I know this is in the FAQ... but I thought I would ask for some more info...

Having recently received my tuner I have finally installed my empeg in the car for the first time... everything went well and the tuner works wonderfully, however I seem to have the reported problem of the empeg being unable to tell that it is the car rather than at home...

I have sent an email to support asking for advice... but while I am waiting for a reply I thought I would ask if anyone knows another way of fixing this problem... My empeg is past its warranty date... and I would prefer if possible not to have to send it off to the UK having only just got it into the car... *sigh*

On a side note... it would be nice if the empeg could also use the presence of the tuner module as an indicator that it is in the car... would be a software solution to my problem and wouldn't require the power connector be fixed... This might become more important later when it becomes harder to get the power connector fixed due to the EOL...

Kim

Its most probably the 12v connector on the Empeg that gets used on the home power supply. You would have to crack the case open and take a look. Sounds like one best left to the Cambridge people to me.
Some people might want to use the tuner module in the house, so I don't think thats a good idea. Also what about people that don't have a tuner module in the car ! Although anyone without at least two tuner modules to their name should hang their heads in shame

- --
Rod ,UK Mk2a Sn:1911 Mk2 64gig S/No:341

Managed to fix it with a paperclip... not sure how long it will last... but at least I can see what is going wrong with it...

I suppose the idea of using the tuner as part of the in-car detection would be as a backup to the power connector... It would be good to have a more reliable way of controlling in-car vs in-house detection... especially if the 12v connector is a weak spot and the empeg is no longer supported...

As far as people without a tuner module... it wasn't meant to be the only method of detection... more of an override... ie if the tuner is there then you are in the car... irrespective of the power status... if there is no tuner then check the power status...

Oh well... anyway... less important now I have it fixed... *grin*

Kim

you could use the id seting on the tunner

andrew butler
sn 08000176 6G amber

Ahh, paper clips. Is there anything they can't do? Rubberband-powered projectile, disk/CD ejector, and empeg car-detection repair tool all in one neat little package!
Jason

_~= Dearing =~_
"WAY too happy about having #99."

nearly as useful as donuts

Murray
Go-Wit-Da-Fro

I will have to add that to my tool kit...which now includes duct tape, WD-40, and paper clip.

Before you know it - swiss army knifes will have the flip out paper clip option.

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

nearly as useful as donuts

"Is there anything they can't do?" LOL


-Tony
MkII #554

"Duct tape is like The Force. It has a dark side and a light side, and it holds the universe together."

___________
Tony Fabris

LOL - May I quote you on that?

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

"Duct tape is like The Force. It has a dark side and a light side, and it holds the universe together."

Happen to have an attribution for that quote? I've never seen one.

Borislav

According to some of the sites found on a google search for "duct tape force universe" the originators name is Carl Zwanzig. I have no idea as to who he is... didn't feel like digging deeper on the sites.

/Michael

I didn't invent the quote, sorry. I don't know who did. Saw it in a tagline once.

___________
Tony Fabris

Since today I have excactly the same problem. (I haven't done anything abnormal) My player always thinks it's at home power, even if it's in the car. I found out that the problem is definitly not the power connector, since I checked it with an ohmmeter. (I divided my player into pieces) The contact in the power connector is intact.

There must be another (hardware) failure. All the other functions are working as excpected without any problem. I tried to install the old 1.03 software version, but the problem is still the same. Is there anything I can do?

Since my warranty is over since 2 months, I hope to get a solution without to ship my player to the UK.

Thanks for any help

Even though your player is out of warranty, please contact Support anyway. They will most likely be able to help you in some way. Even if you end up doing the work yourself, they can at least help diagnose the problem and instruct you on what to do.

Also remember that if there is a new hardware defect (something other than the known problem of the contact switch failing), it will help them to know about it so that they can help other customer with the same problem.

Just sent a mail to support@empeg.com.
I'll report it on the bbs if I found a solution.

What did you test...? With mine the problem is there is a small metal pad at the back of the power connector that the base of the connector should touch against when there is no plug inserted... This allows the empeg to detect when the plug is not inserted and therefore when it is in the car... In my case the base of the connector has stopped springing back high enough to touch the pad at the back and so the empeg sees the connection as always open and assumes this means a plug is inserted and so we must be in the house... My physical hack was to use a piece of metal to bridge the gap between the base of the connector and the pad when I am in the car... it's horrible but it works... I am still looking for a software solution... current thoughts are to have it default to in car behaviour (quieter) and allow the holding down of a button when booting to signify in house behaviour as it is also easier to reboot in the house than in the car if you forget to hold the button down...

