Dev Build b30f05badc: "No partition found. Insert USB cable and fix it"

[iPodVT]

I just now updated an 80GB iPod 6th Gen Classic "Original" to the current dev build b30f05badc.  After the update completed I ejected the iPod and tried to reboot from the OF into the new dev build but I got the error "No partition found. Insert USB cable and fix it".  There was no problem when I rebooted back into the OF, but I couldn't get the dev build to boot.  I ran AOMEI and it claimed to have found and fixed a few problems, but I still couldn't boot into the new dev build.  I even tried reinstalling b30f05badc again but still no dice.  So I restored my backup of the version of Rockbox that I had been previously running - 85652e6bd1-240912 - and was able to boot successfully into that.

This iPod is not one of the ones that I have been experimenting with to exceed the LBA28 limitation - it has its original 80GB HDD and is conventionally configured with OF v1.1.2 PC.

[speachy]

Is that "no partition found" shown _after_ the splash screen with the rockbox logo with the b30f0 build underneath it?

If you go back to the 10-17 daily build, does it work?

If that works, does 10-18 work?

( see https://www.rockbox.org/dl.cgi?bin=ipod6g )

[iPodVT]

Is that "no partition found" shown _after_ the splash screen with the rockbox logo with the b30f0 build underneath it?

Yes.

If you go back to the 10-17 daily build, does it work?

Yes.  (System Info shows "9b1a92fe36-241015")

If that works, does 10-18 work?

No.

( see https://www.rockbox.org/dl.cgi?bin=ipod6g )

[speachy]

If that works, does 10-18 work?

No.

Well, crap.   I need more info about the drive in there to try and narrow this down.

What's the model number (settings-about in the apple firmware)?

EDIT:  Additional questions: If you plug the drive into USB at the "partition not found screen" is the drive accessible?  What is the sector size reported?  (Under Linux it's easy, 'dmesg' will show you the logical and physical block sizes reported, and fdisk -l /dev/whatever will show "sectors of n * m = whatever" too.  I don't know how to get this info from other OSes).  Once you have that, boot into the stock firmware, plug in USB, and see if those values are different.

[iPodVT]

If that works, does 10-18 work?

No.

Well, crap.   I need more info about the drive in there to try and narrow this down.

What's the model number (settings-about in the apple firmware)?

iPod: MB029LL/A
Drive: Toshiba MK8022GAA

I noticed something that possibly indicates a different source of the problem:  When I connect to my Windows 10 laptop while running Rockbox or in Bootloader USB Mode the computer says the disk needs to be reformatted, and can't do anything with it as is.  When running the Apple OF, Windows has no problems.  When connected to my Mac everything's fine in all Apple and Rockbox modes.  Do you want me to restore/reformat the iPod and then reinstall the current RB dev build?

[speachy]

You didn't see my edit, but what you're describing is along my line of thought.

I want to know the sector size that is reported when the ipod is plugged in, both from the Apple firmware and from within the rockbox "partition not found" screen.  And see the OS view of the partition tables under both.

BTW, it's important to differentiate between the rockbox bootloader USB mode and the "partition not found" screen of the _firmware_.  If the latter shows up, that means the bootloader successfully was able to access the partition.  (The bootloader is fairly old at this point, but suffice it say it lacks the low-level changes that were introduced in the 10-18 build)

The fundamental issue here is that there's a mismatch between the drive's logical sector size and how the drive is partitioned.  It is my understanding that all but the 160GB "fat" ipod use 512B physical sectors but the partitioning/filesystems are set up with 4K sectors, and their low-level ATA driver translates back and forth.  Suffice it to say that this is PITA to deal with, especially when you need to maintain compatibility with the stock firmware and allow user-replaceable storage (eg the iflash adapters).

[speachy]

One other request -- boot into the 10-17 build, and go into the debug menu, generate an identify info dump, and send that over to me.  That will be quite useful in getting to the root cause of this..

[iPodVT]

Actually, I was in the act of replying to your edit when your own follow-up was posted.

When I plug the drive into USB at the "partition not found screen" the drive is not accessible.  All the iPod lets me do at that point is hard reboot.

As to getting the various sector size info for you, I can't do that tonight.  I'll first have to learn how to do it, and I don't have the time or mental faculties for that tonight - I'm really sorry about that.  But I could do the restore/reformat/reinstall as I can do those things zip zip with my eyes closed.  Should I do that now or wait until another time and get you the segment size info first?

[iPodVT]

One other request -- boot into the 10-17 build, and go into the debug menu, generate an identify info dump, and send that over to me.  That will be quite useful in getting to the root cause of this..

I'll do that now.

Then should I do the restore?

[iPodVT]

See attached identity_info.bin.

[speachy]

I'll do that now.

Then should I do the restore?

Thanks, got it.  Hold off on the restore, if you don't mind.  I want to try and figure out what's wrong with the (presumably valid) setup you have right now.

[speachy]

Ok, I think I know what's going on here.  The drive claims to use 512B logical sectors but 4K physical sectors.  Based on what you're seeing, it appears that it can only access 4K sectors, using 512B addressing. 

I need to (properly) re-introduce this functionality into the 6g's ATA driver.  This may take a few days.

(Why didn't they just use 4K logical sectors too?  Bah...)

</grumble>

[iPodVT]

Do you still want me to try to get the sector info you requested earlier?  And is there anything else I can do to help?

Also - is there an automated way to install versions of Rockbox prior to the current Daily/Dev builds into my .rockbox directory so that I don't have to manually resituate all of my personal config/nav/theme/etc files?

Thanks so much for your incredible dedication and hard work.

[iPodVT]

I noticed something that possibly indicates a different source of the problem:  When I connect to my Windows 10 laptop while running Rockbox or in Bootloader USB Mode the computer says the disk needs to be reformatted, and can't do anything with it as is.  When running the Apple OF, Windows has no problems.  When connected to my Mac everything's fine in all Apple and Rockbox modes.  Do you want me to restore/reformat the iPod and then reinstall the current RB dev build?

I think you might have misunderstood the point of my above description because I neglected to specify that that behavior happens even with installed versions of Rockbox that I can boot and run.  That is why I offered/suggested that maybe I should reformat/restore the iPod and then test it with the current dev build.

[speachy]

Builds after 2024-10-17 won't work properly with that hard drive (except perhaps in USB mode as that works with 4K blocks) so I don't expect reformatting to make a difference for this particular problem.

But if the 10-17 (or older) build fails to work properly in USB on _some_ operating systems but not others, I'd really like to know why -- is it a USB Mass Storage quirk, or a failure to handshake properly at the Control URB level?

If you could capture a USB sniff when you plug the drive into windows 10, that may provide some insight into what's going on  (wireshark will do this for you if you install usbpcap when it prompts you).  I'd want captures from the Apple firmware as well as Rockbox.