Okay, it's time to report this, as it hasn't fixed itself =].

This started about 3 weeks + ago. More times than not, when i try and turn the volume down using the knob on my MKII, the volume will "jump" louder then quieter with every few "clicks". It's pretty random and never happens the same way or in in any predictable amount, but it's never more than 5 or so dB. It's really annoying though, and my girlfriend is none to happy about it! heheh. But, i figured (i have no idea why) that a sync and a software upgrade to 1.03 (tuner time) would fix it, but no luck. I don't think the knob is loose or spinning, because you can feel it click as you rotate it, but the volume just seems to skip around and it takes more rotations than it should to get the thing quiet. Oddly enough it doesn't seem to happen when you turn the volume up. Any ideas??


|| loren.cox ||

Definitely e-mail support about that one. I think it's been reported before as a potential defect in the knob (but I'm not sure).

___________
Tony Fabris

emailing support now...

[update]
David Moss emailed me back with a quickness with the following:
"We've heard of this before - sounds like you have a faulty rotary control.
We'll have to get the player in for service."

so i guess it's off for repair once again. And i haven't even gotten to play with the tuner yet!! =]


|| loren.cox ||

David Moss emailed me back with a quickness with the following:
"We've heard of this before - sounds like you have a faulty rotary control.
We'll have to get the player in for service."

Argh. I'm seeing this too and was hoping it's a software issue. It's not bad enough to annoy me yet, hopefully it won't get worse. On the other hand my warranty expires in a couple of days... Best to email support, I guess.

Borislav

I have got this very same problem. The timing is suspiciously the same...Have you guys tried going back to a non-modified kernel and removing other hacks? We should probably post this in the general forum to see if this is happening to others.

-Doug
Mk2-12G Blue (Now A/R Green)

Does this happen at home as well?

I ask because one of the things that can cause the rotary control to appear to misbehave is sending dimmer commands to the display board - the same PIC does the rotary control and dimmer contblrol. If you had a lights-on sense like that was wobbling a bit, it would cause brightness change commands to be sent to the front panel (even if the brightness setting was the same, I think) and that may well upset the rotary control code.

Hugo

I've tried it with unmoded kernels and with the consumer versions, no luck.


|| loren.cox ||

I'll check tonight before i send it off for repair.


|| loren.cox ||

Nope, it definitely does it when on AC power as well. Ah well... time for the 4th trip over the pond.


|| loren.cox ||

Hi,

i have the same problem. It started some weeks (or month?) ago. First i ignored it thinking this is a software-bug, but now i think it's getting worse time after time. Using the remote is no problem, only with the knob...
I still hope, it's software, i don't want to miss my empeg... :-(

Thomas

MK2 blue/red 12GB #815

I hope this is a repair that Hugo documents for us, as I think it might be starting to happen to mine...

___________
Tony Fabris

It's started happening to me as well. Not horribly, but definitely noticable...

Bill B.
Mk.2 SN 080000183 - 38 GB / Green

you guys better get em in before the warranty is up! They fixed mine despite the warranty being up by a few days. If it started happening before the warranty's expiration, i'd guess they'd fix it for you, especially if this is a wide spread problem. It does get worse over time by the way, the longer i waited, the worse it got.


|| loren.cox ||

Grrr, mine's just started doing it to, and I'm pretty sure my warrenty recently expired - have got one of the earlier Mk2s.

(list 6284, Mk1 S/N 00299 4GB blue [for sale]. Mk2 S/N 080000094 26GB blue)

Ditto.
If the repair means replacing the rotary control, we'll need a newer style "keyed" knob to match the Mk2a
style rotary. Right?

Mk2 #105 32g blue, w/tuner

Mine was repaired with a non "keyed" rotary, it was the same on the outside as the older one. They just added the rubber o ring inside the knob, which is unrelated of course.

Wow, seems like this one is a pretty common problem. I wonder how many users that aren't on this board are having this problem and barely notice it or think it's software too.

