Trying to revive an original Archos Jukebox (20GB)

[mcf57]

I have an old Archos Jukebox 20 that I am trying to resurrect. It had been sitting in a closet for years because I thought the hard drive failed. Well, I recently pulled it out and gave it a try and amazingly it worked....briefly. About 4 days later, it did what it was doing in the past that made me believe it was toast. Essentially, it appears to hang up while trying to load the OS (ver 1.28).

Well, I thought the hard drive was bad so I proceeded to buy another 20GB laptop drive to replace it. I was able to take it apart and replace it with this new drive (brand new 20GB 2.5" Seagate), but it is still doing the same thing and hanging up while trying to load the OS.

Also, I took the old original laptop drive and was able to hook it up to my USB external kit and it worked fine when connected to the PC so it was obviously not the drive to begin with. I guess I should of tested it in the first place before buying another, but that isn't a huge deal & I'll just use the extra drive permanantly in my external enclosure kit anyway.

Now, someone on another board mentioned that they think this Archos loads some files from the hard drive. Do I need to install something first on the hard drive in order to get ANYTHING working in the first place? Maybe the files were corrupted on the original drive and this is why I had problems to begin with.

If files need to be pre-installed, I might just go ahead and install Rockbox on it since I have been EXTREMELY happy with Rockbox on my Sansa e250. I was told all I need to do is simply copy the Rockbox files/folders for this model directly onto the hard drive. Does this sound about right?

Any help or suggestions would be great. Thanks

[LambdaCalculus]

The Archos firmware loads a file named ajbrec.ajz from the hard drive, IIRC. Perhaps the original file is corrupt.

Try extracting a Rockbox build onto the new drive and inserting it into the Archos and see what happens. If it works, then you're set.

(Also note: The Archos is HWCODEC only, so only MP3 files will work on it!)

[mcf57]

OK, I'll try to extract the Rockbox files directly onto it. I'm assuming I simply just copy/paste the files to it, correct?

Let me ask this too though. I think I remember trying to hook up the Archos to the PC via the USB port and it wouldn't detect it. I'll have to try again tonight when I am at home, but could this be another indication of something else that has failed? In other words, should the USB external hard drive feature still work no matter what firmware (Archos or ROckbox) is on it and even if its corrupted?
 

[LambdaCalculus]

Do you see the words "USB 2.0 Hard Disk" on the bottom front of the Archos?

[mcf57]

I'll check when I get home to see if it has "USB 2.0 Hard Disk" printed on the front of the unit.

Another thing I just thought of though that might be the culprit and source of the problem. When I got the new 20GB Seagate drive, I essentially just swapped it out. I didn't even format it or put any files on it. Do you think it needs to be formatted in FAT32 before ANYTHING can be done?

Once I do that, I guess I can then also put the Rockbox files directly onto it, right?

[LambdaCalculus]

Another thing I just thought of though that might be the culprit and source of the problem. When I got the new 20GB Seagate drive, I essentially just swapped it out. I didn't even format it or put any files on it. Do you think it needs to be formatted in FAT32 before ANYTHING can be done?

Yes, you should format it.

If your Archos turns out not to be a "USB 2.0" model, then you may need the Archos drivers to access it. They are available from Archos' website; here's the link.

[mcf57]

One other quick question. What is the hard drive size limit that can be installed in the Archos Jukebox player/recorder? I have an old laptop that I put a 100GB replacement drive into about a year ago. Since its a laptop used basically just for surfing, e-mail and word processing, I was thinking I could put in the new 20GB drive in the laptop and maybe use the 100GB drive in the Archos. Is this possible or is 100GB too big?

[LambdaCalculus]

The Archos JBR doesn't do LBA48 addressing (normally; thanks to pixelma for pointing that out), so you're limited to 137GB.

That said, the 100GB drive will work just fine, but you'll need a tool like GParted or Swissknife to format the drive.

[pixelma]

This is not entirely true - with Rockbox you can use even larger drives (also their capacity). But it is a bit inconvenient as you can't access more than those 137GB over USB, just from within Rockbox - and you need a special build if you want to use such a large hard disk completely.

As LambdaCalculus379 said, a 100GB disk should be fine. Maybe the "Harddrive Replacement" wiki page has still some interesting information for you.

[mcf57]

SUCCESS!!!!  Well, I got it working and realized what the TRUE problem was and kind of feel silly about it. Get a load of this...it was the batteries. Since it wasn't formatted at all & I couldn't do it via the USB connection, I figured I would connect it to directly to my PC (with a external USB enclusre kit) & format it that way.

Well, I was about to pull the drive to format it when I thought I'd give the AC connection one last try and WALLAAA, it worked. Duhhh. I wound up formatting it to FAT32 via my XP's computer management in the control panel. I think I figured that since it was turning on, it had enough battery juice and was suppose to be working. When in fact I also came to the conclusion that it apparently had enough juice to turn the unit on, but not enough to operate/spin the hard drive and that is why it appeared to hang up.

It all makes sense too cause the batteries got initially charged after I pulled it out of the closet, but they obviously weren't holding a charge at all. And therefore only worked briefly and made me believe there was something else going on. Essentially, the batteries are shot and need to be replaced. Glad I didn't spend all that time again cracking it open to get the hard drive.

Oh well, live and learn I suppose. I'm just glad I got the player working again and I even put Rockbox on it with no problems. It works great & is fantastic. 100 times better compared to the older Archos interface. I think that Archos interface might of been a contributing factor to as to why I didn't really pursue this problem 2+ yrs ago. I feel like I have a all new great mp3 player again.

Now, I do have some Energizer NiMH rechargeable batteries I was gonna wind up using in this unit. I currently have them charging in their own charger. I have read that this unit can recharge them though. Is this correct & is it safe to do so? I ask cause I don't want to use the unit to recharge and risk damaging the batteries or even worse, damagng the Archos Recorder unit.

[gevaerts]

Oh well, live and learn I suppose. I'm just glad I got the player working again and I even put Rockbox on it with no problems. It works great & is fantastic. 100 times better compared to the older Archos interface. I think that Archos interface might of been a contributing factor to as to why I didn't really pursue this problem 2+ yrs ago.

You do know that the original Archos interface is why rockbox exists, right ? :)

Now, I do have some Energizer NiMH rechargeable batteries I was gonna wind up using in this unit. I currently have them charging in their own charger. I have read that this unit can recharge them though. Is this correct & is it safe to do so? I ask cause I don't want to use the unit to recharge and risk damaging the batteries or even worse, damagng the Archos Recorder unit.

From what I know, that's safe.

[mcf57]

Hmm, I did not know that the original Archos I have was the reason Rockbox exists. Interesting. I can see why cause that Archos Recorder interface was down right AWFUL & pathetic. I have Rockbox installed on a Sansa e250 as well and love it on that thing, but the Sansa interface was not as bad as this Archos was.

Another quick question too. Does the Rockbox interface by chance allow the unit to be somehow recharged through the USB cable like my Sansa originally does or is that a feature that can't be supported no matter what interface is on the unit? I didn't see anything about this in the manual, but maybe its a different matter not covered there. Or am I getting my hopes up too high   

[gevaerts]

Another quick question too. Does the Rockbox interface by chance allow the unit to be somehow recharged through the USB cable like my Sansa originally does or is that a feature that can't be supported no matter what interface is on the unit? I didn't see anything about this in the manual, but maybe its a different matter not covered there. Or am I getting my hopes up too high   

The hardware doesn't support that