Well,
I replaced the CS4231A-KQ Chip again. It is still giving me the NHDFCS error. Here is the log.

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 o

e000 v1.04
Copying kernel...
Calling linux kernel...
Uncompressing Linux..................................... done, booting the kerne
l.
Linux version 2.2.17-rmk5-np17-empeg52-hijack-v361 (root@ibbm) (gcc version 2.95
.3 20010315 (release)) #2 Sun Jan 25 22:34:59 EST 2004
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 10101551)
Command line: mem=16m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15016k/16M available (980k code, 20k reserved, 364k 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)
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 636f6972 'rioc'
Found custom animation at offset 0x9b790
Tuner: loopback=0, ID=-1
Scheduling custom logo.
empeg display initialised.
empeg dsp audio initialised
empeg dsp mixer initialised
empeg dsp initialised
Could not find CS4231A (version=80)
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...
Probing primary interface...
empeg-flash driver initialized
smc chip id/revision 0x0049
smc_init couldn't find card
RAMDISK: ext2 filesystem found at block 0
RAMDISK: Loading 320 blocks [1 disk] into ram disk... done.
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
empeg-pump v0.03 (19980601)
Press Ctrl-A to enter pump...el panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:05

I don't know what to do? Do you have any suggestions? Is there somewhere I could send it to get fixed?

It's still saying "Could not find CS4231A (version=80) "...

I know...I don't get it. Maybe the chip I purchased is incompatible or something??? But i have tried 2 chips and the same result (albeit they are from the same shipment).

I suggest you try a chip from the Empeg lot. Yours are much newer.

Stu

How do I get one of those?

We have them. Remember? PM me.

Stu

You guys are the greatest. I just hope that this chip works.

I'm betting your chip is just fine at this point, and something else is wrong.. like a signal or power source feeding into the chip.

Just my guess though. Hope it all works out in the end.

Cheers

If it is one of those is there anything to fix it?

We'll know pretty soon if it's a chip issue or not, assuming the soldering is sound. You can thank Hugo and Rob V. as well since they sent us the chips.

Stu

Thanks guys...all the help is appreciated. If it wasn't for you guys, the board, Empegs and everything would go down the toilet.

I will take a picture of the chip after it is done. I don't know how nice the picture will be with my cheap digital camera but I will try.

Well, I received maczrool's chip and replaced it. Still getting the NHDFCS. It looks like the chip may be good and something else may be wrong as MLord eluded to.


Here is the output just for kicks:
If there is anyone present who wants to upgrade the flash, let them speak now,
or forever hold their peace...it seems not.

e000 v1.04
Copying kernel...
Calling linux kernel...
Uncompressing Linux..................................... done, booting the kerne
l.
Linux version 2.2.17-rmk5-np17-empeg52-hijack-v361 (root@ibbm) (gcc version 2.95
.3 20010315 (release)) #2 Sun Jan 25 22:34:59 EST 2004
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 10101551)
Command line: mem=16m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15016k/16M available (980k code, 20k reserved, 364k 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)
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 636f6972 'rioc'
Found custom animation at offset 0x9b790
Tuner: loopback=0, ID=-1
Scheduling custom logo.
empeg display initialised.
empeg dsp audio initialised
empeg dsp mixer initialised
empeg dsp initialised
Could not find CS4231A (version=80)
empeg remote control/panel button initialised.
empeg usb initialised, PDIUSBD12 id 1012
empeg state support initialised 0089/88c1 (save to d0004a80).
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...
Probing primary interface...
empeg-flash driver initialized
smc chip id/revision 0x0049
smc_init couldn't find card
RAMDISK: ext2 filesystem found at block 0
RAMDISK: Loading 320 blocks [1 disk] into ram disk... done.
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
empeg-pump v0.03 (19980601)
Press Ctrl-A to enter pump...el panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:05

For anyone keeping score (or using SEARCH), this issue eventually got resolved. The ethernet chip had D5 (Data line 5) stuck low for some reason. I disconnected it, and the rest of the player came back to life.

Details in this thread

EDIT: I suppose it even makes sense, as the player had been reporting Could not find CS4231A (version=80) , whereas the true version of that chip was a0, which is 80 when you force D5=low (0).

-ml

I'm guessing that the ethernet chip was the victim of a lightening strike. ie, static. The question is whether this was the original problem (and hence how/when did it happen) or whether it happened during the first chip change. That would be bizarre - having two problems with exactly the same symptom occur sequentially like that.
We'll never know!