Hello chaps,

i've not been about much of late, just the occasional look in here and there but, I now need a little help,

I've a mk2a 16mb / 29gb empeg, running ver:2.00.

our dvd player messed up so my lad went upstairs and brought his cheapo player down, we soon realised that the empeg -sat ontop of satellite box and running into the surround system- was doing strange things, this was quickly put down to the remote of the cheapo (maxim or some similar named chinese import. My numpty son then decided to see if he could work out how to operate the empeg using the dvd remote.

Despite me asking him to unplug the empeg and pack it in, mostly he was changing the graphic displays but when he continued pressing one button it started going through some kind of menu -i couldn't see what from where i was sat-, I told him one last time to pack it in but, being the complete idiot he can sometimes be, he had to have one more press of the button....the peg suddenly went and shut down.... what was unusual was that it did not show the blinking blue standby led. I unplugged it and reboooted but after the initial boot up it went blank again,

i've since discovered that if i hold down the volume knob that the menu comes up but, after about 5 seconds it will go off again unless it's being adjusted. none of the other 4 buttons do anything at all. there is still no blinking light. ... only the exit (small round) button works in the menu mode and all it does is... exit to a blank empeg.


can anyone tell me what he's done and how to undo it please.

many thanks in advance.

Hugh

That's the Hijack menu you're seeing. He likely changed some setting in hijack to put the unit to sleep.

I don't have an empeg any more so I don't know what the likely suspects would be.

oh dear!!! I don't think the owners manual covers that!!

i'll put my spare unit back together and see if i can find what he's done in the menu's.

thank you John,

ps, you've no empeg any more? thats tragic!! my IP4 has prety much taken the place of my empeg which should have been fitted in the new van but I cannot bring myself to sell them. even in the house i still have to have one winking away somewhere or the room feels empty!

Hugh

does anyone else know where i should look and how to sort it (in laymans terms please!)

No, there is nothing in there to cause that to happen. It sounds as if something else is wrong, and is preventing the player software from starting.

We need to see a serial port dump from boot up.

Cheers

thanks Mark,

i'll take the unit to the workshop and plug it in when i get a chance, i'm guessing there's a FAQ somewhere which will tell me how to find the dump?

cheers,
Hugh

115200 8N1, use the serial cross-over cable that came packaged with the player from the factory.

And don't use "hyperterm".

Cheers

Yes, there's an FAQ for that, but it uses hyperterminal:

http://www.riocar.org/modules.php?op=mod...mp;faqent=82#82

As far as no longer having a player, I've had as many as four in the past. I sold off most of my belongings a while ago and moved to a very remote area in Belize. The environment here just doesn't lend itself to something like an Empeg. Brutally bumpy dirt roads, constant tropical rain storms, salt spray from the sea that destroys electronics and anything made of metal are among the problems. Although I dearly miss it every time I have to use the awful music player on my iPod nano, the nano is much more practical here.

i'll get it to the workshop and then see what i can do, not sure if i have an original cable, ah... i might in the spares player, i'll check.

John,

I'll confess to not knowing where Belize was until i just looked it up on google earth... that is a bit out of the way!

to me, Belize sounded like it ought to be in the middle east, Isreal or somewhere, In reality.... the caribbean coastline is far better than my imagination!

You should know! It used to be a British colony - British Honduras - til 1981.

Still part of the Commonwealth. We have a lot of Brits come over on holiday ( other Europeans too ).

ok...thread at risk of being derailed...back to the topic! If you can't find it, you should be able to get a null modem cable or a null modem adapter for a standard serial cable at your local electronics store.

That's what we do best!

