Rockbox Technical Forums

Support and General Use => Hardware => Topic started by: Bilgus on November 17, 2018, 01:29:27 AM

Title: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Bilgus on November 17, 2018, 01:29:27 AM
Rockbox has problems when using the iFlash adapters

Questions:
Is this a known issue? - Yes.
Will I have this issue - If you are using anything other than the original harddrive- YES.
Is there a fix? - NO, Not at the moment.
Is there a workaround? - Several

EDIT:
This appears to be fixed in the latest dev versions thanks to Speachy


EDIT2: (2021-03-10)
If you are using a modded iPod (CF, iFlash, SSD, whatever) it is very important that you state that in any bug report.  Similarly, please try the latest nightly or dev build before posting.  The last stable release has _many_ known issues that have long since been fixed.


EDIT3:  (2021-04-23)
We now think this finally resolved in the latest dev versions.  As an added bonus, battery life should be improved as well.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Quad Issues
Post by: Bilgus on November 17, 2018, 01:32:59 AM
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,52505.0.html
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: Bilgus on December 08, 2018, 03:36:36 AM
GREAT ADVICE!!

Speaking from personal experience here: I also tried one of those iFlash mSATA adapters out in an iPod Video, with a 128GB SSD. While installation isn't so bad, I've had nothing but pain and suffering trying to get Rockbox working on this combination. Some of the issues I've experienced include:

  • Restoring the device in iTunes wasn't an issue, but the device never showed up afterwards as a proper FAT32 volume on my Linux desktop. If I tried formatting the partition as FAT32, the iPod's firmware would complain and ask me to restore it again, even if I backup its folders beforehand.
  • Related to the first point above, I could install Rockbox on the iPod, but then on startup, the bootloader would scream about not being able to find a FAT32 volume.
  • Removing the mSATA drive from the adapter and putting it into an enclosure to examine in GParted revealed that the drive had an "Unknown" filesystem on its primary partition. Evoking "fdisk -l" in the terminal showed me that the drive (let's call it /dev/sdi for convenience's sake) had two partitions: "/dev/sdi1" and "/dev/sdi2". /dev/sdi1 was approximately 100MB big, which is correct, and is an unknown filesystem, which is also correct; this is the iPod firmware partition. /dev/sdi2, on the other hand, was also an unknown filesystem, and was the rest of the volume's capacity. This isn't correct; the larger partition should be either FAT32 or HFS+, depending on if it was restored in Windows or a Mac.

I finally gave up on getting the iFlash to work after a while and decided to pick up a 128GB SSD I found on Amazon for pretty cheap: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TPLKQLS/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_10?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

I went with this SSD for two reasons: one, it's the correct size and connector for the iPod Video (and the Classic, in turn!), and two, since it's a proper PATA device, it'll function just as a hard drive should. And sure enough, it hasn't given me one lick of trouble at all since it's been in my iPod Video. I do get improved battery life and the peace of mind that my iPod has no moving parts in it anymore, and I also get expanded capacity for music, and Rockbox happily functions with it in place. If anything, an SSD like this is a far more viable option for those wanting to make their iPods solid state, since you're ensured better compatibility and it's good for those on a budget.

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,52591.msg243244.html#msg243244
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: Frankenpod on December 12, 2018, 11:16:18 AM
Perhaps should be clarified that the issues seem to be different with mSata SSD adaptors vs SDcard adaptors?

As I understand it, the advice to 'use original firmware for file transfer' applies to the latter.  I'm not sure it's either necessary or even helpful for the former case.  Both have 'issues', but I'm not sure they are the same in each case.

I could be wrong, only have the latter.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: Magphil on February 05, 2020, 05:40:33 AM
Hello,

I am new to this forum and new to rockbox.
I have a ipod classic 6gen 160GB. I replaced the broken hard disk with a quad iflash card and 4 256GB samsung evo micro sd, as I was unaware of the 128GB limitation.
I installed rockbox to get 1TB space as my itune lib is over 800GB.
I did transfer the entire itunes library and so far so good, I did not hit any corruption so far.

So my question is : have you made any progress on iflash support since the last post on this thread over a year ago ? or ... am I just lucky so far and might hit a time bomb ?

I did have some concern when I transfered a few albums only using copy/file explorer on windows 10 (transfer would be very slow and stop for over 20 seconds before resuming) .
To transfer the entire lib, I used Goodsync software (backup sofware using directory comparaison) and did not experience any pause during copy. Took 20 hours.

Cheers
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: Frankenpod on February 05, 2020, 06:22:12 AM
I think the file-writing errors appear only randomly and occasionally and can be subtle (but for others can completely screw-up playback).  And they appear to vary depending on the type and brand of card used.
Some people say they never have any problems, others find playback is hopeless and is only fixed by syncing with the original-firmware.

 Have you tried building the database on the ipod?  That seems to frequently reveal the problem.

  Also have you tried using some sort of 'fingerprinting' software to do a precise comparison between files on the ipod and the original?  You might find there are differences even if you don't notice them in playing.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: Magphil on February 05, 2020, 07:25:40 AM
I think the file-writing errors appear only randomly and occasionally and can be subtle (but for others can completely screw-up playback).  And they appear to vary depending on the type and brand of card used.
Some people say they never have any problems, others find playback is hopeless and is only fixed by syncing with the original-firmware.

 Have you tried building the database on the ipod?  That seems to frequently reveal the problem.

  Also have you tried using some sort of 'fingerprinting' software to do a precise comparison between files on the ipod and the original?  You might find there are differences even if you don't notice them in playing.

I did build the database on the ipod. It is very big ... some 110K entries.
I jusr read about the simulator, but cannot download it as the site seems to be down.  I did not try any sort of fingerprinting.
I will need to re-sync soon as I have extracted all the album arts on the pc using http://vcardenasblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/album-art-extracter-for-rockbox.html (http://vcardenasblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/album-art-extracter-for-rockbox.html)

Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: KeithSPG on March 22, 2020, 06:45:33 PM
I just got a 4x iFlash adapter for an iPod Video (5thgen) with a single 256 Gb Samsung Evo card in it. I ran into the same problem. It seems as though the file transfer is too fast and the file is not actually written to the SD card completely, only the first portion when mounted as a disc in rockbox. It was a 2+ hour transfer and all I got was skipping. I took the advice and rebooted it in iPod disc mode and transferred files in 12+ hours! So far no skips. Is there a way we can throttle the transfer speed to ensure that it writes? I am sure it can transfer faster than iPod disc mode. I love the sound quality improvement over a BT connection to my phone in the car! Thanks for the hard work!

On another note, I also have an iPod mini 2nd gen that I am trying to get to 128Gb. The type 2 CF adapter works fine as a disc, but the iPod firmware would not write to it. I ordered a Type 1 iFlash adapter and will see if it is any better. It was strange to me that it worked fine as a disc, I coule read, format, write and enything to it, just iPod would not restore to it so I was unable to put rockbox on it. Will see how the next one works.

Keith
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: adubs on May 10, 2020, 09:50:54 AM
  • Give a Dev an iFlash iPod

I'd be willing to do this. I have a 2nd gen mini with the SD-CF iflash adapter that doesnt make it very far without a panic. I'm certainly not smart enough to know what to do with it as far as approaching the problem and I would be hopeless to try and help solve it.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: TeslaMark on June 23, 2020, 06:07:08 AM
Hi, i wish i had seen or been informed about this issue before i purchased the quad SD card flash and a 128GB Sandisk Ultra Pro card.  I can transfer files across and some play but certain tracks ALAC 1005kbps VBR completely crash the Rockbox software.  Its very frustrating.  I get a data abort at4000c908 and the player locks up requiring a reboot to get working again but it never plays the file further than the same point.  I tried the different versions of Rockbox including the development version, the stable version and the release candidate.  I wont lie, rockbox has been a real anticlimax so far.  It looks like an amazing piece of software and teases great functionality but so far its completely unusable with an iflash.  I noticed people selling these online on eBay as 500gb etc, how have they managed to make them work ?  or are they selling bricks?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: TeslaMark on June 23, 2020, 11:44:42 AM
I think i have stumbled upon the fix for this on the Ipod 5.5G.  Or at least a workaround.

