S20 loses SD card access on each reboot (build 893)

[maxmp]

@Chris138 your app settings seem to be OK. I will continue the investigation (trying to reproduce it on OneUI3.0 with few sd cards, my guess something changes sd-card "name" between reboots).

[BingBadaBoom]

Hey all,

     I see people are still having issues with Poweramp. I solved my issues by doing the following changes that I have said earlier. I don't know if this will help anyone, but maybe try adjusting your settings to the picture I attached. Then trying the solutions to see if it made any difference. Since it seems everyone is shooting in the dark with solutions, maybe it won't hurt to adjust your settings to mine and maybe it will fix your issue. 

Edited February 17, 2021 by BingBadaBoom

[maxmp]

@MaxOfS2D one extra question, how exactly permissions are given in Music Folders - is it for whole SD card or for specific folders? Also what is the file system on sd card? 

Anyway, I did few tests (OneUI3.0/Android11):

- Note20 Ultra - 10 reboots with legacy option, 10 reboots without - no issues
- S10+ - 10 reboots with legacy option, 10 reboots without. 2 times sd card mounted with the delay ~30sec. While sd card is not mounted, you obviously can't access files (as from 2nd OP video), but it works OK after that period. Unfortunately, app can't access files if storage is not mounted. It's not recommended to do a rescans while card is not mounted yet.

From the logcat system does some SD card checking. I guess system decides it needs to check it if sd card has some issues/inconsistencies, but again, this is happening only for 10% of reboots. Possible solution here is to change sd card, or at least re-formatting the sd card on computer with all checks enabled/secure erase to touch all memory blocks, as Android does only quick re-format.

[Chris138]

@BingBadaBoomAll my settings were the same.  Didn't change a thing.

edit: @maxmpI used both a spare (new) Sandisk Evo+ 512 gb and a spare (used before but not on S10E) Samsung Pro+ 128 gb after reformatting on comp.  Issue persisted.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Chris138

[maxmp]

@Chris138 the issue is related to sd card unavailable for some time after reboot. It’s much longer sometimes for Samsung’s Android 11. Unfortunately app can’t do much here. In any case avoid manual rescan while sd card is in this state after reboot.

[andrewilley]

To test this, could the folks who get this problem on every reboot try turning off all the automatic scanning options in PA Settings > Library > Scanner (such as Auto-scan, Rescan Immediately, Initial Scan, USB Disconnection/SD Card Mount). Then reboot and see if the Library database is retained afterwards.

Andre

[BingBadaBoom]

3 hours ago, maxmp said:

@Chris138 the issue is related to sd card unavailable for some time after reboot. It’s much longer sometimes for Samsung’s Android 11. Unfortunately app can’t do much here. In any case avoid manual rescan while sd card is in this state after reboot.

I can say that this is true. When I restart my phone and immediately go into Poweramp, all my music says "file not there". Since I have Auto rescan on, my music takes about a minute to appear. I turned off auto rescan to see if this would fix my problem but it didn't. My music wouldn't show up at all until I rescanned my music. Just FYI...

Edited February 19, 2021 by BingBadaBoom

[andrewilley]

@BingBadaBoom With all the auto-scan options turned off, I would still expect the Library database category lists of albums/songs/etc to remain intact after a reboot. However if the SD Card has gone AWOL when you first run Poweramp, trying to actually play any of the songs (or view an Info/Tags) would result in a File Not Found error until such time as the SD Card gets remounted. 

Andre

[BingBadaBoom]

7 minutes ago, andrewilley said:

@BingBadaBoom With all the auto-scan options turned off, I would still expect the Library database category lists of albums/songs/etc to remain intact after a reboot. However if the SD Card has gone AWOL when you first run Poweramp, trying to actually play any of the songs (or view an Info/Tags) would result in a File Not Found error until such time as the SD Card gets remounted. 

Andre

I'm not too sure if that's true. Because after I restart my phone PA doesn't see any files, which we have established. But if I go into my phone and look for my SD card and look for music I can see everything just fine (after reboot)... 