Like i said, i'd email support with a quickness. =]


|| loren.cox ||

No, you can't fit a keyed control (ie mk2a's control) to a mk2. This is a blessing in disguise, as the mk2a's ALPS controls are hard to get off the shelf, whereas the mk2's rotary encoders (Meggitt) are available off the shelf from farnell.

Swapping the control isn't hard, but does involve some solder braid and delicate work. Units under warranty should be returned to empeg for this.

Hugo

i've tried the rotary in the menu-mode, and sometimes the items change to right when i turned the knob left, so i think, it's really the hardware.
how long was the warranty? 6 or 12 month?

Thomas

MK2 blue/red 12GB #090000815

Wait until v2.00 beta comes out (pretty soon now). We're going to put some code to compensate for the aging of the rotary control into the kernel, and hopefully this should fix the problem for most people. If it still has problems then, let us know and we can do a warranty fix if required.

The basic problem is that switches age and get noisy - we're just not dealing with the noise properly at the moment.

Hugo

12


|| loren.cox ||

Mine's been doing it for the last month or so; I've been ignoring it because I don't want to be without my Empeg:(
-mark

...Still (barely, pending 1.1/2.0/TeAsE release) proud to have owned an Empeg since 00287

In reply to:

---

Mine's been doing it for the last month or so; I've been ignoring it because I don't want to be without my Empeg:(

---

Same here!!

-Doug
Mk2-12G Blue (Now A/R Green)

In fact, for anyone running 2.0-beta3 the following mini-upgrade (it only touches the kernel) should fix the problem. Please reply and let us know if it makes any difference. If a few people who don't have the problem install it as well we can be sure it doesn't cause any side effects.

http://www.empeg.com/downloads/car2-kernel-v2.00-beta3-rotaryfix.upgrade

For the purposes of GPL compliance:

http://www.empeg.com/downloads/car2-kernel-v2.00-beta3-rotaryfix.diff.gz



--
Mike Crowe
I may not be speaking on behalf of empeg above :-)

Side note:

I deliberately had Hyperterminal locked at the com port when I tried the upgrade. The upgrade wizard showed Error "Car player not found" occurred during stage 0x00".
Can you change this error message to a more friendly explanation for the less-technical users out there? Cause the not-found part may upset some people . Just trying to help improve the end user experience!

­­______________
Edwin de Vaan

That would be good. I wouldn't describe myself as a "less-technical" user and I was puzzled for several minutes the other day due to this slightly vague error message. In fact it sounds almost vague enough to be an error message that I tend to put into my software...

__
Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...

Loaded it last night. Seems to work fine so far! but since the problem is intermittant I will keep an eye on it and let you know. Thanks

(list 6284, Mk1 S/N 00299 4GB blue [for sale]. Mk2 S/N 080000094 26GB blue)

I've now managed to lay my hands on a player that suffered from this problem and improved yesterday's fix somewhat. You can find an improved version at:

http://www.empeg.com/downloads/car2-kernel-v2.00-beta3-rotaryfix2.upgrade

Patch:

http://www.empeg.com/downloads/car2-kernel-v2.00-beta3-rotaryfix2.diff.gz

Hmm, this one doesn't seem to be working quite as good as the first one on my empeg. Occasionally makes quite big jumps.

Will keep running it for a bit and see how it goes.

I've a question about repairs after the warranty has expired. In The Netherlands we have a law (but common sense would also say this) that says that a vendor is responsible for keeping a product in good working order for a reasonable amount of time, regardless of whether the warranty has expired or not.

In other words, in a case like this, empeg (if it were a Dutch company) would have to fix the rotary control at no cost even if it broke after the warranty has expired, since it's a vital component and a customer can reasonably expect it to work for many years (at least much longer than one year).

Is there a similar law in the United Kingdom? What's empeg's / SonicBlue's position on this? In this specific case, would I have to pay to have the rotary control repaired if it broke after a year and a half?

Hmm, this one doesn't seem to be working quite as good as the first one on my empeg. Occasionally makes quite big jumps.

Maybe I've tightened up the timing too much. Could you make it happen at all on the previous one?