Here are the steps to follow.

starting with a working iPod

1) Open Aomei Partition  tool and clear all the partitions

2) Format as Fat 32 if it lets you (if it doesn't dont worry as iTunes will do it).

3) Restore with iTunes for Windows

4) iTunes will leave the partition in 2 parts, a small partition with the bootloader inside and the large partition of the remainder of the drive labeled Ipod.

5) Open Rockbox installer and only install the Bootloader

6) Reopen Aomei Partition Tool and Format iPod Partition as Fat 32

7) Go back to Rockbox installer and install the main program and all optional additions but exclude the Bootloader (as you already have it)

8 ) Once its done eject the Ipod and hold down the centre button and the Menu button until the apple logo appears, then immediately hold down the centre button and play/pause until the iPod boots up in target disk mode.

9) Create a Folder called Music and copy all music folders inside.

10) Eject the drive and it works without skips and without crashing with errors. 

Hope that helps.  Remember the key is to transfer files to the iPod in disk mode
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: speachy on July 13, 2020, 07:53:14 PM
Everyone still fighting with these iFlash adapter issues, please try a daily build from 2020-07-13 or newer, and let us know how it goes.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: Frankenpod on July 14, 2020, 05:35:06 AM
Hi, i wish i had seen or been informed about this issue before i purchased the quad SD card flash and a 128GB Sandisk Ultra Pro card.  I can transfer files across and some play but certain tracks ALAC 1005kbps VBR completely crash the Rockbox software.  Its very frustrating.  I get a data abort at4000c908 and the player locks up requiring a reboot to get working again but it never plays the file further than the same point.  I tried the different versions of Rockbox including the development version, the stable version and the release candidate.  I wont lie, rockbox has been a real anticlimax so far.  It looks like an amazing piece of software and teases great functionality but so far its completely unusable with an iflash.  I noticed people selling these online on eBay as 500gb etc, how have they managed to make them work ?  or are they selling bricks?

Just sync your music using the original firmware rather than in rockbox mode.  That works fine for me and for most people with the problem you are having (it's mentioned all over this forum, in multiple threads).  The problem is with rockbox writing to the disk, so syncing in rockbox mode creates all those problems (building the database can have trouble also).  As long as rockbox doesn't have to write much to the disk it works fine.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: roastpotatoes on August 10, 2020, 11:55:25 AM
Everyone still fighting with these iFlash adapter issues, please try a daily build from 2020-07-13 or newer, and let us know how it goes.

I tried with one the latest daily build for Ipod Mini 2g. File playback now seems to work. But when initialising the DB I get this error. It will then fail to boot once and then successfully boot.

(https://i.imgur.com/fFtD8ji.jpg)
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: __builtin on August 10, 2020, 02:44:36 PM
Everyone still fighting with these iFlash adapter issues, please try a daily build from 2020-07-13 or newer, and let us know how it goes.

I tried with one the latest daily build for Ipod Mini 2g. File playback now seems to work. But when initialising the DB I get this error. It will then fail to boot once and then successfully boot.

(https://i.imgur.com/fFtD8ji.jpg)

That smells like a DB bug to me.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: roastpotatoes on August 10, 2020, 04:37:29 PM
Everyone still fighting with these iFlash adapter issues, please try a daily build from 2020-07-13 or newer, and let us know how it goes.

I tried with one the latest daily build for Ipod Mini 2g. File playback now seems to work. But when initialising the DB I get this error. It will then fail to boot once and then successfully boot.

(https://i.imgur.com/fFtD8ji.jpg)

That smells like a DB bug to me.

You were right! There's one mp3 it crashes on. Can't see any errors with the file or why that would be. This is on the dev build, stable just crashes when trying to update the DB even without the problem file.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: speachy on August 10, 2020, 04:54:40 PM
You were right! There's one mp3 it crashes on. Can't see any errors with the file or why that would be. This is on the dev build, stable just crashes when trying to update the DB even without the problem file.

I'm glad to hear it's working a lot better.  That said, even b0rked files shouldn't cause the DB engine to crash.  Can you create a bug in our tracker and attach the mp3 file?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: roastpotatoes on August 10, 2020, 05:09:45 PM
You were right! There's one mp3 it crashes on. Can't see any errors with the file or why that would be. This is on the dev build, stable just crashes when trying to update the DB even without the problem file.

I'm glad to hear it's working a lot better.  That said, even b0rked files shouldn't cause the DB engine to crash.  Can you create a bug in our tracker and attach the mp3 file?

Sure here is the report.

https://www.rockbox.org/tracker/task/13230
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: cataclem on August 15, 2020, 05:19:48 AM
Hi, i wish i had seen or been informed about this issue before i purchased the quad SD card flash and a 128GB Sandisk Ultra Pro card.  I can transfer files across and some play but certain tracks ALAC 1005kbps VBR completely crash the Rockbox software.  Its very frustrating.  I get a data abort at4000c908 and the player locks up requiring a reboot to get working again but it never plays the file further than the same point.  I tried the different versions of Rockbox including the development version, the stable version and the release candidate.  I wont lie, rockbox has been a real anticlimax so far.  It looks like an amazing piece of software and teases great functionality but so far its completely unusable with an iflash.  I noticed people selling these online on eBay as 500gb etc, how have they managed to make them work ?  or are they selling bricks?

try to move the files after you enter under apple system with enter+play
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: tcj on August 24, 2020, 03:44:42 AM
You were right! There's one mp3 it crashes on. Can't see any errors with the file or why that would be. This is on the dev build, stable just crashes when trying to update the DB even without the problem file.
How did you identify this one file to be corrupt?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: roastpotatoes on August 24, 2020, 07:52:58 AM
You were right! There's one mp3 it crashes on. Can't see any errors with the file or why that would be. This is on the dev build, stable just crashes when trying to update the DB even without the problem file.
How did you identify this one file to be corrupt?

Go to system > debug > metadata log. Then rebuild the database. As each file is parsed, it will be logged to /metadata.log. If the database parser fails, the last file logged is probably responsible. Try removing it and rebuilding the database. If you find a file that crashes the database, please upload it to our bug tracker.

See Troubleshooting database problems for more info https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/DataBase (https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/DataBase)

It ended up being quite a lot of files so I gave up. Are you encountering the same issue?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: roastpotatoes on September 04, 2020, 10:56:44 AM
Update from me.
Using an iflash adapter in an ipod mini 2g with daily build. It works damn near perfect.
Database builds fine, playback is fine.
I'm having an issue where it wont charge when running rockbox only of. It has the animation but doesn't charge.
It also takes a couple of button presses after unlocking for a button to actually register. I'm not sure if this is hardware or software.

But it makes damn fine music player. I will post a battery bench. I've done one and got
10hr.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: speachy on November 03, 2020, 10:11:15 PM
FYI, just landed a fix that should improve the situation with mSATA SSD adapters in PortalPlayer-based players, including most iPods.

So try out tonight's build (2020-11-04) or newer, and let us know how it goes.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: roastpotatoes on November 19, 2020, 09:10:53 AM
FYI, just landed a fix that should improve the situation with mSATA SSD adapters in PortalPlayer-based players, including most iPods.

So try out tonight's build (2020-11-04) or newer, and let us know how it goes.
Got the daily version running. Seems to be working fine will report any issues.
I am still having an issue with the button responses. If I take my ipod out my pocket and press play/pause it wont register immediately. But a left and right movement on the clickwheel registers immediately.
So i usually change the volume up and down to get a quicker response on the pause button. Any ideas on what maylbe causing this?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues {SOLVED!?]
Post by: Bilgus on November 19, 2020, 09:30:08 AM
This appears to be solved now thanks to Speachy
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: chris_s on November 29, 2020, 08:35:28 AM
It also takes a couple of button presses after unlocking for a button to actually register. I'm not sure if this is hardware or software.

I am still having an issue with the button responses. If I take my ipod out my pocket and press play/pause it wont register immediately. But a left and right movement on the clickwheel registers immediately.
So i usually change the volume up and down to get a quicker response on the pause button. Any ideas on what maylbe causing this?
I had the same issue on my iPod. The patch I linked to in the last post of this thread has completely fixed it for me and has shown no negative side effects over the years:
https://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,52208.msg241612.html#msg241612
(The line numbers from that patch may have to be slightly adjusted in the latest revision, I.e. the „else if“ part needs to be inserted after line 261. Also, a delay of 1000 instead of 2000 seemed to be sufficient in my case)
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: roastpotatoes on December 06, 2020, 09:47:45 AM
It also takes a couple of button presses after unlocking for a button to actually register. I'm not sure if this is hardware or software.

