HowTo: Install Rockbox on the iPod Classics

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HowTo: Install Rockbox on the iPod Classics

Support
4, February 2015
165 Comments

PLEASE NOTE:

THIS ARTICLE IS VERY OLD AND OUT-OF-DATE. IT IS FOR REFERENCE  & INFORMATION USE ONLY.

WE DO NOT SUPPORT ROCKBOX AND CANNOT PROVIDE ANY HELP WITH IT.

There is a new version of this guide, updated to show the new bootloader and Rockbox utility method of installing.
Read here -> iPod 6g Classic Rockbox Installation

Introduction

Thanks to some ongoing work by one of the EmCore developers (Thank you TheSeven!!). We have a development version which is working great on my iFlash boards – this includes CF, SD and mSata cards.

Installation is a two part process. First part we replace the Apple OS with EmCore and once that is running we install Rockbox.

You can get more info about emCore and Rockbox at these links.

One great side effect of installing EmCore / Rockbox, is it removes the silly 128Gb LBA28 limits of the Apple OS for 6g (80Gb,160Gb,120Gb) owners.

Be warned you are making low level changes to your iPod – so read this warning and disclaimer, understand the risks before proceedings :-
http://www.freemyipod.org/wiki/EmCORE_Installation

Installation

  1. You read the disclaimer and warning above?!?!?!? No crying if it goes wrong.
  2. Download the latest development build files here :-  ClassicRockbox.
  3. Extract the archive to a convenient place, so you should have a folder called ClassicRockbox.
  4. If you have iTunes installed, hit ctrl + alt + del and start task manager. In task manager goto the Processes tab and click on show processes from all users. Then right click on these processes and select kill process tree :- iPodService.exe , iTunesHelper.exe , AppleMovileDeviceService.exe .
  5. Connect your iPod to the computer.
  6. Hold down Menu + Select, for around 5 to 10 seconds – keep holding until it stops resetting and the iPod looks like it has died – screen should be blank and no backlight.
  7. Wait a moment for the computer to install the iPod device recovery driver.
  8. In the folder ClassicRockbox, double click bootstrap_ipodclassic_itunes.exe.
  9. A UMSBoot drive should appear. Drag and drop the installer-ipodclassic.ubi file in to the UMSboot drive.
  10. Now safe eject the UMSboot drive.
  11. EmCore should now boot up on the iPod and finish installing itself.
  12. Select Rockbox and that will start the fallback Rockbox image on EmCore.
  13. Rockbox should start and enter USB mode, wait for the iPod to appear on your computer.
  14. Once the iPod drive appears, drag and drop the .rockbox folder to the iPod.
  15. Safely eject the iPod and remove the USB lead.

Remember this is a development version – so leave a comment let me know how it is working for you…. especially the storage cards you are using….

Task Manager Kill Processes
Kill all the iTunes related processes before connecting iPod.
Get iPod in to DFU Mode
Get iPod in to DFU Mode
Run Boot Loader Exe
Run Boot Loader Exe, UMSboot drive should appear.
Copy UBI file
Copy UBI file to UMSboot drive and safely eject.
EmCore Install
emCore will install itself by flashing the iPod
Copy RockBox Folder
Copy .rockbox Folder to iPodClassic drive.
iPod 6g Loaded
Finally load up lots of music, like I have (PNY 256Gb SDXC)
Rockbox info screen
Rockbox info screen (PNY 256Gb SDXC)

165 thoughts on “HowTo: Install Rockbox on the iPod Classics”

    1. Kevin

      They call it unusable because you have to use emCore to install it, and some of the features don’t work properly yet. But yes, you can run Rockbox on the Classic models.

  2. Chris Burck

    Regarding step 7:

    “Wait a moment for the computer to install the iPod device recovery driver.”

    Where does this driver come from? Is it part of the “native” Windows driver libraries (I’m running Windows 8.1-64)? Or do I need to install iTunes?

    TIA,

    Chris

    Reply ↓
  3. Jonathan

    Derek, just install rockboxutility, plug your Sansa in, start up the utility and follow the instructions. It was the easiest of installations for me. I just put rb on an iPod 5g yesterday, and plan to upgrade it with Tarkan’s mods, but the clip zip is my current go to rockbox player.

