So, I finally get a surround system and figured I'd hook up the Central to it. I haven't played with the Central in some time, though last I knew, it was working.

When I tried to hook it up and use it, I found the system to lock up all the time. The digital optical light wasn't on, the USB keyboard wouldn't work, no button response, etc. The only thing I could get it to do is load from the cd if I powered on AND held the Menu button. I could then attempt to reload the software. Sometimes it would work all the way through, sometimes it didn't.

I now have the unit somewhat operational, but it still seems flakey, like it takes a looong time to boot up (in the range of > 3 minutes). I tried to simply play a cd and it seemed to skip. Also, sometimes it just wouldn't recognize when the cd was inserted.

My next troubleshooting step is going to be simply to open it up and disconnect / reconnect IDE cables. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks,
Chris

P.S. Once I used the unit as an ftp client for a short time. I've since "restored as new" to version 1.10, so I don't think any remnants of my changes would still be around.

If you have a voltmeter, check the PSU output on the CD-ROM power connector. You should have 5v on the red wire and 12v on the yellow.

If the 12v was iffy that might cause lockups, etc as the IDE devices got all confused every now and again.

Hugo

Thanks, but it looks like the voltages were okay. Steady at 12.26 and 4.97.

Due to the nature of the failure, I figured it had to be somewhere in or around the ide devices. In an effort to nail it down, I swapped out the drive. Of course, I swapped it out with the 40 Gb maxtor that came from my ReplayTV (note to self, throw that drive away already). I tried a couple of other drives, and the unit seemed to work much better. Only problem: no silent seek mode. So, off to the computer store in the snow for a new drive.

Got an 80Gb Maxtor drive (largest they had that wasn't above 120Gb). Now all seems to be well in the kingdom. CDs playing well with others, etc.

Can't wait to try jEmplode to sync my empegs and the Central.

Chris