Completely removing all traces of rockbox

[jajaja]

Unfortunately you cannot accomplish the task in Windows directly and I do not know any utility working in Windows which can do it.

wipe a harddrive? a boot-cd and s0kill should do it...

[Mmmm]

So I'm wondering is there any way to just completely remove rockbox settings and everything else on the HD at the same time instead of having to wait until I reinstall rockbox to delete the rockbox settings and have the Hard Drive as if it was just brand new with no trace of rockbox or anything on it, and then reinstall the H140 firmware and start fresh.

For your purposes I really don't think that this is neccessary.

To start afresh all you need to do is delete the .rockbox file and the rockbox.iriver file, reflash a patched .hex file (or unpatched if you want to get rid of rockbox - but I don't think you really do (there is no point in flashing an unpatched and then a patched straight after)) and copy a new .rockbox file and rockbox.iriver file onto the root of your hard drive. Then reset the settings when you next boot rockbox.

So to save yourself some rather large migraines I wouldnt bother with blanking the hard drive. Honestly...It won't fix your problem! It won't make any difference at all in the end.

[Spug]

Slightly off-topic, but will that solution completely clean the hard drive? Would the manufacturer be able to see if Rockbox had ever been installed, for example, if the player was sent in for repair?

[pabouk]

Mmmm: Cormie has already tried what you suggest and he really wanted to try to clean the player completely.

Spung: Yes hard drive will be cleaned completely, but I am not sure about the flash memory. Could anyone confirm that it gets completely overwritten by flashing it from the OF or by using the new plug in in Rockbox?

[Mmmm]

Mmmm: Cormie has already tried what you suggest and he really wanted to try to clean the player completely.

I know, and that's fine if he really wants to give it a go. I was just pointing out that whether you overwrite the settings block or not won't make any difference. He seemed a little overwhelmed with all the various commands to input and I thought I would point out that unless he just wanted to try it as an academic exercise it really isn't necessary.

will that solution completely clean the hard drive? Would the manufacturer be able to see if Rockbox had ever been installed, for example, if the player was sent in for repair?

The method I described will completely erase Rockbox from a manufacturers point of view, yes.

[pabouk]

I was just pointing out that whether you overwrite the settings block or not won't make any difference. He seemed a little overwhelmed with all the various commands to input and I thought I would point out that unless he just wanted to try it as an academic exercise it really isn't necessary.

There is still some chance that Rockbox will behave in a buggy way when:
- The partition table is not correct.
- FAT32 partition has a bug undetected by chkdsk (already eliminated by formating).
- Rockbox function "clear settings" does not work correctly.

will that solution completely clean the hard drive? Would the manufacturer be able to see if Rockbox had ever been installed, for example, if the player was sent in for repair?

The method I described will completely erase Rockbox from a manufacturers point of view, yes.

Unfortunately that is a common misunderstanding of file systems and hard drives. Please read this: http://www.massachusetts.edu/hardwarefaq/faq.cfm (found after short googling). It is not very complicated to use unformat and unerase tools. Also the content of the Rockbox configuration sector can suggest that there was Rockbox installed.

[Mmmm]

will that solution completely clean the hard drive? Would the manufacturer be able to see if Rockbox had ever been installed, for example, if the player was sent in for repair?

The method I described will completely erase Rockbox from a manufacturers point of view, yes.

Unfortunately that is a common misunderstanding of file systems and hard drives. Please read this: http://www.massachusetts.edu/hardwarefaq/faq.cfm (found after short googling). It is not very complicated to use unformat and unerase tools. Also the content of the Rockbox configuration sector can suggest that there was Rockbox installed.

I suppose it depends on how paranoid you are that they will go to the bother of actually checking and trying to recover deleted data in an effort to not have to bother fixing your player.
I think that most manufacturers wouldn't go further than trying to boot the unit and would be happy if their original firmare booted up (or attempted to) when they tried to turn it on, and they might not even bother with that.

Also (and this is just speculation) I would imagine that having a copy of rockbox on your hard drive wouldn't void the warranty as surely you can store anything you like on the hard drive - Rockbox isn't actually installed and can't possibly damage your unit in this state. I would imagine that the problem would only be with the bootloader. ( I am talking from an IRiver owners perspective - I'm not sure how the installation of the other targets works)

[Spug]

Unfortunately that is a common misunderstanding of file systems and hard drives. Please read this: http://www.massachusetts.edu/hardwarefaq/faq.cfm (found after short googling). It is not very complicated to use unformat and unerase tools. Also the content of the Rockbox configuration sector can suggest that there was Rockbox installed.

I don't really think they'd try to recover deleted data to see if the warranty might be voided. They might, but that's a risk I'd be willing to take. The content of the Rockbox configuration sector, however, would worry me a bit more. How can that be emptied?

Also (and this is just speculation) I would imagine that having a copy of rockbox on your hard drive wouldn't void the warranty as surely you can store anything you like on the hard drive - Rockbox isn't actually installed and can't possibly damage your unit in this state. I would imagine that the problem would only be with the bootloader. ( I am talking from an IRiver owners perspective - I'm not sure how the installation of the other targets works)

Yeah, that makes sense. Though I understand the manufacturers in that they can't be sure that Rockbox didn't damage the player (unless, of course, they read the entire source code) in any way. How are all traces of the bootloader removed, then?

[pabouk]

The content of the Rockbox configuration sector, however, would worry me a bit more. How can that be emptied?

As bluebrother wrote already, on iriver H100s, H300s:

Code: [Select]

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda skip=61 bs=512 count=1

Replace /dev/sda by the identifier the player is attached to.

How are all traces of the bootloader removed, then?

It should be removed by flashing the unit using the original firmware.

[Mmmm]

I don't really think they'd try to recover deleted data to see if the warranty might be voided. They might, but that's a risk I'd be willing to take. The content of the Rockbox configuration sector, however, would worry me a bit more. How can that be emptied?

I think that it would be even more bother to look and find out if there is a Rockbox configuration sector present on the drive. However I'd say that if they did (I'm sure they wouldn't) this would void your warranty as it shows that you have beyond doubt run rockbox on your unit.

[Spug]

Aha, okay. But with bluebrother's dd command, even that is resolved. All should be nice and dandy, then, thank you!

[cormie]

I still haven't done anything about this

I'm not sure if I've said this already or if it will make a diff, but the iRiver firmware is working perfectly.

So I tried the "Clear Rockbox settings" but it's still the same problem. And all them commands are just way over my head.

I'm going to try and clear rocbox settings now and do nothing to customise it the way I usually do, see if that helps.

[cormie]

Ok, same thing happened so I'm dumbfounded as to what it could be. Suppose a format and sector clearance will tell where the problem is?

Now, just a matter of doing that

[cormie]

Just thought I'd update this and let you guys know that it's fixed now:) Whoo!!

I heard that there was an update done to the way rockbox "rocked" your player, a new system or way of doing things so I was crossing my fingers it would sort that problem. I've had it on my H for a few days and have listened to many hours of music at a time and it hasn't randomly shut off at all! So good to have it back working properly:)

Thanks for all the help!