Emerging issue / mystery: "Result: 0" freeze: OutletM3 batch

[watchpocket]

Another owner of a H140 with the same problem was supposed to send me his unit, but he chickened out.

Yes, but "chickened out" only in the sense that I wanted to make full use of my 90-day warrranty, which was, at that time, soon to expire.

I'd already sent my h140 back to Digital Outlet twice, and they twice had sent it to the iRiver company for HD repair.

This time they told me they would swap the unit for another.  I was dubious about that, since I'd heard they had no more h140s left, but decided to go ahead with this and that maybe they really did have one or two laying around.

But of course they simply sent me back my same old unit -- it was a bluff by one of the young employees.  He even tried to keep the bluff going after I called him on it, saying he had in fact sent me a new unit.

("You really thought I wouldn't copy down the serial number before I sent it to you?" I asked him.)

So I spoke to the guy who runs the place, who, right there while I was on the phone with him,  bawled out the employee for lying to me.

The upshot of all this is that I still have an h140 that I absolutely cannot get to accept a RockBox install.

Linus, might I humbly ask if you'd still be interested in investigating this unit?  You're my last hope before I sell the thing -- I don't want it if it won't run RB.

I still have your address, just let me know.

Thanks,
watchpocket

[LinusN]

I have another H140 on its way to me for investigation, so stay tuned.

[dunno]

*dunno lurks here as this should be interesting*

[watchpocket]

I have another H140 on its way to me for investigation, so stay tuned.

Great -- I will definitely stay tuned.

Do you happen to know if it's one from the OutletMP3 batch?

[LinusN]

Do you happen to know if it's one from the OutletMP3 batch?

Yes it is.

[LinusN]

OK, here are the first results from my investigation.

The unit I have has been refurbished. A power regulator has been replaced, so I think this unit has once been charged with the wrong charger.

The entire assembly is more modern than the units I've seen before, so this is definitely one of the later batches to leave the iriver factory. The CPU is a SCF5249VF140, but it is not marked in the same way as on the earlier models I've seen.

So far I've noticed that the PLL is different somehow. I have managed to start Rockbox by lowering the max CPU frequency to 90MHz, but when I do, all the other timing is way off. Therefore I think the PLL is different in some way. I'll have to investigate further...

Stay tuned.

[watchpocket]

Thanks for the preliminary report, Linus.  

I may well have a similarly refurbished unit as well -- I don't know.

I look forward to any further info as it becomes available.

[watchpocket]

OK, here are the first results from my investigation.

[ . . . ]

Stay tuned.

Greetings, Linus.  Any more info yet re: your investigation into the h140 that was sent to you?

I.e., have you had a chance to investigate further?  The first report was indeed interesting and curious.  

Were you ultimately able to get RB running normally and successfully on it?

Thanks,
watchpocket

[watchpocket]

LinusN wrote:

> The entire assembly is more modern than the units I've seen before, so
> this is definitely one of the later batches to leave the iriver factory.


I'm wondering if a similarity in serial numbers between that player and
mine might tell us anything about whether my unit was also one of the same
later batch out of the factory.

If you still have that player in your possession, I wonder if you might post the
serial number or at least tell if its serial number is at all similar to mine:

The serial number of mine is:   50443060201233.   Thanks   --watchpocket

[LinusN]

Sorry for not having had time to work more on the player. The serial number is 504473060201745, not far from yours.

[watchpocket]

Thanks, Linus.  

Apologies for leaving out the "7" just after the "5044" in my serial number.

Just for the record, a friend's unit has a serial number very close in the same range, and there were no problems in the installation of Rockbox on that one, so who knows what the serial numbers ultimately tell (or don't tell) us.

[watchpocket]

To re-cap this thread:

Serial number of my h140 unit (which refuses Rockbox): 504473060201233.

Serial number of my friend's unit (on which Rb was installed w no problem): 504473060201359.

Serial number of unit Linus under investigation by Linus (which refuses Rb): 504473060201745.

My point being that I may be (or may not be, but probably am) reading tea leaves here.

[Zeke]

Hey All:

Just an update.  I've been busy as hell at work for the past few months and so haven't really tuned in or been in contact with Linus.

I was reminded by another "Outlet MP3 interested party" a few days ago and so I contacted Linus for an update.

So far, the problem still seems to be with the PLL/CPU.  I don't know what that means, but I looked it up on e-er-net and found this:

PLL is short for phase-locked loop, an electronic circuit that controls an oscillator so that it maintains a constant phase angle (i.e., lock) on the frequency of an input, or reference, signal. A PLL ensures that a communication signal is locked on a specific frequency and can also be used to generate, modulate and demodulate a signal and divide a frequency.

I want to thank Linus for making time in his busy schedule to investigate this issue.  I know that there aren't that many of us with this problem which makes it lower priority, but there aren't many H140s left (or of the H1XX series, period) and it would mean a lot to get it working.  I can't wait to get some good, stealthy live recordings with it!

Thanks again to Linus and Rockbox!

Zeke

[LinusN]

OK guys! I think I have solved the problem. It turned out that the CPU on the player I investigated did not like to have the PLLDIV field set to 0. The data sheet says it is fine, but the CPU doesn't. By recalculating the PLL values and making sure PLLDIV != 0, I managed to run Rockbox on the OutletMP3 device.

Please try the latest SVN build and see if my fix solves the problem for the rest of you.

[Zeke]

Hey Linus!

Thanks a lot, sounds like you’ve found the renegade electron that’s been foiling us!

Cool, I’m super psyched about this turn of events.

Hey Y’all, test this patch ASAP so I can get my player back!

Thanks again to Linus and Rockbox – you rock.

Zeke