My problems started over the winter when I would start to see once in a while the contact support hard disk problem and it got more and more common. Normally a try tries to start and it would eventually come up. After reading on here I found out abouut the problem with hard drive cables and so took the suggestion to move the drive to the 2nd IDE cable position which I did. The unit fired right up (it has come up on the 1st try sometimes since the problem was intermittent so that doesn't mean I fixed it). I went to load some songs into it and it ran fine for a while and then emplode locked up on me.

So wanting to find out if I had a drive problem or not, I decided to put the builder image on and let it format and stress test the drive. I know that is an exteme action it just seemed to best way to find out for sure if I had a drive problem or not.

Now the unit will not even boot at all anymore. I have tried loading numerous version of the kernal including both builder versions and I am not sure if any of them are taking. I did follow the directions - unplug unit, double click .upgrade file, plug in power when prompted - and all upgrades claim successful completion with no errors. The upgrade is being done out of the sled directly into AC power with the originial power supply.

I did run a control-T test and all tested fine.

Here is the output after putting on the latest car2 builder image.

Any ideas?

empeg-car bootstrap v1.02 20001106 (hugo@empeg.com)
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 2.2.14-rmk5-np17-empeg49 (mac@aphex.internal.empeg.com) (gcc versi
on 2.95.3 20010315 (release)) #130 Mon Oct 22 18:52:07 BST 2001
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 10101754)
Command line: mem=16m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15024k/16M available (964k code, 20k reserved, 372k data, 4k init)
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 67706d65 'empg'
Scheduling custom logo.
empeg display initialised.
empeg dsp audio initialised
empeg dsp mixer initialised
empeg dsp initialised
empeg audio-in initialised, CS4231A revision a0
empeg remote control/panel button initialised.
empeg usb initialised, PDIUSBD12 id 1012
empeg state support initialised 0089/88c1 (save to d0004a00).
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: TOSHIBA MK3017GAP, ATA DISK drive
hda: TOSHIBA MK3017GAP, ATA DISK drive
hda: TOSHIBA MK3017GAP, ATA DISK drive
hda: TOSHIBA MK3017GAP, ATA DISK drive
hda: TOSHIBA MK3017GAP, ATA DISK drive
hda: TOSHIBA MK3017GAP, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x000-0x007,0x038 on irq 6
hda: TOSHIBA MK3017GAP, 28615MB w/0kB Cache, CHS=58140/16/63
empeg-flash driver initialized
smc chip id/revision 0x3349
smc9194.c:v0.12 03/06/96 by Erik Stahlman (erik@vt.edu)

