NW-HD1 HELP.....

[soccerfreak1793]

I have owned a Sony NW-HD1 player since about Agust 2004. Recently it stopped playing music citing an error saying "no database found." So I had my friend whose really good with this kind of stuff look it over and he got it working again, although what he did im not sure, however he didn't take it apart, just hit some buttons and it started working again. So just to be on the safe side i reformatted it to clear out the system a little bit, initializing the hard drive and resetting it to factory settings. After I reformatted it, i tried to put all my songs back on it, but whenever i hook it up to my computer it starts lagging my computer and particularly the 'my computer' window and sonicstage start freezing up. Once I unplug the device from my computer both of those windows immediately unfreeze and start working like normal, just like a switch. I checked the driver to try to update it and i have the correct one. Also I browsed through various help services that sony offers and the manuel to see if I could figure out what the problem is, but I can't seem to figure out what it is.

I'd like to be able to get the device to get working again as portable music is a HUGE part of my life...Only thing is I'm trying to keep repair costs cheap. Also, does anyone know where I could find a Sony NW-HD5?? I've looked at everything else on the market, and the NW-HD5's spec's still DESTROYS everything else out there...

[RobA]

I have owned a Sony NW-HD1 player since about Agust 2004. Recently it stopped playing music citing an error saying "no database found." So I had my friend whose really good with this kind of stuff look it over and he got it working again, although what he did im not sure, however he didn't take it apart, just hit some buttons and it started working again. So just to be on the safe side i reformatted it to clear out the system a little bit, initializing the hard drive and resetting it to factory settings. After I reformatted it, i tried to put all my songs back on it, but whenever i hook it up to my computer it starts lagging my computer and particularly the 'my computer' window and sonicstage start freezing up. Once I unplug the device from my computer both of those windows immediately unfreeze and start working like normal, just like a switch. I checked the driver to try to update it and i have the correct one. Also I browsed through various help services that sony offers and the manuel to see if I could figure out what the problem is, but I can't seem to figure out what it is.

I'd like to be able to get the device to get working again as portable music is a HUGE part of my life...Only thing is I'm trying to keep repair costs cheap. Also, does anyone know where I could find a Sony NW-HD5?? I've looked at everything else on the market, and the NW-HD5's spec's still DESTROYS everything else out there...

HD5s are very hard to find now. I searched for one frantically after my HD5 was stolen, but it was to no avail. The only place that has them is here: http://omega-electronics.stores.yahoo.net/sonwnewa20gb.html $229 for a refurb.

It sounds like your HD1 is pretty dated, and after 3 yrs, maybe it would be a better idea just to replace it. I was able to get a brand new HD1 off ebay last month for about $190. Look around, they are there.

[peterjf]

After re-initialising the player and re-connecting it to SonicStage, you should get a pop-up window to the effect that SonicStage is checking the tracks that have been deleted from the player. (At least - you do with SS version 4.2 - earlier versions may just do this check without telling you what is going on. By the way, which version of SS do you use?) As I remember from the last time I did this, the process is quite resource-hungry, takes a few hours (as I have a large number of tracks in my library) and has to be carried out three or four times as SS seems to be unable to do the whole lot in one go. The first run of this takes a lot longer than the rest - it gets quicker each time.

After this is done, all music can be re-transferred.

It sounds as though this may be the problem you have had - from time to time, the database within the player does get corrupted (especially if you are often putting music on and taking music off the player). I have this problem every few months with my HD1 and HD5. Although annoying and time-consuming, I can usually get the players back up and running properly in a day or two. (Incidentally, I have had my HD1 since it first came out - which I think is about 3 years ago now. Hardware-wise, it still performs as well as it did on day one - even the battery is still in tip-top condition.)

Try this (leaving the player connected to the PC overnight if necessary) - there is no point in spending your hard-earned on a new player if you do not need to.

Good luck!

[soccerfreak1793]

i spent a few hours on the phone with the sony customer service guys and they said that i have to send it in to get serviced for 101 dollars which i'd rather not do. I think the hard-drive is corrupted, b/c i did all of the above said stuff while on the phone and it still didn't work...anyone know a good mp3 player i can buy, or a better way to get this problem solved? btw, i was using ss 2.2 at first, then i upgraded to 4.2 and it won't let me play all of my files that i loaded on to ss with version 2.2 on 4.2..