I am still having an issue with the button responses. If I take my ipod out my pocket and press play/pause it wont register immediately. But a left and right movement on the clickwheel registers immediately.
So i usually change the volume up and down to get a quicker response on the pause button. Any ideas on what maylbe causing this?
I had the same issue on my iPod. The patch I linked to in the last post of this thread has completely fixed it for me and has shown no negative side effects over the years:
https://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,52208.msg241612.html#msg241612
(The line numbers from that patch may have to be slightly adjusted in the latest revision, I.e. the „else if“ part needs to be inserted after line 261. Also, a delay of 1000 instead of 2000 seemed to be sufficient in my case)

Thanks Chris! Looks like the patch has since been committed, I'll try a new dev build and see of its fixed :)
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: roastpotatoes on December 10, 2020, 05:06:41 PM
This is indeed fixed in the latest dev build.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues
Post by: chris_s on February 13, 2021, 10:04:12 AM
FYI, just landed a fix that should improve the situation with mSATA SSD adapters in PortalPlayer-based players, including most iPods.

So try out tonight's build (2020-11-04) or newer, and let us know how it goes.
This appears to be solved now thanks to Speachy
Thank you!! Things are looking very good now, although some minor modifications to the dev build (https://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,53744) still appear to be necessary (on iPod 4Gs at least).
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: chris_s on February 14, 2021, 01:27:00 AM
Update: in my limited testing, data corruption unfortunately still seems to occur on an iPod video when doing USB transfers in Rockbox.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on February 17, 2021, 07:25:00 AM
Update: in my limited testing, data corruption unfortunately still seems to occur on an iPod video when doing USB transfers in Rockbox.

Instead of disabling DMA altogether, did you try setting ATA_MAX_UDMA to 1 ?

(in rockbox/firmware/target/arm/pp/ata-target.h)

I'd hate to disable DMA for all PP-based targets...


Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: chris_s on February 17, 2021, 09:13:07 AM
Update: in my limited testing, data corruption unfortunately still seems to occur on an iPod video when doing USB transfers in Rockbox.

Instead of disabling DMA altogether, did you try setting ATA_MAX_UDMA to 1 ?

(in rockbox/firmware/target/arm/pp/ata-target.h)

I'd hate to disable DMA for all PP-based targets...
I have yet to try that.. My only experience so far on the latest build has been with DMA either enabled or disabled completely . Even disabling DMA didn't seem to help on the iPod Video using an iFlash adapter and SD card, whereas the iPod 4G remains surprisingly (i.e. completely) stable in that configuration with DMA disabled! I may try setting ATA_MAX_UDMA to 1 next.

iPod 4G:
   - hard disk:
      - DMA enabled: Data corruption occurs intermittently
      - DMA disabled: stable

   - CF:
      - DMA enabled: Data corruption occurs intermittently
      - DMA disabled: stable

   - iFlash + SD
      - DMA enabled: untested
      - DMA disabled: stable
   

iPod Video (limited testing):
   - hard disk
      - DMA enabled: apparently stable
      - DMA disabled: untested

   - CF:
      - untested

   - iFlash + SD
      - DMA enabled: Data corruption occurs when testing Rockbox USB transfer
      - DMA disabled: Data corruption occurs when testing Rockbox USB transfer
   
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on February 17, 2021, 10:59:36 AM
ATA/USB connectivity is provided by the core PP SoC.   But the 4G series uses a PP5020, and the 5G uses a PP5021 (which rockbox considers the same as a 5022)

From a software perspective, rockbox tweaks a few things between the 5020 and 5022 (to do with the clocking hierarchy) but otherwise treats the SoCs as incidentical.

Another thing worth trying -- disable dynamic cpu reclocking -- firmware/export/config/ipodvideo.h

#define CPU_FREQ      11289600
#define HAVE_ADJUSTABLE_CPU_FREQ

Comment out HAVE_ADJUSTABLE_CPU_FREQ and set CPU_FREQ to 30000000  (30MHz) as a first step. 

Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: b0hoon on February 17, 2021, 12:40:38 PM
Hi.

This reminds me of: https://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,32247.0.html. I don't remember exactly what kind of fix it was, maybe it's some sort of back to the bug, after updating the toolchain. However nobody tested this on modified players then. I mean with the adapters. Just my loose thoughts.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: chris_s on February 17, 2021, 03:41:48 PM
Thanks! Results using UDMA 1 on the iPod 4G are very encouraging. I've been trying hard to cause data corruption, but everything seems perfectly stable so far. Will report back if I notice anything in daily usage.  :D

I’m looking forward to testing this on an iPod Video soon. Could be a few days to weeks though.

iPod 4G:
   - hard disk:
      - UDMA 2: Data corruption occurs intermittently
      - UDMA 1: stable
      - DMA disabled: stable

   - CF:
      - UDMA 2: Data corruption occurs intermittently
      - UDMA 1: stable
      - DMA disabled: stable

   - iFlash + SD
      - UDMA 2: untested (likely unstable)
      - UDMA 1: stable
      - DMA disabled: stable
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: eicca on February 18, 2021, 11:17:52 AM
Do these issues include the iFlash CF-SD adapter? I'm running an iPod Mini 2G with a 256GB SD card. Apple firmware gives 20 hours of playback, but Rockbox only gives 5 at best. It completely ruined my plans for this iPod. I've tried a whole bunch of different release versions and settings combinations and cannot get any improvement.

This is the second Mini I've tried. Both have been horrendous for Rockbox battery life.

I have my own thread on this in the hardware section but nobody is helping me out.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on February 19, 2021, 06:38:24 AM
I suspect what's going on here is that the "disable use of ATA powersave when the ATA device doesn't claim to support it" fix for data corruption completely disables all powersaving on the ATA interface -- including turning off its power supply when not needed.

The thing is we relied on those powersave commands to positively tell us that it is _safe_ to turn off the power.  Without that, we don't have any way of being sure that the device isn't doing something in the background, beyond "wait for what we hope is long enough".

(this kill-power-after-we-think-it's-safe thing is what led to the massive corruption with the iflash adapters)
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Telehubis on February 22, 2021, 03:40:32 AM
I’m looking forward to testing this on an iPod Video soon. Could be a few days to weeks though.

My adapter will arrive soon - how to test data transfer corruption?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: chris_s on February 22, 2021, 08:54:33 AM
I’m looking forward to testing this on an iPod Video soon. Could be a few days to weeks though.

My adapter will arrive soon - how to test data transfer corruption?
In the case of the iPod video and the iFlash adapter, in my experience, it was enough to transfer a few dozen gigs of music (using the USB mode built-in to Rockbox, not using the original firmware) and check afterwards whether the database can be built successfully. Then randomly try to play a few songs from beginning to end without them skipping. Since that already failed for me, I'd see that as a good sign if it worked,  after which I suppose you could get a bit more ‘scientific’ by comparing the checksum of every copied file for example (or maybe someone has a better suggestion). Finally I would just simulate normal usage of the device and see if it remains stable and whether a file system check returns any errors after you've performed lots of restarts / re-shuffling and saving playlists  etc.

