The synchronisation process failed during stage 5:

I posted a question under the general forum already about how slow my uploads are going. When it was almost done I got this error:
The synchronisation process failed during stage 5:
Player error 0xffffff92
What does this mean?The display on the Rio is still showing 'synchronising'
I tried uploading about 250Mb of files, which took nearly 3 hours. Is this normal anyway??
Any help greatly appreciated!

EDIT
I disconnected the unit and reconnected. When I try to open the database, I get this:
The download process failed during stage 1:
Player error 0xffffffec

What's going on ???

Frank

3 hours is not normal for 250 megs, so something is wrong. The synch error backs up this assumption.

Were you using version 1.03 of the software to do your upload? If not, read this.

If you still get an error with 1.03, check here for information on synch errors.

Incidentally, your error was a "Connection Timed Out", meaning the player software locked up during the upload. If you were using Beta software to do the upload, that would explain it, and you need to go back to 1.03 to do your big synchs.

Uhm, I used what came with the player. I just checked and it's V1.02a
I'll try to upgrade.

thanks,
Frank

Upgraded to V1.03 but I still have the same error when I open emplode (also 1.03)
The download process failed during stage 1:

Player error 0xffffffec

Hmm, don't know. Now I'm stumped. Try connecting with serial and see if that works. It will be slow, so don't send any songs, just do some small change (like adding a blank playlist) so that it is forced to re-synch. Then maybe it'll fix the database and solve the problem. Beyond that, call support?

This doesn't look good. No luck with the serial either. I added the log in case it helps (from the first attempt with USB).

ta
Frank

Hmmm, your /empeg/var directory doesn't appear to exist:

0xffffffec is -20, which is ENOTDIR. This is returned from 'CheckDatabaseAvailability'. Normally, this function would either return zero (for OK) or ENOENT (for missing files). I don't think it handles ENOTDIR properly.

Does the player itself work? Could you get serial traces (using Hyperterminal or similar) of the startup and of the synchronisation? Obviously, you won't be able to use serial to do the sync at this stage.

If you've got a developer image installed and you feel fairly confident at a command prompt, try to see if there's any files in the /empeg/var directory.

The player appears to be working fine, but I can't upload any files to it. I can't synchronize because when I select the player and hit enter, I get this error.
I'm totally ignorant to Linux but I'll install the developer version and ask a collegue to have a look.
What if this directory doesn't exist? Do I simply create it?
Otherwise I guess I'll have to send it back ...

Frank

EDIT
does this look good?
Restored terminal settings
Remounting first music partition read-only
Remounting second music partition read-only
No secondary hard disk
Player exited normally: 0
Player exited normally: 0
Starting bash.
empeg:/empeg/bin# pwd
/empeg/bin
empeg:/empeg/bin# cd ..
empeg:/empeg# ls
bin fids0 fids1 lib var
empeg:/empeg# ls -l var
lrwxrwxrwx 1 0 220 13 Jun 23 2001 var -> ../drive0/var
empeg:/empeg# cd var
bash: cd: var: Not a directory
empeg:/empeg# cd ..
empeg:/# ls
bin drive0 empeg lib mnt sbin tmp var
dev drive1 etc lost+found proc swapfile usr
empeg:/# cd drive0
empeg:/drive0# ls
fids lost+found var
empeg:/drive0# ls -l var
srwxr-xr-x 32770 32768 32768 2147520512 Dec 14 1901 var

Hi.

The player appears to be working fine, but I can't upload any files to it.

Does that mean that you already have some files on the player and it plays those alright? If so, how much music do you have on the player? Would you mind re-uploading it?

I can't synchronize because when I select the player and hit enter, I get this error. I'm totally ignorant to Linux but I'll install the developer version and ask a collegue to have a look. What if this directory doesn't exist? Do I simply create it?

I guess so. My player recovered fine with software 1.03 and an empty /empeg/var directory if I recall correctly.

Otherwise I guess I'll have to send it back ...

You don't necessarily have to. If you don't mind re-uploading the music you already stored on the player, you could still use the disc-builder upgrade file followed by the 1.03 consumer upgrade and uploading your music afterwards. BUT: The disc-builder image completely wipes the disc, so no setting, playlist or tune would survive this procedure. But that is still faster than sending the player back in.

cu,
sven

Hi.

does this look good?

Not really. /drive0/var should not be a file (let alone a setuid file), but a directory. So basically, you should now do

rm /drive0/var; mkdir /drive0/var

BUT: If the filesystem got corrupted to the point of mistaking a directory for a file, I would say go the disc-build route I describe in my previous response.

cu,
sven

Nope, there's no files on the player. I tried to do that yesterday, but at the end of the upload I got this error.
I'll try the disk-builder upgrade

thanks for the help
Frank

edit, I tried creating the dir but this didn't work, I'll try the disk builder upgrade

empeg:/drive0# rm /drive0/var; mkdir /drive0/var
rm: remove write-protected file `/drive0/var'? y
rm: cannot unlink `/drive0/var': Read-only file system
mkdir: cannot create directory `/drive0/var': File exists
empeg:/drive0#

You need to use 'rw' or 'rwm' to mount the disks read-write. But, given, the oddness of the problem, probably best to use the disk-builder. If you're still having problems, contact support.

Uuups,

sorry, it would actually have required a "rwm" before and a "rom" after that command sequence I gave you. Sorry. But no loss anyway, the disc-builder process is easier and more effective when you didn't have any music on your player yet anyway.

cu,
sven

Well guys, I think I will have to send it back.
I did the disk builder, followed by the upgrade and it still gives the same error. Guess it's fubar

Frank

WOOHOO!
It's working! I don't understand how it's possible, but as a final attempt I created the dir like you suggested and now it's working. I have a NT machine with Token ring here at work so I can only use Serial to upload. I uploaded one single file and it's playing!
What does strike me is that I did the disk-builder and the upgrade and it still didn't work ??? Simply creating the dir afterwards fixed the problem.
Thanks sooooo much for your help guys!

Frank

None of this makes any sense to me, but if it's working, cool.

The fact that the disk-builder/upgrade cycle didn't fix it worries me, though, because that's the "last resort" which should always work. I have a nagging suspicion that you have a drive cable problem that's intermittent.

I don't understand either. Very weird. Oh well, most importantly, it works :-)
In the mean time, I installed an Ethernet card (no USB on NT),and uploaded about 3Gig of files. About 1.5 hours. Cool
On a sidenote, why doesn't the player have a standard IP adress ? (like 192.168.0.X)

Frank

Hi.

The player uses a standard routine to get its IP adress by default:
1. look for a DHCP server, if it finds one, it uses the supplied adress (if any)
2. if no DHCP server or no IP supplied, it uses uPNP to determine its IP
The non-default behaviour, which is setable via emplode, is a fixed IP of your coice. The IP that is used with uPNP is always 169.something, and it uses the very same algorithm to determin its IP as the MS OSes use (at least W98, W2k and above).

cu,
sven