Hi....

My MK2a isn't booting. I connected to terminal server and the machine kept cycling through the prompt to upgrade the flash. I ran logo editor and installed the Hijack kernel. After applying the patch and then connecting to terminal server I get the 'Let the Penguins Fly' message but then it hangs at

(data abort vector)

any suggestions?

-Chris

did you get the happy face at the end of the logoedt kernel installation?

Are you ***** S U R E ***** the kernel .zimage file was correct and was not corrupted? What did you use to download that kernel file?

Also do a RAM test, described in the FAQ about using hyperterminal.

Hi Tony...

I actually did get the smiley face after the kernal upload. I was quite pleased (if only for a VERY short period of time) with myself.

I just used firefox to download the file and have not yet encountered a bad download. I would have performed a CRC check but didn't have any information about the correct checksum. I also did perform the RAM test by pressing CTRL-T during power-up and didn't get any errors during the check.

This happened quite suddenly. The player worked in my car this morning, I brought it in the house to upload some additional songs and the empeg wouldn't boot up when I plugged in the adapter. I didn't drop it.

I also couldn't find any information about the (data abort vector) message instead of telling me that the kernel was loading into memory.

Is there something in particular I could check or is there a way to force the bootup into a more extreme diagnostic mode?

Thanks again!

cycle power, and see if it boots from power-on.

-ml

Just for the heck of it, try downloading the zimage file with IE instead of Firefox.

Also, make sure that it's the correct zimage file for your player, in other words, if you have a Mk2, then make sure the get the Mk2 version of the zimage file. Then try applying agin.

Oh. And try flashing and then booting the player with the hard disks completely removed. See if it boots the kernel then.

The player worked in my car this morning, I brought it in the house to upload some additional songs and the empeg wouldn't boot up when I plugged in the adapter

I'm guessing it no longer boots up in the car as well?

tanstaafl.

Oh yeah, doug's got a point!!! Could just be a bad AC adapter that doesn't have enough power to spin up the disk drives. As the drives spin up, voltage goes down and bam.

I initially did the power off and boot up with no HD attached and got the Abort Vector message. Also, the player doesn't boot up the car either. When I run the self-test (CTRL-T) the drive spins up and everything sounds OK but during a normal boot I hear no drive activity on boot and it looks like the kernel isn't even loading.

I will try to re-download the kernel and re-apply and see what happens there.

Any chance that one of the developers can tell me what that message actually means and/or what the player is trying to do? That might help me narrow down the problem or let me know that I need to send the unit in for repair.

-Thanks

The message means "reflash the kernel".

Excellent.

I will re-download the hijack kernel and try again. Unless there is a different player image I should be using to flash some life back into my player!

-Chris

reflash with the developer image first, then apply the hijack again.

Just use the download program, or Tony's Logo Editor, to reflash only the Hijack kernel. No need to do a full reinstallation yet.

Cheers

Yeah, we want to see if the kernel and flash are working at all before trying to go to the trouble of installing an entire hard disk partition.

Definitely try the kernel flash with no disks installed to see if the flash takes and if the kernel can boot without the disks.

I re-downloaded (several times) this kernel:
v413.hijack.mk2.zImage
and applied it also several times and keep getting the same message
(data abort vector)

What should I try next?

-Chris

This is with the disk drives completely unplugged from the player?

If so, it's time for Stu or Rob to get their hands on it.

I'll try one more time with the drives NOT connected to the board and then I guess I'll have to send it in <GULP>

Thanks for all the help guys!

-Chris

I wonder if you are getting it into kernel download mode or not.. Tony, how can he tell if the thing is successfully downloading a kernel or not?

I'm getting the progress indicators and the smiley face in the logo editor program when I flash the kernel. Also, I still haven't removed the drives and reflashed the kernel. I'll do that after work today.

-c

To be completely sure, run md5sum (can be had for instance here) on the file and post the checksum + exactly which file (URL/version etc) being used, and someone else here, having hopefully loaded the same successfully, can do the same and confirm if it's OK or not...

Here is the response I got when running md5sum

C:\Temp\Rio>md5sum v413.hijack.mk2.zimage
215c920ce353441c3f7fe45c894d1fcf *v413.hijack.mk2.zImage

I downloaded the zimage file from here:
http://empeg-hijack.sourceforge.net/ and selected the pre-built kernel for all mk2 players.

-Chris

OK --
Tried to flash one more time, this time with no HD connected. Got the smiley face, disconnected power supply, reconnected after opening HyperTerminal and get this:

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!

As you can see, I no longer get the data abort vector message but then again, it looks like the kernel isn't loading.

Any more suggestions?

