Davew

They keep boosting me up to 50 when I send some invitations, so I'm avaliable for invitations too.

hey batfastard, how long did it take them to reply? I asked sony UK a question the other week and they havn't got back to me yet, I spose it really was too much to expect of Sony to provide native MP3 support then

native english, survivable german very basic italian would like to be able to speak french, welsh would be cool too!

aoix that sounds bad but this might just work: you have written down all of your values from MANUAL and NV in your text file. Go through the MANUAL and NV menus and replace the values with your old ones if they are different, in case the memory has been wiped or something. Dave

I am going to post my text file to the forums, aoix can you change your link in your text file to the new one in my signature please? sorry! euro_mznhf800.txt

aoix in the service mode: MD1 = old MD HiMD1 = old MD reformatted HiMD3 = new 1Gb MD (I am almost certain that this is true becuase the new menus I posted yesterday can only be acessed with a 1Gb disc and not a reformatted old MD) So, I took a MD1 disc and used sticky tape to make it look like a HiMD3 disc. I then put it in my unit and it acts like a MD1, so then I reformat it to a HiMD1 disc and here is the interesting thing: my unit knows it its a standard disc (not 1Gb) becuase it shows 269.3 Mb free disc space. BUT, it doesn't know how many minutes recording time is avaliable on the disc!! It just shows '---:--' in the display for RecRemain. But when i remove the sticky tape again, it can tell me how many hours of recording on the disc.

I have updated my '800 file with new info from HIMD3: 920: Srv On (and onwards, which you couldn't get, aoix) 310: Srv On (and onwards) You can only get into these menus when you have a 1GB disc inserted. Dave

yeah I think we should forget about the audio menu being much use. can you remember at all what volume setting you had the record volume (manual) set to when you got your service mode values?

I have updated my file with the AUDIO info, and some new info on one of the small menus at the top. dex, unfortunately there is nothing in the AUDIO section that can set Manual as the defualt recording volume, since it is for real-time diagnosis only. However, it is still possible that we will discover how to change it somewhere else aoix, the manual recording volume can be set at a specific number, and although the unit defaults back to AGC, it does remember the manual volume level. I wonder if we could set it at a certain level, 29 for instance, then look for '1D' in service mode (or whatever number the volume is) ?? Dave

Thanks aoix I will add that information to my file now. minidisc.org have service manual pdfs, and I will have a look at them to see what else I can find out. I suspect that a Digital / Optical input would be 'Di' or 'Oi' because Line is 'Li' and Microphone is 'Mi'

I aggree with you aoix, I think that MD, HiMD1, HiMD3 are concernced with the mechanical/physical properties of the unit and of each type of disc. Also I think we can rule out AUDIO as hack-standard, but we shouldn't completely forget about it. (I will add my discoveries to my text file later) I would like to add maybe the Program play mode to my 800 if that can be done through service mode. Also, yes, I think we should focus on the MANUAL Yes this is where we should focus NV: Non-Volatile memory? NORADJ: NOR-Adjust? (don't know about the 'NOR' any suggestions? The user settings like Beep on/off and Display Contrast etc are presumably stored in the NV memory? Should we start by looking for these? I wonder if Sony have hidden the firmware away in special NV memory that can't be accessed so that people like us *can't* go changing the software values and upgrade our units without paying? (It would be the sort of thing they would do ) But anyway, lets get hacking!! Dave

Hey, I am making progress with the AUDIO section, unfortunately I think it is unlikely to produce and hacks but is interesting anyway. (I will add all this to my file when I've confirmed it all and got feedback) OK, I have come to the conclusion that the AUDIO section is for diagnosis only and no changes can be made to the operation of the unit. Warning: if you are going to do this then have your head/earphones within hearing range and NOT IN YOUR EARS to start with. [111: LR1kHz 1C] plays a 1kHz tone on both channels, you can change the volume in real time by making the '1C' bigger or smaller, to a maximum of '1E' in my euro model. [112: L 1kHz 1C] & [113: R 1kHz 1C] same as above but the tone is mainly on the L or R channel as appropriate. [115: VolMax 1E] plays a tone at maximum volume (this is why I say not in your ears) you can change the '1E' but it makes no difference to the volume. [116: AvlsOn 0E] same as above but plays the tone at the AVLS cut-off volume. [117: Beep CC] plays the BEEP tone continuously. [121: Lo iMa 15] & [122: Ho iMa 1C] & [123: Lo iAt CC] when you plug a microphone in, the 'i' changes to 'Mi' when you plug a line in, the 'i' changes to 'Li' I don't know about digital input. Can someone try this?? I seem only to be able to hear the microphone/line input on #122 and #124 (SensLo) and on #122 you can change the '1C' to adjust the volume level. [131: WrtAGC 00] you can switch between '00' and '01' and then press PAUSE and the disc icon flashes to show it did something. I think that it sets Auto Gain Control ON (01) or OFF (00) for the purposes of the diagnosis session. cheers, Dave

nice one aoix! still no idea how to change some of the values? There seem to be several names/values that are duplicated over and over again in MD, HiMD1 and HiMD3. But some things have obvious function like moving the lens up and down and moving the laser left and right.

Hi guys, I've added the whole of MD1 to my file (which is now about twice as long as it was yesterday ) It's here Dave Edit: IT'S ALL DONE NOW!!

OK guys thats me done for tonight. I have done all of the DESIGN values aoix, and tomorrow I will start on the MD1, HiMD1, HiMD3 and NORADJ ones. The latest version can be found, as always, here Dave