Cannot connect NII 80Gb via USB

[hoary]

Using FC3, I get the following message:

FAT: Did not find valid FSINFO signature.
     Found signature1 0x00000000 signature2 0x00000000 (sector = 1)

Using either the USB1 or USB2 connections.
I've done a NAND format and a HDD format. No difference.

Any ideas appreciated.

[duke Neuros]

How long have you had the unit for and when did this problem start happening?

[hoary]

The unit is brand new.

I've also just upgraded the FC3 box to FC5 and had the same results.

I've also tried connecting the Neuros to a CentOS box and I get similar
results.

BUT I've just tried connecting the Neuros to my older FC1 box and it seems to have mounted OK now.

Now I just have to rebuild the DB and stuff ....

[hoary]

Actually, I spoke too soon!

FC1 shows a similar error but mounts the drive as read-only anyway.
Here's some more info:

Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage
usb-uhci.c: interrupt, status 2, frame# 138
scsi0 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
  Vendor: ST98823A  Model:                   Rev: 3.04
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
WARNING: USB Mass Storage data integrity not assured
USB Mass Storage device found at 2
USB Mass Storage support registered.
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 156301488 512-byte hdwr sectors (80026 MB)
 sda: sda1
FAT: Did not find valid FSINFO signature.
Found signature1 0x0 signature2 0x0 sector=1.
Directory 1: bad FAT
Filesystem panic (dev 08:01).
  FAT error
  File system has been set read-only
FAT: Did not find valid FSINFO signature.
Found signature1 0x0 signature2 0x0 sector=1.
FAT: Did not find valid FSINFO signature.
Found signature1 0x0 signature2 0x0 sector=1.
Directory 1: bad FAT
Filesystem panic (dev 08:01).
  FAT error
  File system has been set read-only


The mount point shows 3 files:
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           20 May  8  2003 bkpk.sn
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           14 May  8  2003 sn.txt
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            6 May  8  2003 version.txt

And of course, positron and NeurosDBM won't work as the woid_db dir and associated files are missing and can't be created on a read-only mount point.

TIA

[darren]

I don't know why the built in HDD format wouldn't work, but you may want to try using mkfs.vfat. If you try that, be sure to copy those 3 files somewhere. If the mkfs.vfat works, you'll need to restore those files back to the Neuros.

[hoary]

OK, mkdosfs worked in the end.
Strange though that fdisk doesn't display any valid partitions.

Anyway, I had transfered about 10 tracks and it all screwed up.

The unit fails to even turn on now.
All in all, I am greatly disappointed with the Neuros.

The backpack now has a distorted back. Probably from too much heat from the hard drive.

Open Source is a nice idea but Neuros should get their act together and stop using cheap IDC header plugs/sockets as proper external electrical connections between the player and backback.

You wouldn't find any professional engineering outfits using connectors like that for external connections. If I had known about that, I would have steered clear of it from the start.

Now I'm off to waste more money on a Cowon or iAudio.
At least the units might turn on long enough to play something back for an afternoon ....

What a bad joke. 250 dollars and many hours of wasted blood pressure.

Sigh.

***** TO ANYBODY READING THIS - DON'T BUY A NEUROS - THIS COMPANY DESIGNS EXPENSIVE SEMICONDUCTOR UNITS INSTALLED IN CHEAP PLASTIC CASES USING THE BADLY CHOSEN EXTERNAL CONNECTORS ******