Potential Problems with Firmware 01.05.334

tomasin · Post by **tomasin** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:27

Upgraded to firmware release DPH1 01.05.334 and followed the release notes to do a full service scan. However, I had a drive error and the repair just stalled at about the 80% mark. I am using an external USB HDD (WD Caviar Green WD7500AACS). I decided to reformat using the Beyonwiz setup and then registered the drive. However, no recordings folder was created and HDD checks continued to fail. After several attempts to reformat the drive with my PC as FAT32 and registering it with the same results, with no recordings folder. I tried another similar drive with the same results. At this stage I reverted back to firmware 01.05.320 and everything worked again just fine. Seems to be an issue with the latest firmware, at least in my case.

Also worth noting is that I have DP-P2 on which I upgrade the firmware to DP-P2 01.05.344 also without the same issues. However, even with the H1 back to the old firmware I now am unable to play back any recordings on the P2 for more than 20-30 seconds before it stops and reverts back to the file menu. I will be reverting back to the 320 firmware also on the P2 tonight to see if this fixes this issue.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 10:35

Hi Tomasin,

It has been mentioned a number of times in this forum that internal drives, that includes the recording drive on a DP-H1, can *NOT* currently be larger than 500GB. The Beyonwiz firmware is unable to buffer enough of any disk larger than 500GB in order to properly manage or repair such disks.

Regards,
Ian.

Chuckles · Post by **Chuckles** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 17:56

Whilst 500GB was the limit with earlier versions of the firmware, the release notes for 1.05.334 include the following:

"1TB USB HDD now can be formatted successfully (previously actually it was not formatted)."

Now I realise Tomasin is using a 750GB HDD, not a 1TB HDD, but surely if it can handle 1TB it can handle 750GB?

Could this another case of the release notes reflecting a later beta with updated disk format tools that aren't actually in the 1.05.334 release? Or is there, maybe, a bug in how they're handling disks larger than 500GB and they only tested with 1TB HDDs?

If the 500GB limit still applies to USB disks attached to the DP-H1, the release notes don't currently reflect that.

tomasin · Post by **tomasin** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 18:18

IanSav wrote:It has been mentioned a number of times in this forum that internal drives, that includes the recording drive on a DP-H1, can *NOT* currently be larger than 500GB.

All I know is that it has been working on the H1 with Firmware 320 since it was released. When I reverted back to 320, I ran a Beyonwiz FORMAT, REGISTER and CHECK disk and it all worked fine as it did before. It may be something specific with this disk but it seems to work just fine.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 18:34

Hi Chuckles,

Chuckles wrote:"1TB USB HDD now can be formatted successfully (previously actually it was not formatted)."

Now I realise Tomasin is using a 750GB HDD, not a 1TB HDD, but surely if it can handle 1TB it can handle 750GB?

The 500 GB limit is for internal or Recording drives. The formatting fix is for external *NON* recording drives. These are two separate matters.

Regards,
Ian.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Oct 06, 2010 18:41

Hi Tomasin,

tomasin wrote:All I know is that it has been working on the H1 with Firmware 320 since it was released. When I reverted back to 320, I ran a Beyonwiz FORMAT, REGISTER and CHECK disk and it all worked fine as it did before. It may be something specific with this disk but it seems to work just fine.

Just because it happens to work most of the time does not mean that all things are working correctly.

The Beyonwiz firmware has to manage the disk used for the recording drive. At the moment the check and repair tool can only manage up to 500GB. Larger disks can usually *SILENTLY* fail in the check and repair process. Beyonwiz units have never been sold with disks larger than 500GB for this reason. The fact that you have not seen problems does not mean that your disk is problem free.

Regards,
Ian.

gruntaspanky · Post by **gruntaspanky** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 12:06

Hi all
I agree with Tomasin's findings.
I recently purchased a new DP-H1. Foolishly I upgrades the firmware to the latest before initialising a drive. I threw many drives at the machine from 80gb to 640gb. Either self powered or through a hub. All drives were recognised but when I went to record it advised me to check HDD. I would run the scan and it would freeze at about 80%. The only way out was to powercycle.
I eventually contacted Tech support and they advised me there was a known bug with the latest firmware. Part of the issue was the way the new firmware was naming the recording folder ie; recording not recordings.
I was directed to www.Beyonwiz.com -not AU to download an earlier version of the firmware. I downloaded *.05.320. This rolled back without a problem and retained all my settings. I can now use almost any hard drive without an issue. Scanning works fine and so does my WD 640Gb.
Hopefully they will rollout a new firmware without the issues.
Regards
Grunta

prl · Post by **prl** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 12:14

I've been using a 250GB WD Home Essentials on my H1 on all the betas (including 01.05.334, the one that was the recent public release) since 01.05.320, and I haven't had any problems with recording to the HDD.

gruntaspanky · Post by **gruntaspanky** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 12:20

prl wrote:I've been using a 250GB WD Home Essentials on my H1 on all the betas (including 01.05.334, the one that was the recent public release) since 01.05.320, and I haven't had any problems with recording to the HDD.