It's not so much a derailment as it is switching tracks.

don't be worrying about tracks, they're there to be crossed!

ok, can't find the cable i've used before but... in with the spare player i found a brand new unsealed one... seemed a shame to open it but needs must!

have connected it but emplode can't find the player..... back to basics!! will report back when i have something to report!

ps, when i plug it in it boots up and the last thing it shows before going blanks is "source auxillary", then shuts down, not even a wink from the blue led.

i tried to use the 'source' button on the remote but nothing happened.

yesterday it did come up with a frozen menu -stuck on 'source' but, it wouldn't let me do anything, a reboot was a waste of time!

will have to come back to this... emplode canot find the player on serial com1 (the only serial there and only put there for the empeg). i've checked all connections and they seem fine.

if i connect via usb it just finds new hardware and wants me to install the software from the disk .... emplode is already installed and searching, player is on rio car v2.00, though i have 2.01 on the pc too i think,

i'll give it one more go before getting on with some proper work!

edit...
have reinstalled emplode, cannot find player via usb or serial, pc knows it's there as it asks for the disk to be inserted. i'm gonna completely un-install it and reload from the downloaded version i have on file. if that don't work then i'm gonna seriously get the hump!

Hugh


Edit again....

no good, just not having it. could there be firewall type settings which are preventing emplode hooking up with the player?

Hugh

You don't need emplode to find the player. Read the FAQ entry I linked above to connect via hyperterminal and get a boot log.

If you don't want to use hyperterminal, perhaps PuTTy will work.

We used TeraTerm at empeg*. I still use it. There's an updated version here, which I can't vouch for.

* on Windows; on Linux, we used (IIRC) minicom.

thank you Roger, think i've done what was required of me now....



is this what you want?


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-empeg55-hijack-v503 (hijack@rtr.ca) (gcc version
2.95.3 20010315 (release)) #2 Thu Aug 14 22:07:32 EDT 2008
Processor: Intel StrongARM-1100 revision 11
Checking for extra DRAM:
c1000000: wrote ffffffff, read e28cc001
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.94.1 (c) 1998 Corel Computer Corp.
empeg-car player (hardware revision 9, serial number 30102578) 16MB DRAM
Command line: mem=16m
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15000k/16M available (996k 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 206f6972 'rio '
Tuner: loopback=0, ID=-1
show_message("Hijack v503 by Mark Lord")
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 d0005100).
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...
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xff80
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xff80
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaa80
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5580
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xff80
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xff80
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaa80
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5580
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xff80
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xff80
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaa80
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5580
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xffd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xabd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x55d0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x1fd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xabd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x55d0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xffd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xabd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x55d0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xffd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xabd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x55d0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x1fd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xabd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x55d0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x1fd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xabd0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x55d0
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0x1400
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaaaa
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5555
hda: FUJITSU MHN2300AT, ATA DISK drive
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaaaa
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5555
hda: FUJITSU MHN2300AT, ATA DISK drive
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaaaa
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5555
hda: FUJITSU MHN2300AT, ATA DISK drive
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaaaa
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5555
hda: FUJITSU MHN2300AT, ATA DISK drive
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaaaa
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5555
hda: FUJITSU MHN2300AT, ATA DISK drive
ide_data_test: wrote 0x0000 read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xffff read 0xffff
ide_data_test: wrote 0xaaaa read 0xaaaa
ide_data_test: wrote 0x5555 read 0x5555
hda: FUJITSU MHN2300AT, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x000-0x007,0x038 on irq 6
hda: FUJITSU MHN2300AT, 28615MB w/2048kB 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:d7:26:0a:1
2
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 initempeg init 0.8
I see this is a developer image!
Mounting proc
Mounting first music partition
Tried to mount /dev/hda4 as reiserfs but got error 19
Mounting second music partition
Tried to mount /dev/hdc4 but got error 6
Error mounting partitions (possibly already mounted)
Remounting first music partition read-only
Remounting second music partition read-only
No secondary hard disk
Press 'q' now to go into development mode. You Have Zero Seconds To Compl Starti
ng player
Timezone: GB-Eire
Hijack: intercepting config.ini

hijack: removed menu entry: "Serial Port Assignment"
kftpd: listening on port 21
khttpd: listening on port 80
player.cpp : 385:empeg-car 2.00 2003/04/01.
Prolux 4 empeg car - 2.1434 Mar 26 2003
Vcb: 0x4086d000
Dead temp.sensor, status=0x00




wouldn't be a dead temp sensor would it? lol.

Hugh

That'd be what we want. I'll let someone who knows how to decipher it better help you out.

thanks John.

