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Philips HDD6330/17 - Manufacturing Variations?

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soundman:
I'd started a thread about the HDD6330 a couple of weeks ago, mostly addressing that on mine, I have to set the disk spindown value to a high level to avoid issues with the database reporting that it is "not ready" after spindown occurs. I've still been unable to resolve the issue (without increasing spindown) despite several attempts at reformatting the drive and reinstalling RB in both Windows and Linux, and trying every option available regarding file/folder attributes and permissions.

I came across a thread from 2011 where a user reported the following issue when attempting to install RB using the RB utility, and it also occurs with mine. Here is his post:

"I tried installing RockBox on my HDD6330/17 using the utility, which seemed to go fine until I tried booting it and it hung on the GoGear screen. I had also installed the boot loader, but to no avail. I've restored it to the OF using an old HDD6330/17 I have, but I really want Rock Box on there. Has anyone else managed to install RB on said model with success? Is there any reason it might not work? Does the /17 denote a different chipset? I'm a bit of a noob here..."

There must be some different versions of the HDD6330/17. Mine also hangs at the "GoGear" screen after installing with the RB utility. The cause appears to be that when using the Rockbox utility, the Rockbox "FWImage.ebn" file that replaces the original is completely different than the correct one that is available for manual install. The "FWImage.ebn" that is placed in the System directory by the RB installer is only 5kB and contains unencrypted text (file attached). The correct RB "FWImage.ebn" is 73kB and contains mostly encrypted/binary data with a small amount of text at the end of the file.

I've used the RB utility in both Windows and Linux versions with the same result. I'm always in UMS mode when attempting this, and the result is always the same.

I have no idea whether this could be related to the "spindown" issue or not, but when I looked at "disk info" on the device, the HDD is listed as a Toshiba MK3006GAL, and the "Spinup time" is shown to be 0ms. However in the datasheet for the drive:

http://www.webteufel.com/HP/ThinClient/HP-Compaq_T5730/MK3006GALUserGuide-Rev02.pdf

The spinup time is listed as 3.5ms.

I can see how this could possibly be related to the issue I'm having with the database, and the need to never allow spindown to occur or else go into a perpetual "database not ready" loop. I'm not sure how it could cause the incorrect FWImage.ebn to be written when using the installer though.

There may not be enough people using this model to make it worthwhile for the developers to look into this any further, and that is understandable. However I'm willing to provide any information necessary that might help to "cure" the HDD6330/17's that seem to have more issues than others.

One additional thing that I've noticed regarding the database on mine; after I initialize the database and reboot, when I view the "Database Info" it says:

Initialized: Yes
DB Ready: Yes
RAM Cache: No
RAM: 0/0 B
Progress: -1% (0 Entries)
Curfile: -----
Commit Step: 0
Commit Delayed: No
Queue Length: 0

Some of these are peculiar, because the database is functional as I've increased the spindown parameter as described before. Thus, it seems odd that it would say "0 entries". Also, it goes through the 1/9, 2/9...9/9 commit steps on reboot but reports a commit step of 0.

I'm just wondering, am I the only one with a HDD6330 who is currently experiencing these issues?

wodz:
The FWImage.ebn file should definitely be binary, encrypted/scrambled file. This looks like either bug in RB utility or some misconfiguration of download section on our webserver.

b0hoon:
There are two versions of this player: HDD6330 and HDD6320 (which i have), only the last one doesn't have a radio, that's all. Firmware file is the same for both. End of the number like /17 denotes probably a small changes in design of the mainboard, chipset is the same from the beginning.

There should be no problem with installing Rockbox through the Rockbox Utility, Rockbox Utility should replace original firmware file FWImage.ebn with our bootloader (73kb), cause this allows dualboot.

Next thing: You haven't changed anything, by changing "Spindown" parameter, because Rockbox has absolutely no control over a disk spindown on this particular target, see: http://git.rockbox.org/?p=rockbox.git;a=blob;f=firmware/target/arm/philips/power-hdd.c;h=a7f1302a7c3751f3f347c1cf8c8a55eca59a1550;hb=HEAD, function -> ide_power_enable. Disk spindown is controlled by the hardware.

From other post - i'm too lazy to reply for both :) :

--- Quote ---Another thing I noticed.. not sure if this is supposed to happen or not, but when it's updating the database and showing the count progress, pressing the play/pause button increases the database update speed dramatically without causing an error. Really speeds things up.
--- End quote ---
Yes, it's probably related to boosting up the processor speed , when using the buttons and touchpad. It's normal.


--- Quote ---If there is one thing I could change about how RB interfaces with the device, it would be to decrease the sensitivity/speed of scrolling through menus. It's nice that you can tap the scroll bar to select, but I always seem to overshoot the desired item by one or two items.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, i realize that touchpad support is not so groovy. I wrote a basic functionality, and focused on other things, more important for me. But there is a patch on gerrit which probably will be used in future for this Gogear: http://gerrit.rockbox.org/r/#/c/786/

If you feel that your player is acting strange , you probably have a disk half dead, it has some years already in the end. Replace it, or modify your player using CF card + adaptor.

soundman:
Thanks for the replies. I plan to get a newer player as my 6330 is literally starting to fall apart, but I'm glad I still had it sitting around so I could try out RB. My last player was a 6th Gen iPod so I was stuck with their firmware.

I agree that the installer issue for the 6330 appears to be some sort of misconfiguration between the application and the web server, as the file that gets written as "FWImage.ebn" appears to just be the HTML code for the menu of the download page.

As far as the database issue mine has, and how increasing the spindown value resolves it, I agree that it doesn't appear (from feel and sound) to actually keep the disk active any longer than it normally is. However, anytime my player exceeds the value that is set, I invariably get "database not ready" along with panic crashes (usually "could not write to sector XXXXX (error-2)). So the parameter is affecting something if not the actual spindown.

If I had the time, I might take on the task of trying to build a version that disables all database functions completely. All I've ever really wanted is a player that uses a simple file manager as the GUI. I've never had anything but issues with corruption on both my Apple and Philips using original FW. Who looks up a song they want to hear by the author's name, date released, etc? It's easy enough just to group albums in folders by artists. I suppose it's all linked to DRM, but I'm mostly copying from CDs and converting to FLAC. Compressed video is fine and necessary for bandwidth, but I can distinguish between the best-encoded mp3 and a lossless version in three seconds. They just sound listless and "dead" somehow. Oh my.. how I digress.

soundman:
Just a question from having read the manual for another device.. the HDD6330 doesn't have the option to store the database in RAM in the database options menu. Is this due to limited RAM in the 6330 or is it just something that never got implemented?

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