I think the rebuilding database step in the Emplode syncronization failed and now whenever I turn on my Empeg/Rio Car player it stops at the Building Music Databases stage during the boot. Please help me out. Thanks!

Usually you can fix this by making it do a successful synch.

If you are using 2.0b3 and having trouble synching try downgrading to 1.03 (emplode then player in that order) and then synching again. In theory this will fix your "rebuilding databases" message.

Will i loose my settings when doing this downgrade?

No. See the corresponding entry in the FAQ, here.

OK my player is working with 1.03 but if i change it back to 2.0 B3 it gives the same error. Is there anyway i can get 2.0 working again or do i have to wait for the next version. :-P

2.0b3 is a beta, and as such, it's got known bugs. The only solution is to wait for the next public beta while running 1.03.

If you like the features in 2.0b3 enough to want to leave it on the player, then just get all your synching done in 1.03 and the switch to 2.0b3 while you wait for the next public beta.

"If the number of known bugs is by definition, finite, then the number of unknown bugs must be, by definition, infinite."

When do you think the next beta will be released? I cannot even load music onto my player using 1.3. (as you suggested) And in 2.0b3, I can't play or load music.

I cannot even load music onto my player using 1.3. (as you suggested)

That's strange. 1.03 has been a very stable release for a long time, and it should give you no trouble at all. We should resolve this problem first. If 1.03 doesn't work, then 2.0 definitely won't work.

First: Did you make sure to install the 1.03 software for both Emplode as well as the player firmware? That's important as 2.0 emplode won't talk to 1.03 player and vice-versa.

Triple-check the versions of all your software by looking at the "About" menu on both your player and your Emplode. If they both say 1.03, then you should be OK.

Once you're sure everything is at 1.03, try again. If it still fails, then please report your exact actions attempting to load music, and the exact text of any error messages that appear.

The player was working under 1.3 until I upgraded to 2.0b3. 2.0b3 worked for a long time before i had the problem. Now both the player and the emplode software are version 1.3. When I try to connect using the empeg software no player is detected. When I run emplode 2.0b3 it sees the player but i can't open it. I get a message saying operation completed successfully

When I run emplode 2.0b3 it sees the player but i can't open it.

This is the normal expected behavior when running Emplode 2.0b3 against a player version 1.03. Like I said, they won't talk to each other.

Please check out this FAQ entry about Hyperterminal, and show us your boot log.

Also, if you could give us details about how you're connecting to the player, that would be helpful.

Don't i need a modem to use Hyperterminal? I don't have one. I am connecting the player using both ethernet and serial. Yesterday i was able to connect to the player using 1.3 and serial. After synching with the player I was able to connect to it using ethernet and 1.3 again. I tried changing it back to 2b3 i could connect but i could not successfully rebuild the database during the synch.

Now, I have it working under 1.3 again. However, A new problem came up that i doubt is related. When driving (after about 1 minute) my empeg started acting very strange. It started by repeatedly saying "marked" then the volume started going up and down and the tracks started to change. It was almost like someone was pushing all of the buttons. The remote was not in the car so that couldnt have been causing it.

Don't i need a modem to use Hyperterminal?

No, you don't. Hyperterminal can work directly from the serial port, as described in that FAQ entry.

However, if I recall correctly, I think that Windows might complain about the lack of a modem the first time you run Hyperterminal. You simply cancel/disregard the box where it asks about a modem. I think that's something I should add to the FAQ, thanks for reminding me.

It started by repeatedly saying "marked" then the volume started going up and down and the tracks started to change.

That's very strange. This is with the default 1.03 software?

If you tried to apply a custom kernel to it, that could explain it. For example, if you tried to apply Mlord's 2.0b3 kernel against the 1.03 player software, strange and unpredictable things could happen (kernel and player should match versions).

But if it's stock 1.03, then that's a real surprise. I don't know what could cause that other than stuck buttons or some kind of hardware problem.

Oh, I just thought of another thing to check: The serial connector on the car docking sled. The random behavior you describe could possibly be from noise or short-circuits on the serial connector.

I had a custom kernel for 1.3 but I thought that would be wiped out after changing to 2.ob3 and back to 1.3 (a few times) I will use Hyperterminal tonight.

I had a custom kernel for 1.3 but I thought that would be wiped out after changing to 2.ob3 and back to 1.3 (a few times)

That is correct. A software upgrade will wipe out any custom kernels. So if you did not install a custom kernel after installing the 1.03 upgrade, then it's stock 1.03 and there's no reason you should get that strange stuck-button-like behavior.

