20 replies to this topic

[53103304]

I have been using minidiscs since the mid 90's starting with the MZ-R55 and have progressed that I have both the MZ-M100 and M200 units which have never given me any problems. Both of my boys like using the minidiscs also. I started them with the MZ-DN430 (strictly NET MD) and they are now moving to the M100's. When my XP computer started dying, I used the Sonicstage backup tool to move all of the music in sonicstage (ver 4.3) to an external hard drive so that I could reinstall it on a new computer. The new computer is a Mac Book Pro and I installed Windows 7 Pro (64 bit) as a virtual machine with Parallels for Mac. Once everthing was working correctly I installed Sonicstage 4.3 which worked fine and imported the music which also worked flawlessly. When I connected my HiMD player the drivers loaded and show up as "SONY Hi-MD WALKMAN USB Device." When I then open Sonicstage the program opens and once it finishes, Windows 7 crashes (with blue screen) and the wants to shut down and reload. I researched this and found this forum, so I followed the advice that Arvin provided. It was easier for me to erase the virtual machine and then reload Windows 7, so with a "fresh load" I went and erased all of the phantoms in device manager, loaded the NETMD760 drivers and installed them. I then loaded Sonicstage 4.3 Ultimate. When I connected my M200 unit (that had a HiMD disc inserted) , it loaded the drivers again and when I opened up Sonicstage, Windows 7 crashed and wants to shut down and restart. After disconnecting the MD player from the computer I put an MD disc into the unit and repeated the process. This time, like the proudofmylife youtube video, I was able to pick the NETMD760 drivers, load them, and open up Sonicstage without it crashing. I have not tried to reimport the music yet since I want to fool around with the program. I was able to put music into the Library, move music from my MD disc in the MZ M200 into the library, and move that music back out onto a black MD disc. I have not yet been able to find what the proper drivers are so that I can do the same in the HiMD mode. Could someone tell me what the proper driver for HiMD? The one that currently shows up is as earlier, "SONY Hi-MD Walkman USB Device," Microsoft driver version 6.1.7600.16385(win7_rtm.090713-1255). Obviously this is one of the phantom drivers that should be removed as I had done earlier on the previous Windows 7 Pro load.

[sfbp]

Off the top of my head, I would guess that the system crashed because it never got around to installing your NetMD760 driver (since you hadn't inserted a NetMD disk at that point).

I would further guess that it won't happen again now.

There are NO drivers required for HiMD.

Let us know how you fare! The only means of communicating with HiMD is via the standard blocked device drivers (although there is some trickery with ASPI/SCSI and it uses, again, only standard drivers, nothing from Sony). When you switch from NetMD to HiMD, you should hear the USB down and up sounds (in that order), confirming that the MD machine has switched modes.

If you plan to put a bunch of NetMD machines in there, it might be time for me to package up my Win32 solution to allow NetMD052.SYS to be used on all 32-bit drivers, releasing the RH1/M200 from drivers' prison and consequently slow uploads. I think I have confirmation that that works, but it's been a while since anyone made noises about it.

Good luck!

[53103304]

Thanks for the quick response. After all that I stated above, when I connect the M200 unit up with an MD minidisc, ie. non-HiMD disc, and check it under drives/devices in Windows 7, it shows the driver as the NETMD760 driver. When I then open up Sonicstage, everything is normal although the HiMD option is greyed out. I have been able to read MD discs, put music into the library and then write to a new blank MD minidisc. When I either (1)change the format of the minidisc to either HiMD through the option on Sonicstage, (2)format a blank disc to HiMD on the M200 or (3)even use a disc that is already HiMD, sonicstage crashes and Windows 7 goes to blue screen (fast) and then to a reboot screen (black) giving the option to reload Windows 7 in safe mode, safe with networking, safe with command prompt, or normal. I guess what you are telling me is to delete the driver "Sony Hi-MD Walkman USB Device." I can do that but what should I be looking for when I then reconnect the M200 with a HiMD disc? As it is I'm fairly certain that when I reconnect it will utilize the same drivers. Will it make a difference if I open sonicstage up first and then connect the M200 with a HiMD disc?

[sfbp]

I can't say for sure, but your logic sounds reasonably good. I'm really not sure what the driver is referring to, as my "Sony HiMD Walkman USB Device" has a version number of 5.1.2535.0

The NetMD driver is obviously working perfectly. The HiMD driver is obviously working perfectly (from your first post). So it must be the switch over. I would be inclined to "eject" the device (however you do that on Win/Mac) before changing over media type.

There's another setting "disc mode" on the M200 and also M100/M10. You may want to experiment with that. However the drivers should be able to survive a change in status between HiMD and NetMD - so I am inclined to point the finger at Parallels or however your W7 is integrated with the Mac.

