Empeg repair: Is anyone doing it now?

Dare I ask if anyone is doing empeg repairs now? I've corresponded with Rob many many months ago about getting either one or both of my 2 busted empegs fixed but he hasn't replied back to me in well over 3 months. I'm tired of burning cd's. I know that he was taking some time off and was supposed to be getting back to it at the end of April. It's a month past that and I'm just curious if anyone has heard from him or knows if he's currently working on requests. If not, I think I should just sell these things as they currently do me no good and I could likley find another solution.

Thanks!

I don't know if Rob is starting-up repair service again. Eutronix in the US should be able to help. Mark Lord may be able to help if you're in Canada. I don't know if he's fixing empegs anymore either though.

RobS is the best choice for Empeg repair -- he has access to schematics, original replacement parts, and by far has the most experience of anyone (current) repairing these beasts.

Stu/Eutronix (link at top) also dabbles, and can fix common problems. But troubleshooting capabilities appear limited, due to no schematics and the need to recoup time spent diagnosing things.

I also repair empegs, but encourage people to go elsewhere first, and treat me as the option of final resort. I can diagnose/fix nearly anything, even without schematics. But shipping things to me in Canada can be pricey at the border.

Cheers

Well stuart had one of them once to replace the CS4231A chip but was unable to get it working again. He didn't charge me anything despite having invested several hours in it. Honestly, I'm just frustrated and want to get something working. I have pictures of the boards somewhere and boot logs too I think. And shipping to Canada can't be 1/2 as bad as going to the netherlands! Rob seemed to think the ide headers and the CS4231A chips were hosed. I'll see if I can dredge up his last email about it.

If you and Mark work something out, I will be crossing the border in two weeks. I can mail it to Mark for you from within Canada.

All such things begin at the same place.. post a boot log here.

Cheers

Boot log of the first unit. This is my main one and was sent back to Rob for repair shortly after I got it due to intermittent Disk Not Found errors.
I'll also upload some pics of both units and link to them in a few minutes. This unit is 1st empeg.

empeg-car bootstrap v1.02 20001106 ([email protected])
If there is anyone present who wants to upgrade the flash, let them speak now,
or forever hold their peace...it seems not. Let fly the Penguins of Linux!

e000 v1.04
Copying kernel...
Calling linux kernel...
Uncompressing Linux..................................... done, booting the kerne
l.
Linux version 2.2.17-rmk5-np17-empeg52-hijack-v394 ([email protected]) (gcc version 2.
95.3 20010315 (release)) #2 Fri Jun 4 16:34:01 EDT 2004
Processor: Intel StrongARM-1100 revision 11
Checking for extra DRAM:
c1000000: wrote ffffffff, read e91ba9f0
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.94.1 (c) 1998 Corel Computer Corp.
empeg-car player (hardware revision 9, serial number 30102325) 16MB DRAM
Command line: mem=16m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15016k/16M available (980k code, 20k reserved, 364k da
Dentry hash table entries: 2048 (order 2, 16k)
Buffer cache hash table entries: 16384 (order 4, 64k)
Page cache hash table entries: 4096 (order 2, 16k)
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP
TCP: Hash tables configured (ehash 16384 bhash 16384)
IrDA (tm) Protocols for Linux-2.2 (Dag Brattli)
Starting kswapd v 1.5
SA1100 serial driver version 4.27 with no serial options ena
ttyS00 at 0xf8010000 (irq = 15) is a SA1100 UART
ttyS01 at 0xf8050000 (irq = 17) is a SA1100 UART
ttyS02 at 0xf8030000 (irq = 16) is a SA1100 UART
Signature is 636f6972 'rioc'
Found custom animation at offset 0x9a38c
Tuner: loopback=0, ID=-1
Scheduling custom logo.
empeg display initialised.
empeg dsp audio initialised
empeg dsp mixer initialised
empeg dsp initialised
Could not find CS4231A (version=80)
empeg remote control/panel button initialised.
empeg usb initialised, PDIUSBD12 id 1012
empeg state support initialised 0089/88c1 (save to d0005300).
empeg RDS driver initialised
empeg power-pic driver initialised (first boot)
RAM disk driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size
empeg single channel IDE
Probing primary interface...
hda: ÉC²5Ô0´8ÁTÄA°5­0 , ATA DISK drive
hdb: ÉC²5Ô0´8ÁTÄA°5­0 , ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x000-0x007,0x038 on irq 6
hda: ÉC²5Ô0´8ÁTÄA°5­0 , 24191MB w/18190kB Cache, CHS=49151
/16/63
hdb: ÉC²5Ô0´8ÁTÄA°5­0 , 24191MB w/18190kB Cache, CHS=49151
/16/63
empeg-flash driver initialized
smc chip id/revision 0x3349
smc9194.c:v0.12 03/06/96 by Erik Stahlman ([email protected])

SMC9194: SMC91C94(r:9) at 0x4008000 IRQ:7 INTF:TP MEM:6144b MAC 00:02:d7:26:09:1
5
Partition check:
hda: [PTBL] [3083/255/63] hda1 < > hda2 hda3 hda4
hdb: [PTBL] [3083/255/63] hdb1 < > hdb2 hdb3 hdb4
RAMDISK: ext2 filesystem found at block 0
RAMDISK: Loading 320 blocks [1 disk] into ram disk... done.
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
Timezone: /usr/share/zoneinfo
empeg-pump v0.03 (19980601)
Press Ctrl-A to enter pump...attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=2, limit=0
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=1 sector=2 size=1024 count=1
EXT2-fs: unable to read superblock
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:05

