UnitiServe problem
Posted by: Timmo1341 on 20 October 2018
Five years old, no problems save for a dud CMOS battery on motherboard 2 years ago. It’s the 2TB HDD version, and has ripped approx. 3,000 cds since new. Last night I went to insert a disc into the slot- the machine ‘grabbed’ it as usual, but failed to take it in completely. After about 30 seconds of unusual bursts of ticking the disc was ejected as normal. I tried a couple of other discs with the same result. I powered down and restarted, but symptoms remained the same. I tried the paper clip in the eject hole, just in case - no difference. I then tried to ‘assist’ the disc on its way using a piece of 5mm thick card and a fairly swift and powerful push - success, the drive swallowed the disc and successfully completed the rip. The next disc, without assistance, was rejected as per earlier, but accepted with assistance.
So, my thoughts are the cd disc drive has developed a fault, and should probably be replaced. As someone who used to build computers for fun (and to save cash years ago) I’m guessing this will simply be a question of cover off, unscrew and disconnect drive (power and M/B connector), and reverse using new drive? I’m thinking this way I don’t lose my source of music, and get the job done fairly cheaply. Has anyone had the same issue? Does anyone know, off the top of their head, what model of disc drive was used by Naim, and from where I’m likely to be able to source one?
I’d rather not replace with a Core, and I would rather keep the Serve than switch to a NAS, just to preempt the usual comments that seem to accompany Serve posts!
Aologies Richard if this should have gone onto the Streaming forum.
Tim, probably best ask Naim service on this.
p.s. I've move the thread to the Streaming Audio Forum.
I’ve never had that problem with mine. If the cost of repair is prohibitive, I think I would just rip on a computer and use the US as a NAS/server.
Had a similar problem with ours..returned to Naim..if I remember correctly it cost £395 for new facia ( with pin hole ) and new drive and had upgrade to .2tb
you probably don’t want to hear this but the Core is superior ( to me ) in sound and usability...at a cost!
But as your's is already 2TB, a new CD drive shouldn't cost that much. I would do as Richard suggests and talk to Naim about the cost of a service.
You could try fitting a new CD drive yourself, but we aren't allowed to discuss that here. You will know whether you know what you are doing or not. (If it were me, I might give that a go though as it would be very cheap and more to the point quick).
best
David
Do some searching on the forum & get a feel for US reliability. You've already ripped 3000 CD's so its not like you have a whole collection to rip, so why do you need such a ripping machine ?? I would cut & run, so many Naim'ites & a whole load more outside Naim rip on a laptop or PC/Mac using one of the super reliable ripping software packages like dBpoweramp, it really is so easy. To say nothing of the huge cost saving.
Hi Tim,
I've just had my HDX back to Salisbury for a service, and to confirm the figure mentioned by STEVE W above, the £395 included a new 2 TB drive, CD mech, logo, power supply and too much else to list .............. it seems that they replace everything and anything they consider necessary.
Astonishing value for money, so it's hardly worth attempting yourself.
dave marshall posted:Hi Tim,
I've just had my HDX back to Salisbury for a service, and to confirm the figure mentioned by STEVE W above, the £395 included a new 2 TB drive, CD mech, logo, power supply and too much else to list .............. it seems that they replace everything and anything they consider necessary.
Astonishing value for money, so it's hardly worth attempting yourself.
That's easy to say if you have a spare £395 and don't mind losing the US for a month or so, but if everything else works, a new CD drive identical to what Naim would plug in would cost £20 or so on eBay and it really would be a trivial task to change it in about 10 minutes.
best
David
David Hendon posted:dave marshall posted:Hi Tim,
I've just had my HDX back to Salisbury for a service, and to confirm the figure mentioned by STEVE W above, the £395 included a new 2 TB drive, CD mech, logo, power supply and too much else to list .............. it seems that they replace everything and anything they consider necessary.
Astonishing value for money, so it's hardly worth attempting yourself.
That's easy to say if you have a spare £395 and don't mind losing the US for a month or so, but if everything else works, a new CD drive identical to what Naim would plug in would cost £20 or so on eBay and it really would be a trivial task to change it in about 10 minutes.
best
David
The only possible downside being that Naim (might ) refuse to undertake any further required work ?
I really don't think that Naim are that childish.