As an aside, the iPod 4G continues to be stable in daily usage with the fastest transfer mode set to UDMA 1. Really happy with that!
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: eicca on February 22, 2021, 09:37:41 AM
...iFlash CF-SD adapters....? Anyone........?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: coderex on April 08, 2021, 07:58:49 PM
Hi all, I'm new in this community and I'm loving/hating my new iPod Classic 6th, I hope can I help to resolve my issue and others issues:

I'm actually using a 6th gen A1238 natively with a 80GB IDE using now an iFlash-quad with 4 PNY 64GB https://www.pny.com/Elite-Class-10-U1-microSD-Flash-Memory-Card?sku=P-SDUX64U185GW-GE (https://www.pny.com/Elite-Class-10-U1-microSD-Flash-Memory-Card?sku=P-SDUX64U185GW-GE) on latest dev, I tried to format one hundred times but I cannot use more than 127GB without partition errors, I saw on iFlash
Quote
iPod 6g Classic 80Gb, 120Gb, 160Gb *Limit of 128Gb with SD cards
, is there something that can I try?
I read something about "LBA28 and 48" trying understand the source of those errors...
Using only the 127GB partition iTunes created for my rockbox system randomly I recive this message navigating on menus
Code: [Select]
*PANIC*
dc_writeback_callback() - Could not write sector /random five numbers/ (error -2147483641)
pc:0807b5cc sp:000097e0
bt end
Actually the only method to use my iPod is with OF official firmware 1.1.2 loading music through iTunes
I'm not so expert in programming but I really interest to report to help
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 08, 2021, 08:09:14 PM
I'm actually using a 6th gen A1238 natively with a 80GB IDE using now an iFlash-quad with 4 PNY 64GB https://www.pny.com/Elite-Class-10-U1-microSD-Flash-Memory-Card?sku=P-SDUX64U185GW-GE (https://www.pny.com/Elite-Class-10-U1-microSD-Flash-Memory-Card?sku=P-SDUX64U185GW-GE) on latest dev, I tried to format one hundred times but I cannot use more than 127GB without partition errors (I read on iFlash
Quote
iPod 6g Classic 80Gb, 120Gb, 160Gb *Limit of 128Gb with SD cards
, is there something that can I try?

In short, no.  127GB is a hardware limitation of this platform.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: coderex on April 08, 2021, 08:12:25 PM
Is there something that I can do about those write sector errors? I read all previous posts of threads and pheraps could I try some of those setting(?)
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: zock3r1608 on April 08, 2021, 09:23:01 PM
Hi there,

I revived my old iPod Classic 7th (MC297, 160GB Drive, Thin model) with iFlash Quad with two 400GB SanDisk Ultra UHS1 A1 cards, recommended by iFlash creator. I always used Rockbox, but with this adapter, RB ist not functioning properly enough. I can play a few songs, after that no access to the drive/flash is possible, so no songs load after then.

Even on reboot I get ATA Error with large number, so I need reset a few times to get it working again. File transfer in Disk Mode or OF works without a problem.

Does now a custom build of RB with UDMA max to 1 and disabling all power savings features of ATA interface works better than latest dev version? If it draws a bit more power no problem, I replaced battery with a bigger one.

Are there any devs outside who can fix the stability problems with ata driver? If file transfers are slower no problem, stability is highest priority. I am willing to spend money for this.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: coderex on April 09, 2021, 07:44:32 AM
We could think about a iFlash patch for the IFlash users?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 20, 2021, 03:08:29 PM
I just got an iFlash Quad and am using it with a 256gb sd card in an iPod 5.5 (80gb). The specific problem I am having is that my files are all overwritten by chunks of other songs. I used WinDiff to check after transfer and almost every track has bits of other files sprinkled in.

I've just read this thread and I'll try it again in Disk Mode and report back. Is there any kind of info I can provide that would help? I'd hate for anyone to have to go back to iTunes.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 20, 2021, 03:54:51 PM
I just got an iFlash Quad and am using it with a 256gb sd card in an iPod 5.5 (80gb). The specific problem I am having is that my files are all overwritten by chunks of other songs. I used WinDiff to check after transfer and almost every track has bits of other files sprinkled in.

I've just read this thread and I'll try it again in Disk Mode and report back. Is there any kind of info I can provide that would help? I'd hate for anyone to have to go back to iTunes.

Important question:  What version of rockbox are you using?

Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 20, 2021, 05:20:04 PM
I'm using 1.4.1.

I saw earlier posts suggesting using the dailies but I wasn't sure if those fixes were rolled into stable by now because the posts seemed to be from awhile ago.

Another question I had, if transferring stuff in disk mode works will Rockbox be able to build its database properly? Is writing to the card still going to be a problem?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: saratoga on April 20, 2021, 05:31:57 PM
1.4.1 is the installer, not the rockbox version.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 20, 2021, 05:48:41 PM
Oh, sorry. Stable 3.15.

Incidentally, transferring in disk mode seems to be working. I'm halfway through verifying files and no errors so far; in previous attempts an average file was about 15% errors.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 20, 2021, 05:56:22 PM
3.15 is known to be quite problematic with the iFlash adapters.

If you could, please try the latest nightly or dev build and see if data transfer is reliable in Rockbox's USB mode. 
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 20, 2021, 06:36:02 PM
I've switched to the Development version and it looks like it's behaving the same as before.

The transfer is much faster, but according to WinMerge very few files are the same between the source and destination.

It mostly seems like there is different data written over the files. I've played a few before and it was clearly intercutting sections of other songs.

I posted some of what Winmerge is saying here
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ezc3wgzWEAYMDO3?format=jpg&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ezc3wgzWUAAL-uw?format=jpg&name=large
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 21, 2021, 06:49:39 AM
Ok, I'm going to post a series of test builds, please try each one in turn and tell me if the file corruption still happens when copying files:

  https://www.shaftnet.org/~pizza/ipodvideo-test1.zip



Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 21, 2021, 04:10:12 PM
 
Ok, I'm going to post a series of test builds, please try each one in turn and tell me if the file corruption still happens when copying files:
  https://www.shaftnet.org/~pizza/ipodvideo-test1.zip

Thanks. This one didn't help. Pretty consistent file damage, multiple freezes over a 20 minute file transfer.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 21, 2021, 04:13:35 PM
Thanks. This one didn't help. Pretty consistent file damage, multiple freezes over a 20 minute file transfer.

Ok, thanks.  Now for round 2:

  https://www.shaftnet.org/~pizza/ipodvideo-test2.zip
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 21, 2021, 05:03:17 PM
Thanks. This one didn't help. Pretty consistent file damage, multiple freezes over a 20 minute file transfer.

Ok, thanks.  Now for round 2:

  https://www.shaftnet.org/~pizza/ipodvideo-test2.zip
No dice with this one either.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 22, 2021, 07:00:33 AM
No dice with this one either.

Ok.  Two requests.  First, try #3:

 https://www.shaftnet.org/~pizza/ipodvideo-test3.zip

Regardless of the outcome of that test build, please go into the debug menu and generate an ATA identify dump, and then send me /ata_identify.bin.

(system / debug / dump ata identify info)

I _think_ I know what's going on but I'd like to test
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 22, 2021, 08:59:50 AM
And after #3 (which I actually expect to work) please try #4:

 https://www.shaftnet.org/~pizza/ipodvideo-test4.zip

Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 22, 2021, 01:25:44 PM
Alright, I'll do these tests shortly.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 22, 2021, 02:10:06 PM
#3 didn't change things. I'm attaching the identity file. It's got a different name, is this the right one?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 22, 2021, 02:32:41 PM
#4 has not changed the situation.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 22, 2021, 04:11:19 PM
Well, drat.  Can you try one more for me:

 https://www.shaftnet.org/~pizza/ipodvideo-test6.zip

If this doesn't work, there's yet another failure mode in play.  Sigh.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 22, 2021, 04:50:59 PM
Well, drat.  Can you try one more for me:

 https://www.shaftnet.org/~pizza/ipodvideo-test6.zip

If this doesn't work, there's yet another failure mode in play.  Sigh.
This one seems to be working. The 1gb of test files that the other versions had failed on has transferred correctly. It will take a while to transfer and verify my collection so I'll post again tomorrow and let you know how that goes.

Thanks for your help.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 22, 2021, 05:28:35 PM
I have one more:

 https://www.shaftnet.org/~pizza/ipodvideo-test7.zip

This should be functionally equivalent to -test6, but with the new behavior disabled for non-SSDs.

If that works well I'll see if I can find folks with non-modded devices to test it out too.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 22, 2021, 06:41:01 PM
Cool, I'll try that now.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 22, 2021, 07:08:35 PM
#7 came up clean on 1gb. Starting the big transfer now.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 23, 2021, 09:12:57 AM
Okay, the power management fixes are now merged, and builds are being generated now.  No reported regressions on unmodded hardware (mini2g, 4g greyscale, 5g video) and SSD-modded hardware appears to be vastly improved.

Hopefully this is the end of the filash issues, at least on the <6g stuff.

Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: docvalentine on April 23, 2021, 02:24:54 PM
WinMerge reports 180gb of transferred files are identical to source. Thanks so much for taking the time to address this.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Telehubis on April 26, 2021, 03:42:18 AM
Okay, the power management fixes are now merged, and builds are being generated now.  No reported regressions on unmodded hardware (mini2g, 4g greyscale, 5g video) and SSD-modded hardware appears to be vastly improved.

Hopefully this is the end of the filash issues, at least on the <6g stuff.

Will this also work&improve 5/5.5G models?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: silverbear on April 27, 2021, 05:14:26 PM
I have an SSD modded ipod and have encountered problems with file transfer. As a result, I usually load my ipod via the original software. However, I still have an issue with large flac files. Have any of you encountered this? I would be very interested in any pointers as to how to calculate the maximum file size so I can split up my files accordingly. 
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on April 27, 2021, 06:23:45 PM
I have an SSD modded ipod and have encountered problems with file transfer. As a result, I usually load my ipod via the original software. However, I still have an issue with large flac files. Have any of you encountered this? I would be very interested in any pointers as to how to calculate the maximum file size so I can split up my files accordingly.

Please read the first post in this thread.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: grave35 on April 30, 2021, 06:39:39 PM
del.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: coderex on September 07, 2021, 07:00:38 PM
I'm stuck on my MB029CH model with quad adapter, I received constantly PANIC message during wheeling in main screen, some update about my model? I'm trying every single newer nightly..
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: K4sum1 on September 20, 2021, 02:12:54 PM
It appears that stable 3.15 is fine for the iPod Classic 6th gen with the iFlash Solo. I'll stick with that since it's stable.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: saratoga on September 20, 2021, 04:13:05 PM
It appears that stable 3.15 is fine for the iPod Classic 6th gen with the iFlash Solo. I'll stick with that since it's stable.

3.15 does not work with flash adapters (see rest of this thread), so this is not a good idea.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: ModemJunki on February 05, 2022, 07:12:50 PM
I've a modified iPod Video with original iFlash adapter.

It's been a while since I checked (https://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,51957.msg240446.html#msg240446 (https://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,51957.msg240446.html#msg240446)) and I still seem to have the same issue.

I cannot use the latest developer builds though this thread seems to indicate I should be able to. The model of the iPod mainboard is MA446LL.

Things I have tried:

- overwriting the files in the .rockbox folder with latest build
- replacing the .rockbox folder entirely with latest developer build

But still the system freezes when I try to go into Files or Database, or even System->Rockbox Info freezes.

Only restoring the third-party modified build I downloaded years ago works but I get some stuttering on playback of some files and I was hoping to try a newer build to solve this.

Edit: Stuttering was *user error*. Files were stupidly high bitrate .flac copied directly to the device, setting up a device profile in MediaMonkey to transcode to a more reasonable bitrate fixed that. Still, I cannot use the latest dev builds and I don't know what I'm missing out on. :-| On the other hand I'm listening to music on the device again.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: STEELBAS on February 15, 2022, 09:29:34 PM
Hi,

I bought this iflash ata1 (https://www.iflash.xyz/store/iflash-ata1/ (https://www.iflash.xyz/store/iflash-ata1/)) to revive my old iPod 4g color/photo with failing hard disk. I ran Rockbox on it years ago and wanted to go back to those glory days. The iflash says 2021 on the actual hardware, so perhaps it's a new model?

I'm running the latest dev build (rockbox-ipodcolor-20220215). I'm using a PNY 512 GB SD card.

I copied some music to the device using the disk mode (holding select and play when booting up).

Unfortunately, I have a couple of problems that I've seen mentioned around this thread, too:


I was afraid this was a hardware problem—that my SD card was faulty—but this thread at least makes me hopeful that that might not be the case? I saw the suggestion of setting ATA_MAX_UDMA to 1 in reply #30 (https://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,52560.msg247796.html#msg247796) but looking at the code of the currect dev build I don't think that can still be done in the same way. That is, reading the comments and code seems to suggest that it should already run with ATA_MAX_UDMA set to 1, as I'm running a 4g iPod.

I'm not sure if it's relevant, but looking under Debug and "View disk info", it says "DMA mode: UDMA 2". Shouldn't that say UDMA 1? I have no idea if that's how this works, unfortunately.

Could it be that the fixes implemented only work for the 4g greyscale model?


My next step now is to setup gcc and try to compile Rockbox with all instances of ATA_MAX_UDMA set to 1 in the ata-target.h file. No idea if that will do anything but I figure I can always try. I would appreciate some help, though!


EDIT:

I compiled a version of Rockbox where I replaced all instances of "ATA_MAX_UDMA 2" with "ATA_MAX_UDMA 1" in ata-target.h. Plugins and themes seem to work now as well as music playback. Only tested it for a few seconds so far, though. Under Debug->View disk info, there is now also "DMA mode: UDMA 1". All this leads me to suspect that the fixes for the 4g iPod version were only implemented for the greyscale version.

Will test further.


EDIT:

Well, it is more stable than before, but the system seems to freeze up after a few minutes of use. Seemed to happen more the more files I copied to the player. The screen still lights up when I touch the scroll wheel, but the selected text becomes garbled after a while. Even when browsing settings without playing anything just now, it froze up. It seems to be busy with something. In any case, not really usable yet.

If I reboot and then as quickly as possible go into files and select something to play, it does seem to work for a short while. Browsing to other files quickly leads to more freezing and garbled text, however.

I took a screenshot of when this happens:

(https://i.imgur.com/lphn7QN.jpg)

FINAL EDIT:

Well, I experimented a bit more, and talked with Bilgus about it on the IRC channel, and I think the conclusion has to be that my SD card was simply faulty. Trying with a 4gb SD card seems completely stable, also with the latest development version (where UDMA is 2 and DMA isn't disabled). For whoever is interested, perhaps with similar woes, you can find that in the IRC logs of 17 & 18 February 2022. I'll shop around for a new SD card, I suppose.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: STEELBAS on February 22, 2022, 05:31:12 PM
Interestingly, I managed to get a working FAT32 drive in the iPod manually, without iTunes. I combined the instructions here https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/IpodManualRestore (https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/IpodManualRestore) and here http://www.ipodlinux.org/Restore_without_iTunes.html (http://www.ipodlinux.org/Restore_without_iTunes.html)

1. Download the MBR file and an ipsw file for your iPod model (doesn't matter which original disk size, I think).
2. Follow steps 1, 2 and 3 of the Rockbox page (dd MBR onto ipod.)
3. Use fdisk on the iPod, now delete the existing second partition (press d, then select partition 2)
4. Follow the steps on ipodlinux.org from "Create the data partition to fill the rest of your iPod." (I.e. create a new partition just filling up the rest of the free space (I used the defaults fdisk proposed), set type to W95 FAT32, write to disk, but don't do mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdX2 yet)
5. Follow steps 5, 6 and 7 on the Rockbox page (dd the Firmware on partition 1, then mkfs.vfat partition 2.)

Voilà! This way partition software can also read the file system. (Restoring with iTunes gives an "Unable to detect file system" error in partition software.) This worked on my iPod Color/Photo. I might have done the mkfs.vfat before copying the Firmware. If it doesn't work you can try playing with the order here.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: gifkun on April 21, 2022, 08:18:58 PM
I have a problem with current daily builds (April 21, 2022) for an iPod Video using iFlash solo, the problem is that the player doesn't respond to button press or click wheel movement in Rockbox, these things work in the diagnostic and in iPod mode. I was using this iPod previously and deleted the firmware to use the SD for other things and now I can't get it to work. At least I can reset the iPod in Rockbox mode, but nothing else. Also the lock symbol pops up sometimes and the player seems to go on and off if let alone for a while. I thick that the current dev revisions might not work all too well with my device.

EDIT
I was able to fixed it by removing the bootloader and .rockbox file, turning on my iPod and using for less than 2 minutes and trying again with the development version and only the Bootloader and Firmware now it works. I am writing all of what I did, no idea if it did something, but hope it helps someone with a similar problem.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Bilgus on April 22, 2022, 04:23:46 PM
likely you just got the build with a bad initialized viewport flag and now you have the fixed one
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: karmazine on June 05, 2022, 07:48:35 AM
Hello,

I bought iFlash quad back in 2018 for my ipod 5th. Tried RB, not worked (freezing, skipping tracks) - possibly due to RB issues with flash memory.

