Lately, I'm having a problem where if I press the right button on the player, the empeg will power off. The display blanks and the blue light stops flashing. This only happens in the car. It started as an intermittent problem. But now, it happens every time. Does anybody have a solution for this?

I have to pull the empeg from the dock and push it back in to get it going again. I'm also having hard drive not found problems, but I think the cable has just come loose again. I replaced the IDE cable a couple of years ago so I think it's O.K. Also, I added a second hard drive about 2 months ago. I don't know if this has contributed to any of my problems.

Kermit

Hmmm... This would be a software crash or kernel panic. Otherwise, the light would flash as if it was put into standby. I would check for disk problems or bad files / playlists and run an fsck on the player.

It could be a bad connection or cable, but the crash is a little more serious than I would expect for just a seek / control issue. I would also look for a loose display cable as well.

Thanks for the reply. You've given me a couple of things I can look into. I was also wondering if it could be power related. I'll be due for a new battery in the next year or so in my car. The battery is over 4 years old and that's about the lifetime for it.

I figure there are 2 main differences when running the empeg in a car versus on my desk. First, i"m using an A.C. transformer to power it on my desk. That should provide pretty constant power. Second, on my desk it's in a docking station mounted horizontally. In the car, it's mounted at about the maximum recommended angle.

Also, I never saw the problem until after I added the second hard drive. That would draw more power which may cause a problem. I'm just guessing. Although, I didn't initially see the problem after I added the drive.

I love my empeg. I don't know what I would do without it.

Kermit

Hmmm.. for the LED winker to go off tends to imply the power to the display board has been interupted - even after player crashes the winker runs. If a button push (getting worse with time) causes a power off, then it sounds like the force of the push on the button is causing some sort of short/OC condition. I'm inclined to say short: if he pulls the player to get it going again it could be a re-settable poly fuse being tripped.

If you pull the player out when it does this, sniff the grill aperture near the power connecter rear right of the case. Is there a faint "electrical" smell?

Can you do this with the mains adaptor plugged in, or is it only in the car sled?

If it's only in the car sled then I am inclined to say there might be something up with your sled wiring that is ticked by you doing this. Not honestly sure.