Rockbox Technical Forums

Installation / Removal => Manual Installation => Apple - Installation/Removal => Topic started by: jpc on July 26, 2009, 06:52:49 PM

Title: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: jpc on July 26, 2009, 06:52:49 PM
hello,

i tried to install rockbox this evening but without success. i used the rockbox utility (automatic install) and the manual way and it said everything installed just fine. after rebboting the ipod it gives me this error screen:

Rockbox boot loader
Version: 3.0
IPOD version: 0x000B0011
TOSHIBA MK8010GAH
Partition 1: 0x0B 38096 MB
Loading Rockbox...
Error!
Can't load rockbox.ipod:
File not found

it is a 5.5g ipod with firmware 1.3. i'm working under windows xp, sp3. i set back the ipod to factory settings prior to installing rockbox. after reading through several postings here and trying suggested solutions without success i hope to find answers this way.

help would be very much appreciated.
thank you!
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: Chronon on July 26, 2009, 07:16:41 PM
Could you mention what you have tried already?  It will help to avoid redundancy.
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: linuxstb on July 26, 2009, 07:48:22 PM
Partition 1: 0x0B 38096 MB

That looks wrong - Rockbox thinks you have a 38GB partition.  I'm guessing you've got an 80GB 5.5g?

How did you perform the "factory restore" ?  Using itunes?  Had you done anything unusual to your ipod before that?
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: jpc on July 27, 2009, 04:35:38 AM

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two days later: still no answers? this must have happend to someone before. can please anyone else help? thank you...
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: Llorean on August 30, 2009, 02:02:31 PM
Please give all possible details about the partitions on your ipod. Sometimes having ipl previously leaves them in a state itunes is okay with (so won't change on restore) but Rockbox doesn't like.
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: jpc on August 31, 2009, 07:12:42 PM
Please give all possible details about the partitions on your ipod. Sometimes having ipl previously leaves them in a state itunes is okay with (so won't change on restore) but Rockbox doesn't like.

Thanks for taking the time.

According to Acronis Disk Director Suite and Windows Disk Management Software, there is unallocated space (125.5 MB) followed by a partition (74.41 GB) with "File Sytem: None" & "Partition: 0xB (FAT32)".

I remember formatting the iPod completely before restoring it with iTunes to the current state, so I suppose that's nothing special even though the unallocated space seems weird to me.

Any suggestions?
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: GodEater on September 04, 2009, 07:58:29 AM
The unallocated space is completely normal - that's where the ipod's firmware lives.

So your PC software correctly reports a ~75GB data partition. Have you tried re-installation the Rockbox bootloader with Rockbox Utility, as well as Rockbox itself?

Does the bootloader then still report a 38GB partition ?
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: jpc on September 05, 2009, 07:40:56 AM
I tried installing the bootloader manually and with the utility several times, but without success. It still reports the 38 GB partition.
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: gevaerts on September 05, 2009, 09:23:03 AM
The partition size reporting in the bootloader is a bit misleading.

The code that prints this number takes the number of (logical) sectors and divides that by 2048 to get megabytes, i.e. it assumes a sector size of 512 bytes which is incorrect for the big ipods. Note that it's only the printing that makes this faulty assumption, not the actual partition handling code.

If it reports a 38GB partition, it means that the actual filesystems use a 1024-byte logical sector size. This is strange, since as far as I know the ipod video normally uses either 512 byte or 2048 byte sectors.

The problem is that the partition table does not actually indicate which sector size is used, so the bootloader has to try all possible sector sizes until it finds a FAT filesystem. My guess is that itunes actually did format it with 2048-byte sectors, but there are remains of a 1024-byte-sector filesystem on the disk, which confuse our bootloader code.

If my guess is correct, wiping the ipod with one of those "secure wipe" programs, then restoring it with itunes, and then reinstalling rockbox should do the trick. If you have access to a linux (or other unix-like) system, you can easily do the first bit using dd.
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: jpc on September 06, 2009, 06:06:10 AM
Thank you for your reply. I'm on Windows XP but have a live CD for gparted, a partition editing software. Is that suitable or what is "dd"? Any other useable programs for this? Do you mean with "wiping" overwriting it several times instead of formatting?

I will try this once I'm back home. Currently I'm on tour and not able to use my computer.

Thank you.
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: next_gen2010 on January 18, 2010, 12:41:07 PM
hi! ipodu formatted like you:) like me do not you read itunes. thanks in advance ;D
Title: Re: "Can't load rockbox.ipod" error after installation on 5.5G iPod
Post by: AlexP on January 18, 2010, 04:10:53 PM
hi! ipodu formatted like you:) like me do not you read itunes. thanks in advance ;D

a)  You have resurrected a really quite old thread

b)  I don't understand what you are trying to say.