Bug in OS Ver 1.5.0 -2nd int. HDD not able to format anymore

[MRedZac]

Hi there !

As I got my Kronos some days ago, OS version 1.0.6., first what I did was upgrading internal RAM. Then I realized, that there´s a second SATA Slot available on the board, so I connected a second SSD to it. I took power from the 2nd power connector which is hidden underneath the original SSD on the same cable. Really Plug & Play !

So far, so good, original SSD on slot SATA 0 and my second SSD on SATA 1, the Kronos is booting fine and recognizes the second drive as "HDD:unformatted" as you can see in Disk mode.
No problem, it can be formatted with FAT32 from the Utility menue and gives you the full space up to 2 Terrabyte... After formatting, it is recognized as MS-DOS Formatted, internal USB Drive. Fine !!!!

BUT... After the update to version 1.5.0 the second HDD is again shown as "HDD:unformatted", the previous partition cannot be seen anymore and once you try to format it, like described before, it will not succeed. It stays while doing so at 0%, even after 1,5 hour of formatting...

I assume, this must be a bug in the new OS Update release... Korg, can you please fix it ?

(If it was done on purpose, then I don´t know, why Kronos has 2 SATA Slots, a HDD power cable with two power connectors and a HDD cage, ready to take 2 HDD - even an OS, which recognizes 2 internal HDDs... Due to the small size of the orignal SSD, it would be so good to have a second HDD available !)

[jeebustrain]

So you disassembled your Kronos (which voids your warranty) and plugged a HDD into the second Sata port (which is completely unsupported). It managed to work at one point, but it's failing on the new OS. How exactly is this a bug?

Can I call it a bug because when I plug my usb printer to the Kronos, it doesn't allow me to print sheet music of my sequences?

I don't think you're going to get much traction on this, buddy.

[jeebustrain]

I'm also going to file a pending bug that the customized OS update that I'm building to enable network access and possibly remote display will inevitably break functionality when Korg releases OS 2.0.

FIX THIS KORG!!!!

[michelkeijzers]

I'm also going to file a pending bug that the customized OS update that I'm building to enable network access and possibly remote display will inevitably break functionality when Korg releases OS 2.0.

FIX THIS KORG!!!!

LOL ... I copied my PCG Tools app to the Kronos but it doesn't work on the Kronos itself ... can Korg fix this too?

[aron]

I got an old Macintosh ROM and was able to boot OS 9 on the Kronos. The problem is that OMS is not working well. Some problem with the USB ports not recognizing my interface. I'm not sure but it could be an IRQ error. I saw some jumpers removed them and now my audio doesn't work.

[operaman]

Let's be nice guys. I actually find what he did interesting. If one could add another drive internally that would be cool. Even if you could not stream it would be nice to be able to store audio files, etc. He is asking an interesting question. If someone had not torn open the Kronos to begin with we would not have the fan upgrade or how to do the RAM upgrade.so it is an interesting question.

[jeebustrain]

Let's be nice guys. I actually find what he did interesting. If one could add another drive internally that would be cool. Even if you could not stream it would be nice to be able to store audio files, etc. He is asking an interesting question. If someone had not torn open the Kronos to begin with we would not have the fan upgrade or how to do the RAM upgrade.so it is an interesting question.

I'm not advocating that you shouldn't "hack" the kronos to give it different functionality. What I mentioned above is something I'm actually working on.

What got me was that he posted and claimed that it was a bug with the OS that his "hack" no longer worked with the newest version.

[joe in VA]

[quote What got me was that he posted and claimed that it was a bug with the OS that his "hack" no longer worked with the newest version.]

Technically, it was not a "hack". The underlying Linux operating system handles all the memory management and disk IO, and that worked as designed in versions prior to 1.5. The BIOS properly recognized the added memory/device, correctly reported it to the operating system, and the operating system properly configured it and made the resource available. That's how it's supposed to work in the computer world. V1.5 defeated this capability, either by mistake (bug) or by design. [/quote]

[jeebustrain]

[quote What got me was that he posted and claimed that it was a bug with the OS that his "hack" no longer worked with the newest version.]

Technically, it was not a "hack". The underlying Linux operating system handles all the memory management and disk IO, and that worked as designed in versions prior to 1.5. The BIOS properly recognized the added memory/device, correctly reported it to the operating system, and the operating system properly configured it and made the resource available. That's how it's supposed to work in the computer world. V1.5 defeated this capability, either by mistake (bug) or by design.

[/quote]


But you're forgetting something. It's not a PC. Sure, it has PC parts, a BIOS, and runs Linux, but it is a purpose built appliance sold as a synthesizer workstation.

