Sony A3000 Not Recognised In Vista

[The_Nevster]

Firstly I just wanted to say that I have been using this forum for a few months now and it has helped solve a number of problems, so thanks all!

I have now finally decided to take the plunge and post my first thread as my Sony A3000 is doing my head in! I bought a new PC with Windows Vista earlier this year and installed SonicStage 4.3 as advised by the Sony online support. Everything worked fine, my existing library on the A3000 was fine, and I have transferred a number of CDs from my collection onto the player.

About a month ago SonicStage simply stopped recognising the A3000. If I click on the "Transfer" drop-down then the only options I am given are to create an Audio/MP3/ATRAC CD, but no mention of the player itself. The A3000 appears on Windows Explorer as "Removable Disk" and if I select "Safely Remove Hardware" then the player appears as "USB Mass Storage Device". The driver details show the driver file as USBSTOR.SYS

I have tried uninstalling SonicStage and all drivers and starting again, but I keep getting the same problem. If anyone has any ideas how I can resolve this then it would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

[Guest Stuge]

Welcome to AtracLife! Try using different USB ports

also,delete SS with registry

[The_Nevster]

Thanks Stuge. I've tried uninstalling SonicStage, clearing out the registry, deleting any Sony-related drivers and then reinstalling SonicStage. Still no luck!!

I'm getting to the point of wondering whether a full Vista reinstallation is necessary, but I really don't want to do that unless absolutely necessary.

[aob9]

Thanks Stuge. I've tried uninstalling SonicStage, clearing out the registry, deleting any Sony-related drivers and then reinstalling SonicStage. Still no luck!!

I'm getting to the point of wondering whether a full Vista reinstallation is necessary, but I really don't want to do that unless absolutely necessary.

No.No.No..never go for a full O.S re-installation so easily........It's a nightmare. Have a look at the 'download' section on this site and you will find a utility for removing traces of previous SS installations.....at least try that first.

I'm not sure about the utility and VISTA but give it a try, it won't hurt

[metal]

@The_Nevster

But you didn't mention if you have tried a different usb port.

Also, try removing other usb devices to see if helped.

[Specialist]

The walkman should load as a 'Mass Storage Device' in any Windows from ME up and does not require SonicStage to load drivers as they are inbebded in Microsoft Windows, this looks like you NW-A3000 may have devloped a fault, test on another PC to see what happenes it will be quick and point to the fault a lot quicker.

[The_Nevster]

Thanks for your help everyone. I have tried plugging the A3000 into a different USB port but with the same result.

I still have my old PC (with XP) so I'll set it up at the weekend, reinstall SonicStage and see whether it recognises the player. If not then I know the problem is with the player so I assume I'll need to reset it.

If the old PC does recognise it, I'm really confused!!

Cheers.

[The_Nevster]

Today I've set up my old XP PC and it is also refusing to recognise the A3000. It looks like it must therefore be a problem with the player.

The problem is that the player itself works fine and I've know got to weigh up either just leaving the player as is (and accepting that I can't transfer any more music) or initialise the player and transfer my CDs all over again (I don't know if I have the energy or patience!!).

Once again, great Sony design is let down by poor software.

[hyperpringle]

i have the same problem but unlike the nevster dont still have all my cd's. is a solution not just to copy the omgaudio folder from the mp3 player onto the computer, then reinitialise the player, then copy the folder back onto the device through windows explorer?

i haven't tried this so would not advise it, but i'm running out of ideas. if anyone knows if it works or not, could u let me no, thanks a lot

Jon