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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? 
·  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?
 (Entry last updated on December 17th, 2007)

The current working theory on this one is that the player has an intermittent AC sensor switch.

According to the theory, here's how it works:

You turn off your car's ignition and the player goes into standby mode for a minute or so. Perhaps you've even set your standby timeout to 3 seconds, just to make sure it's really off as you get out of the car. You actually watch it go from standby mode to full-power-off mode right before your eyes.

You lock the car, thinking the player is really off and there's no problem. At this point, not even infrared commands or button pushes should wake up the player. Only starting the car's ignition should wake the player.

While you're working in your nice air-conditioned office, it starts getting hot outside. Or perhaps it's a cold snap. Or something that involves temperature change. The expansion or contraction of metal parts causes the intermittent leaf sensor switch to embark upon a career of evil. It makes the briefest and slightest of contact (or perhaps it briefly breaks contact, I don't remember which way the thing goes). Aside from the ignition wire getting turned on, this is the only other thing that is supposed to be able to wake the player from full-power off mode.

The player wakes up, in AC mode, in the middle of its last playlist. AC Mode usually means the player is at max volume. If you're lucky, one of your cow-orkers come into your office telling you that you left your car stereo blasting. If you're unlucky, you work late and discover upon departure that you need to call triple-A to jump your dead battery since all your cow-orkers have left for the night.

Solutions:

- Fix the problem.

- While you wait to get it fixed, you can deliberately place the player in sleep mode before you turn off the ignition key. Theoretically, it should boot into sleep mode if the problem happens. The problem is still there, the result is just less drastic. (Until you press a button to wake it up, then your sudden-max-volume-induced heart attack is a more drastic problem, but that's another ball of wax.)

- Don't leave the player in the car, silly. What, you want this rare and expensive item to get stolen? You should know better, shame on you.

Now, if you're sure that the AC sensor switch is fine, then you need to start looking for other causes. First, make sure to set the player standby timeout to just a few seconds so you're sure the player is shutting off quickly. That way it will be protected from stray IR, stalk, and button presses. Then start looking at other ways it could be awakened from power-off, such as a bad ignition switch on your car, or voltage spikes on the ignition wire.

Update: Courtesy Bitt Faulk from the empeg BBS:

"I had thought that it was due to a bad leaf switch in the mains barrel connector. I soldered a jumper across the appropriate pins so that it thought it was always in DC mode. This did not solve the problem.

I got in my car this morning to a dead battery, so I figured it was time to attack the issue again, and I think I might have found the actual culprit this time.

When my ignition is off, my accessory line floats. This could cause a transient voltage between ACC and ground ? enough to make the empeg think that it needs to turn on.

I'm going to try connecting a resistor between ACC and ground and see if that solves the problem. Can anyone see a problem with trying that?"

Click here to read the entire thread and see if there was an outcome.


·  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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