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FS#9413 - Rockbox (and bootloader) mistakes battery for USB.

Attached to Project: Rockbox
Opened by Paul Skinner (PetMetroid) - Monday, 22 September 2008, 08:19 GMT+2
Task Type Bugs
Category Battery/Charging
Status Unconfirmed
Assigned To No-one
Player Type Iriver H300 series
Severity Low
Priority Normal
Reported Version Daily build (which?)
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 0%
Private No

Details

This may represent other players as well.

I installed a new battery on my iriver, a 2100 mAh that is working perfectly. The problem however, is that when fully charged, the voltage holds up to 4.12 volts, and until it drains to somewhere under 3.9 volts, Rockbox thinks that it is powered via USB, so naturally Rockbox gets stuck in USB mode until the battery is drained enough for Rockbox to realize that it IS a battery. With this problem at hand, I have to charge my iriver to only less than seventy percent of its battery life, or else wait for an hour or so to drain it to that point. I HAVE tested it in its original firmware, like I said, works perfectly. The problem lies with Rockbox thinking that the battery is a USB charger. I am asking for a fix around this. Is there a way that I can modify Rockbox so that it may understand that it is running off of a battery that will get up to 4.12 volts and not mistake that for USB power? I just now thought to turn off the "Charge During USB Connection," maybe that will solve the problem; I will get back when I find out whether or not that works. However, I would still like to request a work around for this problem. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
This task depends upon

Comment by Marc Guay (Marc_Guay) - Monday, 22 September 2008, 12:49 GMT+2
Perhaps you need to set the battery capacity setting to match your new one?
Comment by Linus Nielsen Feltzing (linusnielsen) - Monday, 22 September 2008, 13:44 GMT+2
Interesting. This needs an investigation....
Comment by Paul Skinner (PetMetroid) - Monday, 22 September 2008, 17:32 GMT+2
I have, it's a 2100 mAh, as I've said. Changing the battery capacity in Rockbox only determines the battery life remaining, I'm pretty sure.
Thank you Linus. Perhaps I will post a video of the mishaps later.
Comment by Mike Holden (mikeholden) - Tuesday, 23 September 2008, 12:48 GMT+2
I have to say this isn't a problem I have experienced. I have an h340 with upgraded battery like that (it's an ipod battery). I have been running with this setup for about a year now, and haven't once seen this issue.

According to Setup -> Debug -> View battery, my battery level is curerntly 4.201V, and has recently been as high as 4.229V, and USB mode hasn't been triggered at any point during charging or after removing the charger. I am currently running today's build, and have run various builds, always fairly recent, for as long as I have had this setup, with no issues whatsoever in this area.

As you say, the battery capacity setting has no bearing here, it is used solely to indicate expected runtime and nothing else.

Are you sure you didn't damage any hardware during the battery swap, as that sounds more likely?
Comment by Paul Skinner (PetMetroid) - Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 02:30 GMT+2
Perhaps, however I wouldn't believe that since it has no problems whatsoever using the original firmware. I've had weird problems like this before, like the charger popping it into USB mode (I was excited to learn about the A-B button override mode.)

I have an idea that could temporarily fix the problem, however I won't be able to know if it works until I charge it again. I was thinking about switching the "Charge During USB Connection" to "Off" (hey, I mentioned this before; I must have forgotten.) This way Rockbox SHOULD NOT pop up the USB charging screen. As for the bootloader, I have learned that it is fooled into booting normally after I've booted into the original firmware, so all I'd have to do is start the original firmware, turn off the system, then boot it normally into Rockbox. If these temporary fixes work, then I will be satisfied. I will get back after I am able to test this theory.
Comment by Linus Nielsen Feltzing (linusnielsen) - Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 11:49 GMT+2
I have a suspicion that it has to do with how Rockbox handles the power to the USB-ATA bridge chip, and the charging logic. In fact, your problem has given me a valuable clue to a totally different H300 issue.
Comment by Paul Skinner (PetMetroid) - Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 19:08 GMT+2
That sounds logical. Rockbox HAS been doing funny things to me with its power management. I DID the temporary fix, by disabling the "Charge During USB Connection" I am able to charge it to its max without it jumping into USB mode. However, now I have slight interest in your investigation, Linus, as I've said I HAVE had issues with power management.

Another problem I used to have (and is STILL in effect, however I found a fix around it, too) was when I would charge the iriver in Rockbox mode, that it would also pop into USB mode. Basically, until I learned about the A-B button method, I could only run Rockbox off of the battery, meaning that if I had a drained battery, tough shi, I would have to wait until it was charged (this was obviously not workable for me when my old battery was dead to the point its charges wouldn't last longer than not even a CD length.) Of course, just in case you're pondering, it was the wall charger I was using, not a USB charger or cable, that was popping it into USB mode.

I am completely content now with the way everything is running now that I can bypass the USB charging, however I hope that I have offered some important feedback to your development. Thanks for your help (and Marc and Mike,) and I hope to be around when you guys need anything.

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