Hifiman HM-801: Newer builds became unstable. Can I help?

[HungryDaze]

Good day! I was advised in the chat that I should create a new topic here. I have a Hifiman HM-801 and would very much like to be your beta tester. I recently updated my dual boot build, and it seems that the newer build has more compatibility problems. How can I help? I have a rather sophisticated mod on my device that I value, so I’m very interested in a working Rockbox build. Where should I discuss these matters? I also have quite a few friends who would also benefit from this. This effort wouldn’t be just for my sake.

I often encounter these errors when I try to play a file shortly after turning on the player:

https://disk.yandex.ru/i/gbBMgh3kvUlxlg
https://disk.yandex.ru/i/PZBaRVNC0fYrPA

Additionally, the player randomly freezes now.

I have an old build without the Auto frequency setting, but it is much more stable.

I would greatly appreciate your help.

[speachy]

Good day! I was advised in the chat that I should create a new topic here. I have a Hifiman HM-801 and would very much like to be your beta tester. I recently updated my dual boot build, and it seems that the newer build has more compatibility problems. How can I help? I have a rather sophisticated mod on my device that I value, so I’m very interested in a working Rockbox build.

I have an old build without the Auto frequency setting, but it is much more stable.

What version/build did you update from?   (BTW, as far as I'm aware you're the first person to speak up about an HM801 in many, many years)

I often encounter these errors when I try to play a file shortly after turning on the player:
https://disk.yandex.ru/i/gbBMgh3kvUlxlg
https://disk.yandex.ru/i/PZBaRVNC0fYrPA

This sounds like some massive memory corruption is going on.

One thing I'd recommend trying is starting over with a pristine .rockbox directory, and see if you still have these problems.

[HungryDaze]

Thank you for your reply!

One thing I'd recommend trying is starting over with a pristine .rockbox directory, and see if you still have these problems.

Thank you! I did this, and it works fine for now. I will test and provide feedback.

What version/build did you update from?

Here is my old build. I made it many years ago. Is there a file there that will tell you the build version?
https://disk.yandex.ru/d/VQhk0mLzg6R6zw

And the reason I’m the first one in years is because HM-801 is still valued in Russia thanks to a talented engineer who modified it. So there are still satisfied owners. They are not participating in discussions because of the language barrier.

[speachy]

Thank you! I did this, and it works fine for now. I will test and provide feedback.

Here is my old build. I made it many years ago. Is there a file there that will tell you the build version?
https://disk.yandex.ru/d/VQhk0mLzg6R6zw

.rockbox/rockbox-info.txt

In this case it shows it's a daily build from 2014-04-14, ie nearly 11 years old (and precedes the last *two* releases!)

My initial guess is that your crash was due to changes in on-disk database format, but as you re-customize the settings etc to your liking if you encounter another crash then please report that, making note of exactly what settings/etc you changed.

And the reason I’m the first one in years is because HM-801 is still valued in Russia thanks to a talented engineer who modified it. So there are still satisfied owners. They are not participating in discussions because of the language barrier.

That's understandable -- but folks that don't participate in some way get left out entirely. 

Over four years ago we put out a call for testers after we performed a major toolchain upgrade that uncovered numerous bugs (including failures-to-boot).  Plenty of folks with ipods and sansas reported varying degrees of success but we had no reports for over half of the players our codebase supports.  I started using donated funds to purchase some of of devices (including an HM-601) to fill in some of the gaps, but as far as we are aware, a significant portion of the devices (even on the "stable" list!) still remain untested, or at least unreported as working.

[HungryDaze]

In this case it shows it's a daily build from 2014-04-14, ie nearly 11 years old (and precedes the last *two* releases!)

Yes, it's old. I'm glad to see that Auto frequency has been added!

My initial guess is that your crash was due to changes in on-disk database format, but as you re-customize the settings etc to your liking if you encounter another crash then please report that, making note of exactly what settings/etc you changed.

May be. I tried many different settings. I could have easily messed up smth. I will report back after comprehensive tests.

I started using donated funds to purchase some of of devices (including an HM-601) to fill in some of the gaps, but as far as we are aware, a significant portion of the devices (even on the "stable" list!) still remain untested, or at least unreported as working.

Thank you for your work! Much appreciated. I think that Russians can test all of the old Hifimans easily. I think that I can make it happen.

[HungryDaze]

Unfortunately, the newer build is very unstable. I modified the settings minimally — you could say it’s the bare minimum: 
Replay Gain: off 
Automatic directory change: on 
First button press enables backlight only: on 
Language: Russian 
I also tried all Album Art settings.

The symptoms are the same as before: random freezes, usually after powering on the player and selecting a music file, along with the two errors I already mentioned. I also asked a friend to test it, and he got the same results. This is the build we tested: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/FZcSZis9dnZgbw

So, I have three questions:

How can I help? 
Can it be fixed? 
Do you perhaps have an older version that includes the auto-frequency setting? It might offer better compatibility.

