In specific, it appears to be directly related to the visual switching.

Playing Blue man group Mp3's, switching between the visuals using the rio remote, and boom, the interface does NOT respond to either the remote, nor the front panel.

The clock stops incrementing (system clock), but the visual is still going, emplode can not talk to the player, power off and back on to fix.

The player DOES seem to come up a bit quicker now....

Haven't been able to reproduce it after the first three times. I did a sync from emplode after each lockup to verify the DB was ok.

Hmm. I can switch visuals till the cows come home and nothing goes wrong.

Can you hook up a serial cable and watch the serial port with Hyperterminal to see if it says anything funny at lockup time?

___________
Tony Fabris

Nope... it's not in the Visual switching...

Edited a few tags in Emplode, deleted about 15 tracks, and synchronized.

Then went back and edited a few more, and tried to synch. Couldn't connect to the player. HD icon was in the accessing state. Player rebooted by itself.

Now, as I was writing this, I've got another problem.

Visual is in a frozen state, player DOES respond to the remote, but isn't playing. Play/pause change the icons, but it doesn't actually effect the music. The timecode is not updating, and when I change the timecode display using the 1 key, if it does change, it's taking forever to do so. And it's not responding over the ethernet to emplode.

Got the serial hooked up now.... Proceeding to try to cause it to cry.

Serial interface didn't print anything. In fact, it didn't even print the EEK! when I unplugged the power.



It DOES seem to be happening on one track, or at least on the transistion from it to the next.

This track MAY be the problem, as it is a rip from a DVD instead of a cd, therefore it's at 48khz instead of 44khz....

Obviously grasping at straws here.

This track MAY be the problem, as it is a rip from a DVD instead of a cd, therefore it's at 48khz instead of 44khz....


No... The empeg does NOT like this track at all.

I hadn't actually heard it play, so I took it out to the car and plugged it in... OUCH. It's eatting it badly.

The old decoder played it without a problem, as does winamp and xmms.

I don't know for sure that it's causing the lockup, but it would not surprise me. I'll be taking it off of the machine for the time being.

IF anyone wants a copy of this to see if it locks them up, let me know and I'll put it on a website.

I do! Email or message me with the URL please.

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

You should have an email with a URL.

It's not causing the lockup, though.... I've experienced it a few times more since then, always with Emplode loaded and connected, and the player playing a playlist.

With the player paused, no problems. With it playing, and me editing in emplode, it DOES lockup. Then we have that wrong cookie 'feature' causing me to lose the changes...

It's not causing the lockup, though.... I've experienced it a few times more since then, always with Emplode loaded and connected, and the player playing a playlist.

With the player paused, no problems. With it playing, and me editing in emplode, it DOES lockup.



Re-visiting this.

I'm able to reproduce a player lockup pretty reliably now.

Here:

Fresh boot of empeg, fresh instance of emplode.
Let the player play some songs (Barenaked ladies in this case... )
Connect to the player using Emplode.
Make changes for ~3-4 minutes.
Try to synchronize.
watch Emplode return a "Failed to open a database connection (error 0x80040015)"
Notice the player is still playing... Check Serial... Nothing printed.
Press next track button. Watch the interface and display lock tighter than a drum immediately after it changes the info line.
Note that there is still nothing on the serial.
Pull the plug on the power. No eek.
Plug power back in. Normal bootup.

I can edit tags all day long if the player is in a paused state. If I'm doing it with the player going, it locks.

Anyone else seeing this type of behavior?

No, but I might have noticed some kind of interference between player and emplode. I have to investigate this some more...

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

yep, I've seen this one too!

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

Had a similar lockup in the car today.

First sign of trouble was that I noticed no beeps when switching tracks from the remote, but the front panel worked OK.

I had been generally abusing the Tweak Order functions, collecting up tracks by pressing '2' repeatedly, letting a few play, then blasting them away by holding '2'.

Earlier, I'd also cycled through the visuals looking to see which ones had problems with the paused radio. (And, if there are persistent effects, I'd booted up with the radio active, and had to cycle to the player and back to get things working right.)

The interface went dead, not responding to either the Rio remote or the front panel. I was on Info:Line or Transient (don't remember) with O'scope Terra. The visual looked like it was responding, though not much, and the text was frozen, but did update when the track changed. Player kept playing happily. When I turned off the car, the player stayed on and playing.

I'll try to reproduce, but this looks like a real gremlin.

-Zandr
Mk.I #0150 10GB
RioCar #010101243 10GB (96GB here I come...)

Hmm, it looks different here:

My every sync was successful. However, after the emplode re-reads database etc the player regularly enters a weird 'mode' where disk icon says it is reading (I can hear the drive spinning but not the heads seeking), UI responds slugishly or not at all, and the player often ends up being killed by VM manager using signal 9 (SIGKILL). Rerun does not help, only reboot does. It happens whether the player plays at the moment of sync initiation, is paused or in stand-by.

