The topic says it all, really. Brand new Rio 10G player, 2.0b3 image, running in the dash at lunchtime. I was frobbing the buttons to bring the dimmer up, my buddy was playing with the remote control. Suddenly, the player doesn't respond to the remote anymore.

I'm thinking that perhaps I confused the player by bouncing through the menus whilst the remote was in use. I cycled the power, pulled the player from it's sled, and still it doesn't pay attention to the remote. It's possible that the remote went TU *just* at the time he was using it, but it had been working seconds before, so I suspect it's a player issue.

Anybody seen this before, and any suggestions on fixing it? I'll try bringing it into the house tonight and reflashing the image, but I'm at a loss as to what else might work.

TIA,
Kev
PS - insert standard rave reviews of empeg player here. This thing rocks! Now I just need a 30-hour roadtrip to make proper use of it!

I know it's a new unit and all (congrats on the new toy BTW), but have you tried a new battery in the remote? That's always the first step.

Also check for stuck front-panel buttons.

It is theoretically possible for the IR sensor to go bad, and it's not unheard of. But the first things to try are the easiest ones.

Also, what software version is it running?

I bought a spare Rio remote and the battery that came with it died in less than 3 days.

I had a Rio Remote die as i was using it a few weeks back. I replaced the battery and it didn't help, and the kenwood remote still worked, so it was definitely a dead remote. I emailed support and after email ping-pong i got a replacement remote that worked off the bat.

Oh, hey, that makes me think of a great way to diagnose it:

Install Mlord's latest kernel, and go into its button translation screen. Shoot some IR commands at it from other "known good" remotes, such as your TV remote and see if it registers on the screen. If it does, you know the remote is at fault and not the player.

Funny, I don't get codes to show up w/TV remote or any other remote for that matter. The only way I can get codes to register is using either the Rio, Kenwood or the Empeg front buttons.

Hey, now that's a man that's thinking! I'll give that a whirl.

What I really need is another empeg so I can try the remote against that... :)

Thanks,
Kev

Odd. I thought that's how the IR translate stuff was supposed to work...

Doesn't work on mine.

Yeah, I just tried it. I don't know if I'm doing it right or not, but when I shoot IR at the player, MLord's screen doesn't change.

I thought the reciever only registers certain frequencies or wavelengths.... or something...

I thought the reciever only registers certain frequencies or wavelengths.... or something...


Yup. The output of the ir device is filtered. Frank had a utility out there somewhere that showed EVERYTHING, but the default only showed 'compatible' results.

at least, that's how I remembered it...

It only recognises RC5 codesets. If you shoot anything which isn't RC5 at it, it will totally ignore it, regardless of filtering for valid codes - the IR doesn't match the state machine and so gets thrown out as illegal very early on.

Hugo

Try holding the IR controller DIRECTLY up to the IR sensor on the empeg (its directly right and above the knob on the right side -- I believe -- either way its on the right side). See if that works.

If it does, you have the same problem I had with my empeg mk2a - failed IR sensor. I had to ship it back to empeg to get it fixed, and when it came back it was fine.

Previously we had tried multiple controllers, and so on, no avail.

Give it a whirl.

...cycle the power!

Apparently, the act of taking the battery out of the remote, walking it over to the Wal-Mart jewelry counter, and testing it (it was still good, of course) fixed the problem. Either I scared a charge back into the battery, or it gave the remote time to reset something in its innards. Either way, I'm back in business.

Kinda reminds me of this story.

Thanks to all who piped up with help!

Kev

>It only recognises RC5 codesets. If you shoot anything which isn't RC5 at it,
>it will totally ignore it,

Ahh.. Okay, I just "got lucky" with my Pioneer home-stereo remote that works fine.

Perhaps I'll embed my hooks just a little bit deeper into the IR code in an upcoming version..

-ml

If it's not RC5, you will need a different state machine in order to recognise the codes. You can run multiple state machines concurrently in the IR driver - it already runs one to recognise the front panel buttons (which are encoded as if they were IR) alongside the RC5 driver.

ISTR there may be something in Documentation/ which talks about the RC5 format.

You can also put the IR device into raw mode, where it just tells you the timings between changes on the IR line, which is useful to get an idea of what a remote is sending you.

Hugo

Ugh. I see what you mean (after poking around in the source some more..).

Okay, I will not be doing this in the forseeable future.
If anyone else wants it, feel free..

Thanks Hugo!

-ml

This is pretty much what happened to my unit.... twice. After the first IR outage, it just came back after a day or so... the second one hasn't fixed itself and I have been without IR for almost a week. I have tried cycling the power, reflashing, etc. The only thing I haven't tried yet is downgrading to v1.03 (it runs 2.03b).

Anyone else have any ideas?

Tried a different remote, or new batteries in the existing remote?

I have not tried either. I will try getting a new battery soon. As for another remote, I only have this one. How would I go about getting another?

Thanks

You can get the Kenwood remote from Crutchfield, or another Rio remote from the online store.

Apparently, the act of taking the battery out of the remote, walking it over to the Wal-Mart jewelry counter, and testing it (it was still good, of course) fixed the problem.

I had the same thing happen to me. I took it to a party to use as a DJ machine, and was demonstrating it for some friends. Had already shown it to a few people with no problems. But, when I was showing it to another person, the remote refused to work. I tried taking the battery out and putting it back in, but nothing. I figured the battery went dead. As a side note, I was unplugging the unit in-between demos.

The next day when I plugged the unit in again, the remote worked just fine.

Is it possible that the IR didn't "initialize" or whatever when I plugged it in?

I have also had this issue with my new RioCar player (with 2.0b3). However, I "think" I have determined that it is the remote, not the player that causes the problem. I borrowed a friends Rio and Kenwood remotes to try and debug the problem...

Both of my friends remotes worked fine. I tested all three batteries and they were fine, but just for the heck of it I swapped batteries on the two Rio remotes. Same result, his worked, mine did not. Then after swapped the batteries back both Rio remotes were non-functional! I pulled both batteries again to re-check the voltage - still good. I put them back in and now they all work and I haven't had a problem since.

I don't know if the remotes stopped transmitting or if the signal they were putting out was just garbage.

Just my observations...
-Jeff

I had a friend that had a similar remote a long time ago. He was always having to squeeze the remote in order for the battery to make contact. I looked at the Kenwood remote I have, and while it's more sturdy, it still makes contact with the battery in basically the same way. The tip contact barely even has a spring in it, and I'll bet that heat expansion and contraction or something similar could cause this problem. The next time someone has this problem, try squeezing the remote near where the battery sits inside it and see if it starts working.

Ok, so I finally got around to looking at the battery. I whipped out my trusty Multimeter and checked the voltage. It was registering a whopping 0.9 V. I replaced it and the remote works fine now. I guess I figured that since the unit and remote were brand new, the battery would be ok. Next time I will check that first. Thanks for all the suggestions.