I'll let you know if I get anywhere...

Cheers

Kim

>What did you test...? With mine the problem is there is a small metal pad at the
>back of the power connector that the base of the connector should touch
>against when there is no plug inserted... This allows the empeg to detect when
>the plug is not inserted and therefore when it is in the car.

Yes I can see the switching mechanismn in the power connector. I proofed the switch with a measuring instrument, it's ok.
I think after this switch the control signal is converted (maybe a transistor) somehow before it's going into a microchip, isn't it? The problem must be somewhere at this point.
If a plug is in I measure a voltage of 3.3V at the control signal of the power connector, if the power is coming from the docking cage, the voltage there is 0V. (As expected)
Now I don't see to which component this signal is going. On witch pin can I further do a measurement?

Thanks anyway

This is the symptom of a blown buffer chip; this usually only happens if an AC adaptor or incorrect polarity has been used at some point.

The chip is a 74lvx04 in TSOP package; not easy to change unless you're good at SMT rework - so usually, we do them here.

Hugo

Or a broken track on the PCB, like mine was. Hugo, you may remember changing my buffer chip & finding it still didn't work? You did track (excuse the pun) it down eventually though and I must admit it didn't take you long.

Mmm, I'd not seen one fail in that way before though - although I say that quite a lot (but obviously only once about each problem).

We had our first mk2 (possibly mk1 *and* mk2) with a blown serial buffer chip yesterday. Strange, they're pretty bomb-proof!

Hugo

I have got my software fix working... (but not quite tidied up yet)

I should be able to put together an upgrade file which will install a new kernel and a new root in /dev/hda2 with an init that will detect the presence of a tuner and override the power connection detection so the player software believes it is in the car...

Seems to work fine on my system... Do you have a tuner in your car...? I will try and put together an upgrade image you can try if you like..

Cheers

Kim

Thanks for the offer.
But I just sent back my player to empeg to repair this morning!

Hope I never need the fix in the future.
Thanks anyway

No worries... it is a misnomer for me to refer to it as a fix anyway... it is a workaround really... :)

You will hopefully be getting a real fix... :)

Cheers

Kim

I have this same condition in my Mark I.
The guys sent me a new power jack and I installed it but I still have the same problem (always thinking it's at home).
I know the connections are good because I'm getting good continuity throughout.
For some reason the unit also does not want to power up while on AC unless the outside of the barrell connector ( negative side) is touching the edge of the case.
I also seem to get a low power condition quite a bit while it's docked in the car.

Will a blown buffer chip or broken circuit trace cause this condition in mine?

Steve

For some reason the unit also does not want to power up while on AC unless the outside of the barrell connector ( negative side) is touching the edge of the case.


That sure sounds like a bad ground connection on the power jack when it was installed maybe the connection wasn't good after soldering.

That's what I originally thought but I triple checked it and I'm getting continuity throughout the mainboard the jack and case.

I'm stumped and it's irritating because I can't see my custom logo for the car or have use of my fader.

I'll stick a "Force DC/Car Mode" option into Hijack v54 when it comes out.

That would be fantastic! Could you also put in Franks IR Trans hack as well?

BTW You have been doing some unbelievable work.
Thank you from all of us!

Steve

Mark,

You are the hyper man! WONDERFUL!

Unfrickinbelievable!!!!
Yiipppeeee!!!!!!
I HAVE A FADER NOW!!!!!

You have now been knighted.

"Sir Lord The Kernel God"

All in favor say "Here, Here"!!

Okay, v54 works well for forcing DC powermode, except.. it shows the wrong bootup logo. So I've done a more complete job of it this time in v55 (now available).

Your force DC code seems to save its setting in flash... Does this mean it stays forced until unforced even when removed from the car and plugged into mains... and then put back...?

Cheers

Kim

>Your force DC code seems to save its setting in flash...
>Does this mean it stays forced until unforced even when removed from the car
>and plugged into mains... and then put back...?

Yep. And more importantly, it stays forced when you turn off the car to pump gas and then hop back in and start it up again.

Cheers

-ml

OK... I am just trying to work out how to fit my ioctls in with it... I think for my own purposes I might just remove the saving of the setting... but I will remove the option to force AC mode and just use your hijack_force_dcpower variable...

Cheers

Kim

Hi Kim... Dredging up a really old thread here... I also seem to be cursed with a power connector that forces my Empeg to think it's on A/C power all the time. I know there's Hijack's "force DC power mode" function, but I'd like to have it automatically detected, such as you've described here, where it uses the presence of the tuner to decide which power it's on. Did you get this working?