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

I'm getting the cookie and database errors, both under Win2K and now WinXP. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Emplode and also re-upgraded to 2.0b3.

Other observations: Used to locate the USB connection very quickly. Now it takes anywhere from a minute to ... never.

Another thing: WinXP offered to install a driver for the Rio (perhaps I made a bad move there - I accepted). So, it could be some kind of driver contention. Although if I go to check the USB connections, it isn't listed. Yet if I remove/apply power to the Empeg, WinXP clearly recognizes that I'm doing it.

Suggestions? I'm pretty much dead in the water at this point. Just can't connect - getting a string of database connection errors at this point (again, Win2K or XP - doesn't matter).

UPDATE: I'm able to connect successfully via COM1. Slower, but I can connect.

Oh, did I mention I have NO MP3s on the unit yet? Might that enter into it? Slight boundary condition issue perchance?

Whoops - gets better. Turns out I _did_ have three tracks on the player. I just removed them and synch'ed ... and NOW, at the end I get a syncronization error. Whee!

The instructions that come with the player clearly state (if I recall correctly), that you need to install Emplode before plugging the player into the PC. This is how it sets up its USB drivers correctly. Did you do that?

You're not the only one to have complained about USB problems on Windows XP. It's possible there are some bugs in that area. Empeg guys, are you hearing these?

Yup. That was when I had Win2K. It's possible that, when I moved to XP, that rule got a bit twisted around and perhaps I needed to uninstall/reinstall some things. IOW, the drivers got re-set up after XP came on the scene, even though I had gone through the motions on 2K already.

Hmm. Hmm I say. Hmm ... :-)

We'll nab it. I'm going to try wiping things out and starting over from scratch again. Not much to lose, I say!

I get it now. XP == eXtremely Perplexing!

Alright. I'm going to give this a try:

Remove "Rio Car" from USB Devices in Hardware List
Unplug Rio
Remove Emplode
REBOOT
Go through instructions as written

Crossing fingers, toes, but not the eyes (yet).

OK. So far so good, but I've just hit a snag.

I'm now at the point where I've reinstalled AND rebooted (as the manual suggests). The player is unplugged power-wise.

I ran the upgrade app and picked 2.0b3. It confirms I want to use the serial port. I'm also warned that power should not be applied to the unit (it isn't). And thennnnn ...

I get Error "Car player not found" occurred during stage 0x00.

Wouldn't I at least need to apply power for it to check with the unit and see that its there? Or does it not normally need any power at this point? Instructions suggest it doesn't, unless I'm misreading.

If you get an error immediately, then it's some kind of an issue with the serial port. For instance, another app such as palm synch is claiming the port or its IRQ.

Do you have a modem that's on the same IRQ as the serial port? (eg com1/com3)

OK. What happened - I had the Palm Sync running. I normally don't run that when doing this sort of thing. Oops.

So now I powered it up when it requested it and now it's rewriting to flash. Yay.

Meanwhile, here's an interesting question: Should I have left the USB plugged-in to the back of the unit? XP recognized a new USB device and then subsequently complained (while the flash write was taking place) that it didn't recognize the device. I was going to transcribe the exact text but it already went away. I think if I had picked it it would have given me the opportunity to go down that "install a driver and mess things up royally" route again. :-)

At any rate, the player is booted now and the partition pumping has commenced.

Partition pumping is complete ... and now I run emplode, it finds it immediately - oh, wait, on COM1. OK. Try it anyway. No problems, I'm in. I turn around and exit.

Now we try it again. This time I change the options for USB. And ... it never finds it.

Drat.

Well, we know XP complained about there being an unknown device - and I _think_ if I had picked that it would have offered to install a driver. Lessee what happens if I unplug/plug the USB:

"Found New Hardware - Rio Car"

Well now. It sure seems to know it now. :-)

Let's try again.

Uh-oh. Ran emplode, and it's looking but all of a sudden - the dreaded Windows Wizard Interface!

Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard

This wizard helps you install software for: Rio Car

If your hardware came with an installation CD or floppy disk, insert it now.

What do you want to do?

* Install the software automatically (Recommended)
* Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)

Hmm. Methinks I want to do NEITHER until I get a reality check on whether or not to go through with this. I pick cancel.

Quote balloon over by the system tray: "A problem occurred during installation. Your new hardware might not work properly, blah-blah-blah."

Clues?

Installing Emplode should have been all that was needed for Windows to properly recognize the player. The fact that it gives you the hardware wizard when you plug it in via USB is suspect. It shouldn't be doing this at all.

Ah-ha! Just as I suspected. I didn't recall 2 asking, but XP does.

So then ... I'll use (gulp) COM1 for now.

At least it recognizes it as "Rio Car" and not an unknown, which is what happened after the xp upgrade.

You could try actually letting XP do the hardware detection and see whether it works.

