Memory board install gone bad

Posted by: Waterman981

Memory board install gone bad - 12/01/2006 05:42

First off, I want to say I was very aware of all the risks associated with everything I did.

So I got one of Patricks last memory boards, and set about installing it. Got everything good, checked hijack & the boot logs, 64MB. I was happy. During a semi-long drive, I started getting much more segfault/segkill errors than I had ever seen before. So I took the mainboard back out, and double checked everything. I touched some stuff up and put it back in. Life was good again.

Then I started getting even more errors, with the screen doing some really funky things. I had realized I didn't get all the test pads under the board cleaned up properly after I first installed it, and figured that had caused a problem. Tonight when I pulled it apart I found that it had pulled up on the VCC3 side. I decided I needed to try to get under the board cleaned up, or I would be continually plagued by problems. So I began the process of removal. Lets just say all the warnings are there for a reason. I pulled up just about every test pad. But, the VCC3 test pad had already pulled up. This was the problem. So I slowly examined the PCB and found 4 pads I needed to repair. I put some small splice wires on, checked continuity, and powered it up. I got tons of sigkill's when the player was trying to rebuild the database. Plugged in the serial, and realized it was all due to my old reservecache of 180. I plugged in an old drive and it booted right up! Yay! No errors were being reported, so I got lucky that I was able to repair the traces on the bottom of the pcb. I don't have a macro capable camera, but I will borrow one during the day, and try to post some photos of the pcb now.

So now to put my drive back in I need to remove the reservecache setting. So is there any way to get the config.ini off the player, when I cannot get to the developer prompt? I do not have a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter unfortunately. Will I have to rebuild the disk in order to get rid of the reservecache? Any ideas?
Posted by: matthew_k

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 12/01/2006 06:22

Put it in as a slave drive and use the new drive to boot?

Matthew
Posted by: mlord

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 12/01/2006 13:25

Quote:
So now to put my drive back in I need to remove the reservecache setting. So is there any way to get the config.ini off the player, when I cannot get to the developer prompt?


Here is a version of Hijack that causes the ReserveCache line to be ignored. Install this Hijack via the serial link, then reboot normally, fix config.ini, and reinstall the current version of Hijack again.

Cheers
Posted by: Waterman981

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 13/01/2006 20:34

Thanks guys for the help! I got everything running great again. Still haven't been able to get my hands on a macro capable camera, but when I do I'll post pictures of the damage. Now I just need to decide if I want to hold on to the memory board, or sell it. It is still in perfect shape. But my empeg will never be able to take one again.
Posted by: bbowman

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 17/01/2006 12:27

Those laptop drive to desktop drive adapters are very cheap - I got mine for about $5 USD. I'm glad I got it and have used it several times.
Posted by: peakmop

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 17/01/2006 19:24

Not true.
You still should be able to do the stacked memory method. But I think that one is a lot more work than memory board, and I've done both.
Posted by: mlord

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 18/01/2006 00:40

Quote:
Not true.
You still should be able to do the stacked memory method.


Yes, good point. I still feel that's the best method.

Cheers
Posted by: genixia

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 18/01/2006 04:51

Quote:
Quote:
Not true.
You still should be able to do the stacked memory method.


Yes, good point. I still feel that's the best method.

Cheers


To get to 32MB? Or 64?

In my experience, the first layer is trivially easy, the second layer, not so. The third layer is definitely a challenge.
Posted by: Waterman981

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 18/01/2006 05:30

Well, here's a picture of the damage. My repairs aren't the best looking, but my empeg is running great right now. There is still plenty of clearance, but I did put some electrical tape along the bottom of the empeg's case just in case (although I'm sure it will never short). As you can see I will never be able to reinstall my memory board. But yeah, I can still stack. Stacking I would probably only go for 32 MB. That huge stack to get 64 is intimidating.

Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 18/01/2006 12:32

Congratulations on getting it back up and running!
Posted by: mlord

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 18/01/2006 13:13

Quote:
To get to 32MB? Or 64?


32MB. The people with more seem to have trouble finding uses for it all. And many are having to use ridiculously high ReserveCache settings to disable the player's use of it, as it otherwise screws up playback too much.

Cheers
Posted by: bonzi

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 20/01/2006 16:52

Quote:
And many are having to use ridiculously high ReserveCache settings to disable the player's use of it, as it otherwise screws up playback too much.

So, it's not "more memory, the better" for the player? Why?
Posted by: mlord

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 20/01/2006 18:53

Quote:
Quote:
And many are having to use ridiculously high ReserveCache settings to disable the player's use of it, as it otherwise screws up playback too much.

So, it's not "more memory, the better" for the player? Why?


The player's read-ahead caching algorithm ties up the system too much, making it unresponsive while doing the disk reads. Lots of RAM == longer period of slow response (buttons, display..).

-ml
Posted by: bonzi

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 20/01/2006 22:01

Quote:
The player's read-ahead caching algorithm ties up the system too much, making it unresponsive while doing the disk reads. Lots of RAM == longer period of slow response (buttons, display..).

Ah, yes, no DMA on disk controller...
Posted by: altman

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 25/01/2006 11:28

Technically, no disk controller at all... the disk is just mapped into IO space. The SA1100 wasn't so hot at fast cycles to external devices, the SA1110 added a couple of options that changed the cycle patterns - this made disk access on the Rio Central quite a bit quicker (6MB/sec, ISTR?).

Hugo
Posted by: SE_Sport_Driver

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 06/02/2006 02:09

Quote:
Quote:
To get to 32MB? Or 64?


32MB. The people with more seem to have trouble finding uses for it all. And many are having to use ridiculously high ReserveCache settings to disable the player's use of it, as it otherwise screws up playback too much.

Cheers


I'm raising my hand here... I'm a little annoyed that I was under the assumption that the memory board, while more expensive, was closer to being "official" and was timed with the 3.00 alpha releases that would take advantage of it. My player is now less useful that before the install (some bad install work didn't help). It will only run if I have 2.00 on it. 2.01 and 3.0alphas do what Mark describes. I had faith that a newer alpha would fix it, but that's not likely to ever happen.

If I were to send my player to a qualified person, is it possible to remove the memory board? Maybe that will get rid of my slow responsiveness (memory board's fault) and audio glitches (likely bad install).. Then I could sell the board to someone who runs 3rd party stuff and maybe pay to get the fan controller pulled out (already went up in smoke twice) and the LED kit fixed (one of the LEDs stopped working after like 2 weeks).

Sorry if I seem a little bitter, but it's sinking in that I wasted a ton of cash on my empeg to the point were I get more satisfaction using my 12gb "backup" player. I also totally misunderstood the memory boards thinking they were something that would be the best thing for a player using 3.00 alpha or 2.01.

To stop the bleeding, one of my players needs to be sold now, but I doubt I'll get any money for my main player until I dump more money into fixing it. I'd probably just break even with how expensive empeg repair work is. Well, even minus one player.
Posted by: pca

Re: Memory board install gone bad - 06/02/2006 03:31

You can turn off the memory in 16MB banks using the dip switches on the memory board, so can have 16,32,48, or the full 64. Or 0MB, but that's less useful. Removal of the board shuldn't be necessary.

pca