SONY MZ-M200 detection

[dimm0k]

I recently purchased the SONY MZ-M200 Hi-MD player and being that this is the first time owning one of these Hi-MD devices it took some time to get things set up. One question I have is, is Windows XP with SP3 supposed to recognize the device is connected as soon as I plug it in via USB? During the whole process of installing the included software I don't remember if the device was detected upon connection. Right now I have to turn on the device and plug it in while it's on otherwise it won't turn on. Is this normal or did I mess something up?

Running Windows XP with SP3 and using SonicStage 4.2 with the Sony drivers downloaded from the Downloads section of this site.

[Levanel]

I think it should normally be detected as a USB mass storage device (without loading SonicStage first). Once you load SS, the "removable drive" in Window Explorer becomes inaccessible due to SS' exclusive access..

Then again, are you connecting the RH1/M200 to a dedicated usb slot or via hub?

Edited December 6, 2008 by Levanel

[dimm0k]

I think it should normally be detected as a USB mass storage device (without loading SonicStage first). Once you load SS, the "removable drive" in Window Explorer becomes inaccessible due to SS' exclusive access..

Then again, are you connecting the RH1/M200 to a dedicated usb slot or via hub?

I'm actually connecting my M200 directly to a dedicated USB slot on the notebook. If I connect it nothing happens, however if I press play for example to turn on the player and then connect it Windows recognizes it then. If I press stop and eject the disk and insert a new disk Windows recognizes the change in he disk provided I don't disconnect the player. The player won't even charge unless I turn on the player first then connect it. Is my player busted?

[Levanel]

I'm actually connecting my M200 directly to a dedicated USB slot on the notebook. If I connect it nothing happens, however if I press play for example to turn on the player and then connect it Windows recognizes it then. If I press stop and eject the disk and insert a new disk Windows recognizes the change in he disk provided I don't disconnect the player. The player won't even charge unless I turn on the player first then connect it. Is my player busted?

Perhaps the battery itself is weaker than expected?

I have had the same symptoms back when my N10 was able connect via NetMD. When battery life was weak or almost dead, the operating system wouldn't detect it initially until I hit "play"..

[dimm0k]

Is there a way to find out if the battery is weak? When I run the player off the battery I'm getting a full bar...

[sfbp]

Sounds like you have your expectations hooked up backwards. Here's what is supposed to happen. (note that I assume the "mode" of the MD defaults to HiMD, not to MD, this is a setting in the menu under Options->Disc Mode).

1. You plug an empty RH1 into the USB, no sign of life whatever.

2. You unplug the RH1 and put in a disk, the red light flashes for a bit, the curly W lights up, dots flash, and eventually the lights say

a. No Disc (and the default you set under Mode) or

b. MD SP (even if it's an LP disk) or

c. HiMD PCM (even if it's an Atrac3+ disk)

as well as a battery icon (hopefully full). If it's b, what follows below may differ somewhat - I am assuming a HiMD disk.

If the instrument is plugged into USB while it is playing, nothing happens, although you might hear Windows recognize the USB ("low-high" sound).

If you plug it in when not playing, the similar sequence of lights occurs and eventually you see PC-MD, replaced by a line of 7 dots with two big circles at either end. This shows the machine is connected to USB, and you will not be able to operate the controls of the MD (except the square STOP button) until it is disconnected. At this point you should see the directory of a drive in windows, AND Sonic Stage should be able to recognize any music that's on the disk you had in there.

Let's assume everything is working, and change disk to one with a different format (If you had a std disk put in a himd disk or viceversa). To do this, you press the STOP button, and the display says "eject disk ok". (if it doesn't right away, be patient, something needs to be written and it may say "System file writing"). When you put in the new disk, watching Sonic Stage's transfer screen, the USB will go down ("high-low") and the message will change from HiMD to NetMD. Also the Windows drive will disappear. Now the USB noise goes "Low-high", and if there is stuff on the disk you will see it.

At no point will you gain the ability to manipulate the RH1, it is like having the hold switch on - push a button (except STOP) and you will get the message "PC-MD".

Note that even though you might be able to "see" the drive (in Windows) with a HiMD in it, you won't if the disk is NetMD. Even if you can see the drive, it won't do you any good because there is no way to get music to it via the files that you can see. If you investigate, you will find they are things that don't do you any good, like ATDATA06.HMA for example. Also as long as SS is running, you will get access denied to the Windows regardless of its contents (if it is a NetMD disk, there will be no USB drive at all).

