*new* Gp2x Mkii Has Already Froze Twice With Official A/c Adapter


GameCop

Still Fresh
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Aug 18, 2006
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Hello there,

Yesterday I received my GP2x so I could type up a review for it on my website. I've been having some possible problems that may go in the unusual category.

First thing's first, since the new MKII doesn't come with any batteries, I went ahead and used the official A/C adapter I purchased during the entire occurences below. I plugged in a US cable instead of the Euro that is supplied with it into the adapter. I pushed in the otherside of the adapter just about all the way in the GP2x (there's a milmeter of slack). My SD card is a 2GB Sandisk Secure Digital Card.

Now, the first time I put in my SD card (after I formatted it through Guyfawkes' User Guide) .. it did not recognize it in the GP2x. I tried clicking Videos in the menu and it went to a black screen and froze. I turned off the GP2x and turned it back on and it was able to then recognize the SD card.

I remember the first time I played a video.. it was all color grainy for the first 2 seconds and then it started showing it correctly. After I tried replaying the video from the beginning, it no longer did that.

I then was playing with the gngeo emulator and selected the setting with sound and at 244mhz (default setting)? It showed the current clockspeed at 200mhz. When I went back to the menu after a couple times to load a game, it froze for the second time. (not while loading a game, just scrolling in the menu)

I also noticed that the current clockspeed changed from 200mhz to 166mhz in gngeo and I'm not sure if this number is a setting in the program or is the actual speed of the GP2x changing after I booted it again in gngeo.

Later, I ran DrMD and played a few games, but then it froze right when I selected "Load ROM". (EDIT: I looked back into this freeze and it seems that it froze when I tried to load Sonic 2 only, so it is probably just the game for this freeze)

Might I add that the GP2x never froze during gameplay, only these 3 occurences on the first day I received it.

.......

I would like to know if these are normal occurences for the GP2x? What could be causing these problems and how can I resolve it from happening agan?

Personally, I'm just getting curious if this is a good quality handheld device or not, and I'm not here to type an "incorrect" review. ;)

........
 
GameCop posted on Aug 18 2006 at 08:35 PM said:
I remember the first time I played a video.. it was all color grainy for the first 2 seconds and then it started showing it correctly. After I tried replaying the video from the beginning, it no longer did that.

........
hmm... could be from not having it on a high enough clock on video player... You can choose from 3 different settings. I've never had this problem though, personally.

You must have a bad rom with Sonic 2, as it normally runs excellently on DRMD.

All I can say is that as of recent build quality has been excellent, with the great service from places such as gp2x.co.uk helping with the ones that slip through, and the firmware 2.0 soeems quite stable.
 
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I am having the exact same problems!
Sometime when i choose Video the screen gets black and when im
playing a video it gets frozen after a few minutes and sometimes after a few seconds. Someone said that its Divx that is not good supported but i also encounter these problems with XviD.. I really like to know if my GP2X is broken or something since im one of the not so many people who has these video problems.
Its really irritating me because this machine costs me big time (for me) and i wanted it for videos and now that part doesn't work im really depressed about it. I would like to know whats really going up with it.. I also choose Full but it doesn't matter, other sd cards also doesn't help and it happens with battery's and the official ac-dc adaptor aswell.
 
Well, I just tried the TV-out support.

The first time I tried running DrMD the screen went black then blue and I had to shut off the GP2x. After I turned it back on, it worked. For gngeo.. only half of the screen shows (left side) when loading and playing a rom no matter what I do. It also doesn't work if I try to go back to LCD mode! Also, when the tv-out cord is plugged in, and I'm in LCD mode..sound comes out of the TV as well. If I'm in TV-out mode, sound will come out of the GP2x as well.

It has no problems showing the menu screens and videos full screen. Sometimes though if I paused the video and pressed play again in TV-out mode, the video would slow down.

What's going on? <_<
 
GameCop posted on Aug 18 2006 at 10:40 PM said:
Well, I just tried the TV-out support.