SMC9194: SMC91C94(r:9) at 0x4008000 IRQ:7 INTF:TP MEM:6144b MAC 00:02:d7:22:06:d
a
Partition check:
hda: hda1 < hda5 hda6 > hda2 hda3 hda4
RAMDISK: ext2 filesystem found at block 0
RAMDISK: Loading 320 blocks [1 disk] into ram disk... done.
EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached, running e2fsck is recommended
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
empeg-pump v0.03 (19980601)
Press Ctrl-A to enter pump...VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
change_root: old root has d_count=1
Trying to unmount old root ... okay
Freeing unused kernel memory: 4k initinit(1): memory violation at pc=0x40012714,
lr=0x40006e24 (bad address=0x4a000000, code 2)
pc : [<40012714>] lr : [<40006e24>]
sp : bffffae0 ip : 40021258 fp : bffffb40
r10: 4002110c r9 : 40020e48 r8 : 00000028
r7 : 40021ae4 r6 : 00000000 r5 : 40021ad0 r4 : 40021adc
r3 : 40021af8 r2 : 40017c58 r1 : 4a000000 r0 : 4a000002
Flags: nzCv IRQs on FIQs on Mode USER_32 Segment user
Control: C0FA517D Table: C0FA517D DAC: 00000015
Function entered at [<40006cac>] from [<40004768>]
r10 = 4002110C r9 = 00000000 r8 = 00000190 r7 = 020000F4
r6 = 020000FC r5 = 40021878 r4 = 40021830
Function entered at [<40003f2c>] from [<4000f434>]
r10 = 4002110C r9 = 00000000 r8 = 00000000 r7 = 40003F2C
r6 = 4002185C r5 = 00000006 r4 = 40021860
Function entered at [<4000f104>] from [<40003dd8>]
r10 = 4002110C r9 = BFFFFEF4 r8 = FFFF5D8C r7 = 00000002
r6 = 40000000 r5 = 40000000 r4 = 400215A0
Function entered at [<40003700>] from [<40003678>]
r10 = 00000000 r9 = 00000000 r8 = 00000000 r7 = 00000000
r6 = 00000000 r5 = 00000000 r4 = 00000000
init(1): memory violation at pc=0x40012714, lr=0x40006e24 (bad address=0x4a00000
0, code 2)
pc : [<40012714>] lr : [<40006e24>]
sp : bffffae0 ip : 40021258 fp : bffffb40
r10: 4002110c r9 : 40020e48 r8 : 00000028
r7 : 40021ae4 r6 : 00000000 r5 : 40021ad0 r4 : 40021adc
r3 : 40021af8 r2 : 40017c58 r1 : 4a000000 r0 : 4a000002
Flags: nzCv IRQs on FIQs on Mode USER_32 Segment user
Control: C0FA517D Table: C0FA517D DAC: 00000015
Function entered at [<40006cac>] from [<40004768>]
r10 = 4002110C r9 = 00000000 r8 = 00000190 r7 = 020000F4
r6 = 020000FC r5 = 40021878 r4 = 40021830
Function entered at [<40003f2c>] from [<4000f434>]
r10 = 4002110C r9 = 00000000 r8 = 00000000 r7 = 40003F2C
r6 = 4002185C r5 = 00000006 r4 = 40021860
Function entered at [<4000f104>] from [<40003dd8>]
r10 = 4002110C r9 = BFFFFEF4 r8 = FFFF5D8C r7 = 00000002
r6 = 40000000 r5 = 40000000 r4 = 400215A0
Function entered at [<40003700>] from [<40003678>]
r10 = 00000000 r9 = 00000000 r8 = 00000000 r7 = 00000000
r6 = 00000000 r5 = 00000000 r4 = 00000000
init(1): memory violation at pc=0x40012714, lr=0x40006e24 (bad address=0x4a00000
0, code 2)
pc : [<40012714>] lr : [<40006e24>]
sp : bffffae0 ip : 40021258 fp : bffffb40
r10: 4002110c r9 : 40020e48 r8 : 00000028
r7 : 40021ae4 r6 : 00000000 r5 : 40021ad0 r4 : 40021adc
r3 : 40021af8 r2 : 40017c58 r1 : 4a000000 r0 : 4a000002
Flags: nzCv IRQs on FIQs on Mode USER_32 Segment user
Control: C0FA517D Table: C0FA517D DAC: 00000015
Function entered at [<40006cac>] from [<40004768>]
r10 = 4002110C r9 = 00000000 r8 = 00000190 r7 = 020000F4
r6 = 020000FC r5 = 40021878 r4 = 40021830
Function entered at [<40003f2c>] from [<4000f434>]
r10 = 4002110C r9 = 00000000 r8 = 00000000 r7 = 40003F2C
r6 = 4002185C r5 = 00000006 r4 = 40021860
Function entered at [<4000f104>] from [<40003dd8>]
r10 = 4002110C r9 = BFFFFEF4 r8 = FFFF5D8C r7 = 00000002
r6 = 40000000 r5 = 40000000 r4 = 400215A0
Function entered at [<40003700>] from [<40003678>]
r10 = 00000000 r9 = 00000000 r8 = 00000000 r7 = 00000000
r6 = 00000000 r5 = 00000000 r4 = 00000000
init(1): memory violation at pc=0x40012714, lr=0x40006e24 (bad address=0x4a00000
0, code 2)
pc : [<40012714>] lr : [<40006e24>]
sp : bffffae0 ip : 40021258 fp : bffffb40

You might want to double-check your .upgrade file. If you had any errors in transmission, you might see this kind of thing. Also, you are sure you have the right version of the software for your model player? Did you use the latest builder software?

Worst case, rebuild the drives a second time and reload the kernel using the upgrade utility.

I really suggest making sure that the cable has a secure connection at both the drive AND the board. Since you've opened up the case a few times, it's possible that something has some loose. You really need to push on the things to get them to hook up. Visually, there should be no gaps, even slight, between the connectors.

Some people think I might even have a "dry solder joint" which also gets "fixed" by pushing down on the cables.

Also, since moving the drive to the other cable spot helped for a bit, I suggest contacting support for a new one in case you ever add another drive.

I redownloaded the .upgrade file and also used a different machine as well and keep getting the same result.

I can't get the drives to build at all because the errors I am getting are trying to run the builder. I have confirmed it is flashing because if I load v.1.03 or something on it (same errors), the linux kernal version, etc. are different.

So would a bad hard drive cause upgrade to say it worked and then have an error like this? Is that possible?

I thought I plugged everything in good however I will go and double-check.

and yes, I do plan to contact support on a new cable. I have sent the same thing I posted to them as well. I posted it here to see if anybody had any ideas.

I wish I could get it up enough to get to the shell prompt. From there I could at least see more.