    Reply ↓
  4. Derek

    Hello,

    I tried creating folders and subfolders on the root of my iPod Classic 160GB so I could copy/paste music but first, while creating those folders with subfolders inside and it would freeze, and second, while coping m4a music songs over and I would get some error asking if I want to correct or something and at that point the iPod disconnects itself from my PC.

    Could someone please help?

    Thank you,

    Reply ↓
    1. Tarkan

      @Derek – cannot help about your Sansa Clip and I don’t think anyone reading will be able to help either.

      With the iPod Classic I would suggest restoring back to the Apple OS using iTunes and checking the iPods work correctly, before attempting EmCore / Rockbox.

  5. Derek

    Hello: This is a great and easy tutorial and the same for the Head-fi tutorial so I am not sure why the main Rockbox website makes it so difficult to learn and when asking questions on their forums and I am given answers that I do not understand. My questions are and I do apologize but since this tutorial is for installing Rockbox on the iPod Classic but is there a tutorial for installing Rockbox on the SanDisk Sansa Clip Zip? The version is V01.01.18A.

    Reply ↓
  6. Wolf

    Dear Tarkan, Im having quite a headache. Ipod 7th gen installed emcore, droped installer-ipodclassic.ubi file in to the UMSboot drive. Installed booted everything nice…exept I have no way of creating a content partition, when getting into rockbox its displays the following message “No partition found insert USB cable and fix it” the problem is i cant partition the disk through my PC it says that it couldnt be created. So im not able to finish the whole instalation process by dropping the .rockbox folder, Im totally stuck here :/

    Reply ↓
    1. Tarkan

      I take it you did not restore via iTunes before installing EmCore? If you drill through the EmCore Tools menu, you will find a setting to format the data partition – I think that should prepare the drive correctly so it can be seen by the computer and Rockbox.

  7. mike g

    I have an ipod classic 160GB 6G? model #A1238.

    I installed emCORE boot loader and then used the rockbox utility to install the latest rockbox. Actually, it didn’t give me any choice of other versions since ipod classic is “unusable.”

    It looks fine, but rockbox randomly stops responding while playing music. Transferring files over USB causes lockups.
    Running the “fallback” version of rockbox from emCORE was stable enough to transfer all my music, but that’s about it: if I try to build the database, the thing crashes.

    The MOD, SID plugin sounds good but is very flakey. While the player didn’t lock, it seemed like it couldn’t decide whether to loop or shuffle. Often, the file description did not match the file being played. Many SID files contain multiple songs and do not start at the right address, so maybe it is not the player’s fault.

    The main reason I wanted to run rockbox was to avoid having to convert all my FLACs and OGGs, to Apple codecs. Really, that is looking easier at this point.

    Reply ↓
  9. Ryan

    Hmm. Interesting predicament: After Rockboxing the 5th gen iPod Video, I tried to simply copy my FLAC files onto the device using Windows, as is recommended by Rockbox. The process crashed several times while I attempted it and the resulting tracks were incomplete and skipped ahead to the next track when played. I then tried to use Mediamonkey to copy the tracks but I get a message that each track “is not supported by the device.” Any ideas, links? I know this perhaps isn’t the ideal location for this question, but I have done extensive internet research which has not yielded anything useful.

    Reply ↓
    1. Tarkan

      @Ryan – you need to either put the iPod in to diskmode -or- dual boot back in to the Apple OS. The Rockbox USB Handler is broken suffers from very slow transfer speeds and causes file system corruption.

  10. Ryan

    Beautiful. Thank you. Are there further directions located somewhere as to how to do a dual boot? I’m not sure exactly how I would do it based on the directions on this page. Also, I’m using a 5th gen iPod. The reason I want to install Rockbox is I want to be able to play FLAC files.

    Reply ↓
    1. Tarkan

      This page is about installing Rockbox on the Classics – which is totally different from the Videos.

      Have a read here – Rockbox.org FAQ it covers most things including how to dual boot.

  11. Ryan

    I have built a few of these SDXC iPods with iFlash Bundles, but I have yet to install Rockbox on any of them. I would like to install on one of these as a test and still run iTunes on the remainder of my iPods. Can anyone tell me if this is conceivable? I’m worried that I’ll have to do it to all or none of my iPods. Also, can you go back and reinstall the Apple OS if I don’t like Rockbox?

