sfbp

Good stuff, Kevin. I wonder what's different - the adapter or the keyboard? S PS maybe my adapter was specifically and only for a mouse (the green one that used to come with every MS mouse).

Probably you did a System Restore (malware threat level is high at the moment) and when you came back they got excluded. If Sony's server was down when you tried, the DB probably did not get re-authenticated. You might need to try this starting Sonic Stage) a couple of times. Not sure if the "initializing" it does is terminal. Ouch. I hope you ran File Conversion Tool on all the tracks, otherwise they may be lost. If you DID (and most are now ".OMA" extensions, although AAL tracks are not treated this way) then you should be able to re-import them. If you can play then in Windows Media Player, then this is NOT the problem, although the converse does not necessarily apply. I and many others run FCT every week (or after every upload) to avoid getting zapped by the infamous Sony encryption-DRM. Sorry if this is no help. (last thought.... perhaps you inadvertently MOVED the database pointers - they are under Tools->Options->Location to save imported files in the main SonicStage menu. If anything eg access permissions changed about the location pointed to, you may be in trouble).

You can use Simple Burner, or even the Pythonesque download hack from the #linux-minidisc project, to write things to the disk via USB(there's no upload but there IS optical out). You WILL need the drivers I recently uploaded here if you don't have them. Just tried keyboard, and no, it doesn't work. I have rarely had any luck with those Microsoft adapters. I have another keyboard to USB adapter but it does the opposite (PS/2 keyboard to USB socket - even that has been unreliable at times). Better to get a real PS/2 keyboard, they should be available for $10.

Patience, Sergio. As they say, Rome wasn't built in 1 day. I plan to write a fairly long description of what to do about Laser Power Adjustment, including a survey of the machines and manuals I can actually get my hands on (here). Would you like to start by describing your problem in detail, please? Don't worry about the language. Try to make a list (sequence) of things that you try and what happens. One problem - I have never touched an NH1. But I think first you need to tell us what it does do, and what it doesn't. It will help a lot if you have another HiMD machine that DOES work. No rush, just try to explain what you do and what you see in very simple terms.

If you have the battery sidecar you might try alkaline. However the mains adapter tends not to work so well with the radio. Normally the battery case is for sale - today I cannot find one.

I regret I have to update this thread too. My previous deduction was WRONG. The completely undocumented OVERWRITE laser power is the problem. It can be set at location 9114. Contact me or respond for details. This explains why it's possible to record a whole bunch of stuff but fail writing the TOC. Stephen

Yup. I have one word for you - contacts. Clean them if you can. Try using Alkaline cells rather than rechargeable batteries to see if that makes a difference. If you are still stuck, buy a NEW RM-MC37LT (last one I saw on Ebay was $14) and hope for the best. Happy New Year Stephen

Sorry for the triple-posting. But I am reasonably sure I fixed this now. Seems like 9114 needs to be set to the value of 9113 + 15%. But I still don't know how to get these right without using a Laser Power Meter. If 9114 is too high then 1GB disks will work but 80m disks will fail (at HiMD) If 9114 is too low then 80m disks will work but 1GB disks will fail. For mine at least, 9113 is always about 10-11 times 9111. But YMMV and you really really need to get a meter. The good news is the alignment disk probably does the same thing I calculated by tedious experiment. Since I cannot verify (no alignment disks available) this is pure speculation. Happy New Year. Stephen

IT'S FIXED. PM me for the solution, so we can try it out. Definitely a laser power adjustment problem. Happy New Year Stephen

After months of messing around, I finally figured out my RH910 problem. I'll bet it's the same as your problem, too. And the 3 or four others who posted the same thing on here. Some complained it applied to 80m disks, I had a problem with 1GB disks (only). But I am relatively sure I've nailed it. Please contact me by PM or email to talk about how it gets fixed. I don't wish to publish just yet because some poor person out there might get mad if they mess up their machine. But it works!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy New Year Stephen

Trying to fix a Hi-MD unit without all the gear is almost impossible. In particular there is an alignment disk you need (in fact 2, one for regular disks, one for 1GB disks). I don't have any. Without it if you (blindly) follow the directions in the service manual YOU WILL make the machine into something useless. I suspect that it (the disk) depends on some borderline recorded material to test the tolerances on the alignment, which is quite a standard method generally (nothing to do with MD at all). I have spent quite some time carefully avoiding turning my MZ-RH910 into an expensive block of useless plastic, and I am still no closer to fixing the fault which it has had from the beginning. Sorry to be so negative. Stephen Update: what a coincidence.... today's the day I finally figured out how to adjust HiMD. Several posts attest to this.

Great. Now I don't think that any one brand is probably much different from any other, but I don't think these are absolutely the best, just probably the newest-manufactured. I think the characteristics of charging (repeating myself here) are mostly down to how the electronics is adjusted. Happy New Year to one and all. Stephen

Service mode on the RH1 is NOT for the faint of heart! I would like to take the opportunity to re-iterate that I have observed ALL the reported behaviour above and that it went away without any adjustment whatsoever to the laser. The only things I have ever adjusted on the RH1 are the two screws (on the bottom) that hold the cabinet in place. Getting to the service manual is very tricky. You have to set hold on (standard), hold Tmark, and press FF FF RW RW FF RW FF RW || || I wore out the jog lever on my RH1 learning how to get into service mode. Bad idea I now have a laser power meter to hand, so I can actually check the laser output. But checking the HiMD3 parameters (for recording on 1GB disks) seems a lot more difficult as the disk you need costs upwards of $100. I will report my findings (if I can actually GET into Service mode), just to see if Avrin's observations are correct. Happy New Year Stephen Update: I cannot get into service mode on either of my RH1's, lol.

