Ipod 6th Gen acting weird.

[varg86]

Hi@all,

Ipod 6tg gen.
Iflash quad
2x 512GB Samsung EVO Select (Blue) UHS-I (U3) A2 V30
OS: Fedora 40 Linux


Problem:

I build this Ipod in 2022 and it worked fine until yesterday.
I was pumping ~ 400 mp3´s (Complete Podcast cause 1TB) in the device.
Suddenly it dismounts and cannot mount it again.

-ATA error: -2147483636
( https://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=51647.0 )
Swiveled the sd cards, one works and the Ipod boots.
But keeps freezing after 3-10 Minutes.

Question: Is it the Rockbox installation, the Iflash adapter, the SD cards? I also ordered an iFlash Solo for another Ipod I want to make(5.5Gen), so i can cross examine.

Greetings
Flo

[Frankenpod]

Don't really know, but it could be a poor connection 'twixt the drive cable and the iFlash.  Or a bad sector on one of the cards.
Maybe try cleaning or replacing the drive cable?

[varg86]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I interchanged the 30 pin to USB cable but no change.

When I initially set the IPOD up, I used the guide(I think from the iflash website) where you format the SD Cards with aomei.
I switched to linux. What is the key when formatting the SD Cards?
Partition table MS-DOS and then FAT32 ?

[Frankenpod]

I don't mean the 30-pin-to-USB cable, I mean the drive cable inside the ipod that connects the iFlash to the ipod logic board.  That -2147483636 error I vaguely remember sometimes appears if the ipod loses the connection to the iFlash - which can happen if that cable is faulty or is not securely inserted in the iFlash ZIF socket.  Though it could be other things, I guess.

[speachy]

I build this Ipod in 2022 and it worked fine until yesterday.
I was pumping ~ 400 mp3´s (Complete Podcast cause 1TB) in the device.

Swiveled the sd cards, one works and the Ipod boots.
But keeps freezing after 3-10 Minutes.

Question: Is it the Rockbox installation, the Iflash adapter, the SD cards? I also ordered an iFlash Solo for another Ipod I want to make(5.5Gen), so i can cross examine.

You didn't specify what rockbox version you are using.  If you're not already using a very recent build, please update it.  That said, while the 6th gen doesn't have the same pathological iflash issues as the older generations, but there's still been a boatload of fixes all throughout the storage stack.

Meanwhile, given that this setup has been stable for a couple of years, and it died when writing a large amount of data, my suspicions fall on the SD cards themselves, though the earlier suggestions of making sure the ribbon cable (and everything else) is nice and secure would be good to verify.

[varg86]

Hi!!

I downloaded the rockbox utility on a windows laptop and reinstalled the bootloader and the daily build. ipod was recognized correctly.
Now I am Stuck in the Bootloader, "no partition found". When i plug the Ipod into an computer (linux or windows) the püartition shows and is writable.
The only strange thing(maybe it win11) is , that win11 promts "there is a problem with the drive".

 

[varg86]

Hi @all,

has anyone a clue why I am still stuck at the no partition found ?

[Frankenpod]

Bad drive cable, or a bad sector on one of the cards?

Have you changed the drive cable and/or tested each of the cards in a card-reader (e.g. with hwtest2 or whatever it's called?  Or just a bad-sector test with AOMEII).  If they weren't both of the same brand/type I'd suggest it could be the weirdness I've sometimes encountered where certain cards refused to work together, but as you say they are the same brand/type that seems unlikely (besides in those cases it would usually restore but come out with the wrong size).

Or just reformat both cards with AOMEII again (in a card reader), in case they aren't quite fully FAT32 for some reason?

[varg86]

I checked the sd cards with the HWTest2 tool.
One card is dead and the other one seems okay.
So I assume the iflash quad is dead too. I´ll check on this when the iflash solo arrives for the gen5.5 build.

[Frankenpod]

From what you've said, not sure I understand why you are assuming the iFlash itself has failed.  If one card was definitely bad that very well could have been the problem.

[varg86]

Sooo,

iflash Solo arrived and no change.

But I Reinstalled everything completely and now it works.
Thanks for the help