[53103304]

As a quick update, I "uninstalled" the drivers on the HiMD side and disconnected the MZ M200. I then opened Sonicstage and connected the M200 with a HiMD disc. This immediately loaded the "drivers" necessary to interface with the computer(which were the same ones). When you look at what is listed when the unit is opened under "devices and printers" in Windows 7, it states that no drivers are needed, the device is working, and when you look under the drivers it links it back to a system 32 file in Programs(x64) folder. As in the earlier posts when the M200 is connected with a disc (either with HiMD content or a blank disc formatted in HiMD), sonicstage shuts down and Windows crashes and then wants to reboot. I mentioned that Windows 7 Pro is loaded on a MacBook Pro via Parallels for Mac. I have is set where the computer is not in the coherence mode which means OS X and Windows 7 are running separately so I have tried to eliminate the Mac interfering issue. I did get into the disc mode (with the player disconnected from the computer) and changed from HiSP to PCM and Sonicstage and Windows 7 still crashed. I then went into the compatability mode of Windows 7 and tried to use the program as an XP (service pack 2) program and this corrupted all of files making sonicstage inoperable and want to immediately shut down. So after removing the virtual machine from the Mac I reloaded Windows 7 and then Sonicstage 4.3 Ultimate. I put a NET MD disc into the M200, connected it up to the computer, (by the way I have tried changing USB cables that Sony provides from the multiple players I have accumulated over the years)reloaded the NETMD 760 drivers which is still working fine. I disconnect the player, remove the NET MD disc, put a HiMD disc in, reconnect to the computer where it recognizes it as "Sony HI-MD Walkman USB Device." As soon as I open up sonicstage with the M200 in the HiMD mode, it and Windows 7 crashes and then wants to restart. I am ready to think that I cannot use sonicstage in the HiMD mode on a Windows 7 Pro(64 bit) virtual machine loaded on a Mac via Parallels. I have yet to be able to hook up either my MZ-M100 or MZ-M200 to the computer with a HiMD disc (either blank formatted HiMD or with music in the HiMD format). Any further suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

[sfbp]

"Disc mode" has one of two values "HiMD" or "MD". I think you were changing Rec Mode, which has nothing to do with this issue.

[53103304]

I agree with your statement but I actually did both. I am at the point where I am shotgunning for a solution. I did take a blank disc, format it for MD, open up sonic stage and it worked fine. I then disconnected the player, reformatted the disc for HiMD, reconnected the USB cable, restarted and sonic stage which recognizes the disc, it states HiMD drive (E) in the drop down, and then it shuts down and subsequently windows 7 goes to blue screen protection mode and then the reboot screen that I mentioned earlier. Until I get this issue resolved I am going to try to reformat the hard drive on my Dell computer that has Windows XP and has started to run very slowly. I have all of the music on this computer and on an external hard drive where I used the sonic stage backup tool for a just in case scenario like I now have. I also have the music saved in a downloads folder all in mp3 format so I can import this into iTunes if I really had to. I really like the flexibility of minidiscs. I hope I and get this to work in the HiMD mode.

[Azureal]

Are you running W7 for any reason other than SonicStage? If you have no other reason to run W7, perhaps consider running Windows XP as a VM in Parallels. I suspect the issue is related to running the 64bit OS W7 in Parallels inside 64bit OSX. There are some challenging translations taking place to make that physical USB port on the Mac look like a physical USB port on the W7 VM, I just wonder if the implementation of the vitual port on th eW7 install is not quite right and the NETMD760 driver is choking on it.

I am full on Windows now and was for many years before running OSX on a MacBook Pro for two years. I ran VMWare Fusion with Windows XP to run SonicStage and never had any problems. I was not however running the NETMD760 driver for the 64bit OS.

Do you have a copy of XP which you can install in a new VM to test with?

[sfbp]

I mentioned that Windows 7 Pro is loaded on a MacBook Pro via Parallels for Mac. I have is set where the computer is not in the coherence mode which means OS X and Windows 7 are running separately so I have tried to eliminate the Mac interfering issue.

Unless you actually tried coherence mode already, I'm guessing that this is the remaining problem now.

[53103304]

To address azureal's question, I do have the XP disc but it is a special Dell reinstallation disc so I'm not sure if it will load for a virtual machine but it is worth a try. In addtion to running Sonic Stage on the virtual machine portion of the Mac I am also going to install Autocad, Matlab, and Solidworks for work and an engineering class that I teach next fall ( a couple of these programs are available as Mac versions but I think the university wants the PC versions).

