hdb irq wait errors....

Posted by: jbrinkerhoff

hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/12/2006 12:53

Just tried this AM to sync some new music to the player, and I keep getting hdb irq wait errors. I suspect, perhaps, hdb is dying? I have (2) 30GB drives, but only ~15GB of music. I upgraded a while back from the original 10GB drive.

Is it possible to remove hdb without rebuilding from scratch? I have backups of (most) of my music on PC, so even if I had to trash most of all of my mp3's, it wouldnt really matter.

Can anyone outline a procedure. Oh, Im running V3a (the latest one) with Hijack as well.

On a side note, are there automotive-spec hard drives yet? My original model would boot to -20F, these will not boot below ~30F, and I suspect that may be part of the reason for impending failure...

Jeff
Posted by: maczrool

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/12/2006 13:02

Quote:
Just tried this AM to sync some new music to the player, and I keep getting hdb irq wait errors. I suspect, perhaps, hdb is dying?

Jeff


Maybe, or more likely you need to fix/replace your IDE cable or IDE header solder joints.

Stu
Posted by: mlord

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/12/2006 13:07

Quote:

On a side note, are there automotive-spec hard drives yet?


Yes, they're called "Compact Flash cards".
Posted by: jbrinkerhoff

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/12/2006 13:54

Heheh... Yes, I know there are solid state drives... For about a gagillion dollars/pounds/euros.... (for any reasonable capacity). I thought that Seagate or someone had been experimenting with some "automotive spec" drives - i.e. lower temp, additional shock protection. I can't seem to find any info about them.

Anyway, I took the advice and ripped apart the player. I pulled out the IDE cable, and looked closely (while flexing) and lo-and-behold, it's not crimped all the way. Close, but not all the way. So I set it on my desk, and re-crimped it using a flat object and my own weight. I did all three, and they are very crimped now :-)

Back in the player, and after a lengthy media check, NO irq errors or HD not found messages. THANKS. I had read that FAQ before, and even 'checked' when replacing the drives, but unless you REMOVE the cable and really look, it looks fine....

On a side note, it would be "cool" if we could replace hda with a low-capacity (whats the minumum needed?) flash drive, and have the player still "work" (sans mp3s) if hdb failed to spin up. Since I use the empeg for radio as well, when its down, Im in silence....

Thanks again, and thoughts on that last paragraph?
Posted by: tman

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/12/2006 15:10

Quote:
Heheh... Yes, I know there are solid state drives... For about a gagillion dollars/pounds/euros.... (for any reasonable capacity). I thought that Seagate or someone had been experimenting with some "automotive spec" drives - i.e. lower temp, additional shock protection. I can't seem to find any info about them.


There are automotive spec drives but they're expensive and low capacity.
Posted by: mlord

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/12/2006 16:24

Quote:

On a side note, it would be "cool" if we could replace hda with a low-capacity (whats the minumum needed?) flash drive, and have the player still "work" (sans mp3s) if hdb failed to spin up. Since I use the empeg for radio as well, when its down, Im in silence....

Thanks again, and thoughts on that last paragraph?


That's been on my TO-DO list for about three years now.

I have a CF-to-IDE adapter board (totally passive, just has a CF slot on one end, and an IDE connector at the other, with screw holes matching a 2.5" hard drive).

To work really well, I'll need to hack Hijack to not spin up the (other) real hard disk until a track is actually needed from it. Or maybe have it check the temperature sensor first or something.

Easy, just need to do it. Maybe this winter, over the holidays..

Cheers
Posted by: jbrinkerhoff

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/12/2006 17:50

Mark,

Wow, if you manage that I'll be kicking myself for not buying a few 2GB CF cards for $20 each on "black friday" a few weeks ago. How much space does the base install need? Would 1GB be enough? 512MB? I looked up these adapters, seem to run about $15 unless you have a better supplier.

Looks like those seagate ee25 drives are ~$130 for 20GB, $147 for 40GB... Not THAT bad a deal, when you think about it. -30C - +85C OPERATING range, with lots of shock and vibration protection.

Jeff
Posted by: canuckInOR

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/12/2006 17:52

Quote:
Quote:

On a side note, it would be "cool" if we could replace hda with a low-capacity (whats the minumum needed?) flash drive, and have the player still "work" (sans mp3s) if hdb failed to spin up. Since I use the empeg for radio as well, when its down, Im in silence....

Thanks again, and thoughts on that last paragraph?


That's been on my TO-DO list for about three years now.

IIRC, someone else did this, too. I remember there being a player modded to have a lexan top, which had a door in it to allow easy access to a CF card.
Posted by: Roger

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/12/2006 18:50

Quote:
How much space does the base install need?