-Chris

I get the same checksum, so the file is good. Or at least, the file is the same as what Mark intended you to download.

Another thought occurred to me:

I think it might be possible that your serial cable is bad, but only on the TX line. In other words, there is some garbage getting mixed up on the TX line, but the "receiver" program in the empeg isn't validating the data so it doesn't know any better. Can anyone debunk this theory?

A quick check would be to try and reflash it from another computer. Given that you are able to get into the self-test and view output, I would think the TX and RX lines would be okay. But another machine might be a worthy experiment.

Also, I would want to verify that you are using the original upgrader and upgrader developer image, that you have the empeg powered off and plug it in when asked. That can sometimes get you past any bad kernel that may have been there previously.

He's definitely already doing those things since he gets the happy face in logoedit.

I agree trying it from another PC is a good idea.

I'll try a different PC and let you know how it goes!

-c

The other possible reason for the error is bad RAM, or a botched attempt at a memory upgrade.

Cheers

He said his player passed the Ctrl-T RAM test. But bad flash might do it...

Does anything appear on the player's screen when the error happens? Has the player worked normally in the past?

The player worked PERFECTLY fine until Friday. It worked in my car and then didn't work when I plugged it in to synch some new music. The screen is totally blank and I already checked the nipple and the ribbon cable to the screen.

-c

The flash looks fine -- it's unlikely to just have a single location fault, but more likely to lose a whole address/data line perhaps. I have near-zero faith in any DRAM test that runs in under 10 minutes (my own included), so I'm still betting on bad DRAM.

genixia is the best bet here.

Cheers

OK, Tried reflashing on a different computer but nothing new happened.

What next?

-Chris

Should I be sending in my empeg for service at this point or is there something else I can try on my own to determine what the problem may be?

I've lost the use of this empeg for two weeks and it's killing me that I have to actually listen to CDs again - ARRRRGGGHHHHHHH.

-Chris

I got an email from Stuart at eutronix so hopefullly he will be able to do something for me. He suggested that it could be bad RAM so perhaps I could try swapping out the RAM first.

Does this sound like a reasonable thing to do?

-Chris

The RAM is soldered directly to the motherboard, so no.

There are some RAM tests, but they're not very complete. Try hooking up the player via the serial port again and press Ctrl-T during startup to get to one of them. (This is in the FAQ somewhere -- too lazy to look.) If it says that it's bad, it's bad. If it doesn't, it might still be.

I've done the start up test every time I try to re-flash the player but to no avail - ARRRRRGGGHHHHHH

Amazing how much you miss something when you can't use it any more. Sucks having two cars and only one empeg player.

Well, it sounded like he wanted to try it himself and I got the impression that he thought he could just swap some DIMMs or something, and I (mis)remembered that he seemed hardware hesitant. So I meant "no" to him just giving it a shot.

I'm only hardware hesitant when it requires a soldering iron

So, does anybody else have ANY ideas what could be wrong with my player. The initial replies I received made me hopefull but I haven't heard anything back from anybody and I still have a non-functioning empeg sitting next to my desk.

-Chris

I just heard back from Stuart at Eutronix and he suggested that I send it out to Rob Schofield for repair.

So, if Rob is out there reading this then are you taking any units for repair and how do I send it out to you? Also, is the cost for shipping prohibitive enough where I would be better off buying a new player and using this one for parts? (Assuming of course I could find another one!)

-Chris

Shipping should be cheap.. Airmail for JUST THE MAINBOARD should be about US$25 one-way.

But if genixia could look at it first (he's in Boston area), then it might get fixed (or not) sooner.

Cheers

Yup, I'm here. Email me on carsupport@xs4all.nl

No-where on this thread do I see that you have attempted to re-flash the player using V2 Final using the serial cable and the updater to get the player back to a known state using standard software. Also, I don't know which version of the player software you were using prior to this problem. Were you using V3.xxB releases, by any chance?

Have you done anything recently to the player, ie. open it, install a new disk, try a memory upgrade, anything else?

I was using V2 before the failure. I first tried to re-install 2.0 using emplode but emplode did not find a player on the serial port. That is when I tried to connect using terminal.

I haven't done anything to the empeg prior to failure. In fact, my empeg is the only computer I owned that I DIDN'T have to tinker with constantly!

I contacted genixia and I will most likely send the empeg to him after Thanksgiving and see if he can repair it.

-Chris

The player takes a kernel flash from logoedit. Logoedit recognises the player and completes successfully, but the player still won't boot.

Ethernet activity LED and internal red LED are stuck on. Bus transceivers appear to be in HiZ. It's not the memory. Flash?