NDX not Playing USB

Mike,

Have you checked the drive for errors, it may be that the computer is more tolerant of error records in the volume catalogue than is the NDX.

Does this affect ALL USB memory sticks, have you tried another one?

Not really. But last May I bought a s/h nDAC. It had an outdated firmware and I upgraded to v4106_09.05.11. Everything went fine but, after the upgrade, the nDAC could not read from the very same USB drive I had been using for testing the device. A call to the technical service confirmed that the new firmware does not support some of the drives the old firmware supported.

The problem showed up with Toshiba drives. SanDisk drives worked well both with the old and with the current firmware. Thus, in case you have made a firmware upgrade in the last weeks, it might be worth calling the technical service. Otherwise no ideas, unfortunately. Best, nbpf  

Sorry Mike, on re-reading your post I realise now that I read it, but didn't absorb the information you put there (trouble with worms again!).

Hi Huge & nbpf

No software or firmware changes since it was playing OK

Starting from a new 64gb SanDisk,  I loaded it with about 40gb worth of hi-res albums, it played OK.  I added a new album to it last week,  but apart from that no change.

I've tried another stick, formatted it FAT32 & loaded an album,  same problem.       

How do I check the drive (a memory stick)  for errors ??

Mike...If you plug the stick in to your computer, does it display the albums and play them?

I appreciate that the stick was formatted to FAT32, but if you Right click on the drive, does it actually say that, in 'Properties/info'? The reason that I ask...I have a Portable USB drive which I thought, was definitely formatted to FAT32, when in fact it was formatted to MS-DOS (Journaled), and wouldn't play on my ND5. I was using a Mac to load the drive, and by default, it used MS-DOS, and not FAT32.

Where is SIS when you need him! 

Meerkat,  the answers are yes & yes 

Plays OK with PC & stick sez exFAT

However I might have found the prop - I have 12,2mb free space left & it says I need 12.47mb for optimal performance (whatever that means)

Its late,  busy day tomorrow but will find time to remove album(s) & free up space to see if that solves it.

Mike, assuming you have a Windoze PC (not Linux)

Lauch Explorer, right click the drive for the USB stick and select <Properties...>

Select the <Tools> tab, and select <Check Now>

Behind the scenes, this will basically do almost the same the ChkDsk console application.

Ah, Mike exFAT isn't FAT32, and Naim don't support exFAT (I've tried it!).

Whoa too much info too fast ......  thanks Huge

I formatted the stick to FAT32, loaded a bunch of albums & it worked OK,

Why's it changed to or why is it now showing exFAT ???

I've only added some more albums - now have 12.2mb free space

Like I just said its late,  but I now have stuff to try - tomorrow 

Windows doesn't format bigger than 32mb, It said FAT32 & assumed but didn't check result after formatting - my big bad.

..... so I just got a 3rd party formatting prog.  I confirmed the stick was FAT32 after formatting.    Now after reloading all the albums it still says ist FAT32 but still has the same problem

-----------  in the morning.

If the stick worked weeks ago and it has not been reformatted and there has been no firmware upgrade, then the stick should still work. If you have a dealer in your vicinity, I would go to the dealer with the stick and check if it works on another NDX. If it does not, the dealer can get in touch with the technical service and open a ticket. My impression is that, at least in the nDAC, USB drive support is a bit fussy. Good luck, nbpf

It's now working,  & TBH I am really not sure why, which to me is worse than not working.  

Looked again at the SanDisk USB:

First move was I assumed the error must be an inability to read the first line of folder(s) script

- checked folder & album titles for possible *%#@ type symbols that might not be readable -  nothing

- moved the albums into new folders named as artist names (the same as supplied by the album vendors) 

Plugged it in - BINGO !!!!!

I can only assume something in the folder script was wrong, I couldn't see anything, so maybe a subliminal element of some sort. 

As it did play OK up to a few weeks ago, & the only changes since then were two new albums from Qobuz,  Santana "Moonflower" & Bjork "Vulnicura", that the error (whatever that was) was in one of those folder titles.  

Very annoying indeed. But these sort of things can happen even with commodity hardware. As long as it does not happen over and over again I would not worry. Maybe it's just the NSA screening musical preferences. Best, nbpf

Hi Mike.  My experience has been that downloads can bring along anomalies that cause the uServe to not want to read the folder or files.  I check the tags really carefully before loading them on to my server.  My very first Phil Harris support experience was with some downloaded music that the uServe would not index.  He took control of my laptop and showed me that there were invisible characters in the folder name.  Now I typically (1) create my own folder rather than relying on what the downloader creates and (2) re-tag the album name or at least scroll through it and all other tags carefully to be sure there aren't any non-standard characters.  It does best with a very basic ascii character set.

I agree Bart, a lesson learned.

However I always either make my own new folder or - as in this case - edit the folders that the downloads arrived with in Windows Explorer "rename"

I had been bitten with the troublesome Michael Buble é in the past  & I had spotted Bjork had a ö & had removed that.

Anyhow,  like I said, a lesson learned so at least next time I will go straight to it.

Good spot Mike, and good info for the community.

So the compatibility is

Probably:    FAT32 (but with additional - unspecified - limitations);

Definitely not:    All other formats!

Hmmm...  not good.

Pleased you sorted it Mike...something for us all to look out for in the future!

Agree FAT32 is the one to have,  although for sure it was playing OK with exFAT. 

Mike, out of curiosity, are you using the latest firmware?

All my exFAT tests (all failed to read), were with the previous firmware.

It may be a change that's not 100%, so they didn't announce it, but left it in.

Yes Huge - 4.01