Player Problem [AKA: the original memory issue topic]

[Crunchy]

detecting different firmwares is very hard, so if you don't mention it, they probably won't even notice

Are you formatting with "FAT", because the players only support FAT16, or FAT as it is often called.
(some also support FAT32, but that's a lot slower, so don't use it)

[wladston]

strange .... i doubt this is a problem with the firmware, thought ...

can you return the player to the seller ?

[Crunchy]

This has happened to more people, we don't really know how to fix it...
since the error mentions "format", reformatting it with FAT16 comes to mind, but this apparently doesn't always fix the memory size...

[Skelitor]

Hi everyone,

It may not have anything to do with this situation. however, I have had a "Format Error" a couple of times on mine.

As it turned out, It was due to the bit rate being so high on my wma files.

I can't recall what they were originally but dropping them down to around 128k solved the issue.

[Crunchy]

I think you did something wrong when pasting the link...
there are a little to many "."'s in the adress...

Anyways, thanks for the idea.

[jhomer]

Hi FuzzyHead, I've the same issue you had but I couldn't Download the firmware :-S.
Could you please share again it?

It also happens to me that when I upload files, and I try to play them (mp3, WMA...all the supported files), the player turns off automaticcaly and restart

So, in this way is useless

ps.. My player has also FM support (can I use the same firmware?)

thanks
jhomer

[jawedsoft]

hi,
I am facing same problems in a newly purchased mp482c V13..can you mail me the firmware which solved the problem. my id is kingjawedatyahoo.com

thanks
Jawed Ahmed

[jawedsoft]

hi group
I must have formatted my player at least 20 times till now...though problem not solved till now but it is starting to make sense now..

my problem is that after copying some songs the player goes loony with all or some of the following symptoms
1)Language changes to chinese
2)It shows as format error
3)when reconnected to usb it shows incorrect free space information
4)Or it even shows as drive full

To solve this problem what I do is
1) connect to USB
2)use 1.45 software to do a full format
3)once again use 1.45 to do a quick format
After words the windows explorer shows it as raw file format
4)Right click on the removable drive in windows explorer and then click on format
5)do a complete format using ony 'FAT' and not 'FAT32'
6)Do a quick format similarly afterwards
now my drive shows at full 497 MB free(it is a 512mb thing)
then I start copying my songs to the player...first to check I copy two or three songs..and with abated breath I disconnect and then play..and it plays fine..then I collect all the songs I would like and then copy them to the player..and it goes back to the incorrect format message again.

after formatting so many times I understood..there might be two reasons for this behaviour. Either it junks up after a certain amount of memory space has filled up or some particular song makes it crazy..

I eliminated the first possibility since in some cases it stopped working even after copying two or three songs..

then I set to analysing the songs which crashed my player.
I read on the forum that in some cases, songs with higher than 128 encoding are not handled properly by the player..

once I found out which particular songs always crashed my player I checked them and saw that all of them had higher than 128 encoding..so I downgraded them to 128 and subsequently to 64..but it did not solve my problem. even with 128 or 64 these songs are crashing my player..where as there are other songs which play fine at 256..

next I checked the encoding..I noticed all the ones encoded with lame 3.97 are crashing..not able to find what is the reason though.
in some cases even if the file is not encoded with lame 3.97 but has very big id3 tags..it crashes..

one more thing left for me to try is to see if copying the files from a win98 machine helps..I have been using winxp till now..and am suspecting the low level file writing may be somewhat different in xp which might mess up the file structure of the player.

has any one done any further work on this...
I have a S-15 mp3 player of Sony make(fake) and it has fm and 512 mb and the firmware currently is ModeA_D_FM.bin

please help me...initially I did not like this player..and I have a properly working Iriver one.. but now I have fallen in love with this beauty..and I love the spirit of open source...I would not want to discard this one.

have a nice dahy.
Jawed

[wladston]

jawedsoft,

it's a pleasure to have you here!
(why don't you start a new topic?)

But, unhapily, i have no clues .... maybe you can try older versions of lame ?

[wladston]

plase, can anyone make clear with board does the
001_006.bin

work on ?

[jawedsoft]

hi,
I think it is a combination of the encoding bit rate and the memory size.

what I have noticed in my player is that if I change the encoding to 128 or sub 128 then the songs play but only till they occupy 128 MB in the memory. the moment I cross 128 MB they give me the incorrect format error. I am certain of this since .First I created a folder of all songs which played properly on the player..then .I went on adding songs to the player step by step...once I exceeded 128 MB it returned to chinese mode. and showed error of format.

there were some songs which were giving error but after encoding them to 128 kbps they work fine..only till the combined size of all the songs on teh player is below 128 MB..this is happening even though the player is of 512 MB.

I was just wondering..I think these players are originally 128 MB ones..and somehow the manufacture has manipulated either the sw or the hw so as to show them as 512 MB..can it be true?

Jawed Ahmed

[wladston]

hum .... this makes LOT of sense ....

maybe there is a partial compatible firmware installed ....

have you ever checked your board number ? (to try to upload fw)

[Crunchy]

Well, on the mailing list we have had a suggestion, I'll copy it here:
The idea is that there are several different version of some key operating system files, and they are labeled F644, F321 and F641.
The theory is that they all have a maximum size to them, so if you flash your player, and it decides to use the F641 files, it will not support more than (for example) 64MB, even if your Hardware (memory chip) supports 1GB.
we don't know everthing about it, it may even be wrong what we think here, but it's an idea nonetheless.


-------------------original email-----------------

Wladston wrote:

I think this issue might be related to the users who get a downsize in the memory capacity of the player ....



On 9/24/05, BlueChip wrote:


>F644 -> large block nand type flash
>F321 -> small block nand type flash
>F641 -> medium block nand type flash

Have the codebase differences been identified yet?

That is, a list of all subroutines that are effected by the flash change.

BC

[wladston]

we may ask users having this problem to extract firmware and check with is the brec being used...

[jawedsoft]

hi ,

how to check the brec of my mp3 player...is there any idiot's guide?

Jawed