Gigabeat F20(Mar 20th & 24th Builds) -- Long Rockbox Startup

[Job Van Dam]

Ever since I've installed the March 20th build and put in the latest bootloader (I'm certain I already had it on my DAP but downloaded it again and overwrote the old one just to make sure I had the lastest one) for my Gigabeat F20 it takes 45-60 seconds to startup.

It starts up fine showing the original firmware loading screen, my custom bootloader splash then it goes to the light blue screen and says "Loading..." for literally 45-60 seconds. Sometimes it shows the version screen (Rockbox logo on the top, version info at the bottom) and starts up quickly.
I have just installed the March 24th build and the same thing still happens

I have taken off all the files on my DAP except the root files and folder, defragged it then put everything back so there is no trace of fragmentation.
Also I have listened to the harddrive while it it's loading and it doesn't sound like it's thrashing.

The only change I notice is that when I build Rockbox myself since March 20th the rockbox.gigabeat file is located actually inside the .rockbox folder where as before it was outside the folder in the root.
I have tried copying the rockbox.gigabeat file to the root but still there is a long startup.

[nls]

There is a bug in the dircache that can cause this if you have a very large amount of files on your dap.
I do not know of any workaround for this...
The location of the rockbox.gigabetf file was recently changed in the distributed zip files, make sure that you have the file in only one location to avoid confusion.

[Job Van Dam]

Oh so it's been reported already? OK just wondering if something was wrong with my DAP.

You wouldn't happen to know what's the latest build I can use to avoid this bug?

[nls]

For all I know it's been there since the dircache was introduced, but it only triggers on very large amounts of files, I get it with about 30000 files so unless you have about that many, I would guess something else is wrong...
edit:
Or maybe I'm wrong it's supposed to say "Scanning disk..." when the dircache does it's thing, I see now you said it says loading for 45 seconds... I'd guess it's something else then...

[Job Van Dam]

Oh no. Now I'm all worried and shit.

Any other Gigabeat owners experiencing the same thing with the latest build? Someone please say yes.

[GodEater]

It's not just a gigabeat bug - it applies to all rockbox targets that use dircache and have an enormous number of files on them.

[Soader03]

So, unable the dircache doesn't do that startup?

[Nate!]

I didn't notice it until official build r12871-20070320.  I currently have an unoffical build r12900 but it was still there with an official build of the same revision.

Just to clarify, it does say "Loading" vice "Scanning."  I don't have DirCache enabled.  (I didn't like the scroll speed with it enabled.)

Dang, I just power cycled a few times and didn't get the load caption.  I'll keep watch though.

[Mad Cow]

Everyone once in a while my F40 would load really slowly, but not that slowly, and it's completely random. Try using a clean build with clean settings and the newest bootloader.

[Job Van Dam]

I read Nate's posts and tried using the build from March 19th but there is still a slow startup.

MadCow, I'll try using the latest build with no patches next. Is there option somewhere to set all options back to default?

[Mad Cow]

Is there option somewhere to set all options back to default?

Just switch on the hold switch right after it starts booting, that clears all the settings.

[Edamame]

Hello Everyone,

First a big thanks for every developpers for this project. Usually I'm only reading the post, but since I'm unable to find anyone with the same problem I decided to post.

I'm experiencing the exact same problem. The startup of Rockbox is extremely long. around one minute.

I'm running the mad cow custom built. The latest one which is I think from march the 26th.

Before that time I was using alternatively the original firmware and rockbox. But tonight, to make it simple and clean, I just erased all my SAT files and empty folder, and i did a clean install again. But i still have the same problem even with only 200 tracks on my DAP. Once rockbox is launched, it's working perfectly, it's only during startup that it is quite slow.

Something else : before, i was running the firmware when the rockbox.gigabeat file was in the root directory. At that time the startup was slow, but nothing compare to what it is right now...

Any ideas to fix this problem?

[GodEater]

I'm running the mad cow custom built. The latest one which is I think from march the 26th.

Are you still using this, or a standard rockbox build now ? I find it difficult to tell from your post.

Something else : before, i was running the firmware when the rockbox.gigabeat file was in the root directory. At that time the startup was slow, but nothing compare to what it is right now...

That doesn't have anything to do with it.

[Edamame]

I'm still running mad cow's built.

[Nate!]

On an official build, r12936, I only get the loading screen after rebooting into an updated build for the first time.  (Same with an album art/gb_rotate unofficial build. I had scroll-margins in the 12900 build also but it broke on the 12936 revision.)

I did remove the rockbox.gigabeat and gigabeat.cfg files from root since they are in the .rockbox directory now.  Not sure if this sped things up or not.