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Gear / Technical Help => Ask The Tapers => Topic started by: Carter41 on August 19, 2007, 08:15:20 PM
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I was taking some files off of my iRiver (Rockbox-ified) today, and I found a problem with one of the shows I taped. The audio skips. It sounds like there are chunks missing from the file. All of the sudden, it will skip ahead about a minute or so. This is case with the audio on the iRiver drive and the audio that I ripped to my computer hard drive. The file is about 3 and a half hours long...not sure if that makes any difference. Luckily, this error did not happen to any of the Nickel Creek or Flecktones shows that I recorded recently, but it still has me worried. I am taping DMB this week (starting tomorrow night), and I'm genuinely concerned that this could happen again. I ran a checkdisk, and everything was fine. I've been recording to DAT for the last few years, so this hard disk stuff is new to me. Anyone have something like this happen to them? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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I know that on my JB3 there is a file limit size of 3 hours or 2GB, maybe that was the same case here (you reached the maximum file limit and the recorder saved the file and started recording a new file, thus causing the missing audio?)? I'm not familiar enough with the rockboxed iRiver recording features/limitations to comment any further.
edit: after looking at the iRiver FAQ (http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,73139.0.html) I'm incorrect, my apologies.
* 2GB file size limit (3 hour 23 minute 44.1kHz WAV)
* seamless file-split after 2GB (so you don't miss a moment of the gig)
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I know that on my JB3 there is a file limit size of 3 hours or 2GB, maybe that was the same case here (you reached the maximum file limit and the recorder saved the file and started recording a new file, thus causing the missing audio?)? I'm not familiar enough with the rockboxed iRiver recording features/limitations to comment any further.
edit: after looking at the iRiver FAQ (http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,73139.0.html) I'm incorrect, my apologies.
* 2GB file size limit (3 hour 23 minute 44.1kHz WAV)
* seamless file-split after 2GB (so you don't miss a moment of the gig)
Yeah, there is one file that it 1.99GB and one that it just a few megs. So it did that. But within the longer track, there are skips all over the place. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why.
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I've experienced this problem before with h1xx's when the harddrives were going bad, except I would get CRC errors when transferring files from the iRiver to the PC. Since you have not received the CRC errors, maybe your problem isn't harddrive related.
You may consider running scandisk on it to see if there are any bad sectors just to be safe. Edit: You already did that.
Also, check your cables / connections. Try test recording while moving around your cables / connections to see if it reproduces the problem
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hope you are running the latest rockbox build, as there were some similar issues with older builds in 2006.
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I have the same problems with mine.....I have chalked it up to a bad HD.
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hope you are running the latest rockbox build, as there were some similar issues with older builds in 2006.
That would be my first suggestion too: update your build, some nice improvements have been made since last year.
While you're at it, throw the REP patch on your Iriver too. There are different opinions about REP (search the forum), but I rather have it than be without it.
/Jan
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Carter41-
What rockbox build are you using? (At this point we are all kind of assuming you are using an old build, unless I missed something stated.)
Whatever build you have, it sure wouldn't hurt to install the most recent supported daily build and do some testing. If everything checks out, you can always upgrade to the REP at that time.
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Don't know that this is it... but a couple of things to keep in mind...
- a bad optical cable or connection will cause skips. Been there, done that.
- disk fragmentation will hurt your ablility to write to disk real time. So occasionally remove ALL your shows and defrag from windows.
- when you delete files in windows Rockbox won't know it... so if you had 18 gb or data on there, and delete it all, rockbox may think you only have 2gb free, and will shut down when that 2gb is done. Been there, done that too. You need to go into system and tell it to rescan somehow... can't remember exactly. It's like "rockbox info" and then hold some button until it initiates a scan. It's an important little feature they hid rediculously.
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From an earlier post on this issue;
"You may want to check this thread http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=2513.195
I had the same problem, cuased by AGC patches having a 'check disk space feature included'.
You should go into the main menu->Info->Debug->View disk info->FRee-> press joystic for a rescan. That way the correct available space is again reported and you solve the problem. Worked for me, and now follow these stemps every now and then to make sure rockbox knows exactly how much disk space is available."
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Now I'm confused (not hard to do).
How did this thread turn from a 'I'm having skips in my recordings' to a 'Your hardrive is full message' thread?
Are some of you guys implying that the two are somehow related? If the unit thinks that the hardrive is full, it is supposed to gracefully shut down and save the recording. Unless my reading comprehension is lacking, Carter41 never referenced getting the 'hardrive is full message' in the initial post. His unit had skips in the playback of recordings, which I have experienced due to faulty hardrives (and others have reported faulty cables & connections as well).
Carter41-
Any updates?
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Are some of you guys implying that the two are somehow related?
Since you asked, yeah, I'm implying that's a possibility. ;D
Not saying for sure, but I wouldn't rule it out. A hard drive FAT32 filesystem is a like a book shelf with a million little slots. As if fills those slots it slows down, partly because it is hunting for empty slots, but also because it works it's way to the slower part of the disk (the head of the disk is the fastest). I wouldn't rule out the possibility of buffer under-runs causing skips. Formatting fixes that. Deleting everything, and defragging it in windows fixes it in windows, but not in Rockbox, until you do that "disk info" step. Just clean it up, and run that check to cross that off the list.
BUT, the above isn't my first guess. My first guess is skipping from intermittant digital input source, or buggy firmware issues.
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I had the same problem, check here....
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,88652.msg1179728.html#msg1179728
So, basically what i did was format my drive clean, and install the newest rockbox build, and so far (knock on wood), i have not had the problem since.