When I first started this last week the computer automatically is set for coherence mode. When you install Parallels it asks you if you want to have the machine act "like a Mac" or "like a PC". I chose the former. I had the problem with sonicstage and the system crashing so I attributed it to being in coherence mode. Everything that I have described has been in the "like a PC" mode so I have ruled that out. Azureal also mentioned that maybe the 760 drivers maybe interfering but I had the same problems when I did not have the 760 drivers installed (there was a HiMD disc in the MZ-M200 so at that point sonic stage did not need those drivers).

[sfbp]

OK. It's fairly clear that the crash occurs when you "eject" the MD device and "reinsert" the HiMD (or vice versa). That is what changing to/from HiMD/MD essentially does. I;ve seen parallels working (at my brother-in-law's) but I don't have a mac. What I noted was that the Mac tries to give you the opportunity to choose which machine (Windows or Mac) you want a new, connecting device added to.

I wonder if there are some options about how devices are REMOVED from the device map. If you could replicate this part by simply UNPLUGGING the minidisc unit from USB - first thing is to see if it crashes when you do that. Another thing to check is to see if there are consequences to "uninstalling" a device in Windows Device Manager.

If it survives having the device removed without crashing, you are in much better shape. There ought to be default options configurable on the Mac for determining what to do about an inserted device WITHOUT ASKING YOU... ie you can choose to default all inserted devices to the PC or to the Mac. Since I am unfamiliar with the Mac, you can figure that out better than I can.

Hope this helps.

[53103304]

Thanks I will try that. When you first plug anything into the USB ports it asks whether it is for a Mac or PC. I'm also working to get a copy of XP PRO that I can install as an additional virtual machine. If this doesn't work then I know it probably will not work at all. Probably over the weekend if I get time, I will reformat my old Dell XP and reload that. I know that will work but then I would be stuck doing HiMD on one machine and MD on the other. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Thanks for the suggestions to date. If and when I get this to work I'll fully document it here to help anyone in the future.

[53103304]

It appears that in using Parallels for Mac ( to install Sonic Stage 4.3 or the Ultimate Edition) with either Windows 7 (64 bit) or Windows XP Pro there is a handshake issue with the Hi-MD mode. I installed XP Pro over the weekend and had the same issues as with Windows 7. The NETMD drivers were employed when an MD disc was in my MZ-M200 unit. Sonic stage application opened fine and recognized the player as a NETMD player. When I disconnected and inserted a HI-MD disc and reconnected in XP it could not find any drivers for the unit and just listed it as a USB device with a yellow triangle and a question mark. I tried for hours to find the appropriate "drivers" per se but could not get it to be recognized as "Sony Hi-MD Minidisc USB Device" as it appears in Windows 7. When connected and Sonic Stage is opened the unit is not recognized. No NETMD or Hi-MD choice or even a drive name assigned ( the system did not crash though). Luckily I was able to restore my Dell computer that has XP Pro and Sonic Stage 4.3 and it appears to be working fine. Unless someone comes up with something I'll just store the music on both computers but do all of the Hi-MD downloading on the old Dell until it finally dies. One note on NETMD drivers. On Windows 7 virtual machine, sonic stage preferred the NETMD760 driver, and in Windows XP Pro it preferred the NetMD052 driver.

[sfbp]

All fine. Good information. As I mentioned I still don't have a Mac. I have a suspicion that you have a block device (for USB) that is wedded to the Mac, for whatever reason, and at whatever level. If you can prise that free, you might have correct operation - since no one to date has reported this problem and ||els is becoming pretty common.

I know that when a virtual machine is run under (native) W7 in order to support XP, that there's a special menu for connecting/disconnecting USB devices. It occurs to me that SOME devices may think that they're exempt from that I don't have time to reread the whole thread (sigh) but did you do the "device cleanup" for hidden devices (not just NetMD but ***all*** unused devices) under Windows that Avrin introduced us to? Maybe there's a bunch of USB devices, one of which wakes up and grabs the HiMD as soon as it rears its head. If that one happens to be the :unknown device: driver, that might be enough to cause crashes?

Anyway, again from ignorance, I know I have seen that menu which asks whether you want a new device attached to Windows or Mac. Are you sure the default isn't to silently connect with existing devices? Maybe there's a way to cause that prompt to come up always. Could it even be that REMOVING device drivers (see previous para) is the way to force that menu to appear? If there's even one "wrong" device (such as NETMD052, the 32-bit driver, when it should be NETMD760, the 64-bit one) waking up that could be the problem, so that when the right one is disconnected (to make way for HiMD) during deinitialization (or before the prompt has a chance to come up with the right driver) the bad one tries to install itself with the resulting crash. Make sense?