Make sure to fully power down and power up both the computer and the player before doing it.

I think I will. I now recall Win2K detected-AND-installed. WnXP detects and now lets you auto-install or do your own thing. So perhaps this is working as designed from an XP perspective.

Oh! DANGER Will Robinson. I proceed w/auto-install and up pops this:

The software you are installing for this hardware: Rio Car
has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatibility with Windows XP. (link: Tell me why this testing is important.)

(now in bold) Continuing your installation of this software may impair or destabilize the correct operation of your system either immediately or in the future. Microsoft strongly recommends that you stop this installation now and contact the hardware vendor for software that has passed Windows Logo testing.

Followed by two buttons: Continue Anyway, and STOP Installation.

Do I dare?

Yes, dare.

God, I hate Microsoft.

Of course, I'm reckless (who isnt?). And ...

I get "successful" - and then afterward a quote baloon: "not successful." OK, which is it? :-)

Trying emplode - it finds it on USB fairly quickly! And ...

Database error. Rats.

The player is otherwise blank. Is there something else I should try of a more drastic sort like wiping out the audio volumes and letting them be rebuilt? (shudder)

Oh yeah, I hear ya - I think in hindsight this was pure masochism on my part. Duh.

Hmm. I'm not doing a terribly good job posting replies in a sane manner. The threaded view is a bit nasty. The flat view - ahh, much better.

The database error might be a bug in 2.0b3. You could try downgrading everything to 1.03, adding some music, then going back up. I know, irritating.

For those having errors with USB under XP in 2.0b3, see if the next release of emplode corrects them. Insider info tells me they might be, but not sure.

I'm not against downgrading. It's just an innocent li'l kernel replacement.

Right? :-)

Would I blow away the volumes with the music on 'em perchance? Just rm -rf them totally? Does that potentially get me anywhere?

Oh, the torture!

So I went in and blew away the database files and fids. Next, I downgraded to 1.03. Then I upgraded BACK to 2.0b3.

Amazingly - the USB connection showed up right away, and ... I GOT IN! No database issues, nothing. I didn't try uploading any music just yet. I was just happy to make it through the connection sequence.

So just to see if it was a fluke, I closed emplode, ran it again, got the USB detection right away, picked it ... AND ...

"There doesn't appear to be a player connected." AAAAHH!

I try again. Now it can't even detect the USB device.

I unplug and plug back in the USB. It finds it! GOOD! Wait. It can't get the DATABASE LOCK now. C'MON ...

OK. Reboot the unit. Done. Try emplode again. IT WORKS AGAIN. Yay!

Let's try and synch nothing in particular. Gets through the whole thing, no sweat. Good.

Close emplode. Run again. Get the USB icon right away. And ... "There doesn't appear to be a player connected."

Well at least this time it's starting to look consistent. I need to reboot the player before running emplode and it connects.

Try doing just that. Now it doesn't find the USB connection at all. Try it a few more times. Nothing. (Is it my connection to the PC? No, nice 'n snug.)

Alright, I'm about to make this a non-issue (at least for me at the moment). Switch to IP ADDRESS for a change. No problems.

Stop/restart emplode. Connect - no problems. Again. No problems. Again. (intoning "I am Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire ...")

Right. That was fun.

Heh. Well, if it's any consolation, 1.03 was really stable for a long time. Most folks don't have these issues with synchs.

I'm only saying this because I know you're a new owner, and I don't want this bad experience with beta software to mar your opinion of your new toy.

Totally understood. As a software engineer I've come across far worse situations, I can assure you. This is incredibly tame by comparison! After all, it's beta for a reason. Code complete, perhaps, but we just have to work out the quirks. Hopefully my play-by-play will help the developers out.

That, and PaulG has ensured I'm brainwashed for the foreseeable future. Empeg gooooooood. Gee, thanks a LOT Paul. ;-)

Some news for you: Windows Update just kicked in this AM, and I did get some app compatibility updates and a few other things. We'll see if that helps any.

But even if it does, I've got TCP/IP connectivity (don't know why I didn't think of doing that before but it's super quick).

Greetings!

Huh? Wha? Did I miss something?

Wow. I am away from the computer / telephone / technology in general for a whole day and a half, and look at all the fun I miss!!! Sorry about that.

So, Joe, is it sane now? Worst case, try going through ethernet - use serial to sync ethernet configuration to the empeg, exit emplode, restart emplode and use ethernet to upload the music.

Wow Paul, you missed a lot. :-)

All's well now, more or less. I think I'll spare you having to read the thread (unless you really want to) and I'll call you.

All's well now in that I'm using ethernet. Faster than USB from what I can tell (presuming that makes some sense, and recalling the Win2K setup). Seems that WinXP's USB handling quote-broke-unquote some prior assumptions from a UI and setup perspective, and perhaps emplode depended on those. We'll see. I think it'll be fine in the end.