yeah same - i also notice that it does seem to crash sometimes just before it f*cks out - it starts going real slow and staggered, then finally stops altogether. reboot = no hard disk. has yours crashed like this?

for example... youre playing a song perfectly fine... suddenly the whole thing slows down - the song breaks up into staggered segments, with gaps of silence inbetween... maybe 5 to 7 gaps per second... so like if youre listening to freddie mercury yelling "we will we will rock you" it slows down to become "w-w-w-e-e-e-e- - - w-w-w-i-i-l-l-l-l- - - w-w-w-e-e-e- - -w-w-w-i-i-l-l-l-l-l-l- - - -r-r-r-o-o-c-c-k-k-k - -y-o-u-u-u-u" with each dash representing a pause. i dunno how else to explain it, sorry if that sounds retarded.

the visualisations also stop and start, in time to the pauses. the scrolling of the title (if youre in INFO:Line mode) ALSO stops and starts all in synch. the buttons stop responding - holding down the top button will not pause or turn the unit off. the only way i can kill it is to pull the sled. push it back in - no hard disk found. wait a few mins/hours randomly, and it will either start coming up with 'failed to unmask ide', or if youre lucky it will start going again.

just something to put up with for now i guess. i really supect the initial problem is a dodgy IDE cable... what else could it be! its too random! so i will look into ordering a replacement.

i havent read up enough about the crashing to see if other's units (that are crashing) crash in the same way so i'll go look around now. knowing my luck theres probably a solution already in the FAQ that i have missed