Stephen

[53103304]

It does make sense. When any of the minidisc players are first connected in either Windows 7 or in XP Pro, a graphic appears on screen asking whether this is a Mac or PC device. You have to move the highlight box to PC and then click it to "activate" the minidisc unit to "talk" to the computer. In Windows 7 when a NetMD disc is in the unit, if you open up "devices" it shows the minidisc player as a NetMD device and when you investigate further, you will find that the NETMD760 driver is controlling. Opening sonic stage presents no problem at all. When you then disconnect the player, remove the NetMD disc, replace it with a HiMD disc, and then connect it back to the computer, the computer immediately recognizes it as "Sony Hi-MD Minidisc USB Device." Upon opening sonic stage 4.3 Ultimate, the unit is recognized, gives the choice for Hi-MD or NetMD (but only for a moment), shuts down, gives a blue screen with info that disappears quickly and goes to a reboot screen, where Windows 7 reloads with no problems.

In XP there is no problem in the NetMD mode, but in Hi-MD nothing is recognized and it does not even show up as a drive. The choice was given as to whether this was a Mac or PC device, although this was when I had initially connected the player up with the NetMD disc. I have told the computer to uninstall the drivers for the device and then reinstall the appropriate one but in XP all I get is "USB device" with a yellow triangle and question mark. I haven't been able to find anything better to try and make this work.

I know I am reiterating what I've stated in earlier posts but I'm trying to focus on that the computer and subsequently Sonic Stage 4.3 does not seem to work in the Hi-MD mode.

[sfbp]

I think your problem is with the 32-bit NetMD driver in 64-bit windows trying to install (and quite possibly the converse in 32-bit windows, trying to install the 64-bit driver). Time to clean up, remove everything related to MD (you will have to search the oem.inf's, sadly, and delete every one that has a NetMD driver in it). Then delete (from the W7-64 virtual machine) all traces of NETMD052.SYS. The 760 driver DOES work, at least on native Windows 64. You are the unlucky customer who gets to make the definitive determination that it (perhaps) does NOT work in hosted W64.

Some of the driver files you may also want to delete, that will have been added by the SS installation:

NETMDUSB.SYS
NETMD031.SYS
NETMD033.SYS

(maybe some others, you see the pattern). This ASSUMES you already cleaned up the device map by uninstalling all hidden drivers in Device Manager (to do this you have to make 2 environment settings as detailed here).

Good luck!

[53103304]

I did clean the device map through the above link twice when I had to uninstall the Windows 7 virtual machine when it was corrupted. Since then though, I've reinstalled Windows 7 twice and added Windows XP Pro and subsequently added Sonic Stage 4.3 Ultimate in XP Pro to see if the issues would be resolved in the "original" operating system, which as I stated earlier has not worked either. I will go in and see if those hidden drivers have reappeared in both operating systems and see if those remnants are the problem. Thanks for the help so far.

[sfbp]

For now, don't even think about trying to install anything except the RH1/M200. It's possible to force the non-RH1 MD's to use NETMD052.SYS (in W32), and I want to see if the same thing that kills upload performance is also messing with your VM system (multiple different .SYS device drivers all being polled by NetMD). 760 doesn't suffer from that problem as it is the only 64-bit driver we have, and we had to figure out how to install it for all devices.

[53103304]

Still have not been able to get SonicStage to work with either XP Pro or Windows 7 in the HiMD mode. Everything is fine when set up and connected in NetMD. I will go into the folders and look for suspect drivers and clean up for a third time. Lucky that my Dell XP machine is still working. I did a back up using the SonicStage backup tool about 2 months ago and everything was fine. I also save the raw mp3 files in a separate folder as a backup. Today I went into the backup tool to create a new backup folder with a new name to delineate between the two. About a minute and half into the backup I am getting an error 0x2002 and the backup stops. Now I'm wondering why that is an issue.

[bluecrab]

Although I keep my MD mainly separated from my various Macs (4 of them), I'm nevertheless following this thread with some interest, even if that interest remains academic, not practical. I went back through the thread and didn't see anything about what Mac OS you're using. I'm mentioning this because Sony does support some functionality on native Mac OS, as described here:
http://esupport.sony...=SMB&mdl=MZM100

According to Sony, this support extends only through Mac OS 10.4, but I would not be shocked if it worked at least through 10.5.8 (I'm not saying it will, just that it might). After that...well, who knows?

Anyway, have you tried using the Hi-MD software on the Mac side, instead of XP? If not, might be worth a try, especially if Parallels supports concurrent MacOS/Windows operations. I realize that this is a less-than-seamless solution (if it even would work), but at least you'd be on the same box.