the memory card.

Since that one time I have not been able to get it to refresh the database.

Every time I boot now, it boots in just a couple seconds and it is clear it is not scanning the drive for changes.

I tried playing with the "folders to scan" setting but that didn't seem to help (I told it to scan the root of my SD card).

Does anyone know any tricks to get it to scan and refresh the database, or why it might not be working for me?

(not sure if this matters but I keep all my songs on the external SD card and have virtually nothing on the internal memory other than the empty folders that are created by firmware).

thanks
gary in vermont

[[Saint]]

The whole "committing database" thing should only happen once per initialization, it doesn't necessarily have to commit on a reboot either, if the resources are available to commit immediately, it will.

When you state that "only one time has it ever refreshed the database properly" (in reference to the committing database countdown on a subsequent boot), this wasn't actually an indication of the device re-scanning media, this was Rockbox actually committing the database, scanning is transparent to the user.

I feel like I should mention that this not happening on each boot is no indication that the database is not scanning for new media, as this happens in the background and is totally transparent to the user, this is expected, there is no visual indication (barring the disk access indicator, which your current theme may or may not include) that the database is rescanning on boot. As mentioned, you should only ever see the commit sequence once on a fresh database initialization.

Now, to the issue at hand.

It rather sounds as though you have a mangled file system and/or corrupt database files. Do you always (or ever?) safely eject the volume?

I would strongly suggest that you scan the volume for file system errors. If non present themselves, I would suggest exporting /.rockbox/config.cfg somewhere for safe keeping (so that you may back up your current settings), and then wiping out the /.rockbox directory completely and starting fresh (no need to re-install the bootloader, just the binary and accompanying files).


[Saint]

[garybeck]

thanks for the reply

concerning scanning the volume for errors.....  I scanned both the internal memory and the SD card, using the Windows utility,  and it found no errors.

concerning safely ejecting the volume.... I pretty much keep the SD card in there permanently.   to change the contents of the card, I keep it in the device and connect by USB and copy files.  If I do take it out, I try to only do it when the device is off. 

all my music is backed up on my computer so have no problem starting over.   I really don't need to backup my config files because I haven't had Rockbox long enough to be attached to my current settings.    I just want the database to be able to refresh and match the actual data that is on the card. I'll deleting that folder and reinstalling as you suggested.  I'll have to go back to the installation instructions and find the binary file you refer to.  i'll let you know how it goes. thanks.