The first time I tried running DrMD the screen went black then blue and I had to shut off the GP2x. After I turned it back on, it worked. For gngeo.. only half of the screen shows (left side) when loading and playing a rom no matter what I do. It also doesn't work if I try to go back to LCD mode! Also, when the tv-out cord is plugged in, and I'm in LCD mode..sound comes out of the TV as well. If I'm in TV-out mode, sound will come out of the GP2x as well.

It has no problems showing the menu screens and videos full screen. Sometimes though if I paused the video and pressed play again in TV-out mode, the video would slow down.

What's going on? <_<

please PM me your MSN adress
 
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Dennis1989 posted on Aug 18 2006 at 01:42 PM said:
GameCop posted on Aug 18 2006 at 10:40 PM said:
Well, I just tried the TV-out support.

The first time I tried running DrMD the screen went black then blue and I had to shut off the GP2x. After I turned it back on, it worked. For gngeo.. only half of the screen shows (left side) when loading and playing a rom no matter what I do. It also doesn't work if I try to go back to LCD mode! Also, when the tv-out cord is plugged in, and I'm in LCD mode..sound comes out of the TV as well. If I'm in TV-out mode, sound will come out of the GP2x as well.

It has no problems showing the menu screens and videos full screen. Sometimes though if I paused the video and pressed play again in TV-out mode, the video would slow down.

What's going on? <_<

please PM me your MSN adress
PM'd it to you. (Edit: That convo went nowhere, please help me out!)
 
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I don't know what's causing you're problems but if it helps:

My GP2X sometimes freezes during video playback. I find that resetting the unit usually sorts that out. It usually only happens about once every 30mins or so. I think it depends on what encoding the video is using and what settings I've got cpu speed set to. It's not a big problem for me though.

I haven't used gngeo yet, but DrMD work fine for me - when a rom works it works for ever.

However, this is my second GP2X. The first one I got was definitely faulty - the unit would behave as if the batteries were flat even when they were not and even if I was using the power adapter. If I left it switched off for a while (about 24hrs) it would work normally for a short time afterwards (about 20min). That was a mark 1 model; the unit they (gbax.com) replaced it with was a mk2. I've had it for months now, and no problems. I'm delighted with it. :)

The Mk2's are definitely better built than the Mk1s (it even had the screen pre-attached!) but there are bound to still be some dodgy ones. It sounds to me (and I'm no expert) that your unit might be faulty. If so, investigate it as much as possible and send it back. If you got it from gbax, they will try to test it before replacing it, so it's best if you can tell them something that always causes a problem.

I hope you can write a positive review - the GP2X is a great little unit - a bit rough around the edges maybe, but big hearted all the same. I wouldn't swap it!
 
Dennis: check how your vids are encoded. There are some good guides on here to get the best results. I've played about ten videos so far, and one had a problem with freezing -- turned out it had some errors in encoding.

GameCop: I'm not sure you grasp the whole "open source" thing. The "problems" you're talking about are bugs in homebrew software, not really to do with the GP2X itself.

1) Probably a bad rom of Sonic 2. Get another one (try different codings, [!], [h], etc).

2. GNGeo is notoriously difficult to get working properly. An early version also had a bug which set the clock at 166mhz. Make sure you have the very latest version and read the boards for help. Once it's working right, it's an amazing emulator!

3. Double-check what speed you can overclock to (try DrMD or the speedtest in cpu_speed 2.0), as the GP2X is only rated to 240mhz. Anything over that is a bonus, but some people will crash above it.

4. Having to reset a machine to recognize a re-inserted SD card is nothing new, many devices require that. And 2 seconds of grainy color, once? Not even worth discussing. I think your standards are waaaaayyy too high.

5. TV-out depends on each program, how the developer has implemented it. GNGeo's has been said to be not working before (I've never tried it), although I thought the very latest version made it better. There is also a "TV-out fix" program that you can run first, but I don't know if that helps in this case. Check the GNGeo thread in the newszone.

6. By the way, there is a homebrew mplayer port available now, you may have a better time using that for videos (I haven't tried it, sorry).

Anyway, I hope you get used to this type of gadget and start having fun -- there's a great deal of enjoyment to be had!
 
gaterooze posted on Aug 19 2006 at 12:07 AM said:
Dennis: check how your vids are encoded. There are some good guides on here to get the best results. I've played about ten videos so far, and one had a problem with freezing -- turned out it had some errors in encoding.

