? Do I have this HDD-cable-Problem?

Hi,

sometimes (every second or third boot) my empeg stops after displaying the Hijack-Logo. After this the ttsclock should speak to me but nothing happens. After a minute or so it displays "No harddisk found, contact service". I've heard of the hdd-cable-problem, so it might hit me with this.

Or could it be something different?

Rolf

Probably a bad cable or maybe the hdd is actually dying.

Have you taken the player apart and checked the cable out ? Some people have reported having success recrimping the connectors.

It could just be that the cable has become partially disconnected from either the hard disks or the connector on the main board... Vibration in the car enviroment can eaisly cause this to happen - My advise would be to check that the cable connectors are firmly connected.

If this dosnt solve the problem then i'd try recrimping the connectors..

Hope this helps..

Rich

Hello rowitech,

Maybe your are trying to boot up your "Worst Install Trophy 2003" Wasn't there the same info on that screen?

Just kidding... I am sure you will be able to fix the problem...

bye

@cryzymelki:
Oh, yes, that's it! I tried to boot the wrong empeg :-). Just took the right one and it's booting perfect ;-).

@all:
I pressed on the connector of the hdd and it was ok, but this could be a random effect, maybe it was the same if I just tried to boot again. But if it works, shouldn't I see something in /var/log/messages (or such a file?) regarding hdd-errors?

Rolf

But if it works, shouldn't I see something in /var/log/messages (or such a file?) regarding hdd-errors?

The car-player doesn't run syslogd or klogd -- it can't, bearing in mind that the disks are spun down most of the time. Kernel messages like that are logged only to the serial port.

Peter

They're in the kernel ring buffer as well. So you could download a copy of dmesg and use that.

Have you checked for cold solder joints? They're a fairly common problem, and pusing the hard drive connector down will reengage them for a bit, but won't fix it.

Matthew

Ok, wher can I get this special dmesg? I should have an ARM-version, shouldn't I? There's no compiler on the empeg so if I get the source I need a gcc or something else which I then need, too. So I like to get a compiled version.

Today it's again very bad. It boots and plays for 30 minutes but then the sound is broken, I hear a damaged file, like you put /dev/random into /dev/audio :-). If I boot then, it won't boot up.

Is it a good idea to measure the resistance from the board to the hdd? Possibly I won't find something, it's because Murphy's law...

Rolf

Ok, wher can I get this special dmesg?

http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/binary-arm/base/util-linux_2.10f-3.deb

Contains an ARM binary hopefully suitable for the car player.

See the instructions on my cloning page about how to get the files out of the .deb file.

Ok, wher can I get this special dmesg?

I just wanted to interject here...

You shouldn't need to run special programs to solve hard disk problems. Just go carefully through the list of items here and locate the fault.

I don't know if you know this, but, just to be clear, dmesg basically just reprints the kernel messages, so you can see them after the fact.

Your problem is very similar to mine. I've been trying to get a replacement cable for almost 3 months now, but to no avail In the interim, to make matters worse, the tabs on the IDE cable head broke. So, I used some epoxy and put the head under some vice grips. I've had no problems booting since. I will probably end up making my own cable soon though. Check out the FAQ like the suggestion says, and look at the pictures to see what they mean about bad crimps.

Good Luck
-Ted

Hmm, since I talked with my Empeg about the problem it helped. No failures at all. But today didn't help any talking and shouting to the Empeg :-(. The display showed "All settings lost" (or something like this). Thank you! But beside some entries for the actual visual and so on all entries are there, even the config.ini. Wow, I had luck. But back in the car and automagically using DC-mode I had this issue like I had when I updated to the latest hijack: My GPS-mouse controlled my empeg in a way I don't like. Once a second it shuffeled, searched and changed the visuals. So I took my hands into the glove box, pulled out all the cables of this §$%& GPS-thing and everything worked fine (expect of my GPS-sender...). Ok, maybe it's my first step for competing again next year as the worst install, but it was not my idea to do this right now.

I've written long long sentences, now the content:
- What is lost when it tells me "All settings are lost"?
- My config.ini shows me the notify=1, so my GPS shouldn't disturb in DC-mode. It was the notify-flag, wasn't it?

Rolf (a little bit sad - too much work, don't need worries with empegs these days)

The settings lost message is from Hijack I believe.
You need to change the setting in Hijack about the serial port. It's only visible when you're in the car however.
The notify line is so that Hijack knows what's currently playing. It's not to do with the serial port (well, it won't turn it off so you can use the GPS is what I'm trying to say)

>You need to change the setting in Hijack about the serial

Aaaah! I remember. It's in the Hijack-Menu! Well, I sit here more than 5 Minutes, reading your answer again and again, but now I got the message :-). Sometimes it's hard.

So I changed it to Apps using serial port and hope it helps.

Good, saved the day :-)

Rolf

Good morning,

only for people searching for HDD-cable problems:
I've seen my plug for the HDD having some space between plug and cable. So I pressed the plug together so it now perfectly fits the cable. Don't know if this was the only problem but seems to work better now.

Rolf :-)