We use F5 Load Balancers at my company to manage large web farms. Those are sold and supported as "appliances," but under the hood, they are PCs running Red Hat 5, with an extra software layer on top. If I wanted to, I could go into the appliance, enabled the Redhat package manager repositories and get X and Gnome running on the thing if I wanted to. Hell, I could shove an Nvidia Geforce card in there as well so I can run Compiz with all the eye candy. But you know what? As soon as we put the next version of F5's software (which includes an image of the entire root partition), all my handiwork is gone (or broken). You know why? Because it's not a PC. This is no different. Korg sells this as a single purpose device. They have a set of functional criteria to use when testing their software to verify that the device works as intended. Mounting a second physical hard drive is not part of those criteria.

I know from my own experimentation that both the GRUB config and /etc/fstab are pre-configured as part of the OS (and update) image. Maybe when he updated to the new OS, the device ID of the SSD assignment changed and the Kronos got confused because it was looking to mount the SSD using the /dev/sda moniker, but all of the sudden there was a giant 2TB hard drive there instead.

[SeedyLee]

Incidentally, I also believe the internal SSD is formatted using EXT3, rather than vfat or FAT32. External devices, such as USB sticks, are formatted by the Kronos as FAT32.

Perhaps if you try manually partitioning and formatting the drive using a PC as EXT3 it might work?

[drchris]

Maybe I'm missing something. What would another internal SSD do for you that a USB drive wouldn't ? Sounds like it was treated by the kronos as an external drive really.

Also, it really can't be a bug if it's a nonworking unadvertised function.

Chris

[MRedZac]

Incidentally, I also believe the internal SSD is formatted using EXT3, rather than vfat or FAT32. External devices, such as USB sticks, are formatted by the Kronos as FAT32.

Perhaps if you try manually partitioning and formatting the drive using a PC as EXT3 it might work?

I tried already with different formats... I even had a look to the original SSD, which in fact is a mixture of Ext2, Ext3, Primary and Extended Partitions... So I tried to format by linux computer with Ext2, Ext3, Ext4 and Fat32 - non of these were recognized by the Kronos and, as I said before, the Kronos by itself cannot format the 2nd disk anymore as well...

Well, the advantage of having a second disk inside is, that you still have your USB Ports free, you have no additional cabeling and no one is stealing your external HDD in a live situation... In fact, it is soooo convinient and the data transfer is much faster as well...

Even not officially supported, I consider it as a bug, because it was working before like it was supposed to work, and now, it´s not reacting in a logical way at all. - Since you can make the settings to format the second drive and since it even starts to format it, but never finishs, i think that it was planned to work like before, and not the way it does for the moment.

Another proof, that they are working on this feature might be, that the recognition has changed for the 2nd drive from "Internal USB Drive" to "Internal IDE Drive"... So come on Korgies, just finish what you´ve started !

Cheers
Garfield

[Sparker]

Why not restore it back to the state where it was last working - i.e. re-install OS Version 1.0.6?

I can see the fun in pushing the technical capabilities to the limit but have you aready exhausted the default capacity? (e.g. filled up the original hard drive?)

Personally I'd rather be spending my time finding out how to use all the stuff that's already in it for music making, rather than experimenting with adding new bits of electronic kit of unknown compatibility that won't have technical support from Korg, (yet).

Of course you can ignore what I'm saying if you have filled the original drive up

[MRedZac]

Why not restore it back to the state where it was last working - i.e. re-install OS Version 1.0.6?

I can see the fun in pushing the technical capabilities to the limit but have you aready exhausted the default capacity? (e.g. filled up the original hard drive?)

Personally I'd rather be spending my time finding out how to use all the stuff that's already in it for music making, rather than experimenting with adding new bits of electronic kit of unknown compatibility that won't have technical support from Korg, (yet).

Of course you can ignore what I'm saying if you have filled the original drive up

Well, I do not even need to try to start filling up the 13 GB, which are left on HDD, cause I can calculate already before, if my project fits or not...

So, here we go: If you calculate in average 50 MB for 1 Song, which is keeping 1 or 2 Stereo Wave Files, then you have space (if you have only these Songs on HDD) for about 266 Songs... But of course, you´ll have also some other stuff to be saved to the HDD (Soundpacks, Samples, etc.) and so, you´ll end up maybe with space for 100 or 150 Songs, which for some usage might not be enough, especially not, if you need to have some choice on what you want to play, while the basic setlist has to be at least 80 Songs for 1 Gig...) - Wave Files in Sequencer can only be played back in there, if they are located on an internal HDD. And this is the point, where a second internal HDD becomes interesting...

Yes, it would be a possibility to downgrade back to OS Version 1.0.6. but the question is, what this will influence... Will the Kronos work with the editor then ? - Will it be able to act as plugin, too ? - Will I loose all my work, once I update to a future update, which is coming after 1.5.0. ? - etc. etc. - So, it´s not that easy...

[jimknopf]

Going back behind 1.5 makes no sense at all from my view.

Both the additional user banks and the bigger sampling indices are essentials, and 1.5 also is the platform for the coming plugin/editor.
A second drive with lots of space would be nice, but is not nearly as important.

Do you really need a full audio backing track for each and every song you play? And why couldn't you use midi tracks instead of audio files in some cases?