[speachy]

Unfortunately, the newer build is very unstable. I modified the settings minimally — you could say it’s the bare minimum: 
Replay Gain: off 
Automatic directory change: on 
First button press enables backlight only: on 
Language: Russian 
I also tried all Album Art settings.

1) Does it happen with English?
2) What theme?  If it's not the Stock Cabbiev2, does it still crash with the default theme?
3) What type of files are you trying to play?  Consistent for a given file?
4) When you say "modded" what do you mean, specifically?

The symptoms are the same as before: random freezes, usually after powering on the player and selecting a music file, along with the two errors I already mentioned. I also asked a friend to test it, and he got the same results. This is the build we tested: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/FZcSZis9dnZgbw

Again, that's an *eleven year old* build.  There's a huge, huge gap.

So, I have three questions:

How can I help? 
Can it be fixed? 
Do you perhaps have an older version that includes the auto-frequency setting? It might offer better compatibility.

Of course it can be fixed, and build can be generated from every single commit in the git repository, but you are going to have to go through some work as nobody here has access to a HM801.

You can start by first trying the 3.14 and 3.15 releases, to see if either/both of those work as expected.
Second, see if the problem is still recreatable in a truly stock setup (ie no configuration changes whatsoever, default theme, english language, etc etc)

[HungryDaze]

The symptoms are the same as before: random freezes, usually after powering on the player and selecting a music file, along with the two errors I already mentioned. I also asked a friend to test it, and he got the same results. This is the build we tested: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/FZcSZis9dnZgbw

Again, that's an *eleven year old* build.  There's a huge, huge gap.

Sorry for asking. Is this an 11 year old build? That's what is in the link.

Target: hifimanhm801
Target id: 82
Target define: -DHM801
Memory: 16
CPU: arm
Manufacturer: rk27xx
Version: a220402d51-250122
Binary: rockbox.rkw
Binary size: 619660
Voice format: 400
Actual size: 619612
RAM usage: 1089564
Features: backlight_brightness:crossfade:dircache:flash_storage:hold_button:lcd_bitmap:lcd_non-mono:lcd_color:morse_input:pitchscreen:multivolume:multidrive_usb:quickscreen:swcodec:tagcache:tc_ramcache:charging
:large_plugin_buffer:albumart:backlight_fade_bool:sd_storage:usb_power:usbstack:usb_hid:himem:play_frequency:perceptual_volume:codec_aac_he
gcc: arm-elf-eabi-gcc (GCC) 4.9.4
ld: GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.26.1
Host gcc: gcc (GCC) 14.2.1 20240912 (Red Hat 14.2.1-3)
Host system: Linux



I will test again with all of the default settings and report back.

[speachy]

This is the build we tested: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/FZcSZis9dnZgbw

Sorry for asking. Is this an 11 year old build?

That link points at the  "0.23 + Rockbox.rar" file containing the a build from 140415, whereas...

Version: a220402d51-250122

....is the nightly from a couple of days ago.  So you may see why I am confused.

FWIW the HM601 that I have appears to work okay, including resuming playback.  Stock 250224 nightly build (+ english voice) and a small pile of mp3 files (with album art) that I already had on the SD card.

(As far as Rockbox is concerned, the only difference between the HM601 and the HM801 are the physical controls, how the LCD is wired up, and the battery capacity.  So.. back to the basic diagnostic questions I asked earlier?)

[HungryDaze]

That link points at the  "0.23 + Rockbox.rar" file containing the a build from 140415, whereas...

Nope, a slightly different name: "0.23 + Rockbox (свежий).rar" With this build: Version: a220402d51-250122

So.. back to the basic diagnostic questions I asked earlier?

Will test it again with the defaults and give feedback.

[Bilgus]

Could you try this build?
its just the current head but I sent along the .map file so we can see where its crashing at

https://www.mediafire.com/file/t8lv5nzogfsjdl1/hifimanhm801_19956a0777-250225_rockbox-full.zip/file

[HungryDaze]

Could you try this build?
its just the current head but I sent along the .map file so we can see where its crashing at

Sure, I can test it. But I don't see a URL. May be I'm blind. Could you point me in the right direction?

[HungryDaze]

Sorry https://www.mediafire.com/file/3he3uy3fo4h3wra/iHIFI800_19956a0777-250225_rockbox-full.zip/file

Thank you! File is called "iHIFI800_19956a0777-250225_rockbox-full.zip". Is it compatible with Hifiman HM-801? Sorry for asking again. Just wan't to be sure.

[Bilgus]

No its not sorry give me a few to get the correct device

https://www.mediafire.com/file/t8lv5nzogfsjdl1/hifimanhm801_19956a0777-250225_rockbox-full.zip/file

Sorry I didn't realize there were several hifi players to choose from!!

[HungryDaze]

https://www.mediafire.com/file/t8lv5nzogfsjdl1/hifimanhm801_19956a0777-250225_rockbox-full.zip/file

Thank you! Will get back with feedback.

BTW, Version: a220402d51-250122 with default settings is more stable, but I got one error so far when I tried to select a FLAC file: https://disk.yandex.ru/i/l7B9q6HFQnRBKQ