sfbp

Phew, that's one for the recipe books then! Cheers Stephen

But some (installed) programs survived? (see the list in control panel add/remove programs) Small question: exactly which version of Windows? Hint: type "winver" at a command prompt.

Sooo weird. Never seen this before. When it "reset" Windows, did you notice were any other programs missing? I'm wondering if it's time to take the bull by the proverbial horns and eradicate all traces of whatever install you had. This stuff works, on countless (different) machines. There's something weird about your setup,,, I just don't know what. I can try to help you do that.

Do you *always* get a blank disk no matter what you do? In which case the Overwrite Head (OWH) is shot.

And you definitely ran the program as administrator? Go check and see if you have DEP (Data Execution Prevention) turned on for all programs. It should only be on for Windows (system) Programs. You can find that in System properties - Advanced. Other than that you've got me. Time to check for virus. (And the old joke - Windows is the virus you cannot eradicate).

Hmmm. In the fourth and last shot, you show a menu where you are invited to click "Next". And I see no blue circle indicating it's busy. Are you saying you never get to click on that button? Thanks for the time to set up the photos. Screen shots are easy - Alt-PrintScreen. Then you need to find the image and turn it into a not-too-big jpeg, maybe with Picture Editor or Paint, before posting.

So describe what is there for 3 or 4 seconds. That's generally the length of time the blue rectangle shows. I think (there are no guarantees here): a. you have to install as administrator (you can do this by right clicking the file and saying "run as" but you still need an administrator password). b. you have to run the program as administrator At the moment I am thinking your install failed. Don't despair, simply run it again, without trying to uninstall anything. time to learn about your logon account and how to change it. In control panel there's a User Accounts. Anyone can take a screenshot, please read up on it. You have to be able to communicate to us whatever it is you see. Uploading that screenshot takes a bit of work but I or someone else can help you with that.

Do you know how to take a screen shot? We're going to need to *see* what's happening to you. There has to be some message somewhere telling you what's going on. Also anything in the Windows logs would be very helpful. Generally applications don't "just close" without a very good reason (such as they crashed, or you told them to). But first of all we need some details: Versions of Windows including 32-bit vs 64-bit, make of computer, RAM in GB, hard disk capacity and free space. I'll get my HD5 out and hook it up and see if anything strikes me. I am running Windows 7, however.

Go ahead and install SS (from this site) from scratch. With any luck it will recognize your device. The bigger problem is going to be your music. Depending on what format it was in, you may have lost it when you reformatted the Windows drive in your "reset".

BTW you should not have to bend the head. That is doomed to failure, I think. It's too bad the head isn't easier to remove. Trust me, it's not. But if you solve the sled problem, then you can solve the OWH positioning problem later.

OK so the issue of the out-of-position OWH and the sled not going home are completely separate from each other. Don't you love Occam's Razor though? In these circles it may be paraphrased: "the first error to occur is the one that matters".

Great! Sounds like it behaves as a generic "Atrac Device". This is so for many Japanese-market machines. The export equivalent, especially the more recent ones, this is less true.

Likely locked for recording, with a minidisc inside it. You MUST apply power before there's even a chance to open it. Force it and bye-bye RH1. Even if the battery is dead (or missing), these RH1s will allow operating power to reach them from the USB. It's not recommended, but needs must...

I like your idea, Jonathan - that the sled doesn't get home because motor cannot drive it. However I would suspect, especially given the glitch we see, that there is mechanical resistance that is preventing the homing of the head. Is there a worm screw (lead screw) like on the portables? I'm really pleased to look at your exploding diagram which is noticeably ABSENT from my 510 Service Manual, but I still haven't understood it fully. That's a special skill, understanding 2D representations of 3D layouts, and I apparently don't have it.

