MZ-R500 + KT4 Ultra = No SIG

[soralapio]

Hey everyone. New to the boards and hate to start off my posting career with a question, but I'm at my wit's end.

I bought my first (and currently only) MD player, a Sony MZ-R500 some three or four years ago. Up until now I've been recording through an analogue plug and it's getting to be something of a pain. My PC has a KT4 Ultra motherboard with an optical out, so I've been experimenting with digital recording. The trouble is, it doesn't work.

Here's what I do:

1. Plug in the TOSlink cable from my PC's optical out to my Minidisc's optical in.

2. Go to the mixer, set speaker mode to two and enable SPDIF playback.

3. Start the sync recording on my MD. The LCD flashes DIGITL for a few times.

4. Start an audio program and play MP3s on Winamp, a CD on Media Player or something similiar.

The trouble is, it doesn't work. No SIG just keeps flashing and nothing gets recorded. For a long time I thought my MZ-R500's optical in was broken but the small sync icon lights up so the MD recognises the plug. Also when I enable SPDIF playback on my PC the TOSlink cable lights up, so there's a signal coming through. I've tried both 44.1 and 48KHz playback but neither works.

Can someone please help me?

[Syrius]

When I use Music Match Jukebox, I had to select my optical converter as the mixer device on the player's settings menu, and restart the program in order to get any audio out of the thing. Also, you may want to go to control panel, and select the digital audio output as a preferred device, and check "Use only preferred devices" at least for your recordings.

Can't think of something else. Good luck.

PS. Try an external USB to toslink converter. Onboard digital audio can be troublesome sometimes.

[soralapio]

Last week a friend of mine brought his NetMD over and we tried it. I plugged it in, cued some songs in Winamp and hit record. Worked perfectly, so I'm starting to think my MD is messed up in some bizarre fashion.