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rio car dot org FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)



Category: Main -> Known problems and troubleshooting questions
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·  Why do the visuals disappear every time I put it in the car? 
·  Why is the stereo image of my MP3 messed up? 
·  I get a 'pump' error when I try to upgrade my player firmware. 
·  I get a Windows Installer or MSI error when I install Emplode. 
·  I'm having trouble with my tuner module! 
·  My tuner gets terrible reception, but the extension cable is fine. 
·  My tuner doesn't tune in the correct frequency increments. 
·  When I pause/un-pause, or sleep/wake the player, it starts in a different part of the song. 
·  Why don't fast forward and rewind work properly? 
·  When I pull the power, sometimes it plays a different song when I start it again. 
·  I can't perform an upgrade, install a logo, or install a kernel when the player is in the docking sled. 
·  Why did my player suddenly start freezing at the boot-up logo screen? 
·  Why isn't the headlight-sense dimmer working properly? 
·  Why does my player think it's at home when it's in the car? 
·  Why doesn't my player go into standby mode when I turn off the ignition? 
·  Why is there a 'thump' from my amplifiers when I turn off the ignition? 
·  Why doesn't my Rio Car work in my Mark 2 docking sled? 
·  Why is my docking connector loose? 
·  Why is my Mark 1 getting harder and harder to pull out of the sled? 
·  Why is my Mark 2 hard to pull out of the sled? 
·  Why is my warranty seal already broken? 
·  I get a 'hardware revision check failed' message when I try to upgrade! 
·  Why did ethernet and/or USB quit working after I upgraded the software? 
·  My tuner quit working after an upgrade! 
·  Why is the song count different when I shuffle? 
·  Why can't I figure out how to do searches on the player? 
·  I selected the correct title in a search, and pressed OK, but the song did not play. Why? 
·  Why does Emplode keep getting my tags wrong? 
·  Why can't I read the display in the daylight? 
·  Why am I having problems with my car alarm or my keyless entry system? 
·  My rotary knob is slipping on its shaft! 
·  What do the synchronization errors mean? 
·  The clock on my Mark 1 player does not work. 
·  The clock on my Mark 2 player does not work. 
·  The Mark (cancel) key on the Rio remote doesn't work all the time. 
·  Why is the Shuffle menu backwards? 
·  Why does my player say 'Waiting...' on the screen? 
·  Why does my player rattle when I shake it? 
·  I don't like seeing the circuitry when the sun shines on the player. 
·  I have database errors and all of my playlists disappeared! 
·  Why does Emplode say I have less disk space than I think I should have? 
·  Why does my player sound terribly distorted when I plug it into my home stereo? 
·  My remote control quit working! 
·  I have a Kenwood head unit, and its remote is controlling both players. 
·  Why doesn't Emplode work via USB on Windows? 
·  Why doesn't emplode work via ethernet on Windows XP? 
·  Emplode freezes up on 'Checking Disk Integrity'. 
·  I got an error message about 'e2fsck' at the shell prompt. What do I do to fix it? 
·  My docking sled's top edge is not 'bent'. 
·  Why doesn't my power antenna go up and down at the right time? 
·  The upper-left corner of my screen is cut off. 
·  My config.ini file went all goofy on me, and I can't edit my favorite visuals any more! 
·  My buttons and/or knob are sticking. 
·  What does the battery icon mean? 
·  I just tried to edit one of the visuals, and now my player locks up! 
·  There are glowing red lines on my display! 
·  My display has become garbled or dim. 
·  My display is blank! 
·  Why does my Mk2 player have poor stereo separation? 
·  Why doesn't my player play very high frequencies? 
·  Why doesn't the car player put out as much bass as my CD player? 
·  How do I stop it from trying to play a bad track? 
·  My player takes a long time to boot and says it is Building Music Databases. 
·  Why does it say 'No hard disk found contact support'? 
·  Some wires have pulled out of my docking connector! 
·  My handle doesn't snap back into place as well as it used to. 
·  My handle sticks in the 'open' position. Can I fix it? 
·  There is a gap between the handle and the fascia. Can I fix it? 
·  What is the proper way to remove the display board and the main board? 
·  Why can't I use USB after installing or upgrading Emplode? 

·  Why is my Mark 1 having intermittent power failure problems?
 (Entry last updated on July 17th, 2003)

From Rob Schofield:

I've just looked at a Mk 1 that had intermittent power fail problems. Symptoms were that the player would be working fine and then *pow* nothing. Screen out, disks stopped. However, I could contact the player through hyperterm. So it was something to do with the 12V line/power supply.