Here's teh second log file. This one is the one that Stuart tried to replace the chip on. Well, he did really but it still doesn't work. This one is a spare unit.

empeg-car bootstrap v1.02 20001106 ([email protected])
If there is anyone present who wants to upgrade the flash, let them speak now,
or forever hold their peace...it seems not. Let fly the Penguins of Linux!

e000 v1.04
Copying kern
Calling linux kernel...
Uncompressing Linux..................................... done, booting the kerne
l.
Linux version 2.2.14-rmk5-np17-empeg51 (mac@aphex) (gcc version 2.95.3 20010315
(release)) #17 Wed Jul 24 18:23:20 BST 2002
Processor: Intel StrongARM-1100 revision 11
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.94.1 (c) 1998 Corel Computer Corp.
empeg-car player (hardware revision 9, serial number 10101594)
Command line: mem=16m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15024k/16M available (964k code, 2
Dentry hash table entries: 2048 (order 2, 16k)
Buffer cache hash table entries: 16384 (order 4, 64k)
Page cache hash table entries: 4096 (order 2, 16k)
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP
TCP: Hash tables configured (ehash 16384 bhash 16384)
IrDA (tm) Protocols for Linux-2.2 (Dag Brattli)
Linux-IrDA: IrCOMM protocol ( revision:Tue May 18 03:11:39 1999 )
ircomm_tty: virtual tty driver for IrCOMM ( revision:Wed May 26 00:49:11 1999 )
Starting kswapd v 1.5
SA1100 serial driver version 4.27 with no serial options enabled
ttyS00 at 0xf8010000 (irq = 15) is a SA1100 UART
ttyS01 at 0xf8050000 (irq = 17) is a SA1100 UART
ttyS02 at 0xf8030000 (irq = 16) is a SA1100 UART
Signature is 206f6972 'rio '
empeg display initialised.
empeg dsp audio initialised
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
I2C write failed (fff, d223)
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
I2C write failed (927, 0)
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
I2C write failed (8f9, 90d)
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to recei
i2c_write: device select failed
I2C write failed (8f9, 90d)
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
I2C write failed (8ef, 800)
i2c: Failed to receive ACK for data!
i2c_write: device select failed
empeg dsp mixer in
empeg dsp initialised
Could not find CS4231A (version=81)
empeg remote control/panel button initialised.
empeg usb initialised, PDIUSBD12 id 1012
empeg state support initialised 0089/88c1 (save to d0005400).
empeg RDS driver initialised
empeg power-pic driver initialised (first boot)
RAM disk driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size
empeg single channel IDE
Probing primary interface...
Probing primary interface...
empeg-flash driver initialized
smc chip id/revision 0x3349
smc9194.c:v0.12 03/06/96 by Erik Stahlman ([email protected])

SMC9194: SMC91C94(r:9) at 0x4008000 IRQ:7 INTF:TP MEM:6144b MAC 00:02:d7:22:06:3
a
RAMDISK: ext2 filesystem found at block 0
RAMDISK: Loading 320 blocks [1 disk] into ram disk... done.
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
empeg-pump v0.03 (19980601)
Press Ctrl-A to enter pump...VFS: Cannot open root device 03:05
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:05

First Unit:
Empeg 1 - 1
Empeg 1 - 2
Empeg 1 - 3
Empeg 1 - 4
Empeg 1 - 5

Second Unit:
Empeg 2 - 1
Empeg 2 - 2
Empeg 2 - 3

Excellent! A model case of how to provide exactly the right information!

But it does look a little ugly. There are definitely "lifted pads" on the IDE header of unit#1 -- a result of the crooked factory solder job, short IDE cables, and possibly a bit much heat from the soldering iron later on. I can fix that.

Dunno about the CS4231A on unit#1 -- it's failing right now, but since it shares the bus with the bad IDE header, anything is possible. But the USB & ethernet also share that bus, and they look okay in the logs. Won't know until the header is fixed up.

The one thing I cannot do is replace large surface mount chips like the CS4231A. I can diagnose them, but lack the steady hand to swap them out for new ones.


Unit#2 looks like it may have three bad pads on the CS4231A -- a couple of them are definitely lifted, and I cannot tell about the third. This I can fix, but whether anything else is wrong, well.. fix what we know about first, and then see what else is still failing.

I suggest you take robricc up on his transport offer, and let him remail them to me on the North side of the border. Getting stuff back to you is easy, it's only the incoming direction that's tricky here.

There are a couple of ways we could tackle this.. I basically only fix units when I have time and feel like it -- that way the job is done well, but timing then becomes quite unpredictable.

One way is I can offer you one good working Mk2a in trade for the two duds. You keep your drives, I keep my drive. Then someday I might fix one or both of the dead units, at my own risk.

Or I could diagnose/fix them as best I can, and you pay whatever we agree upon for a fee once that happens. Normally I charge around US$100 for attempting severe repairs, or more if it takes an inordinate amount of effort.

On the plus side, those are NOT the worst units I've seen (and fixed) to date. But they're up there.

Cheers

Quote:
On the plus side, those are NOT the worst units I've seen (and fixed) to date. But they're up there.

I think I may hold the record for having the worst unit...We'd have to ask Rob S. as he has had the unit for months now, and is still tweaking on it...Of course, since I had a backup machine, I told him to take his time, as repairs to single machine owners would come first (gotta have the tunes, man!

All in all, if Rob can fix the unit without me having to take out a second mortage, he'd be my hero!