I've never modified it or anything of the sort. I finally used testmode for the first time today to see what was going on with a reboot every 2-3 minutes.

I suspect my Flashdisk is corrupt.

It turns out I can't read a huge chunk of the disk (missing folders). Thus the system crashes (reboots) as it tries to load the Nav data.

When I copied the flash drive to my SD card it amounted to 90MB.

I tried deleting everything off the flash drive and it still showed (flashdisk properties) a used space of 1.5GB (I assume the missing data was in that chunk).

I tried reinstalling the 2.0 update I it showed my I had 1.8GB used. (this time 200MB was visibly used and can be copied)

Am I S.O.L and can expect to have to rip this P.O.S out again and send it to Pioneer for another "Software Update"?

Is there anyway to do a chkdsk / scandisk / format on it?

Your post is part of the reason I never encourage anyone to get into their flash disk to diagnose problems. Now you've tainted the unit and you can only pray Pioneer doesn't give you any trouble for it. Do yourself a favor, rip it out as it is and send it in. I'm not suggesting you caused the initial problem, but you did contribute to it.

Again, mine is just one opinion and you'll surely get several others.

Is there anyway to do a chkdsk / scandisk / format on it?

Yes, I think you can do this [format] from the storage manager from the control panel. However, you will need a good backup copy of the FLASH from someone else to be able to put the files back. Don't do this without the backup copy ready, because if you do, and you don't restore the files, the unit probably won't be able to reboot even enough to copy from the flash disk. (How's that for a run-on sentence?)

BTW, one way to cause FLASH corruption would be to interrupt the constant power connection while the unit is storing something in FLASH. So, never disconnect the constant power feed before the unit has been powered down for at least a minute.

Is there anyway to do a chkdsk / scandisk / format on it?

 

Yes, I think you can do this [format] from the storage manager from the control panel. However, you will need a good backup copy of the FLASH from someone else to be able to put the files back. Don't do this without the backup copy ready, because if you do, and you don't restore the files, the unit probably won't be able to reboot even enough to copy from the flash disk. (How's that for a run-on sentence?)

 

BTW, one way to cause FLASH corruption would be to interrupt the constant power connection while the unit is storing something in FLASH. So, never disconnect the constant power feed before the unit has been powered down for at least a minute.

Thats a very useful run-on sentence. I've been searching all afternoon for a proper flash backup. It doesn't seem like anyone has made one publically availible.

I don't think the unit should have been writing anything at the time of failure. Its been at least two weeks since I got the unit back from Pioneer and I haven't done anything to it since. Except tweak the EQ. Besides that nothing that should have changed.

If I'm not able to reload a backuped flash and Pioneer rejects this unit as "tainted" I'm ready to go Office Space on this brick. It's already spent more time out of my car than providing me reliable entertainment.

Anyone out there with a f900 full backup they can share?