MP3/4 'ipod' clone player disk error

[gazzataf]

Hi
Hopefully one of you techy guys can help as im new to these chipod players!

Reading through all the other problems here i now realise that some of these so called 'chipods' are not what they seem in the memory stakes, a lot of hacked 1/2 gb flash memory chips purpetrating to be of larger capacity.

That said my problem is that I cannot download anything to the darn thing. When the player is connected to the computer, by the usb cable the player is recognised but you cannot download anything onto it, there is just the windows box for removable disk 'E' no folders inside, there supposed to be what looks like I believe 2,3,4 or more folders to download music,pics,avs etc according to the manual.

When the player is switched on in music,amv,voice photo,e-book these say disk empty, but when you press the menu button again this says disk error???. But try as I might I cannot go any further and i'm stumped.

I contacted the seller mensan666 who recomended the following:

Don't worry a flash memory drive is not a reliable storage device and frequently has data corruption problems especially after a long time. The problems may also be caused by virus infection, corrupted file structures, hardware or software conflicts etc. The best way is to do a virus scan and check for the hardware/software conflicts. You need to format it to FAT and do a file defragmentation frequently. Be careful though - there is a data encryption function in this player if you format it to other format or didn't format it properly the encrypted data may take up the space forever.

Also please check the USB cable connection as the cable is cheap and if the computer can't read the player the cable is bad. We can reship another cable is you confirm that you received a bad cable.

Do you think this is a firmware problem or corrupted player!!!

I have done the virus check and the cable seems ok, but I'm a bit apprehensive to go any further on, until I get some advice from some of you more knowledgable guy because of the hacked memory issues mentioned in other posts.

Sorry to go on.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated!!!!!!!

Gazzataf

[tadad1]

gazzataf, Do not try to upload a new firmware to your player as it will more than likely brick it. My first suggestion would be to format the player if you can. You could try to do this with Windows or the MP3 Disk Tool that is part of MP3 Player Utilities there are several versions available in the Downloads>Tools section.

"lattesurf" posted an excellent guide on how to best use the tool to fix memory problems here:
http://www.mympxplayer.org/how-to-re...ck-vt2400.html

If that gives you no joy then the cable may very well be faulty which is not that uncommon.

[gazzataf]

Hi tadad1,

thanks for the prompt reply, I followed lattesurf advice, downloaded the mp3 disk tools and proceeded to start the low format.

I got as far as all data will be lost where i clicked yes hopefully the start of the repair but only to find that a small windows information box appeared with the following inside: NOT SUPPORTING THIS TYPE OF DISK! and so could go no further. :?

Any thoughts of what to do here.

Gazzataf

[tadad1]

gazzataf, If you connect your player and then right click on My Computer and select Manage then Disk Management. Find your player drive and right click on it. Select Format in the menu and see if you can format it in FAT.

[gazzataf]

Hi tadad1

I followed what you said but instead of FAT in the dropdown box of format it only said FAT32, again stumped!!!

Any thoughts

gazzataf

[arpiacio]

hi there... i've got the same problem... and I use the progam in the "lattesurf" post to solve it.... (testdisk)

the solution was play with the sectors of the disk in the advanced options...

choose the intel thing and go to the disk geometry, then modify the disk heads, sectors, and cilynders...

i've increased one in the start of each... the disk gonna shrink a little... but it was the only solution that I managed...

hope you understand because my english is awful... and hope you understand that is kind of risky play with the disk... but is your choice...

then go to the advance options and type an FAT32 geometry and then the mp3 disk tool should work...

with me it works.. :S

[tadad1]

gazzataf, This method will delete the whole partition and then create a new one.
http://www.mympxplayer.org/wanted-ha...light=testdisk

[gazzataf]

Hi tadad1

What are you saying then as a little unsure of arpiacio's answer maybe bad translation or my interpretation, that this will fix it or reduce the memory amount of player or what ???? :?
Guidance would be appreciated.

Many thanks

gazzataf

[tadad1]

gazzataf, Because you are having problems adding files to your player my first responce would be to format it. At present you appear to be unable to do this. There could be any number of reasons for this, the partition table could be damaged, bad sectors on the chip or as mentioned this may be a hacked chip etc. A low-level format is a factory level format normally done to new storage media to prepare it for data storage. It checks the chip, sets cylinders and sectors then formats it. Basically returns it to it's original state. Because you can not format it the posted method using Testdisk will delete the partition completely then using the disk tool or Windows you can then create a new partition and then give it a low-level format. This should then allow you to access the player normally and store files etc. If your player is hacked (and it may not be) then you will end up with whatever the true size of your chip is and not the 2GB you thought.
Other causes could be a damaged or faulty chip or loose\poorly soldered pin connections. If this is the case then the whole process is not going to help at all and other than replacing the chip there is not much that can be done.

[gazzataf]

Hi tadada1

Where can I locate this Testdisk tool and the disk tool as you said (or am i missing the point) if they exist on this site, sorry to sound like a complete Twat, but as I said its better to ask the experts for their advice as i'm a novice at this mp3/4 trouble shoot business.

thanks

gazzataf