hey everyone...

I recently fixed the wiring on my Empeg unit (had switched power and permanent power in the wrong pins) , and now I'm encountering a new problem. Whenever I turn off the car, I go into standby mode. But, even after I come out after work, the little blue light is still flashing! whats more, it doesn't wake up when I turn the car on. I need to remove the unit, and push it back into place. Then, it reboots and is fine. If I turn off the car and turn it back on again quickly, the unit exits standby mode like it's suppsed to. It's almost like the unit is 'hanging' when it tries to completely shut itself down. Combine that with an intermittent "NO HARD DRIVE FOUND, CONTACT SERVICE'" that seems almost random, and I'm totally confused. Any ideas what might be causing this?

In case it matters, the Empeg Mark II is installed in a 1998 Audi A4, and is running Version 2 Beta 11.

Thanks in advance

-J

Are you running Hijack? If not, then it might be the stuck jiffies problem. (FITMR)

no, I'm running the standard 2.11 kernel... I'm going to search the forums, but what the heck is a stuck jiffies??

Stuck Jiffies is a known bug in the 2.0 Beta 11 software. Since the bug is in the kernel, if you install the Hijack kernel, the bug will be fixed.

Stuck jiffies is when the player stops responding to inputs for 15-20 minutes yet keeps playing music.

This may or may not be your problem. Sounds more to me like a wiring issue or perhaps the negative spike bug. Have you looked at the Troubleshooting section of the FAQ?

I looked at the troubleshooting section, but really didn't find anything that mentions a unit not exiting standby. Man, this is so frustrating... I'm scared to leave the thing in the car! Maybe I'll just set it to 2 seconds delay and MAKE it power down. How would 'stuck jiffies' cause my player to either not see the hard drive or not power itself down? Also, would a loose/bad connection cause this?

Yes, a loose/bad connection could cause it.

The stuck jiffies bug makes the player stop responding to ALL input. The ignition-sense wire is an input. However when this happens it will be obvious because the player will also refuse to respond to front-panel commands at the same time.

Troubleshooting FAQ entry on standby mode is here.

I just installed the latest Hijack kernel... I'm going to go outside and see what happens. I should have realized that the problem started IMMEDIATELY after I installed the new Beta 2.11, after upgrading from 1.03

either way, I'll post what happens. I REALLY don't feel like opening up my empeg for the first time, so I'm crossing my fingers!

Well, I installed the Hijack kernel, and it helped to verify my problem... I used Emplode to change the standby time to 5 seconds, so I can see the unit exit standby mode. No problem there.

BUT

After I came out of work today, the blue light was blinking again! This morning, I watched it turn off, no problems, locked my car with the remote, no blue light. The blinking light actually came BACK on while I was away from the car. Anyone have any ideas???

Sounds like a wiring problem where the ignition line isn't really getting zero volts. 1) Sure it's wired right? 2) Seen the FAQ entry on the "negative spike bug"?

I'm using the switched power as the main power lead, and the permenent power as the 'memory' lead. These are wired with the factory Audi iso harness. I switched the pins in the empeg plug, as I know Audi's and VW's are wired kinda funny. I used a multimeter to check the levels during installation. I didn't see any significant voltage in the switched power when the car was off, but maybe this somehow increases after the car's been off a while? As for the negative spike, I don't really know how to check for this. I suppose I could tear down the dash again (ugh) and check it, but it sounds hard to diagnose

Well, I have made some progress on debugging my Empeg. Wow, I never thought I'd say that I needed to debug my headunit!

I opened her up today, and changed the ribbon to the end connector. That seemed to solve the problem with the hard drive ending up "missing" once in a while. While it was open, I installed the 1 amp 200 volt diode inline with the switched power.

BUT

I'm STILL getting the weird syndrome where the power comes back on after I leave it in the car! I haven't figured out how long it takes for this to happen, but I know it's within 2 hours of turning the car off. I come back outside, and the blue light is blinking. The unit is unresponsive, so pushing the buttons and turning the car on doesn't change its state. Only pulling it a half inch out of the cradle and pushing it back into place makes it reboot.

I'm running the 2.11 Hijack kernel, I've installed a diode to kill the negative spike bug, and I've reseated the laptop drive.

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on here? I'm tempted to install some kind of kill switch on the damn thing! I hate to tear apart my dash AGAIN just to see what the voltages are of my input leads. If I was really smart, I'd hook up a LabView terminal and log the voltage on the ground, the main and switched power, and the LED. That's, however, a last resort. My car (Audi) has a floating ground... maybe something to do with that?

Thx

- James