Installation from Mac OS X onto iPod video 5.5g, 30 GB - Problem

[flacstax]

Hello, I am currently attempting the install and running into persistent issues. Here is what I have done and what happens:

First, I am trying to install this without access to a win box.

As per installation instructions, I found the disk filesystem mountpoint (in this case it was /dev/disk5s3) and ran the dd command after unmounting (but not ejecting) the iPod, and I used the master boot record for the 30 gb iPod video with sector size 2048 b, which was determined according to ipodpatcher.

The output of that dd command read something about 1 in, 1 out. and looked to return successfully. (I can reproduce and copy the exact messages if I must, but I'm tired of having to restore this iPod right now.)

Anyway, from there I go to disk utility and try to Erase the iPod to MS-DOS fs, which seems to run successfully. If I don't unmount the iPod, iTunes recognizes it momentarily, as I turn on Enable disk use and turn off Open iTunes when this iPod is connected.

However. this is the point at which attempts to remount the disk or unmount the disk result in the iPod needing a restore, according to iTunes and according to the black and white system7.5-esque messages on the iPod display.

When I try to ignore this message, unmounting the iPod and trying to run the ipodpatcher in order to install the rockbox fw, the ipodpatcher returns an error message - no iPods found, etc. etc. (again, I can reproduce this reliably).

To add insult to injury, running the ipodpatcher when the mac-formatted iPod is mounted and iTunes is all happy results in questions as to whether or not I want to install the Rockbox bootloader, which of course doesn't make sense since it's mac formatted.

Anyhow, I must be overlooking something. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Let me know what further info will be helpful.

[Llorean]

Did you do:
dd if=mbr-xxxx.bin of=/dev/disk5
or
dd if=mbr-xxxx.bin of=/dev/disk5s3
?

(The one you should've done is the first one, but you don't make it clear which you actually did)

[flacstax]

Ah ha. I will give that a try now.

I definitely did the latter. (and thanks for the quick reply - btw I hail from SA-TX)

[Llorean]

Make sure to restore your iPod to "fully working" before starting over, just to be sure.

[flacstax]

Hey, iPod was restored successfully, but unfortunately my problem has not gone away. Here is the error message when running

./ipodpatcher

from the cl:

ipodpatcher v0.9 with v1.0 bootloaders - (C) Dave Chapman 2006-2007
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

[INFO] Scanning disk devices...
[ERR]  No ipods found, aborting
[ERR]  Please connect your ipod and ensure it is in disk mode
[ERR]  Also ensure that itunes is closed, and that your ipod is not mounted.
[ERR]  Please refer to the Rockbox manual if you continue to have problems.

-iPod is connected
-It was in disk mode
-iTunes was closed.
-iPod was unmounted via Disk Util.

[Llorean]

And you've done:

newfs_msdos -F32 -v iPod /dev/rdisk5s2 ?

[flacstax]

Actually I did this part in Disk Util - clicked on the drive (not the partition) and hit Erase > MS-DOS > Erase.

The partition only gave the option of 'erasing' in a bunch of the Mac formats.

[Llorean]

You aren't supposed to reformat the whole drive.

Please, try doing the steps exactly as they're written.

[flacstax]

As I stated previously, there was no option to format the partition only to MS-DOS, as there was only one partition showing on the drive. Thus I followed what was stated in the IpodConverstionToFAT32 wiki:

"The easiest method is to use 'Disk Utility'. Select the iPod partition disk on the left side, click the Erase tab, select 'MS-DOS File System' and at last click the 'Erase' button."

Since there was no option for MS-DOS fs under the particular partition (of which there is only one), under the disk, then I naturally chose the disk (as opposed to the partition) based on the statement, "iPod partition disk." Just a suggestion to whoever maintains that doc, separation of partition and disk would better clarify the instructions, since the discrepancy is quite important - disk for the mbr update, partition for the fat32 format, correct?

I'll give the command line version a shot tomorrow, perhaps. Thanks for your help.

[Llorean]

Yes, only the partition is supposed to be fat32. Formatting the whole disk will destroy the other partition, the one where the iPod Firmware actually lives.

(Note: I'm not a Mac user, and didn't write the document. I missed the part where it suggested the point and click method, but I do know that many people have been successful with the terminal method. I don't know how to correct the Disk Utility method sadly.)

[flacstax]

Hey, I got it working, so thanks for your help (and all of the work that's been put into this project)! I'll be happy to post a couple of clarifications on the wiki if that's ok with the maintainers of that page.

Listening to Miles Davis in all his free lossless audio codec glory. Thanks again.

[linuxstb]

Clarifications are always welcome in the wiki - there's no need to ask permission, just do it...