Hugh

Well, that all looks terribly normal, including the dead tempertature sensor. So no clues as to the fault in there.

Hardware looks great, though.

If you can get emplode to connect to the player, then do so, and do a "sync".

Cheers

thanks Mark,

hopefully that means it's nothign too serious if the boot log looks normal! too busy today but will have a play around with emplode asap, i've no idea why it won't connect, i've had trouble in the past when first setting up or after a major re-install / format but have always figured it out pretty quick, perhaps it can't find it cos the player is't sending any signal via usb?

cheers,
Hugh

I can't help you with that (I don't actually use MS Windows here).

One really obvious thing to try, is to connect over serial again (hyperterminal or whatever), and hit "Control^C" to kill/stop the player process. This will give a command prompt.

At the command prompt, start the player again, but with the command-line option to "reinitialize" stuff. This is the standard way of recovering from a "stuck player", which is sort of how yours is behaving.

It will wipe out equalizer settings and various presets, but generally works.

I forget the exact command -- but others here will know it and post it for you. It's also somewhere inside the vast FAQ.

-ml

Are you referring to player -i ?

Relevant FAQ entry:

http://riocar.org/modules.php?op=modload...;faqent=218#218

Is that the one?

Yes, that's it!

thank you guys,

I will let you know how I get on when i've had a go, hopefully tomorrow...

Hugh

Then you should use the original remote and select the player as source. Sounds to me as if he has selected the menu to disappear automatically, the screen visual to something like funnelweb (which will react to the source), and you have nothing connected to the input connector (the MIC input). Result: blank screen.

He's not damaged it. If you plug something into the harness connector I suspect that it will start showing activity on the screen. Is there a small dot right in the middle?

Change the source back to player.

PS. I would suggest when he comes close to your empeg in future, you remove one of his arms to indicate just how serious you are when you use the phrase "Leave it alone".

Hi Schofiel,

I've only just noticed this post, thank you.

Having got an iPhone, and a newer van with iPhone dock, I got lazy and never did sort this problem out.

Tomorrow is my mrs birthday party and it's an 80's theme as far as food and music go - it's the 21st anniversary of her 18th! all my 80's music is on the empeg, I have some on the iPhone but am too lazy to work out how to set up a playlist - seems hard work!

as a result I got the pegs out today, sadly the problem hadn't just gone away!, I decided to do a little playing about and had pretty much come to the same conclusion as you mentioned above.

I've got one peg with a non working remote sensor - part here thanks to you guys but not yet fitted, I swapped front panels and hard drives and bingo, one fully working peg, though the boot screen is a little dim for some reason - otherwise 100%.

the other still has the same problem, it boots, says "source auxillary" and then goes to sleep, no winking light, nothing.

Upon the initial boot up -prior to switching parts, I was pressing buttons on the remote and the 'source auxilllary" message stayed up, however, pressing the source button simply powered it down again.

the problem I now obviously have is that the peg has no way to receive the remote signal until i get the panel repaired - the surface mount stuff is beyond my humble abilities with a fine tip iron. is there anyway to force the menu up using the buttons? no combi i've tried does anything, only holding down the volume knob which brings up the simple menu that has no say in important matters.

after this weekend i'll switch panels back and see if I can't get to the bottom of it. the peg has now been on 80's for three hours - oh how i've missed her - if only I could take her to the gym and make calls with it!!

cheers,
Hugh

Have you considered plugging in an aux source into the empeg's RCA inputs? Perhaps that would tickle it into waking up...

I hadn't considered that, i'll have to find soemthing to aux into it! could I aux the other empeg into it? I can't think what aux in it has now! will check later,

thanks.

hi guys,

Happy new year!

referring back to the aux in, can I run a line from my other empeg into the aux in on the faulty unit? I see no reason why I can't use it as an input to test with.

I've also found myself the owner of - yet another, 150gb empeg, got for £50 on ebay! I put a bid on and forgot about it, was very surprised it didn't make more - now having issues with the XP px trying to locate it with emplode!

re-installed emplode, that sorted it!

looks like i've some work to do in the music library, this 150gb player still has over 110gb of music on it, can see a looong night or three coming up!