Too bad getting minidisc fixed is not considered essential travel - as you two French guys are not that far away from each other

it's quite hard to get SS installed if you are not an administrator. maybe that's not what you meant..... yes Microsoft just cleared everything out for you. now you have to install again. it should work but when it comes to drivers you may have trouble sorry to say but we need a lot more details about your setup. resetting windows may have zapped any database that had music in it.. i dont know

(Showing my ignorance once again) Jonathan has zeroed in on the OWH. When I have seen this buckling (whether on portables or decks) I know it's dangerously close to dying. The mechanism (he called the "leveller" but I really don't quite see how it works) that moves the OWH is jammed, causing the eject to be stuck. This really is catastrophic - on portables the head is a lot more fragile and can simply break - in this case it happens when people try opening the clamshell after it appears locked for writing (with the head lowered), which can happen when the machine runs out of power during recording. On decks, it's sturdy but you have to persuade the raising mechanism to be in the right place. As Kevin says, if that cog is what drives the "leveller" then it could have a broken tooth, or it might be simply mispositioned, as mentioned on p.23. Honestly, I'm out of my depth - this is a job for M. Dupre (Jon). Wow that guide is very helpful. Still not sure I understand the relevant passage (I love the phrase "un peu indescriptible" which sums it up for me). The glitch in head movement at 34 seconds into your last video looks like it's the key (as it seems to be from the OWH head hitting something).

I have never seen one of these in the flesh, as it were. They date from the era when Sony was producing devices that spoke NetMD, but did not do ATRAC3+ since HiMD didn't yet exist (about 2004). You can check the dates in the manuals. So they should talk to Sonic Stage, and YES will likely need a 64-bit driver (I'm assuming OP has a 64-bit Windows). Unfortunately I honestly don't know whether the NetMD driver is any use for these units. It's only a protocol, but Sony might have modified a bit for their first foray into solid state. I'd need details of what gets installed on a working version, in order to help much. With the later models there is less problem as you don't need any special drivers to speak Hi-MD, and most people transfer HiMD from SS to begin with. My first suggestion would be to run Virtual PC as I do for M-Crew (ie PC-Link PCLK-MN10 or -MN20). You then end up attaching the supplied 32-bit driver to the 64-bit stub, using a pull-down menu of VirtualPC after it loads. The other problem I have not myself grappled with is whether VirtualPC even works with Windows 10. Can anyone clarify? I use W7 for this. There *is* a perfectly good 32-bit install of Windows 10 but most people never even notice it unless they happened to upgrade a 32-bit W7 at about the right time. This might solve the problem so that the original drivers work correctly. My own difficulty is twofold: 1. I don't have an NW603 or any other diskless unit which predates ATRAC3+/HiMD 2. most of my W10 installs are virtual machines, and I have not tried attaching USB hardware to them. Sorry not to be of more help, but the driver is surely the problem.

He got an MXD-D5C if I recall correctly, you could see the CD changer on the left.

I reread your initial notes. I don't think you want that plastic sheet. I suspect it merely masked the real problem and caused jamming. But please forgive my ignorance, I can not for the life of me see what makes the OWH go up and down. Is the position governed by the position of the gear in #3 on page 23? I don't have a unit to compare, I don't want to take anything apart at the moment, and even then I can't understand the diagram. Kevin?

Most later decks will display "Initialize" (or maybe "init") when they come out of service mode. What I thought I saw on the clip was the overwrite head getting jammed because it's not positioned correctly (ie whenever it's not recording, it has to be lifted away from the rotating disk). Have you checked: a. parts that need to move (oil and grease in these machines are very dangerous as they congeal easily) do so. Rust is often a problem on the 510 but not later models which use a lot more plastic that doesn't rust b. the power supply output voltages?

Deck will sometimes reinit when it's been unplugged long enough. But the rapid way to do it is to get into SM and then there's a command, I think. To get out of SMin the 510 (just looked it up), you can press REPEAT (on deck, not remote) or simply unplug.

Looks like the vertical stepper motor is misaligned. At least that's what it would be on a portable. Have you tried a simple "initialize" on the deck? (I assume since you've had it apart that you know all the consequences of this and what to do if you get into service mode etc etc)

Wot, no nassssty errmsg or blue screen of death? Something else is running in W10 that's somehow disabling you. Are you an administrator user?