I was advised that if your drive was already initialised on the previous versions it will work with the newest firmware. The problem only occurs when you set up a new drive on the new firmware. Tech support advised me to set up the drive then upgrade to the new firmware. Ive elected to keep it at 320 till they fix it

prl · Post by **prl** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 12:32

gruntaspanky wrote:
prl wrote:I've been using a 250GB WD Home Essentials on my H1 on all the betas (including 01.05.334, the one that was the recent public release) since 01.05.320, and I haven't had any problems with recording to the HDD.
I was advised that if your drive was already initialised on the previous versions it will work with the newest firmware. The problem only occurs when you set up a new drive on the new firmware. Tech support advised me to set up the drive then upgrade to the new firmware. Ive elected to keep it at 320 till they fix it

I might have a go at emptying the drive over the weekend and reformatting it on the current beta to see if the problem is still there.

gruntaspanky · Post by **gruntaspanky** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 13:26

prl wrote:
gruntaspanky wrote:
prl wrote:I've been using a 250GB WD Home Essentials on my H1 on all the betas (including 01.05.334, the one that was the recent public release) since 01.05.320, and I haven't had any problems with recording to the HDD.
I was advised that if your drive was already initialised on the previous versions it will work with the newest firmware. The problem only occurs when you set up a new drive on the new firmware. Tech support advised me to set up the drive then upgrade to the new firmware. Ive elected to keep it at 320 till they fix it
I might have a go at emptying the drive over the weekend and reformatting it on the current beta to see if the problem is still there.

Good luck. Be prepared to roll back

peteru · Post by **peteru** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 13:34

No need. I'm sure prl will just hook up the drive to his Mac and fix it on the spot.

prl · Post by **prl** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 15:48

peteru wrote:No need. I'm sure prl will just hook up the drive to his Mac and fix it on the spot.

There's actually a bit more to creating a registered recording HDD than just the mkdosfs format step. I don't think it's hard to do, but I've never done it.

It's also a bit of a struggle to get the Finder to release its deathlike grip on the device to run mkdosfs in the first place.

peteru · Post by **peteru** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 16:45

Sounds like you just need to rename "recording" to "recordings" - pretty trivial as long as you can mount the filesystem.

prl · Post by **prl** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 17:49

peteru wrote:Sounds like you just need to rename "recording" to "recordings" - pretty trivial as long as you can mount the filesystem.

After I format the HDD on the Mac there won't be anything on it to rename

I'm not sure about the need to create the hyperspace folder or any of the visible folders like Recordings. They're not created by the /bin/check_hdd.vfat formatting script.

It does, though, create an empty file .grace in the top level of the newly formatted HDD and copies a 4kiB file, /etc/.super into .super in the top level. The .super file has WzFS, then the byte 0x01 in the first 5 bytes and is otherwise null filled.

prl · Post by **prl** » Sun Oct 17, 2010 10:44

Ok, I can confirm that if you reformat an external HDD on a DP-H1 in 01.05.334, things go very weird with the HDD check. On the latest beta, 01.05.348, format/check HDD on the H1 works without problems.

If you just format the drive using Format USB HDD, and then run Check USB HDD, the drive doesn't show up in the list of drives to check. The Check HDD popup can be exitted normally with the EXIT button.

If you then Register USB HDD, then running Check USB HDD stalls with the progress bar stuck at about 90%. In this state, the check can't be exitted, Power Toggle doesn't work, either the normal power-off or the power-off through the watchdog timer. The only way to shut down is by powering off at the mains.

When I look at the drive on my Mac, the registered HDD contains the expected .super file and Contents directories, but not the .grace file or the Recordings (or Recordings), Trashcan or hyperspace directories. This is far more wrong with the HDD than the Recording/Recordings naming problem that Beyonwiz Support suggested to gruntaspanky. In my Beyonwiz fileplayer, that was confirmed, at least in the part that the FilePlayer displays: the FilePlayer showed only the Contents folder, and not Recordings or Trashcan.

When I went back to 01.05.320 and did a HDD Check there, the check completed, and it created all the missing directories on the HDD.

Then when I went to 01.05.334 again, the HDD Check succeeded.

I reformatted the HDD under 01.05.334, and took it to my Mac without trying to do a HDD check. On the Mac I created an empty .grace file, and empty Recordings, Trashcan and hyperspace folders. I then took the HDD back to the Beyonwiz running 334, and did a HDD check. It completed without any problems.

So the short form is:

If possible, avoid doing a HDD format on the H1 under 01.05.334.
If you are running 01.05.334, and have to reformat, either contact Beyonwiz Support and ask for a more recent beta after explaining the problem, or revert to 01.05.320 (the aspect ratio on some services may be wrong, just ignore it), reformat the HDD, and then go back to 01.05.334, clear all services and rescan (then fix up timers, favourites etc).
If you're feeling confident, you can instead create an empty .grace file, and empty Recordings, Trashcan and hyperspace folders by connecting the USB HDD to an OS X Mac or a Linux PC, checking the HDD there, and making the necessary files and directories. You can temporarily run Linux on a Windows PC by using a LiveCD like Ubuntu. After that checking the HDD on the Beyonwiz should work. No change in the firmware is needed, and no rescan. But it is cumbersome, especially if you don't have an OS X or Linux machine to hand.
If you decide that it's all too much of a pain, and revert to 01.05.320 until the next release, then you'll need to clear all services and rescan (and restore timers and favourites) after going back to 320.

I'll raise the issue direct with a contact in Beyonwiz Support. Perhaps that may make them more willing to give more recent betas to people having this problem.