Yes I got this working... very hackish though... and I no longer use it as I replaced my power socket on my empeg when I had to replace the fuse that blew and sent my display haywire...

What I had working was a patch to the kernel that tried to initialise the tuner and if it got a response over-rode the sensed power source to believe it was in the car... I was aiming to get it to the point where it could give the value of the tuner ID over a /proc entry... but then not needing the patch after replacing the socket and running completely out of time to work on anything empeg it all took a back shelf...

I am currently in the process of packing my life into boxes to head on a plane to the UK as of Monday for a year or so... as I don't have a job lined up to start immediately I get there I might get more time to work on the tuner detection patch and the kernel exec patch again in between looking for contracting work over there...

Until then you are welcome to play with what I had... believe my web pages at my last job are still accessible and probably will be for a while knowing them... http://www.ned.dem.csiro.au/CovilKim/empeg/

All work in progress and all not having been touched for a while... Hopefully I can get back to it all in the not too distant future...

Cheers

Kim

Kim,

Well I had to futz with the patch a little to get it to apply to the newer Hijack source, but it seems to be working now. The timeout on AC mode is really large though, I am going to try to tweak your timeout number a little bit so that AC boots don't take so long.

So how tough was it to replace the AC adaptor socket? Is the part an easy one to find? I'm not a soldering champ or anything, but if it's an easy solder job, I'd like to fix it.

Also, I noticed that the behavior is a little different, in that when I put my empeg in the dash with the engine off, it powers up, rather than waiting for the accessory line to go high. That's to be expected given the nature of the power connector failure. However, does this same problem keep the empeg from powering down when the standby timeout is exceeded? One of the main reasons I want the in-car mode to be DC is so that my empeg doesn't drain my battery if I leave it in the car. I guess I'll give it a shot later by changing the timeout, but I was thinking that I might have problems with it not powering down, given that the power socket is flaky.

Anyway thanks for this code, it's definitely a start, and I'm not sure if I'd be able to do the power socket myself.

yeah the part is easy to find.. I picked one up at at local electronics supplier... Just check you get the correct size as there are 2.1mm and 2.5mm ones... the empeg one is a 2.1mm one from memory...

To solder it to the board requires completely dismantling your empeg and removing the mainboard from the case to be able to get to the underside... Other than that it isn't a particularly difficult item to attach... definitely easier and less stressful than replacing the fuse I had to replace to fix my display...

I never knew what normal behaviour was on the empeg until after I fixed mine... and so I didn't take notice of what it did before I fixed it as anything special to be able to remember well enough to compare to what it does now (if that makes sense)... The places in the code that will be causing the strange behaviour will be places where the code looks at the state of the power detection line itself rather than the variable set by the patch... or those times when the patched code hasn't had a chance to run (ie first power up)...

Mind you I haven't had a look at the code for quite a while... 7 hours til I am on a plane to the other side of the planet and a new life (for a year)... maybe in that life I might get a chance to do the coding I want to get to do with my empeg...

Cheers

Kim

Hmm. I guess I'm going to live with the software fix for now, as I don't trust my soldering skills. I can deal with drive upgrades, but soldering irons and I don't mix with good results.

As for the so-called strange behavior where the empeg powers up immediately upon connection, I don't think it's a software thing, because, of course, the kernel isn't loaded until it boots up. I'm guessing the power circuitry uses the leaf switch in the adaptor plug to decide whether it should power up right away (if it thinks it's in AC mode based on the leaf switch) or wait for the key to turn (if the leaf switch tells it that it's in the car.) So I don't think we'll be able to have any kind of software fix for that particular piece of the puzzle. If I'm wrong, someone will correct me, but I don't see how we could fix that in software... I'll have to learn to live with that (not a big deal) for now.

What is a bit of a bigger deal is that, unless I screwed something up when I tried it out, it doesn't seem to power off when the standby timer has expired, probably for the same reason. In the power circuit, it probably figures "hey, there's an AC adaptor plugged in, why should I power down?" or something. That means that when I turn my engine off, it correctly goes into standby, but it never powers off like it does with a properly functioning adaptor plug. At least that's what I'm seeing.

But in the win column, I did find that lowering the TUNER_TIMEOUT to 2000000 gives me proper tuner detection every time, without an excessive delay when I plug it in at home. So for now, your fix is exactly what I need, until I get the guts to solder a new plug on, or decide to send it to Cambridge. I'm kinda upset that this has happened to both of my empegs, but life goes on. My guess is that more and more people will be seeing this as their empegs get into their golden years.