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#23371 - 06/12/2000 10:38 Really strange bootup bug.
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31575
Loc: Seattle, WA
I have had this happen exactly once and I'm unable to reproduce it. But I was wondering if the Empeg guys (or anyone else) had seen it before.

I pulled the Empeg out of the car this morning the way I always do: Turn the volume down, hold the top button to put it into sleep mode, then yank it out of the dash. (I know I don't have to do those things before pulling it, but I prefer to have it restart in sleep mode at a lower volume when I put it back in the car.)

Then I brought it into my desk at work and plugged it in. I always plug in all the cables including serial and usb just in case I want to fiddle with it at some point during the day.

It booted correctly, went through all the normal bootup screens, then dropped into sleep mode as expected.

But then I pressed a button to wake it up and start it playing, and it did something really strange: The screen went completely white (all the pixels turned on), but at a very low VFD refresh rate. It looked kind of "shimmery" or "wavy". I know it wasn't a malfunctioning visual because the chosen visual was "Rorschach". Very strange.

Simply pulling the power plug and rebooting the unit solved the problem and it's working fine now.

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

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Tony Fabris
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Tony Fabris

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#23372 - 06/12/2000 10:51 Re: Really strange bootup bug. [Re: tfabris]
Smoker_Man
member

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 165
Loc: Calgary, CANADA
I haven't had that happen to me, but once I did a sync, and turned the unit off, and ran to my car and dropped it in, and after a sync, it leaves you without a playlist, the display wouldn't come back, not matter what buttons I pressed,
and the unit just wouldnt start up, so a couple of "reboots" (pull, push, pull, push) it came back to me.

But an actual wonky (nice and technical description) display issue like that would get me pretty scared!

But to me, sounds like a voltage issue, like the display couldn't fire up to it "on" state, perhaps a residual charge left in the unit caused the screen to not clear? (Or am I simply rattling on about nothing?)

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#23373 - 06/12/2000 10:58 Re: Really strange bootup bug. [Re: Smoker_Man]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31575
Loc: Seattle, WA
once I did a sync, and turned the unit off, and ran to my car and dropped it in, and after a sync, it leaves you without a playlist, the display wouldn't come back, not matter what buttons I pressed

I do that regularly: Bring the unit out to my car immediately after a synch. Sometimes I do it several times a night. I do it when I'm checking the mix of a song I've just recorded and mixed down: After I get it to where I think it's "right" on my studio monitors, I encode it and stick it on the Empeg to listen to it on other stereo equipment. My car is the first thing I try since it's got the best low-frequency response thanks to the subwoofer.

In all the times I've done this, I've never had the problem you describe, it always just comes up with the "end of playlist" message and lets me select another playlist.

Then again, I have a Mark1 which doesn't have the ignition-sense wire and the code to go with it. Perhaps there's a bug related to the ignition-sense code and the end of a playlist. Can anyone else reproduce Smoker Man's problem?

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Tony Fabris
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Tony Fabris

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#23374 - 06/12/2000 11:35 Re: Really strange bootup bug. [Re: tfabris]
Smoker_Man
member

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 165
Loc: Calgary, CANADA
In reply to:

best low-frequency response thanks to the subwoofer


mmmmmmmmm, subwoofers

Well, my problem has only happened once to me, and that was right after I put on Frank's displayserver (my co-workers quite enjoy it!) With the IR hack kernel, plus the install script doesnt remount /dev/hdb4 so that might have been the issue, with drive1 being unmounted and the player software puked, so a few reboots caused it to "rebuild" its databases and it seemed to go fine.

WARNING OFF TOPIC DISCUSSION
Anyone having issues with your temp sensor? I left my empeg in the car the other night, it got kinda chilly -5C, and when I got to the office and yoinked the unit out, it was still fairly cool to touch, I dropped it on my desk (nicely), connected the RCA, serial, and ethernet, fired up the unit, quit the player, ran displayserver with -noauth, and logout. Checked the status page regularily throughout the day, for temp, and process load etc.
Well, at the end of the day, the unit was rather warm to the touch, and the status page still read 4 deg C, same as when I first checked it in the morning.
SO, is it possible that my temp sensor is hosed (it works well now) or was I a dolt, and didnt refreash the browser? Has the temp sensor been known to not function?

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2x160Gb MkII Lighted Buttons 080000449

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#23375 - 06/12/2000 12:02 Re: Really strange bootup bug. [Re: Smoker_Man]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31575
Loc: Seattle, WA
Anyone having issues with your temp sensor?

Check the FAQ on the BBS under the heading "Isn't the heat bad for the Empeg?". Make sure to look at the editor's note at the bottom...

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Tony Fabris
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Tony Fabris

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#23376 - 06/12/2000 12:47 Re: Really strange bootup bug. [Re: tfabris]
Smoker_Man
member

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 165
Loc: Calgary, CANADA
Well, a partial answer to my question.

Thanks Tony

Would 400G of force pretty much render the empeg a pancake?

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2x160Gb MkII Lighted Buttons 080000449

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