Now I found these updates so I gave it a go again. I picked the dev build, and daily build. Main question - are the Speachy's changes incorporated in the daily/dev builds?
I thought yes, so I tried them both.
I formatted the drive to fat32 in Aomei partition sw. Restored ipod in itunes. It seems working in the OF, even showing the disc size corretly (even when I had 2x256).
Then I installed RB (daily and second time the dev build). I installed it with itunes/ipod processes killed and in normal OF mode (connnected to Win pc), not the Apple disc mode (could be issue?).
I did put there the music right after instal, just a few gigs .

It shows slightly different glitches: I am able to play one album, but navigating more and putting more tracks to the "on the go" playlist causes freezes. The music usually plays but the display is frozen and the buttons are not doing anything.
So I thought maybe the micro sd cards are causing problem. I took off both Samsung Evo plus 256gig, and used older sandisk 32gig.

It remains the same. Sometime it freezes even when I navigate in the menus with no music playing.

Now on the last try with the small 32gig card different glitch appeared - it showed Panic dc_writeback_callback () Could not write sector 28 6957 (error -53).
After that RB sometimes boots, sometimes not (showing white screen with apple's sad looking ipod). This did not showed when using dual 256gigs, but the test period was not logn, sice freezes showed quick.
Now I am not able to differenciate if the problem is in the iflash, ipod, wrong install, wrong RB build, bad sd cards...

Any thoughts what could I try next?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you very much!

p.s.
I found out few more thing which I did no try - setting the UDMA, DMA modes, etc. which I do not really know what it is and how to do it.
Also when I tried rb 2 years ago, one user "Pommes" gave me advice that RB works when it is not writing on the memory.
I tried not to use directory cache and no database, but still similar problems appeared.
more on my first attempts here:
https://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,53166.0.html

Edit - one more strainge behaviour - many times when I switch the ipod on it shows apples sign saying "battery is very low". I usually leave it charging until it disappears.
But when it boots (even few seconds after that) to RB or OF, it shows more than 90percent charge...
The battery is very old, maybe even original which I plan replacing if the RB getts working on it. But now I thought it could contribute on the problem..?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: ceratophyllum on September 12, 2022, 11:47:05 AM
My ipod 4G photo (A1099),  equipped with "Super Talent" 1.8inch (now impossible to find) brand SSD,  started having problems with disk corruption after I uploaded some new music and tried to rebuild the database on rockbox 3.15. I decided to try upgrading to  the latest dev version of rockbox and it seems fine now: rebuilt database, I installed a few themes, and have been using it a few hours without any panics. Is there anything diagnostic I can do to verify/check the filesystem?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: ceratophyllum on September 13, 2022, 11:07:52 AM
Just for fun, I tested my other ipod 4G b/w (A1059), equipped with an el-cheapo chinese CF-IDE adapter with a 128GB Sandisk SD card in it, with the last nightly dev build of rockbox. Total failure: any attempt to play a file or build the database results in:

*PANIC*
dc_writeback_callback ()
- Could not write 202617 (error -4)
pc: 00071fb8
sd: 4000b578
    A: 0007f594
bt: end


The numbers vary, but it's always something to do with dc_writeback_callback().

My ipod photo (A1099) continues to work without probems, but it has something closer to a real hard drive in it.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Frankenpod on September 13, 2022, 11:47:33 AM
I've never figured out why those cheap generic adaptors sometimes work and sometimes don't.  Haven't tried one in a 4G but I've made a few that worked in 5Gs with 128gb cards, and even a couple that worked in 6Gs.  But others have entirely failed to work.  Something about them is very 'borderline' in terms of timings or something I guess, and maybe it depends on the memory card used?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: ceratophyllum on September 13, 2022, 12:23:46 PM
Well, whatever the problem is, the A1059 w/Chinese junk adapter works with Apple's firmware. Is there something I else (other than UDMA) I can enable/disable in the rockbox source code that can make it just do whatever Apple's firmware does?  I recall some discussions above about defining some variable in some header to set UDMA to OFF, 1, or 2....but I thought that was all straightened out a while ago. If you look in firmware/target/arm/pp/ata-target.h, it says:

#if CPUFREQ_NORMAL >= 30000000 && !defined(IPOD_4G)
#define ATA_MAX_UDMA 2
#elif CPUFREQ_NORMAL >= 24000000
#define ATA_MAX_UDMA 1
#else
#error "CPU speeds under 24Mhz have not been tested with DMA"
#endif
#else
/* The bootloader runs at 24 Mhz and needs a slower mode */
#define ATA_MAX_UDMA 1
#endif

Can I define something to disable DMA altogether?
Maybe #define ATA_MAX_UDMA 0 ? Has this already been tried?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: ceratophyllum on September 19, 2022, 12:01:01 PM
I tried the latest dev firmware in my olde iPod 3rd Gen--the one where the controls light up,I don't recall the model number-- with (I think) the same green pcb, black connector Chinese-junk IDE-to-CF adapter with Sandisk 128GB (in SD adapter) and it works! Built a large database, played a few songs...seems fine. I might look into fixing up this iPod now with a new battery and replace the failing screen.

So to summarize my test results (all using Sandisk 128GB uSD, except iPod 5G which has a now rare Sandisk 128GB CF):
iPod Photo with "Super Talent"  1.8" SSD works, which is no surprise.
iPod 4G greyscale with el cheapo chinese green board IDE-CF doesn't work.
iPod 5G Video works with Tarkan iFlash CF (I bought it a long time ago, when CF was still easier to get.)

iPod 3G works with (I think) the same Chinese green board IDE-CF that didn't work in 4G greyscale.
Edit: (10/3/2022): there is still something wrong as rockbox started rebooting constantly on my ipod 3G. I'm guessing something got corrupted in the .rockbox folder. There is no error message.


I'm all outta iPods to test. btw, I didn't bother to test my iPod minis which all work fine with rb 3.15. Is there any big benefit to upgrade the mini to latest bleeding edge?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: jasonwray on November 14, 2022, 06:27:26 PM
FWIW, I had constant freezing/panics on my flash modded 3rd Gen.
I made the following changes in /firmware/export/config/ipod3g.h and then built from source:

Code: [Select]
Before: #define HAVE_DISK_STORAGE
After:  #define HAVE_FLASH_STORAGE

Before: #define HAVE_ATA_POWER_OFF
After:  //#define HAVE_ATA_POWER_OFF

It's been trouble-free ever since. I can attach my built zip for someone else with a 3rd Gen if that's allowed.
Edit: Attached, hope it helps someone.
iPod 3G Flash: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hpkPSAUsSs7UDW1ay4yJHOmyW5n_boF3/view?usp=sharing
(By request, untested) iPod Mini 2G Flash: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QtVaU-QBjgn72kXa3psRVNUdSyhLlVTV/view?usp=drivesdk
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Bilgus on November 15, 2022, 01:29:46 AM
@jasonwray its allowed -- encouraged even
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Lostdotfish on December 26, 2022, 04:50:47 AM
Is this actually fixed in the latest Dev builds?

I'm still getting track corruption after installing the latest Dev version using the Rockbox utility (installed release only, left the bootloader untouched from the previous release build).

Do I need to do a full clean install or is the issue still open?

Using an iPod 5G Video with iFlash Solo 128GB

No issues when adding files via OFW
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: saintruggler on January 22, 2023, 04:28:36 PM
For the benefit of posterity, I tried everything in this thread on my iPod 4th gen (monochrome) with iFlash ATA1, to no avail.