Did you get that behavior at home or in the car? If at home, was anything plugged into the serial port? If in the car, where is the serial port cable dangling behind your dash? What's the wiring like back there?

I think that Windows might complain about the lack of a modem the first time you run Hyperterminal

Usually it complains twice. You have to cancel the warning both times, and then it'll list your serial ports.

Is this what you anted to see (boot log?)

empeg-car bootstrap v1.02 20001106 ([email protected])
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 v1.03
Copying kernel...
Calling linux kernel...
Uncompressing Linux................................... done, booting the kernel.

Linux version 2.2.14-rmk5-np17-empeg43 ([email protected]) (gcc versi
on 2.95.2 19991024 (release)) #213 Sat Jun 23 16:35:13 BST 2001
Processor: Intel StrongARM-1100 revision 11
NetWinder Floating Point Emulator V0.94.1 (c) 1998 Corel Computer Corp.
empeg-car player (hardware revision 9, serial number 10102086)
Command line: mem=16m temp=35
Calibrating delay loop... 207.67 BogoMIPS
Memory: 15064k/16M available (960k code, 20k reserved, 332k data, 8k init)
Dentry hash table entries: 2048 (order 2, 16k)
Buffer cache hash table entries: 16384 (order 4, 64k)
Page cache hash table entr
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)
Linux-IrDA: IrCOMM protocol ( revision:Tue May 18 03:11:39 1999 )
ircomm_tty: virtual tty driver for IrCOMM ( revision:Wed May 26 00:49:11 1999 )
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 636f6972 'rioc'
Scheduling custom logo.
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 d0004680).
empeg RDS driver
empeg power-pic driver initialised (first boot)
RAM disk driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size
empeg single channel IDE
Probing primary interface...
hdb: IBM-DJSA-230, ATA DISK drive
hda: IBM-DJSA-230, ATA DISK drive
hdb: IBM-DJSA-230, ATA DISK drive
ide0 at 0x000-0x007,0x038 on irq 6
hda: IBM-DJSA-230, 28615MB w/1874kB Cache, CHS=58140/16/63
hdb: IBM-DJSA-230, 28615MB w/1874kB Cache, CHS=58140/16/63
empeg-flash driver initialized
smc chip id/revision 0x3349
smc9194.c:v0.12 03/06/96 by Erik Stahlman (er

SMC9194: SMC91C94(r:9) at 0x4008000 IRQ:7 INTF:TP MEM:6144b MAC 00:02:d7:22:08:2
6
Partition check:
hda: hda1 < hda5 hda6 > hda2 hda3 hda4
hdb: hdb1 < hdb5 hdb6 > hdb2 hdb3 hdb4
RAMDISK: ext2 filesystem found at block 0
RAMDISK: Loading 320 blocks [1 disk] into ram disk... done.
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: 8k initI see this is a developer image!
Mounting proc
Mounting first music partition
Mounting second music partition
Remounting first music partition read-only
Remounting second music partition read-only
Press 'q' now to go into development mode. You Have Zero Seconds To Comply...
Starting player
empeg-car 1.03.
3c1f5f80 DHCP Our mac is 00:02:d7:22:08:26
3c1f5f80 DHCP Our address is 255.255.255.255
3c1f5f80 DHCP Broadcast address is 255.255.255.255
3c1f5f80 DHCP Current IP address is 255.255.255.255

Okay, that all looks perfectly fine. That's a normal boot screen.

You say you can't load or play music? That's odd.

After synching using serial and 1.3, I was able to load music onto the player using ethernet and 1.3. Now I can play music using 2.0b3. However, I can't load music onto the player using 2.0. The attatched timed out error appears in Emplode and the player does not complete its boot process until it has been returned to 1.3.

When the player attempts to boot in 2.0b3 the following occurs-

empeg-car 2.00-beta3 2001/10/17.
E !! tags.cpp 61: Failed to open tags (0xc0041002)

Hmm. Well, if the player hardware seems OK, and it works in 1.03, my only suggestion is to stay at 1.03 and see if the problem goes away when the next public beta is released. There were a lot of bug fixes since 2.0b3, perhaps it will be fine when you can get your hands on that version.

If you still have trouble with the next public beta, please post that information so they can narrow it down. Otherwise, perhaps the empeg guys can offer a suggestion.