New 15GB iPod "Full" in MMJB // Songs truncated in ephPod

[robbie]

Hi,

I just got my new iPod yesterday and have been having some trouble getting it to work correctly. It is a 15GB model, and I am using it with my Windows XP PC.

After two attempts the iPod seemed to have installed, and was being recognised by MMJB. However, when I tried to add files to the iPod it said that the iPod was full (despite MMJB itself saying that the iPod was completely empty, apart from the formatting - 14.xxGB+ free out of 14.xxGB). I tried to reformat the iPod in case this was the trouble, which seemed to work ok, although at the end it said "Unable to unmount" and I had to unmount it 'manually' in the toolbar.

Anyway, MMJB seemed pretty poor so I tried EphPod - this installed fine, and after disabling MMJB (stopping it from starting up automatically) I as able to load some songs onto the iPod. However, with about a third/half of the songs I was finding that they were truncated in various different ways:

- Sometimes the first 30-60ish seconds was chopped off
- Sometimes the last 30-60+ish seconds was chopped off
- Sometimes the last 30-60+ish seconds was silence

This seems similar to a problem I read about - does this mean a massive proportion of my MP3's need 'fixing'? Or can this problem be fixed another way? Or can MMJB be fixed?

Also, on the 'Change Home Application' tab in iPod manager there is a 'Format DLL' option - will this reformat the iPod? Might this fix the problem(s)?

Thanks in advance for any help,
Rob

[robbie]

I just saw this post on (the/some?) old forums:

IF YOU WANT TO CUT TO THE CHASE:

My system:

Windows XP Professional (no SP1)
Asus A7N266-E motherboard
AMD Athlon 1800+
512MB PC2100 DDR RAM
Sound Blaster Audigy Player (with SB 1394 FireWire port)

Even if your player is screwed beyond all redemption (but as long as you CAN see it in Windows), i.e. it won?t format and, therefore, won?t boot-up and just displays the exclamation mark next to the fold icon, try this.

Run DOS (?cmd? in the Run menu or from Programs --> Accessories) and type the following (this is the important and clever bit):

format x: /fs:FAT32 /q

where ?x? is the drive letter of your iPod, the ?/fs? switch denotes File System and ?FAT32? is the file system of the Windows iPod, and the ?/q? switch denotes a Quick format (you wouldn?t want to leave this off, unless you enjoy counting to 99 very slowly ). [I think specifying FAT32 as the file system is important in fixing the problems I?ve been having because the existing file allocation table was somehow corrupt and not being repaired in a standard format. It seems the crafty ?/fs? switch forces the drive to write itself a new FAT and make the drive as good as new.]

Do you think this is worth trying as I am using the Firewire on my SB Audigy soundcard?

[revmike]

Why go through all that, when just a simple inexpensive firewire card will more than likely solve your problem. But it's your call.

[robbie]

It looks like I may have to buy a new firewire card, but they aren't that cheap (?50 which is about $70+).

[robbie]

After reading about the problems with PCI latency I installed the patch and bumped pci latency up to 192 - this didn't have any effect on the 'truncated song' problem, although it did speed up the transfer rate from <1MB/s to about 5-6MB/s.

However, I thought I'd give MMJB another try (I disregarded it a while ago when it was saying the empty iPod was full). With the PCI latency changes MMJB seems to be working fine (although there may be problems I have yet to come accross). But at the moment, the iPod seems to be working well - I've transferred a gig or so which works fine, and I'm in the process of moving more over.