The culprit turned out to be the SD card. I first tried a 128gb PNY UHS-I and then a 32gb Sandisk Extreme Plus U3. The winning combo, which is fully functional in Rockbox (daily build) and original firmware, is the following:

iPod 4th Generation ClickWheel (20gb version, model A1059)
iFlash ATA1
256gb Samsung EVO Plus + Adapter MB-MC256KA

Hopefully this will help someone else make an informed decision in the future.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Cle on June 30, 2023, 03:36:28 AM
Good day everyone. I just bought an ipod classic 7th gen with an iflash quad 512gb. May i know if th3 rockbox is already stable on this kind of mod? Thank you in advance for th3 answers
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: philden on June 30, 2023, 03:00:49 PM
Yes, it runs very well.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: tieflyer on July 07, 2023, 01:45:30 PM
Well I am not sure if this is a iFlash adapter issue or just how I handle the ipod.  I have a classic 5th gen with iFlash solo with 256gb card.  When i let the battery go to the point that the ipod shuts off, and then recharge it, i start it back up, but it starts in the ipod firmware instead of rockbox.   I have found if i reinstall the bootloader it then boots to rockbox.  Has anyone found a work around for this issue?  Not sure what buttons i hit when i reboot, but I believe the hold slider is off and i may or may not have bumped the play/pause button before pressing the menu button.  I have the latest daily build as of 7/6/2023 on the unit as I added music yesterday and it rebooted in the ipod screen instead of rockbox. 

Love this firmware and i want to continue using it, however i do not want to have to reinstall the bootloader everytime i recharge or add music.

Thank in advance for any help you can provide!

Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: tieflyer on July 07, 2023, 01:53:42 PM
well I think i may have found a reply to my question, i am going to try making sure the hold button is not on when i disconnect from the pc and or finish charging. 
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: tieflyer on July 27, 2023, 09:52:01 AM
Has anyone used a Samsung    EVO Select (Blue) UHS-I (U3) A2 V30 128gb card with iflash SD-CF Adapter in an ipod mini 2nd gen successfully?  I know the 256 and 512 are supposed to be compatable, but I think that the mini will only go up to 128, and I think that is plenty of space for the songs/albums I have. 

Thanks for your help and keep up this great product!!!
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: woodensoul on September 14, 2023, 06:10:35 PM
I have an iPod Mini 1G with a 512GB SD card and iFlash adapter.  Rockbox seems to work well except the battery life (with a brand new battery) is atrocious. Maybe 1.5 hours. I am running the daily build 230914.  Does anyone have any suggestions to fix this?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: saratoga on September 14, 2023, 08:05:50 PM
^^ Open it up and see what part is getting hot?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: woodensoul on September 14, 2023, 08:36:02 PM
I noticed the back felt warm after transferring a lot of files with the OF and then playing them in Rockbox.  I would have to check if it gets warm during normal playback in Rockbox. I can say that battery run time in the OF seems normal.  Testing right now and at 2.5 hours and 60% full battery.

The battery run time in Rockbox was much better with the spinning hard drive before I converted to SD.

My assumption is the iFlash adapter is getting warm based on how the back of the case seems to be acting like a heat sink.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on September 14, 2023, 10:55:50 PM
... are you using an actual iFlash board, or is it a generic knockoff?

What you're reporting is unusual; the mSATA-based flash adapters are known to be very power hungry but the SD-based ones should, if anything, lead to improved battery times.

That said, rockbox actually disables some of the ATA power management stuff because it's known to lead to data corruption on the the iFlash SD adapters -- the tl;dr is that they don't properly handling the ATA power management commands, leading to massive data corruption if we try to tell the device to go into a state where it's safe to kill power (and then kill power a couple of seconds after we're told it's ok to do so)
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: woodensoul on September 14, 2023, 11:04:09 PM
On my iPod Mini 1G: I started out with the generic one but that was completely unreliable so I switched to an actual iFlash branded adapter.  Now it is reliable but terrible with battery life.

I am seeing the same issue on an iPod photo using the same iFlash adapter / generic green 50 pin to CF converter board.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: rockbox_dev123 on October 04, 2023, 12:08:56 PM
I finally decided to revisit using an SD card in an iPod.

I have:
- iPod 5.5th gen (aka ipodvideo 80GB with 64 MB of RAM).
- The latest hardware revision of the iFlash Solo.
- SanDisk Extreme PRO UHS-I Card - 512GB (SKU: SDSDXXD-512G-GN4IN) (ordered directly from Western Digital to avoid the risk of fakes).

A speed test (writing and reading from /dev/zero with dd) was done using the Apple firmware:
1 GB write = 9.07 MB/s
1 GB read = 12.59 MB/s

Can anyone with the same hardware confirm if they get similar speeds?

The card has the usual bullshit of "200 MB/s" written on it but the "10" on it means that there is only a guaranteed write speed of "10 MB/s". My tests seem to show that it can't achieve this.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: bahus on October 04, 2023, 12:40:22 PM
The card has the usual bullshit of "200 MB/s" written on it
It's in megabits(should really be marked as Mb/s).  Using SD-reader you should get close to specification speed  (200 Mb/s =  25 MB/s)
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: vitt13 on October 04, 2023, 01:16:50 PM
It's in megabits
No, it's actually in megabytes for this specific SanDisk card but it's reading speed, up to 200MB/s. And the writing speed depends on capacity: for 512GB card the writing speed is up to 140MB/s (according to WesternDigital website).
But those speeds are achieved with SDIO 3.0 support on endpoint device.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: amachronic on October 04, 2023, 03:32:36 PM
Bear in mind no matter what card you put inside the adapter you are limited by the iPod's hardware. The first limitation is the CE-ATA bus to connect the drive, which hardware-wise is identical to an SD/MMC bus. I don't know the details for the iPod, but it will be capped to either 25 MB/sec or 50 MB/sec. The second limitation is USB 2.0 -- the maximum speed you can get is roughly 40 MB/sec.

You can probably blame the rest on software and the USB mass storage protocol. Classic USBMS doesn't support queuing requests, which means either the USB bus or the drive will sit idle for around half the time (and thus you lose half the potential transfer speed - you might top out around 25-30 MB/sec). The newer UASP transfer protocol fixes that issue, but it won't be supported by the iPod's firmware.

I've also found that SD cards require large, contiguous writes to get good speeds, like 512KB - 2MB. USBMS can only transfer up to 120 KB at a time, which won't be anywhere near enough to max out the SD card. The only way to work around this issue is (good) caching in the iPod firmware or the iFlash, or again switching to UASP (which supports larger transfer sizes).

So your speeds look rather typical to me for a USB 2.0 device with a typical less-than-stellar caching implementation.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: speachy on October 04, 2023, 05:59:55 PM
Bear in mind no matter what card you put inside the adapter you are limited by the iPod's hardware. The first limitation is the CE-ATA bus to connect the drive, which hardware-wise is identical to an SD/MMC bus. I don't know the details for the iPod, but it will be capped to either 25 MB/sec or 50 MB/sec. The second limitation is USB 2.0 -- the maximum speed you can get is roughly 40 MB/sec.

Just to be pedantic, they're using an iPod 5.5, which has a regular parallel ATA interface that (IIRC) maxes out at UDMA66 burst speeds. Then there's the iFlash PATA/CF<->SD adapter which is its own bottleneck (and I don't think goes over UDMA/33). 

So your speeds look rather typical to me for a USB 2.0 device with a typical less-than-stellar caching implementation.

Yeah, those transfer speeds actually better than I'd have expected to see.

Rockbox has a disk performance benchmark that would demonstrate the best we can pull off without the USB interface being a factor.  But at the end of the day the iPod SoC simply isn't designed around rapidly shovelling around large amounts of data.   And neither is Rockbox.

Anyway; the point of using the SD mods isn't raw transfer performance, it's storage capacity (and to a lesser extent, physical robustness and battery life)
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: rockbox_dev123 on October 05, 2023, 02:13:19 PM
So your speeds look rather typical to me for a USB 2.0 device with a typical less-than-stellar caching implementation.

Just to be pedantic, they're using an iPod 5.5, which has a regular parallel ATA interface that (IIRC) maxes out at UDMA66 burst speeds. Then there's the iFlash PATA/CF<->SD adapter which is its own bottleneck (and I don't think goes over UDMA/33). 

Yeah, those transfer speeds actually better than I'd have expected to see.

Thanks both, for your responses.

I just did another quick test using dd on an iFlash mSATA modded ipod6g and got 29.51 MB/s write and 25.14 MB/s read (rockbox build from this month).

I feel like I have reached the max bus speed of USB2 at 40 MB/s in the past on this iPod, but I don't have the data to back that up.

I'm very happy with how well rockbox works with SDXC cards now. The stability of the recent releases, extra battery life and reduced heat is great.

