"cannot unmask IDE" and HD failures

I posted a couple of months ago about getting occasional "W" next to the HD icon and the player would pause for several minutes at a time. If I pulled the unit out, more than not, it would reboot with the "failed to unmask IDE" message. If I let the unit sit for a while, it would inevitably start working again. If I plug it into AC, it appears to work just fine. (I ran it for several days on AC and never saw a single problem, but let's all remember you can't DISprove something, only prove that it hasn't happened yet... )

Recently I've been getting a LOT more of the "W-drive-icon" problems, and a couple of times in the last couple of days, when pulling the unit out of the car and re-seating it, getting the "No hard drive found, contact support" message. Again, though, it works fine when plugged into AC as far as I can tell.

This unit also had the problem a few months ago where one of the screws fell out of the car docking connector which caused it to not come out of the sled very easily at all. I did finally get it out without any major surgery, but it came out only with a lot of gentle-but-firm-and-persistent tugging and when it finally did come out, it jerked itself loose in quite a startling fashion.

I've popped the top of the case off (after the docking screw incident and recently with the "W" problems) and as far as I can tell from just visually looking over everything (I haven't taken the drive sled out because I'm worried about breaking that warranty seal) the IDE connectors are fine and the connectors from the docking sled all look good.

I'm NOT getting a battery icon when these problems happen in the car.

I've checked the FAQs for pretty much anything related and done whatever the FAQs have said to do and it's still having problems.

I bought it last year during the closeout sale on the empeg units so the 1-year warranty is getting close and I'd like to do something about it while it is still under warranty, if there is something that can be done about it.

Should my next move be to call support?

I've checked the FAQs for pretty much anything related and done whatever the FAQs have said to do and it's still having problems.

One of the things the FAQ says, over and over again as a matter of fact, is to contact support. Have you done that part? It's the most important thing out of all of the suggestions in there.

NO I have not yet contacted support. So I shouldn't bother posting here to see if anyone else has had a similar problem and fixed it easily until AFTER I've bothered the support guys? I didn't realize that the FAQ is so all-encompassingly complete that if it's NOT in there, it doesn't happen.

I realize that this is an UNOFFICIAL support resource, but that's one of the (so I though) nice things about the Empeg community is that there are a lot of smart people out here who have had a lot of similar experiences and maybe I can avoid bugging the support people with problems that might be fixed easily.

Message received loud and clear: next time I have a problem, don't post to the message boards; go right from the FAQ to the phone.

He meant for this particular problem. 99.9% of the time, it's a problem that they can fix the most easily.

Of course, if you have something else go wrong, feel free to ask.

Well, in all likelyhood your hard drive is dead or dieing, or your drive cable is bad. In either eventuality, you need to open up your player or send it in -- both things you can't do until you contact support... So, in this case there isn't any help the BBS can give you other than to contact support.

To keep Tony happy, if you're asking a question that has a reference in the FAQ, you need to cite the FAQ and ask for clarification.

Matthew

One of the things the FAQ says, over and over again as a matter of fact, is to contact support.

Crap, you mean this forum isn't support? I mean, the response is better than I get from some of the vendors I deal with...

Message received loud and clear: next time I have a problem, don't post to the message boards; go right from the FAQ to the phone.

That isn't the message that was sent. I think you need a new modem, one that doesn't insert random text in what you're receiving.

I probably have a spare around, if you want it.

Message received loud and clear: next time I have a problem, don't post to the message boards; go right from the FAQ to the phone.

I'm sorry for being short with you about it. Obviously, that's not what I meant.

It's just that IDE trouble the most common hardware problem we see in this forum, and in many cases a call to support is the only solution. If you've already checked all the stuff in the FAQ (and you said that you had, which is good), then the only remaining solution is to talk to David. He'll either send you a new cable, or offer to take the player in to solder dry spots on the IDE header.

To keep Tony happy, if you're asking a question that has a reference in the FAQ, you need to cite the FAQ and ask for clarification.

He did cite the FAQ, I was just trying to tell him that he skipped one of the steps in the FAQ he cited.

In reply to:

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He did cite the FAQ

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Damn, you're right. That'll teach me to post before I'm awake in the morning.

Matthew

We don't want to put David out of a job now, do we?

The W icon in the drive activity icon is not related to drive failure. It means 'waiting'.

If you skip a few tracks, then the player will keep the drive spun up for a while longer than usual just in case you decide to keep skipping more tracks. I don't think this is mntioned in the FAQ.

It is most likely that you just need to replace the drive cable. I will provide replacement drive cables (ie. post you a cable, not bring the player in) regardless or warranty status as I consider it a known fault. If that doesn't fix the problem, then I'll bring the player in.

The W icon in the drive activity icon is not related to drive failure.

Not directly, but he did say that his W would appear and then stay up for several minutes at a time, which is not normal. I suppose if communication with the drive failed at just the right moment, it could stay up like he said.

I don't think this is mntioned in the FAQ.

You're right, it's not. I don't think anyone's ever asked a question on that one.

I've had the same symptoms and it was interference from my car's distributor.

I was taking a trip in my piece "O" junk 76 Chey van and temporarily place my MKIIa in the small storage compartment on the motor cover, plugged into the cigarette lighter and put on my head phones. All worked fine for a while but then it started locking up on me and the "W" came on. When I rebooted I got a unmask error. I immediately thought the HD was going bad AGAIN and began to doubt MR. Rio's reliability. I then realized that the motor's distributor/coil was directly behind where the player was sitting. I then moved it to the seat next to me and all was happy in Rio land. As soon as I placed it near the cover it would freak out.

Maybe you are getting interference from something in your car as well.

Wow, this is fascinating. Never heard of that.

It was definitely reproducible however I didn't want to do it very many times because I'm sure it was not healthy for the player.

I think if I would have had it in a sled firmly grounded to the metal of the van that would have helped.

Hmmm... Any chance there was a magnetic field being caused by something you were setting it next to? Hard drives are after all little tiny magnets suspended nanometers above spinning magnetic platters...

Matthew

No magnets were next to the player. The coil and distributor were probably four or five inches away behind the cover. I've checked the HD and it seems OK.

I would suggest that dglidden might try a different car or perhaps moving the player temporarily to determine if its getting interference. Maybe a line noise suppresser would help.

All I know is when I move the player away from the motor/distributor it worked fine and has been working fine ever since.

Oh, I dunno Tony - don't you remember the time I detonated a low-yield thermo-nuclear weapon next to mine, and the screen went blank for a moment?
Maybe this is one for the FAQ?

The coil *is* a magnet! It was more likely emi from the distributor though.