[andrewilley]

10 minutes ago, BingBadaBoom said:

Because after I restart my phone PA doesn't see any files

And you have ALL of the automated scanning options turned off in PA Settings > Library > Scanner ?

Andre

[BingBadaBoom]

9 minutes ago, andrewilley said:

And you have ALL of the automated scanning options turned off in PA Settings > Library > Scanner ?

Andre

Not sure what all the rescan options are, but when you turn auto rescan off, it automatically turns off all the rescan features.

Edited February 19, 2021 by BingBadaBoom

[andrewilley]

I just did a test to see what expected behaviour should be with Auto-scan turned off and music folder access not available after a reboot.

I switched Settings > Library > Scanner > Auto-Scan off, then I renamed the music folder on my SD Card so PA could no longer see it. Then I rebooted my phone (Samsung, Android 10) and started Poweramp.

The database Library list was still fully intact after the reboot, with all songs present in their albums/etc - although obviously none of them could actually be played at that point. I noted that embedded cover artwork was no longer displayed in lists, which is not surprising as those images are not separately cached long-term, but loaded directly from audio file metadata when needed. When I renamed the folder back to normal, files could be played again.

@BingBadaBoom @Chris138  How does the above process compare to what you are experiencing under Samsung Android 11?

Andre

[BingBadaBoom]

@andrewilley

I am not too sure if I want to mess with my folders in PA or in my phone by renaming or messing with the directory. I had to do more than a few adjustments, possibly lucky ones, to get my PA to read my files correctly.

     All I know is that I believe PA is having some issue getting access to the SD card immediately after a reboot. Its as if it needs to rebuild a new path/directory after you open the app after a reboot, and that only happens when you open PA for the first time. I don't understand why that is needed since PA can allow itself to store its own memory/cache. Like I said before though, it takes up to one minute for all my image cach, tag edits, or anything related to files to "rebuild" itself. During this "rebuild" if I try to play a song it says "file error or not found" and only works until is does a rescan. Possibly this is a phone to app communication/safety issue that android is doing. Not allowing the SD card to be read from any app until it the app is opened.

 

[andrewilley]

@BingBadaBoom So when you first start PA after a reboot, is the Library completely empty (nothing at all showing) or is the category structure of folders/albums/songs there, but no album art for each title and nothing will play until the new scan has completed? If you can see any song titles at all, what do you get if you immediately long-press on one of them to view Info/Tags (is the path the same as you see after the rescan completes)?

Andre

[MotleyG]

57 minutes ago, BingBadaBoom said:

@andrewilley

.All I know is that I believe PA is having some issue getting access to the SD card immediately after a reboot. 

So what happens if you wait say 5 or even 10 minutes after a reboot before you access PA? Not that you would do this regularly, but just to confirm the theory about delayed access.

[jano05]

@andrewilley

[andrewilley]

Yes @jano05 can I help you?

Andre

[Chris138]

18 hours ago, andrewilley said:

@BingBadaBoom So when you first start PA after a reboot, is the Library completely empty (nothing at all showing) or is the category structure of folders/albums/songs there, but no album art for each title and nothing will play until the new scan has completed? If you can see any song titles at all, what do you get if you immediately long-press on one of them to view Info/Tags (is the path the same as you see after the rescan completes)?

Andre

The structure is there for me with no album art and can't play until the new scan.  The storage location it shows is the same in the info/tags.  The tags don't contain info outside of song title until after the rescan.  Changing the scanner settings don't do a thing, I already went down that road a few days ago.  Samsung Music and Muzio Player have no problem resuming play/accessing songs again upon restart and the sd card does not become unmounted for a small period of time in those apps.  I can access the sd card just fine upon restart going directly into storage just like @BingBadaBoom.   @maxmp

 

And as far as length of time goes @MotleyG, when I start up PA after a phone restart it doesn't matter if it's ten seconds or ten minutes, the same thing happens.  PA cannot recognize library through the selected folder in SD card, goes through multiple "failed to play" notices, and then rescans and refills the library.  