Best
David
David Hendon posted:dave marshall posted:Hi Tim,
I've just had my HDX back to Salisbury for a service, and to confirm the figure mentioned by STEVE W above, the £395 included a new 2 TB drive, CD mech, logo, power supply and too much else to list .............. it seems that they replace everything and anything they consider necessary.
Astonishing value for money, so it's hardly worth attempting yourself.
That's easy to say if you have a spare £395 and don't mind losing the US for a month or so, but if everything else works, a new CD drive identical to what Naim would plug in would cost £20 or so on eBay and it really would be a trivial task to change it in about 10 minutes.
best
David
My thoughts too David. All I need is the make and model of the cd drive used by Naim. I believe they used Teac, but which model? Anyone out there know?
Sounds like a faulty loading mechanism / dirty?
Best to have it serviced by Naim.
Mike-B posted:Do some searching on the forum & get a feel for US reliability. You've already ripped 3000 CD's so its not like you have a whole collection to rip, so why do you need such a ripping machine ?? I would cut & run, so many Naim'ites & a whole load more outside Naim rip on a laptop or PC/Mac using one of the super reliable ripping software packages like dBpoweramp, it really is so easy. To say nothing of the huge cost saving.
Hi Mike
Thanks for your input. Unfortunately I have a new iMac that doesn’t have an optical drive! As the US works perfectly in every other respect, spending up to £100 on a new drive and fitting it myself would seem to be the cheapest option. I love the way it gives a seamless rip, stores, sorts out metadata (most of the time!) and the n-Serve App works perfectly for any editing needed. I accept some have had issues with reliability, but you never hear from all those for whom it works without problems, and the forum certainly doesn’t represent a majority of Naim owners. As ever, each to their own eh?
Adam Zielinski posted:Sounds like a faulty loading mechanism / dirty?
Best to have it serviced by Naim.
Research on forum suggests issues with the optical drive (apparently a proprietary Teac unit) were often sorted out by dealers, who kept stocks of spares drives for that purpose. The £395 quoted earlier for Naim attention seems to be an awful lot of money for a spare part that probably cost them no more than £20-£30. Thanks anyway.
The price mentioned is for a full service, which, in my case also involved a new 2 Tb drive, together with much else besides, and all things considered, I felt the price charged extremely reasonable.
If you're happy that everything else on your US is up to scratch, then certainly, you will be able to replace the CD mech for considerably less than that.
Guessing no one knows details of optical drive. As it’s now out of warranty think I may as well pop the case and take a look. If any US owners are interested I’ll update in due course.
None of the photos that I could find are high enough definition to be able to read the drive type, but it is mounted label outwards so you wouldn't need to touch anything inside to identify the drive type.
Not that I am advocating anything, obviously.
best
David
How much space is left on the HDD? At 3,000 CDs I'd say it's pretty full.
J Saville posted:How much space is left on the HDD? At 3,000 CDs I'd say it's pretty full.
According to n-Serve, used space = 1.6TB, available space = 261,000 MB.
Allowing an average of 600MB per CD, that gives me space for approx. 430 CDs in WAV. As I nowadays buy no more than 5 or 6 albums a month, that’s about 7 years before its full. That’s fine, at that point I’ll buy the Core’s successor which, with a bit of luck, may be problem free by then!
Completely filling any drive is likely to cause problems, so you should leave plenty of leeway. Not saying that’s the cause of your current problem, but still.
Looks like you are storing in WAV, I would convert to FLAC to save space.
Timmo1341 posted:Guessing no one knows details of optical drive. As it’s now out of warranty think I may as well pop the case and take a look. If any US owners are interested I’ll update in due course.
As you might expect, Naim have used different drives over the life of the Unitiserve. See here for details of a couple of them, straight from the horse’s mouth:
https://forums.naimaudio.com/t...41#69145069644532941
(If you value your sanity, probably best not to read the whole thread!)
Regarding the suitability of replacement drives, I believe it is not unusual for them to have their firmware modified to suit the specific application in which it is to be used. (I recall this being discussed in relation to HDX replacement drives, so chances are it would apply to the US as well.) This could mean that a DIY installation doesn’t perform as intended, even with a compatible drive model installed.