Does this help? I'd guess you were jumping to the conclusion that you have to see the disk in order to put things on it.

[dimm0k]

Sounds like you have your expectations hooked up backwards. Here's what is supposed to happen. (note that I assume the "mode" of the MD defaults to HiMD, not to MD, this is a setting in the menu under Options->Disc Mode).

1. You plug an empty RH1 into the USB, no sign of life whatever.

2. You unplug the RH1 and put in a disk, the red light flashes for a bit, the curly W lights up, dots flash, and eventually the lights say

a. No Disc (and the default you set under Mode) or

b. MD SP (even if it's an LP disk) or

c. HiMD PCM (even if it's an Atrac3+ disk)

as well as a battery icon (hopefully full). If it's b, what follows below may differ somewhat - I am assuming a HiMD disk.

If the instrument is plugged into USB while it is playing, nothing happens, although you might hear Windows recognize the USB ("low-high" sound).

If you plug it in when not playing, the similar sequence of lights occurs and eventually you see PC-MD, replaced by a line of 7 dots with two big circles at either end. This shows the machine is connected to USB, and you will not be able to operate the controls of the MD (except the square STOP button) until it is disconnected. At this point you should see the directory of a drive in windows, AND Sonic Stage should be able to recognize any music that's on the disk you had in there.

Let's assume everything is working, and change disk to one with a different format (If you had a std disk put in a himd disk or viceversa). To do this, you press the STOP button, and the display says "eject disk ok". (if it doesn't right away, be patient, something needs to be written and it may say "System file writing"). When you put in the new disk, watching Sonic Stage's transfer screen, the USB will go down ("high-low") and the message will change from HiMD to NetMD. Also the Windows drive will disappear. Now the USB noise goes "Low-high", and if there is stuff on the disk you will see it.

At no point will you gain the ability to manipulate the RH1, it is like having the hold switch on - push a button (except STOP) and you will get the message "PC-MD".

Note that even though you might be able to "see" the drive (in Windows) with a HiMD in it, you won't if the disk is NetMD. Even if you can see the drive, it won't do you any good because there is no way to get music to it via the files that you can see. If you investigate, you will find they are things that don't do you any good, like ATDATA06.HMA for example. Also as long as SS is running, you will get access denied to the Windows regardless of its contents (if it is a NetMD disk, there will be no USB drive at all).

Does this help? I'd guess you were jumping to the conclusion that you have to see the disk in order to put things on it.

Thanks for the detailed description of what generally happens when you connect the recorder to the computer! It did clear up a few things for me, however I'm still baffled by how this recorder gets recognized in Windows. When I have an MD formatted disk in the player and connect it to the computer Windows recognizes the USB device. If I were to insert a HiMD formatted disk and then connect it to the computer, Windows does nothing. I have to turn on the device with the HiMD disk inserted before connecting it to the computer for it to recognize the USB. Is it normal for MD and HiMD to act differently?

[sfbp]

Thanks for the detailed description of what generally happens when you connect the recorder to the computer! It did clear up a few things for me, however I'm still baffled by how this recorder gets recognized in Windows. When I have an MD formatted disk in the player and connect it to the computer Windows recognizes the USB device. If I were to insert a HiMD formatted disk and then connect it to the computer, Windows does nothing. I have to turn on the device with the HiMD disk inserted before connecting it to the computer for it to recognize the USB. Is it normal for MD and HiMD to act differently?

Windows Explorer will NOT recognise an MD disk, although the USB drivers will get loaded. Beware other NetMD devices, they will screw up the RH1's ability to upload MD formatted sound, there is a nice thread here about that.

Disregard the above sentence for HiMD audio data, won't matter.

Also note that you can put data onto HiMD formatted disks, but efforts to transfer music as a file will fail. (you can sure store such files there but they will NOT be recognized as music).

Yes it treats HiMD and MD completely differently. Sounds like your device is defaulted to MD mode. Suggest you change it to HiMD mode. This means that you will see the reverse behaviour.

One final note: when you have been inspecting a NetMD (or legacy SP) disk in Sonic Stage, and remove it and replace with a HiMD disk, it can take a long time to recognise the new disk. First it has to unload (di-duh) one driver, then load the other (du-dih) and then can it start looking at headers and reading the directory of music. Forget about Windows explorer for the moment, focus on what you see in Sonic Stage.

Hope this helps....