Edited February 21, 2021 by Chris138

[BingBadaBoom]

@andrewilley

I can confirm what Chris said. Every file says "failed to play" and keeps skipping through files to play a song. Only starts playing when the rescan is complete. When I click tag info it doesn't show anything. Each space is empty. What is weird is some songs have album art and playlists too, and this is during the rescan process. Not sure if this is because some artwork is embedded and some are from the cache system. Also, if I open up PA after 10 minutes I still have the same issues. 

Edited February 21, 2021 by BingBadaBoom

[andrewilley]

Interesting. So it's not the actual database that is getting cleared during a reboot - which initially seemed the case in other threads because there were reports of an initial "doesn't looks like anything" message. I'm guessing that message only happens to people if Auto-Scan is turned ON, which would be triggering an immediate scan that can't find anything. So with Auto-Scan turned OFF, the song list (database) stays present, but obviously there's no embedded artwork images and Info/Tags metadata as there are currently no files.

The reason you would see some artwork and not others would be because of downloaded and cached images. There could be existing saved images if the original files contained no artwork in the first place, or new cover artwork will get rapidly downloaded each time you look at items with no artwork.

With Auto-Scan turned OFF, after a reboot you should still be able to see the intended path to each file via Info/Tags though, even though the file itself can no longer be found there. Does the root path shown (i.e. the random eight-digit SD Card name at the start of the path) change at all once the storage finally gets remounted and you've triggered a manual rescan?
 

It's strange that this is occurring even if you don't open PA for 10 minutes after the reboot though. That seems to say that Android has actually mounted the SD Card by then - which would tie in with other audio apps and file explorers working - but for some reason PA is not being given access to the the SD Card as soon as PA is first started.

Andre

[clriis]

I've now tried rebooting three times with auto-scan: Off. I wait 5 mins before activating PA and my music and settings are OK available, so to me it seems that @maxmp is correct when claiming that there is a delay in mounting the SDCard, probably due to UI 3.0/Android 11.

However my SDCard is available immediately after reboot in my file manager (X-plore). Weird....Are there multiple mounting points??

[Chris138]

@andrewilley I took some screenshots last night that might help answer some of those questions.  Starts with checking info/tags when starting PA, then shows the "too many failed files" message after failing to play files.  Then the "doesn't look like anything to me" shows once PA scans initially and can't find the clearly mounted sd card.  4th screenshot is of what happens in the library when auto-scan is on.  Last pic is of the info/tags after rescan is complete.  Note: 8-digit file path is the same as when the files go missing upon reboot (1st pic).

Edited February 21, 2021 by Chris138

[andrewilley]

@Chris138 Thanks. So Android is not generating a new SD Card name, this issue is purely about the SD Card not being made available to PA when it is first started.

Andre

[Ticklebaum]

I am also having the same issue. I am using a Samsung s10e with Android version 11, and Poweramp build 893. The library keeps having to get rescanned on each reboot, and no plays/ratings are ever retained now. Just starting happening a couple of days ago with a new Android update.

[maxmp]

@clriis on Samsungs, 3 known issues affect sd card availability:

1. random mounting delay, when sd card is not available for tens of seconds after reboot. Solution: check sd card for errors on PC/reformat/change card
2. (legacy) permission suddenly not available (this is lower level permission on fuse filesystem level, not the one user can grant). Solution: disable :File Access Legacy Mode" in Poweramp and reselect Music Folders
3. permissions taken away from app much earlier than in a month of app being idle (e.g. immediately after ROM update). 2 and 3 affect internal storage as well. Solution: disable "Remove permission id app isn't used" in app Info / App permissions

The result is the same - player can’t play files. Nothing app can do here as access is denied on system level. Though Poweramp won’t rescan into empty library - this is a result of the manual rescan - not recommended in these cases.

The temporary sd card inability lasts for me like for 10-30 seconds, after that it perfectly works everywhere as nothing happened, but if it happens often (more than once) or for longer duration, sd card is dying (most probably just corrupted FAT filesystem) and it requires (at least) reformatting on the PC.