GameCop: I'm not sure you grasp the whole "open source" thing. The "problems" you're talking about are bugs in homebrew software, not really to do with the GP2X itself.

1) Probably a bad rom of Sonic 2. Get another one (try different codings, [!], [h], etc).

2. GNGeo is notoriously difficult to get working properly. An early version also had a bug which set the clock at 166mhz. Make sure you have the very latest version and read the boards for help. Once it's working right, it's an amazing emulator!

3. Double-check what speed you can overclock to (try DrMD or the speedtest in cpu_speed 2.0), as the GP2X is only rated to 240mhz. Anything over that is a bonus, but some people will crash above it.

4. Having to reset a machine to recognize a re-inserted SD card is nothing new, many devices require that. And 2 seconds of grainy color, once? Not even worth discussing. I think your standards are waaaaayyy too high.

5. TV-out depends on each program, how the developer has implemented it. GNGeo's has been said to be not working before (I've never tried it), although I thought the very latest version made it better. There is also a "TV-out fix" program that you can run first, but I don't know if that helps in this case. Check the GNGeo thread in the newszone.

6. By the way, there is a homebrew mplayer port available now, you may have a better time using that for videos (I haven't tried it, sorry).

Anyway, I hope you get used to this type of gadget and start having fun -- there's a great deal of enjoyment to be had!

I have found out that my gp2x gets way to warm!
 
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Describe WAY, mine gets warm to the touch after a couple hours of play(i think of it as a way of telling me to take a break).
 
correct me if i'm wrong but isnt there a known issue with mkII and the official adapter? or has this been sorted now?
 
Shikaku posted on Aug 19 2006 at 01:51 AM said:
stormyandcold posted on Aug 18 2006 at 06:55 PM said:
correct me if i'm wrong but isnt there a known issue with mkII and the official adapter? or has this been sorted now?

Yes there is... I know of no details but I am like 99.9% sure there is.

Well i was playing with my GP 2700 mAh battery's and they where warm, the lcd screen was warm, the battery's were warm, and the sd card was really warm too. I think its or the CPU or The LCD card.. i had these same probs with my videocard and every game froze so it make some sense.
 
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you can always send it back, or find a way to cool it(but my gp2x gets like that after some overclocking, but it doesn't sound like you are).
 
i_am_a_noob posted on Aug 19 2006 at 06:24 AM said:
you can always send it back, or find a way to cool it(but my gp2x gets like that after some overclocking, but it doesn't sound like you are).

No.. rather underclocking! i have put it on 40 MHz.. What is the standard MHz? I think 199 because when it freezes he puts it back to 199 MHz.. maybe i have accidently did something in the lcd/cpu/ram tweaker 2.0 and its wrong? Could someone please say all the default settings so i can check that?
 
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Anyway, I am having a new problem which is I can't seem to connect my GP2x to the USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 ports. Windows XP keeps recognizes it as an unknown device and can't install it. What's going on now? <_<
 
GameCop posted on Aug 19 2006 at 06:33 AM said:
Anyway, I am having a new problem which is I can't seem to connect my GP2x to the USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 ports. Windows XP keeps recognizes it as an unknown device and can't install it. What's going on now? <_<

Thats happening for more people.. use a cardreader and the problem is solved. They are cheap.
 
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Dennis1989 posted on Aug 18 2006 at 09:38 PM said:
GameCop posted on Aug 19 2006 at 06:33 AM said:
Anyway, I am having a new problem which is I can't seem to connect my GP2x to the USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 ports. Windows XP keeps recognizes it as an unknown device and can't install it. What's going on now? <_<

Thats happening for more people.. use a cardreader and the problem is solved. They are cheap.
I already have one, but I'd like to use a built in feature in the GP2x which is USB support. Afterall, why should it then come with a USB cable? To choke ourselves? :p
 
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I wasted 3 hours trying to get the USB working on the GP2x and after reading the wiki.. there were some reports of the cable that is supplied with the GP2x is faulty..and sure enough, they are right. I used another cable that is for my PSP and it worked like a charm. Gamepark Holdings should use higher quality products.
 
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