ChrisSU posted:Regarding the suitability of replacement drives, I believe it is not unusual for them to have their firmware modified to suit the specific application in which it is to be used. (I recall this being discussed in relation to HDX replacement drives, so chances are it would apply to the US as well.) This could mean that a DIY installation doesn’t perform as intended, even with a compatible drive model installed.
That’s interesting - thanks. Looks like best course of action will be a quick chat with my dealer before anything else. I guess there may be a possibility of him having a spare drive in stock, or if not Naim sending him one to swap out. I just don’t want the US to disappear for a month, as it’s my only source of music. Although I have a Synology NAS, it’s used only for back up. Perhaps I ought to think about installing uPnP software so I have a reserve, assuming it’s possible for the NAS to perform both as backup and server?
Timmo1341 posted:ChrisSU posted:Regarding the suitability of replacement drives, I believe it is not unusual for them to have their firmware modified to suit the specific application in which it is to be used. (I recall this being discussed in relation to HDX replacement drives, so chances are it would apply to the US as well.) This could mean that a DIY installation doesn’t perform as intended, even with a compatible drive model installed.
That’s interesting - thanks. Looks like best course of action will be a quick chat with my dealer before anything else. I guess there may be a possibility of him having a spare drive in stock, or if not Naim sending him one to swap out. I just don’t want the US to disappear for a month, as it’s my only source of music. Although I have a Synology NAS, it’s used only for back up. Perhaps I ought to think about installing uPnP software so I have a reserve, assuming it’s possible for the NAS to perform both as backup and server?
I have Minimserver on my Synology for exactly that reason. A backup that leaves you without music while you wait for a repair isn’t ideal, although fortunately I haven’t needed it yet.
ChrisSU posted:Timmo1341 posted:ChrisSU posted:Regarding the suitability of replacement drives, I believe it is not unusual for them to have their firmware modified to suit the specific application in which it is to be used. (I recall this being discussed in relation to HDX replacement drives, so chances are it would apply to the US as well.) This could mean that a DIY installation doesn’t perform as intended, even with a compatible drive model installed.
That’s interesting - thanks. Looks like best course of action will be a quick chat with my dealer before anything else. I guess there may be a possibility of him having a spare drive in stock, or if not Naim sending him one to swap out. I just don’t want the US to disappear for a month, as it’s my only source of music. Although I have a Synology NAS, it’s used only for back up. Perhaps I ought to think about installing uPnP software so I have a reserve, assuming it’s possible for the NAS to perform both as backup and server?
I have Minimserver on my Synology for exactly that reason. A backup that leaves you without music while you wait for a repair isn’t ideal, although fortunately I haven’t needed it yet.
Did you find it straightforward to install Minim Server? I’m assuming, once installed and configured, the Naim App will simply detect it as an alternative server to the US? Are there any obvious pitfalls I need to be aware of before attempting this?
Cheers.
Timmo1341 posted:ChrisSU posted:Timmo1341 posted:ChrisSU posted:Regarding the suitability of replacement drives, I believe it is not unusual for them to have their firmware modified to suit the specific application in which it is to be used. (I recall this being discussed in relation to HDX replacement drives, so chances are it would apply to the US as well.) This could mean that a DIY installation doesn’t perform as intended, even with a compatible drive model installed.
That’s interesting - thanks. Looks like best course of action will be a quick chat with my dealer before anything else. I guess there may be a possibility of him having a spare drive in stock, or if not Naim sending him one to swap out. I just don’t want the US to disappear for a month, as it’s my only source of music. Although I have a Synology NAS, it’s used only for back up. Perhaps I ought to think about installing uPnP software so I have a reserve, assuming it’s possible for the NAS to perform both as backup and server?
I have Minimserver on my Synology for exactly that reason. A backup that leaves you without music while you wait for a repair isn’t ideal, although fortunately I haven’t needed it yet.
Did you find it straightforward to install Minim Server? I’m assuming, once installed and configured, the Naim App will simply detect it as an alternative server to the US? Are there any obvious pitfalls I need to be aware of before attempting this?
Cheers.
Setup involved a small amount of head scratching, but nothing too complicated, and there is plenty of support here and direct from Minimserver’s developer if you run into any problems. Once set up, the should just appear in the Naim app alongside the US in the UPnP input all ready to go.