After a lot of faffing about, I discovered that the two screws for the serial post were slightly loose. This meant that the serial port could move up and down slightly. Since it's soldered to the main board, the main board moves with it. On either side of the serial port is a number of regulator ICs hard mounted with plastic pop rivets to the back of the case. These can also move up and down slightly, hence when the motherboard moves, the regulators moved too.

So what's happening? If the drives move slightly and push down on the daughter board (bump in the car, for example), or the serial port moves while you're upgrading, the leads of the 12V regulator are just long enough to touch the (earthed) lip of the back panel underneath the motherboard, shorting the output of the regulator to 0V.

What you see: screen goes out, stays out, drives spin down.

What you smell: a funny smell of burning as the regulator and the power adaptor heat up.

What you can feel: the back of the case gets BLOODY HOT.

What you do: PANIC! and make a pathetic little squealing sound (similar to a stuck pig) as you try to yank the power plug out.


Note: It's possible that other power loss problems on the Mk1, with slightly different symptoms, can be caused by a loose audio daughterboard. Check that first, and if necessary, secure it with rigid-setting hot glue as described below.
How to fix the problem.

Take the lid off the player, and remove the drive tray with any drives. Be gentle releasing the cables from the board, there aren't that many left these days.

Unplug the header of the display cable from the motherboard.

Using a Posidrive (not Philips) No. 2 cross head screwdriver, remove the six large screws holding the main board to the case bottom.

Using a PD1, remove the 4 screws at the back of the case holding the case back into the case bottom.

Remove the case back and board together as a unit.It slides backwards out of the case.

Invert the board and look at the clearance between the folded-under lip of the back panel and the protruding leads of the 5 ICs mounted on the back panel. You may see either no, or very little clearance here.

Slightly loosen the two captive hex head screws on the back panel on each side of the serial connector using a 5mm hex socket.

Slide the mainboard up and away from the lip by gripping the serial port and pushing it upwards towards the top edge of the case back, inside it's cutout aperture, away from the lip. This should increase the clearance between the lip and the soldered legs sticking through the mainboard.

With a pair of fine, electronic sidecutters, clip away any excessively long protruding leads ends between the board and the lip making sure you remove the clippings completely to prevent shorts in the future. Don't do more than you need to, just 'cos you think you should - you probably only need to clip off about half a millimetre. Be careful not to damage the PCB or tracking.

Tighten the hex screws on the serial connector, making sure that you are holding the connector up at the top of it's cutout in the case back to maximise the distance between mainboard and lip.

Re-insert the main board assembly and back panel into the case. Replace the 4 rear case screws, and the 6 main board screws. DON'T overtighten and strip/break them. Get them finger tight, and then a gentle, slight twist will lock them.

At this point, if you have access to a hot glue gun, I recommend firstly removing the old Silicone sealant bead originally used to hold the small audio daughterboard in the middle of the main board (the one with a multi-colour ribbon cable attaching it to the main board) and then gluing the board with the rigid-setting hot glue to stop the board wibbling about.

Replace the display header cable, and PLEASE make sure you get it on correctly - not off-by-one-row or off-by-one-pin. It's not difficult on the Mk 1, so just take your time.

At this point, I would suggest you test your unit by applying power to see if the display comes up OK, which will show if you've done the job correctly.

Replace your drives on the sled inside the unit, and tighten the mounting screws. Same rule applies with the drive cables as with the display cable - take your time and get it right. Again, don't overtighten the sled screws. Apply power to check that the drives spin up OK.

Finally, put the lid back on again and make a final check that everything is still functioning.


·  Why are there pops, clicks, screeches, and stutters when I play MP3s? 
·  Half of my display is blank! 
·  In DC mode, player responds extremly slowly to button presses, and music skips. 
·  My Mk2's volume knob is being jumpy! 
·  Why do I get an error message about reiserfs? 
·  Why did my player wake up in the car and start blasting music all by itself? 
·  Why does my player start doing things all by itself? 
·  Why do my remote and front panel buttons only work intermittently? 
·  Why won't the tuner scan for the next station? 
·  Why did the tuner change stations on me? 
·  Is there a way I can test the player's hard disk for sector errors? 
·  Why does it always say End of Playlist? 
·  Is there a master parts list for the car player? 
·  What do the ide_data_test messages mean? 
·  How do I fix the Daylight Savings Time dates on the player? 
·  There are vertical lines on my display! 


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