(In my experience the absolute best storage for these devices is CF - however to my knowledge Lexar is the only manufacturer who has ever made a card above 256 GB)
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: dragonaut on October 07, 2023, 02:04:07 PM
Hi,

I just came across this forum, as I have a problem with my iPod classic and Rockbox. I have an iflash quad with approx. 1.9TB SD installed and the ipod is running on either the daily or the dev build, both give me the same error. Sometimes it works completely fine, but sometimes I get the following error message 10 times in a row and then I just completely abandon it for a few hours:

*PANIC*
dc_writeback_callback () - Could not write sector 49
9677626 (error -2147483641)
pc:0806fb64
sp: 081306b8

I already formatted the ipod but the error keeps coming after some time.
Do have any idea how to fix this? I tried to find an answer in this forum but I was not sucessfull (or I didn't see it at all). If you need more information, I'll be glad to assist!

Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Frankenpod on October 07, 2023, 07:07:08 PM
I'm only making a wild guess, but maybe there's a bad sector on one of the cards?  And perhaps the error only comes up when the device tries to write something to that particular part of that particular card?  (It's unknown to me how the iflash decides which card to write things to, but maybe much of the time it's not picking that particular sector of that particular card?)

Or, the other thought I have, is that large negative error number feels vaguely familiar, I'm sure I've encountered that, but can't remember when or how I got round it.

Edit, funnily-enough just had exactly that error, in rebuilding an ipod, and the issue seemed to be that the cable had come out of the iflash connector while closing the case.  Maybe you have the error intermittently because that connection is flaky?  Try cleaning or replacing the drive cable, maybe?  Sometimes it helps to secure it in place with insulating tape.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: dragonaut on October 10, 2023, 11:13:24 AM
I'm only making a wild guess, but maybe there's a bad sector on one of the cards?  And perhaps the error only comes up when the device tries to write something to that particular part of that particular card?  (It's unknown to me how the iflash decides which card to write things to, but maybe much of the time it's not picking that particular sector of that particular card?)

Or, the other thought I have, is that large negative error number feels vaguely familiar, I'm sure I've encountered that, but can't remember when or how I got round it.

Edit, funnily-enough just had exactly that error, in rebuilding an ipod, and the issue seemed to be that the cable had come out of the iflash connector while closing the case.  Maybe you have the error intermittently because that connection is flaky?  Try cleaning or replacing the drive cable, maybe?  Sometimes it helps to secure it in place with insulating tape.

Thanks, I will check the connector (and hope, that my battery connector stays safe, haha). Maybe it is just that simple. I also tried CHKDSK /f /r, but after 12 hours at 34% it simply restarted and I had to cancel that. I will test your suggestion in the next days and report!
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Frankenpod on October 10, 2023, 06:19:12 PM
Are you using one of the oversized batteries?  I've found that sometimes, if in a slim case, they can put pressure on the iFlash in a way that seems to make it lose the connection to the drive cable intermittently.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: dragonaut on October 11, 2023, 07:44:19 AM
Okay, so I cleaned the connectors with a dry cloth and checked the SD cards, everything looked fine to me. Still got an error message:

*PANIC*
dc_writeback_callback () - Could not write sector 17
1372 (error -2147483641)  [the errorcode is the same, the sector is different]
pc: 0806fcb0
sp: 08130ab0
bt end

No, I have a regular sized battery installed. I'm thinking about checking each SD one after another, maybe CHKDSK will work with that. Maybe even use another iflash quad. Any other ideas?
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Frankenpod on October 11, 2023, 10:38:25 AM
Yeah, all I can think of is to check each card - individually via a card-reader (not checking them while they are in the ipod, not sure that works - I think the ipod doesn't present the storage in a direct way to the PC, not that I really understand what goes on there, especially with an iflash).  Are the cards all the same brand/type?  Changing the order of them might help, but best to first establish if any are actually faulty.

[of course, checking them each for faults is an unbearably time-consuming and tedious process, but if the drive cable isn't the problem I don't have any other ideas...I really would have suspected the connection 'twixt the drive cable and the iFlash, though, pretty sure that's what's been the issue when I had that error.]
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: kmccmk9 on October 24, 2023, 06:49:03 PM
Hi all,

I've been really banging my head against the wall getting my iPod with iFlash to work. I know there's some instability with the adapter boards but I've seen that a lot of it has been resolved if you're using SD cards. I ended up using a different iFlash boards and I can't get it to work at all. Is this an issue with something I've done or is it just not well supported yet? I'm using the iFlash sata v10 and I've tried stable, Dev, and latest vers8ons, all with a similar result. Majority of the time it doesn't load up and corrupts itself and the firmware has to be reinstalled. Sometimes I get it to load but listing files causing a kernel panic and subsequent corruption. If I get get it working, applying a theme causes the crash and corruption. Premaking the database doesn't seem to impact anything.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: dragonaut on October 25, 2023, 07:11:58 AM
Yeah, all I can think of is to check each card - individually via a card-reader (not checking them while they are in the ipod, not sure that works - I think the ipod doesn't present the storage in a direct way to the PC, not that I really understand what goes on there, especially with an iflash).  Are the cards all the same brand/type?  Changing the order of them might help, but best to first establish if any are actually faulty.

[of course, checking them each for faults is an unbearably time-consuming and tedious process, but if the drive cable isn't the problem I don't have any other ideas...I really would have suspected the connection 'twixt the drive cable and the iFlash, though, pretty sure that's what's been the issue when I had that error.]

So I did some testing, changed the cards and the iflash and still the same error. Then I changed the connector to a different one and that seems to have been the trick. Most of the time it works fine now. Occasionaly it crashes (freezes or I get the same panic message), but in my week of testing I got definitly better results than before, so thank you for your hint! I'll keep testing and may report back in a few weeks!
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: komarto on February 04, 2024, 03:37:36 PM
Hi,

First-time poster, Long time lurker  8)

I have read so many posts and encountered so much contradictive information I am lost.

I have a 7 gen classic (MC293LL) with a mSata flash (zif ide -> msata &  msata -> sd )mod that after many trials and errors understood it does not work,
I get error -2147483605 on boot. I gave up on that adapter.

Now I want to buy the iFlash SOLO I read this thread and others but could not find recent evidence this combo works.

Is there anyone here with a 7th gen (160gb) and iFlash solo that managed to load rockbox?

Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Frankenpod on February 04, 2024, 05:03:02 PM
Hi,

First-time poster, Long time lurker  8)

I have read so many posts and encountered so much contradictive information I am lost.

I have a 7 gen classic (MC293LL) with a mSata flash (zif ide -> msata &  msata -> sd )mod that after many trials and errors understood it does not work,
I get error -2147483605 on boot. I gave up on that adapter.

Now I want to buy the iFlash SOLO I read this thread and others but could not find recent evidence this combo works.

Is there anyone here with a 7th gen (160gb) and iFlash solo that managed to load rockbox?

Thanks in advance.

Yeah, built loads of them - mostly the quad adaptor though, but a few solo ones also.

  It's not always plain-sailing, quite a few 'just worked' first time with no issues at all, others required repeated reformatting and restoring and trying again (and rebooting the PC and killing and restarting iTunes, etc), and I really don't know why.  The restoring-with-iTunes and installing-RB process can go wrong in a vast variety of different ways (those infernal uninformative iTunes error codes, or 'cannot be restored an unknown error has occured', or the never-ending restored/'needs restoring' loop, or it restoring but coming out with a weird capacity that doesn't match the actual card, etc...), and I've never gotten to the bottom of what the underlying cause was in each case.

  (With the quad and dual ones I've found sometimes it seems that certain cards just refuse to work together in the same ipod but work perfectly well once separated and used in different devices, again, no idea what's going on there).

Once working they seem pretty reliable. Though, dropping modded ipods can cause problems - the drive cable or the battery cable can fracture or come out of the socket.  Plus those third-party batteries sometimes die on you.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: komarto on February 05, 2024, 02:15:29 AM
Thank you, Just ordered the iFlash SOLO. I will update here once I get it.
Title: Re: IPOD (ALL MODELS) iFlash Adapter Issues [SOLVED!?]
Post by: Frankenpod on February 05, 2024, 07:52:53 PM
You do mean the _slim_ 160gb model, I hope?  i.e. firmware 2.0.4 or 2.0.5?
(The fat 160gb model is 6th gen and I wouldn't recommend using that model)