Common problems

Dimmer issues, Temperature Sensor issues, random reboots, lockups, music pauses, is there anyone out there that is not experiencing these problems? Not to say my Mk2a has them all,the temperature sensor works fine, but it does have most of them. These issues are not resolved by going to 1.03 either. If you are the owner of a fully functional unit, without these problems could you tell us what version you are running, if you are using hijack, what is the size of your harddrive and any other data that might pinpoint what the differences might be?

On another note. When the unit is placed in standby and the LED starts to blink are there any read / write operations still
being executed? Is it possible to corrupt the harddrive by pulling power right after going to standby. Could harddrive errors cause any of the above mentioned symptoms, while allowing the system to still operate? Is it possible to corrupt the drive, through normal use, in such a way that reloading the upgrade file will not overwrite the problem? If you run the car-builder program does it re-partition the drive and effectively give you a clean slate? Thanks All.

I had no annoyning issues in the months of running my Mark 2 on 1.03. I had iddues from time ot time of the dimmer starting out dim, but was fine once it booted. Hugo has said it's an odd hardware glitch causing that one, I'm not too worried about it. The only problems I have had have been with 2.0, but of course it's beta. (And the inteferrence to the keyless remote system that still baffles me to this day, but it's not an issue on the MK2a I now use).

And the system can be powered down at anytime except when emplode is syncronizing to it. The normal data is never mounted read write, and their custom partition can handle powerdowns at any time. Running carbuilder will erase all partitions and rebuild the primary disk. Normally such a drastic step is not needed though.

The only thing I'm seeing is dimmer problems with an Mk2a using 2.0b11. I have used 2.0b3 and b7 with an Mk2 and this problem didn't exist.

The more I play with it, it seems the dimmer is only a problem when the hard disks are spinning up (ie. at boot time). After that, turning my headlights on and off result in the proper dimmer value.

The only problems I have had on my Mk2 unit are known (and subsequently fixed) software bugs in the betas. None of the hardware issues you described have happened to me. I've run every version of the software and most of the versions of Hijack. Right now I am running 2.0b11 and Hijack 199, and the player hasn't locked up or given me any other trouble recently. I haven't even been bitten by any software bugs, known or otherwise, lately. My unit is a 6+10gb player (the 10 was added by me).

This is like a similar question that came up on the Mitsubishi TV forum at hometheaterspot.com. Because the only time someone ever went there to post, it was because they were having some kind of trouble, and so the forum was only filled with bug reports. The result was that it made the product look bad. You never saw posts by the many happy and satisfied users saying "2 years, still no problems, love the product".

On another note. When the unit is placed in standby and the LED starts to blink are there any read / write operations still being executed?

This is a FAQ entry.

EDIT: I have just added a new FAQ entry on the subject here as well.

Please understand, my intent was not to insinuate that the unit was inferior or flawed by defects. As an electronic technologist it is sometimes helpful to step back and compare a faulty system with one that is operating correctly. Especially when one is working with a limited knowledge of the systems true operating characteristics. Thanks to those that responded and thanks Tony for the FAQ's it was very informative.

I have a mk2 and a mk2a. I run version 1.02 on my mk2 cause I dont have a tuner and I paid 1600 dollars for it. I am afraid to put beta software on my mk2. I put the beta software on my mk2a. It locks up all the time but I dont care cause I paid 500 for it. I notice that my mk2 runs a lot hotter then the mk2a. The mk2a can run all night and be cool in the morning. The mk2 I have runs all night and is hot to the touch in the morning. I am going to go home tonight and see if my mk2 has the dimmer problem that my mk2a has...

I dont know for sure if my mk2 has the dimmer problem(i will know after tonight), but I can tell you it has only locked up on me twice in about a year. The mk2 with 1.02 is pretty darn stable. It has a 12 gig drive and NEVER pauses between tracks. It's a good unit!!! I dont have the hi-jack kernal installed on my mk2.

The mk2a has a bigger cache than the mk2, and will hence cache more.

2.0 betas will run cooler than 1.x as the caching code was improved, hence the drives spin up less often and stay spinning for less time.

There weren't any other circuitry changes between the mk2/mk2a that would make a difference to heat - just more ram (in fewer chips) on the mk2a - but RAM runs cold anyway.

Hugo

My year and a half old MarkII has run virtually flawlessly the entire time I have had it. The only problems have been known bugs in beta software, and a drive cable that came loose inside the player when my bicycle fell on it.

tanstaafl.