No more than 48Mb. See attached.
Posted by: jbrinkerhoff

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 06/12/2006 13:13

Wow, cool. So an old 64MB CF would even work. I think I have at least a few of those sitting around... I wonder how fast the CF would wear out....
Posted by: mlord

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 06/12/2006 13:44

Quote:
Wow, cool. So an old 64MB CF would even work. I think I have at least a few of those sitting around... I wonder how fast the CF would wear out....


Probably long after the empeg wears out. The drives are not frequently written to during use, other than when changing settings, or for the single-sector per tune that holds profiling data.

Cheers
Posted by: Robotic

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 06/12/2006 15:40

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:

On a side note, it would be "cool" if we could replace hda with a low-capacity (whats the minumum needed?) flash drive, and have the player still "work" (sans mp3s) if hdb failed to spin up. Since I use the empeg for radio as well, when its down, Im in silence....

Thanks again, and thoughts on that last paragraph?


That's been on my TO-DO list for about three years now.

IIRC, someone else did this, too. I remember there being a player modded to have a lexan top, which had a door in it to allow easy access to a CF card.

I remember that. His whole point was to be able to unload his CF cards from his camera onto some other storage unit. The drop in price/MB and increase in CF storage size sort of made the whole media-transfer concept moot, but flash-based OS sounds like a new spin on it.

I kind of like the idea of OS on flash, though. It sounds like a great idea, but I don't know any of the details involved in the hardware- whether or not it's really worth it.
If it is, it would be cool to see this sort of idea as 'standard issue' on PCs.
I know there are some 'live' Linux distributions (and Windows, too) that will fit on CDs and flash drives.
It would be nice if a given hunk of hardware would boot up happily and then tell you that your storage drive is farked.
I wonder if OS-on-flash would be fast enough- maybe it's faster?.

/rambling about stuff I have no idea about.

edit:
Ah- an article on Slashdot mentions Intel's plans for a flash based laptop.
And one of the comments mentions swap space that an OS needs. I always forget about swap space.
But then, flash is soo cheap nowadays, why not just make the swap drive a consumable? I imagine you can test flash memory for how well it's holding up with it's read/write cycling... when it's had enough you pop in a new one.
Presto- a new market for 512MB flash.
Posted by: Roger

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 07/12/2006 08:23

Quote:
But then, flash is soo cheap nowadays, why not just make the swap drive a consumable?


Vista has Windows ReadyBoost (scroll down a bit).
Posted by: Robotic

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 07/12/2006 13:56

Quote:
Quote:
But then, flash is soo cheap nowadays, why not just make the swap drive a consumable?


Vista has Windows ReadyBoost (scroll down a bit).

Nice!
I knew I couldn't be the only one with crazy thoughts in my head.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 07/12/2006 15:31

Okay, I *work* here and I didn't know about ReadyBoost.

I wonder how one activates that sort of thing. Hm.

Thinking about it, I'm not sure I'd want to use it, though. From its description, it sounds like it's using flash RAM as a sort of intermediate or extra cache, as if it were a memory subsystem with a response time that falls somewhere between RAM and Disk. Clever idea, except for the part where flash RAM is limited in the number of times you can write to it. Since RAM caching does a lot of churn, you'd be burning out your flash card as you used it (a lot more than just loading pictures or MP3s would).

I'll do some research here about it. If I find anything interesting, I'll report back.
Posted by: Roger

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 09/12/2006 07:21

Quote:
I wonder how one activates that sort of thing.


You plug the flash drive in. It's one of the AutoPlay options.
Posted by: jbrinkerhoff

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/02/2007 17:51

Just wanted to pop this back to the top for an update. I happened to pick up a seagate EE25.1 series 40GB drive (real cheaply too ...) Supposed to be good to -40F. My current set will not boot below ~12F. Its now 3F outside....

I'm going to install it as HDA once it comes in. I think I should be able to fit almost all my music on that one drive, until I find another one...

I wonder, what would the expected behavio(u)r of the empeg be with hda working and hdb "out to lunch" due to cold?

Jeff
Posted by: altman

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/02/2007 17:54

Very hard to predict, really. Depends a lot on how the digital part of the controller deals with the cold - it might basically lock the bus (preventing hda access) or might just appear to not be there (which would be fine).

Got a freezer?

Hugo
Posted by: jbrinkerhoff

Re: hdb irq wait errors.... - 05/02/2007 18:25

Yeah, I have a HUGE freezer, just outside the building :-) The high temps for the rest of the week are in the teens F, with lows around 0F....

:-)

Jeff