Help: iRiver H120 has ATA error: -1(resolved)

[Mark E]

I love my Iriver and am freakin out now.. I taped a show a couple weeks ago. Brought it up to my shop to listen to it.. no problem.. Didnt transfer anything to the computer yet (buying new computer) so when I went to transfer it yesterday it came up with this....

ATA error: -1
Insert USB cable and press a button

Did that... nothing.. The computer makes the "dink" sound that it aknowledges the USB being plugged in. But no icon on computer showing it.

So I unplugged it, reset it and powered it up in normal iRiver mode (rec & power) it comes up kinda normal.. then says " Check HDD Connection" then after about 30 sec. It says "Check HDD" .. I can get a couple screens to come up on it, but shows "0" free space (which it has plenty) then when I plug it into the computer it says " Connected" but wont show anything on the computer... I did some searching on here but didnt see anything on this specific ATA code. Anyone? Id love to get the Tesla recording I made off of here it came out stellar!!!

ANY help is appreciated!!!!
Mark E

[Mark E]

     So check this out.... I figured Id check my HD connection.. Since that what it said.. I took out the screws on the top and botton and tried to power it up... Viola!! Powered up and worked like a charm!!! Took it apart and heres what I found:
When the unit is fully assembeled its like its "smooshed" and the hard drive dosent wanna work.. When you take off the top and give it some room.. No problems whatsoever...
I put in the Ipod replacement battery for longer life. The "aftermarket" battery I think is the same thickness, but the material that covers the actual battery cell had some air in it. I guess that hair of extra thickness put pressure on the HDD and wouldnt allow it to work.. I took a razor knife and made a small slit in the covering, used my thumb to push out any air in the battery casing then put it back together and it works... Its that weird or what!!! So if you get that ATA -1 message, try this...
Thanks to anyone who read this and tried to figure it out in their head!!!
Mark E

[whatboutbob]

Mark, I'm not sure you should be cutting up the battery...

[toolmanwill]

Yeah those batts are sealed for a reason. Possibility of combustion now.

[Mark E]

Not the actual battery, I peeled back the "cloth tape" toward the bottom of the battery and made a small slit in the silver covering then stuck the tape back on... Should be fine, but if your at a show and you see me glowing neon green from some battery leakage call a hazmat team!!!

[whatboutbob]

I could be wrong but afaik the best case scenario for you is that nothing goes wrong. For the worst case see the 'MT incident' aka 'char-grilled testicles' (i know you know what I'm on about).

Does anyone know what hydrogen gas can do when combined with hot stuff...apart from the Hindenburg of course...?

Seriously though...many many people have installed an after-market battery on their iriver...don't you have to ask yourself why they didn't haffta go cut stuff up?

[Mark E]

Well I just ordered another battery.. I figure for under 20 bucks shipped it can only be a good thing.. I dont think this other one would be a problem, but ya never know...
As always , thanks for any input
Mark E

[TCK]

Time for thread hijack!

About a month ago I got the same ATA -1 error.  I was told to resit the hard drive.  I did, and it worked.  However, after a while booting up would take about 20 seconds due to having to detect the hard drive.  Playback was occasionally problematic too.  Anyway, I got the same ATA -1 error, and resitted the hard drive.  The player worked again, but after a couple of days the same thing happened again.  Resitting always solves the problem, but only temporarily.  I can't work out if it's my hard drive dying, a battery issue, or bad soldering/wiring.  Either way, I suspect my player is on the way out, but I want to check here to see if anyone can work out the exact problem.

Do know that if it is a goner I have all intentions of replacing my H120 with another Rockbox player, no question about it!

[CreepingDave]

Hi all, I seem to have the same problem as mentioned, [actually -11] and i've read enough to see the solution, but I can't get the damn screws out. Does anyone know where I can get the correct sized screwdriver??

Would like it repaired for Wednesday for Motorhead...

[Muse]

Hey Mark E!

Last night I started having what sounds like the exact same problem as you described in detail. Virtually everything you described pertains to my H120. I posted and looked through a number of threads at Misticriver Forums and I came upon posts saying that some people got similar problems from too much pressure from the battery. So, I tried removing the end pieces and the back of the case and turning on the player. The problem did not disappear.    Only one time since last night did I hear the HD spin up, and it seemed to load the firmware OK. But when I went to resume playback I got an accessibility problem message. I naturally suspect a bad HD but I figure there's a really good chance the HD is actually OK. Just really don't know what to do. I will try and see if I can test the HD, or maybe I'll just buy a replacement. Wouldn't be terrible to have a spare, if nothing else to be able to troubleshoot a problem like this.