Here you go

Great. Did you figure out a way to get bulk filenames copied to the MD yet? S

Not spamming at all, but I have moved it to Classifieds. There are those here who bought one for under 50 pounds (GB). But it could easily fetch a couple of hundred dollars. One really good way to research is to look at past sales on Ebay (you need "Advanced Search"). Welcome to the forums.

Update: I finally figured out how to get into English. The key was that I never noticed on the 40ELK that DEPRESSING the wheel did anything. This is probably because on my original 40ELK the caption was worn off. I have been giving my second ELK an airing lately, and I noticed that caption (that I had never seen) and tried pressing it (and holding - probably before I may have tried pressing it but never held it down). Bingo, I finally found the menu of the EH70. With some inspired guesses (actually I just worked through each likely looking combo) I found out the English setting. After that I was able to fix all the other things including anything I had randomly messed up by the experience. I'm still not into Service Mode, but haven't given up on that now I can actually see the menus properly. Stephen

There's a copy of 2.01(E) in downloads here. It's the version contemporaneous with XP. My only gripe is the way it handles .oma files (or fails to, unless they are renamed to <blah>.oma.mp3). If you had a relatively full disk already, adding a long file name might be just enough to go over the 1700-or-so character limit?

I think I may be wrong about the chip revision numbers. The CXD2664 is the first Type-S chip (in the JB980). But it looks like the 2671 or 2677 is in a bunch of portables (eg R500, R900, R505 that came out before they ever mentioned Type-S). I guess there's some overlap, it looks as if the CSP packages may have been Type-R until just before the CXD2678 (the N10, which is Type-S). Sorry for the confusion. Explains (mostly) your results. Any HiMD though, has Type-S.

I had good results from the GP batteries that came with my charger. There's a guy who has some for sale here Having said that, however, I think the newest ones are probably from Vapex, there's a dealer in Australia here. However they don't seem to have them at the moment, probably a glitch (Christmas hols?) I have seen before with Ebay stores where a merchant with thousands of items abruptly disappears or loses all stock. Check them again in a day or so. But whether or not a given battery can get a decent charge seems to be a function of how well adjusted is the unit charging it (or how good the charger is). This is part of the "electrical adjustments" in every MD service manual, and so far every single unit I have messed with has needed to have the values increased. When I increased them to spec, proper charging took place. It's not a bad idea to figure out which unit currently (unintended pun!) does the best job and use it for charging when ever you can. The sole exception was my MZ-R91 which has always charged (and even "woken up") batteries from when I first had it. There are reports the MZ-NH3D is similar for Li Ion, maybe something not unrelated to both units being manufactured in Japan. Stephen

Yes. Fair to say. I have made some excellent LP2 (and LP4) recordings with my JE640 which is Type-R. Also on my CMT-PX3 (or HCD-MD595) which uses the exact same chip as the 640, namely CXD-2662R. Although i have observed: 1. LP2 playback always improves with Type-S (although possibly where the signal path is all digital for playback it may make no difference). 2. LP4 playback, if borderline, is always better via optical out (to some amp) than via analog out, even if the analog out is Type-S. In addition, converting between them (LP2<->LP4) doesn't sound good in either direction (not surprising because they encode stereo differently, for starters). These are formats that, once recorded, you need to leave the bits intact.

I have pointed out a few times (!) that whether or not LP4 sounds good has a lot more to do with the way that the sound is mastered before transferring it (or playing it). It may be that the headphone circuitry is inferior, or in some way "optimized" to LP2 (or better than LP2). Since Type-S is a playback technology. Looking at your list of equipment I'd make a guess that if you did realtime recording on your JB940 (NOT the MXD-D400) from optical in, that you might get a result that sounded good even on the S1. But it's only true for some sources - the ones with a lot of hiss will never encode properly, for example, whereas they often seem quite acceptable in LP2. Having made some recordings (LP4 good, LP4 bad, LP2 good, LP2 bad as a starting point) I would be inclined to check that they are AS good or AS bad in the S1 as in another Type-S portable (the NH600D might be the fairest comparison as it has analog amplification circuitry - see the AOUTL and AOUTR pins on the main chip in both units). Stephen

The chip shown in the service manual (p. 40) is CXD2677-202GA. As CXD2664 was the first Type-S chip then it follows that this is Type-S. No and's if's but's or revisions. Stephen

Sony hasn't had them for a while but they are still around on Ebay and PausePlayStop (Minidisc-Canada) http://www.pauseplaystop.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=50&cat=Blank+Hi-MD http://cgi.ebay.com/5-SONY-HMD-1G-MINI-DISC-1GB-HI-MD-45-HOUR-CAPACITY-NEW-/390272002879 Merry Christmas! Stephen

De rien; actually I was expecting the opposite That all three would fail. The problem with the formatting routine is that whatever was on the disk is saved. If there's any trouble at all reading that, you are up a creek without a paddle. I was sure that the failure of TWO disks was systemic, not a coincidence. Odds against both failing are pretty big. Glad the problem was resolved, although I really didn't solve it for you. I will remember your trick if this ever happens to me.