Losing voices and sounds Primo 2.0 on double-din chinese HU

I've been experimenting with iGo Primo 2.0 (Yurbuh-Tuggly version) on my new head unit, trying to get it to work reliably. It is a Henhao double-din unit with the following specs: WinCE 6.0, 128 MB memory, 800x480 screen, 600 MHz processor. It should be able to handle Primo with most of the bells and whistles. Primo will be fully functional for a while but eventually, it seems to mute the front speakers when preparing to play a sound and then they will stay stuck on mute until I power off the HU. When the front speakers are stuck in mute mode no GPS sounds will be played but the GPS continues working on the screen. The radio (or other source) is still heard playing on the rear speakers only.

I'm not familiar with the inner workings of these multi-function head units but I'm guessing that the GPS software via WinCE sends an "interrupt" to the Linux side of the Head Unit. The unit then mutes the front speakers and transmits the audio from the GPS program. Once the sound is played, the speakers are supposed to be unmuted.

iGo 8.3 came with the unit and it works fine. Does Primo do something differently to cause this problem or could it be a symptom of a memory issue?

I've tried a couple different sys.txt file settings but it hasn't cured the problem yet.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Erkdajerk wrote:or could it be a symptom of a memory issue?

Not likely.
4 speaker 'double dins' sometimes have issues.
Yes, there is an 'interrupt' being sent (likely how the unit hardware/software deals with sound output), but it is not recovering once implemented.
Did you try this in sys.txt?:

Code:

[sound]
dev_channels=2

Yurbuh Tuggly wrote:Did you try this in sys.txt?:

Code:

[sound]
dev_channels=2

Just tried it. I was hopeful for an easy solution but that didn't solve the problem, unfortunately.

I see it came with iGO8 installed but you probably couldn't update the maps because of the license. Have you tried installing a cracked iGO8 from here instead of Primo to see if that works?

Did you backup the iGO8 to your computer before trying Primo? There may have been something in the sys.txt.

Actually, updating the maps on iGo 8.3 was easy. It's working fine with updated Navteq maps.

Even though I have a fully functional GPS with iGo 8.3 (minus the TTS), I really prefer the interface of Primo. After using it, it's tough to go back to v8.3

My preferred option is to get Primo working reliably. If I can't do that, then getting TTS working with iGo 8.3 will be my next move.

I really do appreciate the help and the suggestions. It feels like it's just one tweak away from working...just gotta figure out why it's intermittently not unmuting after playing a sound. I'll try using Primo with a normal, non-TTS voice and see if it's the TTS that's causing the problem. I guess I could try the other TTS engine (Loquendo) as well to see if that makes a difference.

chas521 wrote:Did you backup the iGO8 to your computer before trying Primo? There may have been something in the sys.txt.

Yes, I did. There really isn't much in the sys.txt file that came with iGo8.3 :

[map]
2dheadup=1

;[interface]
;shutdown_time=0

[3d_config]
disable_roadsign_navigation_mode=0

[interface]
laneinfo_signpost_enabled=1

[rawdisplay]
screen_x=800
screen_y=480

highres=0

To my untrained eye, I don't see anything relevant that would make a difference in Primo.

Erkdajerk wrote:with a normal, non-TTS voice and see if it's the TTS that's causing the problem

That is not likely to make any difference.
But as Chas521 said, there may be a clue in the sys.txt that came with iGo 8x on the unit.
Maybe post that and we'll have a look.
Sometimes individual hardware needs an individual solution and yes, we just have to track it down.

Nope...nothing in sys.txt of any significance.
If you are up for a little experimenting, until (or if) a solution is found for P2, you could try Primo 1.2...which is only one step down, still has basically the same interface as 2.0, but may be different enough to handle sound output in a different way that may sit better with your hardware.
See here:
:link:
Don't know about the viability of the download links...you may have to try them all.

[color="#FF0000"]EDIT:[/color] Just tried a few links, the "DepositFiles" choice from the selection given in the first link seems to work.

Or he could try Primo 1.1 http://www.navitotal.com/showthread.php?5500-November-Primo-1.1-from-my-device

If all the 'Primo's' fail in the same way...speaker cutout...I would think that maybe there is a reason such a unit came with an older version of iGo software.
Like maybe they could not get anything else to work correctly on their hardware either.

you could try this

http://www.navitotal.com/showthread.php?10713-Primo-2.1-WINCE-6-(UK)

FOLLOWUP RESEARCH:
Did a bit of looking around, and it seems that the 'speaker cutout' issue is quite common with "HU" based devices....with versions of Primo.
Here is a brief edited down selection of some things I found:

Some 2 din units have a button , normally top right of the unit that changes the sound mode.
Radio etc only, radio and Navi combined, Navi cuts out radio and overplays.


Rather than with Primo I think the issue is with the firmware/WinCE doing the mixing.

OK. I have stopped the radio dropping out on screen touch by adding the following code to the system.ini file located in the "save" folder.
[sound]
sound_muted="1"

Assuming everything on the unit is wired correctly, there seems to be no real solution at this point. All those with issues also reported that iGo8.x did not display the speaker problem(s).
So what is different?
Well, the code base is different, for sure, but one thing in common with (most) Primo releases is that they also include their own built-in media player.
Could there be a conflict with how that works (even though it may not be active) and the base software on some Multi-Functional double din devices? Maybe?

hossit wrote:you could try this

http://www.navitotal.com/showthread.php?10713-Primo-2.1-WINCE-6-(UK)

Thanks! I'll keep it in mind but I think I'm on to something:

I tried a different Primo floating around in the torrents. It's called "international" version. It seems to be working fine so far after testing it for a while. I used the same maps and voice files. The executable file on Yurbuh Tuggly's version is 9.6.5 whereas the "international" version is 9.6.2. This "international" version has a fairly lengthy sys.txt so now I will do some mix and matching to determine whether it is a setting in the sys.txt or a difference in the core executable or DLL files. I will report back with my results once I've experimented.

Hi NT,
Just adding my thoughts & experiences. I've got a chinese 2DIN unit from Erisin, which also came with iGo8. I've installed Primo 2 onto another microSD-Card and have that working fine. The only thing I've seen is that if I change the Verbosity Level in Primo from Verbose to Minimal, or any other setting, I actually loose all the GPS Voice messages. The only way to return it, was to use the Reset Button, held for 10 seconds, on the facia of my unit.

I'm using Yurbuh Tuggly's version of Primo 2, version 9.6.5.211211. I don't know if this has anything to do with your specific problem, but it might help diagnose the issue.
Jonathan