Rockbox

I’ve noticed that the iRiver HXXX build on my H120 is getting wierder when it comes to connecting/disconnecting via USB. I am currrently using the bleeding edge build, but have noticed this problem in some form or another in every daily build since they first booted. It seems to be getting worse.

Since the very first version of RockBox that came out for the H120, I’ve had small problems with USB. It used to be that if I upgraded the software version on the disk, then dismounted (via safe device removal in XP), the hard drive light would come on and stay on, the software would freeze, and then about 1 min later, I’d get an ATA kernel panic. It was fixed by using a paperclip on the reset button, and the new version of the software would then load properly. Once they implemented the “Boot newest software?” prompt screen when disconnecting from USB, this problem doesn’t occur as frequently.

However, I have noticed that under the RockBox firmware, Windows isn’t detecting my device the first two or three times I connect it; the firmware indicates that it’s connected to USB, but Windows indicates that the device, though connnected, has a problem and cannot be mounted. If I disconnect and reconnect the USB cable, the RockBox firmware seems to get confused and flashes a message like “Improper Installation! No recorder found”, followed by “Save failed partition?”. If I hold the Stop button, I get a blank screen, with battery and volume icons at the top of the screen. Holding stop longer will power it off.

Loading up the old iRiver firmware, the unit does not exhibit these problems. USB functions without a problem.

One last thing though: I usually keep my iRiver unit connected to power and USB, and mounted in Windows for a long time. It’s alright, because Windows has been instructed to power-down hard drives that aren’t in use. I do this because I keep my music on the drive, and, when mounted, it’s actually loaded into my NTFS filesystem in the My Music folder. This may sound strange or stupid, because, obviously, if I lose the player or it dies, my music is gone, but I just hate redundancy and having to “sync” folders. The fact that the drive lays dormant and mounted for long periods may explain why RockBox acts so odd. It might not expect to be in USB mode so long.