Is there any thing I can try before checking cables?
Here is the boot log...and it stopps where it ends here...so I am sure there is a problem...but don't know where?!?
Any suggestions...

******Boot 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 of Linux!

e000 v1.04
Copying kernel...
Calling linux kernel...
Uncompressing Linux..................................... done, booting the kerne
l.
Linux version 2.2.17-rmk5-np17-empeg52-hijack-v413 (hijack@rtr.ca) (gcc version
2.95.3 20010315 (release)) #2 Tue Aug 17 18:05:30 EDT 2004
Processor: Intel StrongARM-1100 re
Checking for extra DRAM:
c1000000: wrote ffffffff, read e91ba9f0
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.94.1 (c) 1998 Corel Computer Corp.
empeg-car player (hardware revision 9, serial number 30102738) 16MB DRAM
Command line: mem=16m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15008k/16M available (984k code, 20k reserved, 368k 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 206f6972 'rio '
Tuner: loopback=0, ID=-1
empeg display initialised.
empeg dsp audio initialised
empeg dsp mixer initialised
empeg dsp initialised
Could not find CS4231A (version=00)
empeg remote control/panel button initialised.
empeg usb initialised, PDIUSBD12 id 1012
empeg state support initialised 0089/88c1 (save to d0005300).
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 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:d7:26:0a:b
2
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...VFS: Cannot open root device 03:05
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs o

****End of Log****
It looks like it is hanging....any ideas?
Thanks

Ugh. What bothers me most is the line:

Could not find CS4231A (version=00)

That is not a good thing...

No need to freak out too much just yet though. That error can be caused by a number of things, including a broken solder joint on the IDE header.

I just tried to 'refresh' the firmware (or upgrade with the emplode type tool) and it went thru all the stuff, and then gave a "Bad Pump response occured during stage 0x25"
Any more ideas?
Thanks

I remember seeing some people go through a lot of pain and suffering with chip errors. Hopefully it is something as simple as a cable or dry solder joint. I would have expected it to merely not find the hard drives, though.

Meanwhile, I would not recommend reflashing the player yet. This probably does deserve a peek inside the player to check the cable and the IDE header.

Cables look good. Jumper looks good. Should I remove one drive and see if it boots?

Well I removed the drives, checked the cables, and put in another drive (I had a bunch of mp3 on it from last night, so I know the drive is good under windoze). But stiil the same story. Is this yet another dirve for Rob S or Eutronix? This is my back up player, and Rob already has my back up to my back up player trying to fix it (although, he may have met his match! Ha!)
Anyother suggestions?

So if the hard drives are eliminated (they appear to be good), is there a next step prior to boxing it off to repair by someone who knows how to solder?

Double check cables and the soldering, when you think those are good check them again for good measure. Some times solder joint problems are really hard to see without magnification and good lighting. The cable connectors get a little flaky if you pull on them the wrong way so check those too. Master and slave configurations may make a difference try changing the jumpers and drive config.

Unplug the hard disk cable complete, and then capture another "boot log". See if the DSP chip is still failing or not. If not, we know it's the cable/header. If still failing, we don't know what it is.

Cheers

Here is the boot log without any drives hooked up...Not sure of DSP or chips or whatever???

*******Boot Log Without Drives**********

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-empeg52 (rob@aphex) (gcc version 2.95.3 20010315
(release)) #11 Tue Apr 1 18:49:59 BST 2003
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 30102738)
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 Universit
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 206f6972 'rio '
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 d0005e00).
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 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:d7:26:0a:b
2
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: Cannot open root device 03:05
Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on 03:05

Okay. That boot log saw the chip cleanly. So it was something along your cable / header. If you can, you might want to look very closely at the IDE header and the solder connections with a magnifier. See if you can spot any examples similar to the FAQ entry. If that looks okay, try plugging your cable and drives in again - be very careful to make sure everything lines up and not to put too much stress on that IDE header.

Thanks...It did look like it saw it to me also...When I plugged the drives back in and did another boot log, it again, did NOT see it...I'll check it out tonight when I get home under my lighted magnyfing glass...Now if I can just find the part of the FAQ that will spell out exactly what I am looking for and where I am looking for it at!
Thanks

Probably one of the most asked questions in the FAQ. Also, make sure that your jumper on the second drive is on firmly and did not slip or fall off. Laptop hard drives take a smaller pitch jumper (I think it is 2mm), and a regular drive's jumper will give a loose fit.

Usually you can get away with the larger jumper, but they do tend to fall off eventually with a lot of vibration. I take it that this was a problem you saw in the past???

Avoiding a problem I'm about to have!

Ok, I put a new drive in the player and it did the same thing. Won't see the chip with the drive plugged in. All this trouble happed suddenly. This is the player that someone broke the handle trying to rip it off from my truck, but I did test it out and leave it running for a full day and a half, and multiple on and off cycles, and it played just fine...then Monday, it just would not play...