Forum:Linux Gone Wrong ?

I tried the 2GB limit workaround but it does not appear to have been too successful.

In fact it's killed my machine.

To be fair, it worked to begin with, as I was able to copy a large (5 GB) file onto the HDD and see it in Windows Explorer.

The trouble is when I disconnected the machine from my computer and went to view the film on my TV that everything disappeared.

As someone with Norton 360 I know from previous experience that this disrupts the firmware and the "Blue Flashing Light" appeared again. Could this be the cause again?

The problem is that now I am unable to successfully install the R1.0 firmware. It appears to load onto the HDD when connected to my computer but does not start up properly when connected to the TV, although curiously no blue flashing light appears (implying that all is well, when it is not). So whilst still functioning as a HDD. I am unable to use it as a means of watching media.

I have been able to look via Linux at the installed files etc and I notice that the /tmp folder does not have a subfolder called /hddmedia, which is different to when I tried the 2GB modification to begin with. Could this be a clue?

I would be grateful for any thoughts.

Yours

David (A Linux novice, but learning through necessity!)

Chezmorris 21:23, 11 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Hi David. Your questions are leading to more questions from me in trying to understand what is really happening first.
 * So let's start with the Norton issue. Norton can not only interfere with the SPP booting up, it can also break the firmware file as it is being flashed out to the player.  So make sure Norton is disabled.
 * Second, to the update. After you flash, the blue light should be flashing for around 7-8 minutes, even if you can't see what's going on with the TV (if you're using an HDMI connection, with the R1.0 doesn't show during update).  Now you indicate that it doesn't flash at all.  Is the blue light coming on at all?  Does it flash for the 7 minutes and then go solid?  Then maybe the issue is that it isn't putting out the signal to the TV anymore.  Now, this isn't intended to demean -- I've made this mistake too or else I wouldn't be suggesting it:  If you're using RCA cables, make sure you plugged them into the "output" ports on the ScreenPlay and not the Input ports, and plugging the right colors into the right places.  Seriously, I plugged mine into the input and thought my player had stopped working.
 * The tmp folder won't have hddmedia in it. It copies "tmp_orig" to tmp after mounting tmp with an in memory file system.  So that doesn't point to the problem.  I assume you're connecting by mounting it directly through PC linux.
 * The other thought that comes to mind is that Norton doesn't mess up the firmware. It actually messes up the NTFS partition.  So if you're applying the update and indicating not to erase the drive, then the firmware update won't fix what Norton broke.  If you're going to continue to connect the drive to the computer through the USB port, you need to either remove Norton, or format the drive for FAT32 or EXT3 so that Norton can't mess it up.
 * One more comment... SMBD makes it capable of storing 2 GB files when copied over the network. If you're going to hook it to your computer via USB to copy the files, you don't need the new SMBD.  In any case, the worse it can if you did it wrong would be that you wouldn't be able to copy files over the network anymore until you fixed it.  --JCoug 22:27, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks very much for your quick reply. Let me try to provide some answers to your very valid questions:

Norton 360 - I tried to reload having disabled (but not deleted) Norton and the same thing happens. In all cases I have gone for the "erase HDD" option on loading the firmware.

The firmware loads properly onto the HDD, appears to install itself when connected to the TV but then the Menu does not appear right at the end. Whilst trying to install the blue light flashes (as should be the case) then goes solid (as should also be the case). I watched the attempted installation via component inputs (you are right to challenge but this is not where I am going wrong!) and the words "Installation Completed" (or something similar) appears and then the Screenplay Pro HD logo appears and then the screen goes and stays blank. I tried turning off and on just in case, but then the "Loading" sign appears with the clock face counter, then the Screenplay Pro HD logo then blank screen.

When connecting to the firmware files I do so via a Linux Bootable CD. Would love to try via telnet but of course, no menu means that I cannot set up the Wifi connection.

As I would not want to remove Norton completely, my next step is to try to change the HDD format to FAT32. Unfortunately the Iomega FAT 32 formatter does not spot my HDD (neither, incidentally, does the Screenplay HD Discovery tool). Unfortunately through Windows Vista I can only reformat to exFAT. Any thoughts?

With regards to your last comment, I use (should be using...) the Screenplay to record from AV and then edit what I have recorded from my PC via my wireless LAN. As some recordings are long, the files are > 2 GB and so cannot be seen directly via my wifi network connection.

Thanks once again.

David

Chezmorris 23:47, 11 February 2009 (UTC)
 * David, I have to admit I'm truly stumped. The fact that it shows you everything right up to the point where it should display the menu is something I have only seen before when the NTFS partition was not mountable.  But after running a full firmware update, that partition should be mountable.
 * One thing you can do to try to resolve what the problem is -- and this isn't to fix the problem but to help diagnose where it is occurring -- go into the drive via your Linux bootable CD. Try to mount the NTFS partition and see if it gives any errors while mounting it.  Then mount the first partition and go to the /etc/init.d/rcS1 file.  This is one of the startup files that it runs that mounts the NTFS partition.  You can disable certain parts of the script to see what is locking it up.  If you disable the mounting of certain partitions, then when it goes to run the script that starts DvdPlayer, it won't be able to start it (so you still won't get the menu options) but it should still retrieve an IP address and allow you to connect via telnet -- at least, as long as you're doing a wired ethernet connection.  It won't be able to do a wireless one because the setup will be gone after the firmware update.
 * If you can connect via telnet to it after disabling scripts, then you can manually run those parts of the script to see what is ultimately locking it up. You can also manually active DvdPlayer (it's in the /usr/local/bin directory, or some directory really close to that as I recall.)  Just run it directly without using RootApp to start it.  Then you'll see the kind of errors that appear and that may help identify where the problem is. --JCoug 15:43, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

At last I get a chance to give you some feedback. Whether by accident or not, I sorted this problem out. I deleted the firmware on my pc reloaded it and hey presto all is working again. Thanks for your help.--Chezmorris 21:26, 8 March 2009 (UTC)