    Reply ↓
    1. mobes

      @Ryan – You will want to dual boot the Apple OS and Rockbox. You will be able to boot into either OS. If you don’t like Rockbox or doesn’t seem to be working right you can just uninstall Rockbox and you will be back to your original Apple OS. As I understand it, you don’t have to use Rockbox other than if you have a I think 6th or 7th gen ipod and wish to exceed 128gb. There’s limitations to Apple’s os and anything greater than that. But, based on what I’ve read the 256gb works well with Rockbox.

    2. Tarkan

      @Ryan – you can always go back to the Apple OS – with the iPod Video’s you can dual boot either to Rockbox or the Apple OS. But with the Classics you would have to uninstall EmCore/Rockbox and switch back to the Apple OS (no way to dual boot).

  12. mobes

    Not sure if this is the right place for this question. I installed Rockbox on my 5th gen video with the Sandisk 64gb SD card and it dual boots fine and the apple os side works. I use MediaMonkey to manage my music. When it was done copying over to my ipod Rockbox started and has been stuck at committing database 1/9. Does anyone know what happened or what I need to do to get it working with Rockbox? It worked prior to my changing out the hard drive.

    Reply ↓
  13. Jeff

    I think I tried that initially and it didn’t seem to work (either the file wasn’t loaded or disappeared), but after seeing your comment I tried again and I was able to install rockbox properly.

    Thanks.

    Reply ↓
  14. Jeff

    I ordered your ‘iFlash bundle’ a while ago. Just finished putting it in with an 8GB sd card to test it, and am having difficulties.

    I previously had rockbox installed on my ipod classic 160gb thin, before it stopped working. After replacing the card, I can boot to emcore again, but I cannot get the ipod to mount on the computer except in UMSboot mode through emcore. Rockbox fallback image refuses to load and gives a panic error message. Trying to reformat the data partition through emcore gives a “*Panic* Error formatting hard drive: 8000001C”
    Any help would be appreciated

    Reply ↓
  15. Derek

    Hello! My iPod Classic 160GB does have rockbox installed. This is the first time I am seeing this happen, but without my iPod being plugged in and every once in a while it flashes the Emcore white screen and than most of the time it is a steady black screen, and with the iPod plugged into either my PC or the wall and than it will constantly flash the white Emcore screen and won’t stop until I unplug it.

    I need some HELP ASAP. How do I fix this?

    The flashing white screen says Emcore v0.2.3 r859

    Reply ↓
  17. Johannes

    Hi Tarkan,
    I just flashed the latest emcore version from that zip together with rockbox, but now for some reason emcore does not autostart rockbox anymore. I do have ‘Default action’ and ‘Fastboot Action’ both set to rockbox, but it still boots into emcore every time, and I then have to click on ‘rockbox’ to start it. This is on emCORE v0.2.3 r967:968.
    Any ideas?
    Cheers

    Reply ↓
  18. JJ

    Hey guys,

    So I just installed my 256gb SD card in my 160gb Ipod Classic 6g. The hardware installation went smoothly (thanks Tarkan! the parts were very well made and the instructions were awesome), I plugged it in, restored using ITunes, and it showed 127GB.

    Then I Followed the instructions for Rockbox hoping to break this limit and show the full 256, however, as soon as I safely eject the temporary drive, I get stuck on the booting screen.

    As soon as I eject, the following text shows up:

    Loading UBI File…
    Rearranging files…
    Booting…

    But it has been stuck like this for the past hour. Does it usually take a long time, or am I doing something wrong?

    Thanks in advance!

    Reply ↓
    1. Tarkan

      @JJ – it is because you restored with iTunes first, and that has caused the partition table to be written showing 128Gb. You need to reformat the SDXC card in a card reader so you have a FAT32 partition for the full size of the card.

      Then you can re-install in to the iPod, and when booting up EmCore, go to the tools menu and format data partition.

    1. Tarkan

      There are mSata drive specific builds of Rockbox – the standard build of Rockbox does not work very well with SSD drives in general.

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