More problems with HDX

I had my HDX optical drive replaced by my dealer. Whole thing took about 20 minutes.

Regards Hutton

Drives are firmware-specific and must be ordered from Naim; these are also specifically rebated in the front-panel metalwork, so like-type drive (I believe that there are at least three, probably four variants) must be replaced accordingly.

Regardless of whether your unit is an SSD or a 2 x 400 / 2 x 500 / 1TB / 2 TB unit, you can confirm optical drive function by placing the unit into Play mode, rather than Rip mode.  This is generally standard practice as part of production or service test, and qualifies that the unit is ripping onto the reserved area on the internal drive appropriately (as it can be run without a functional network connection).

So this is a dealer replaceable drive?  How about over here in the US (dealers tend to be less capable over here).  I understand that the two tray opening signal wires must be soldered to the drive - your dealer did this?  And how long into the warranty were you?

The good news are even if the drive itself is warranted for 2 years, labour to replace it is guaranteed for 5 years and you will now have to pay shipping one way only.  It may be a good opportunity to upgrade your HDD to 2TB if suitable and not already done.

But before doing that, contact me with details (serial number, date of previous service, where, date of purchase, where) and your  phone number at naimataudioplusservicesdotcom, .

Mine was purchased second hand but the dealer provided a 12 month warranty under which the drive was replaced.  I watched him replace the unit which has been provided by Naim with full instructions etc.  Most recently, the HDX was returned to Naim for the 2x4GB drives to be upgraded to a single 2TB drive which is well worth the additional cost.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. 

Manu:  didn't realize you are now associated with the new US NAIM distributor - good news to hear we have another informed (US) ear on the forum! 

Hutton:  Was the optical drive a plug and play install or did the dealer have to do any "jimmying" (grinding the bezel, soldering wires)? 

I just had the unit repaired as the main 500Gb drive went TU.  I had the option of upgrading to a single 1Tb drive but I chose to keep the 2x500Gb drives - I must be the only person on the planet who actually prefers the 2 drive configuration (I only have about 200Gb occupied and the remaining 300Gb will outlive me!)

Was pretty much plug and play. No soldering just careful placement of wiring.

Regards Hutton

Keith

you are not the only one, i use a NS01 at home ( and many others do it as well) for this reason.

Naim has developed a driver specifically for the disk loader they use to optimize it. If you use another drive, it may not work at all, or it won t be optimized.

Yes, that's what the US Service Center said also.  I'm going to get it repaired through official channels.

We do our best to be consistent.

Just closing the loop on this one.  With the help of Manu at Audio Plus Services (the new North American distributor) and Chris West (longtime NAIM technical guru) at AV Options, the DVD drive in my HDX has been replaced and I'm back up and running.  Thanks to these guys and this forum (but not to my worthless local Naim dealer)!

Just FYI, the new DVD drives are SATA drives, requiring the addition of an IDE-to-SATA adapter.  The new one was a SATA Pioneer, which replaced an IDE Teac. The bare drive does need to have an additional tray opening lead soldered to the front push button.  This is apparently installed by Naim prior to shipping to a dealer if repairs are done locally, and the front rubber bumper must be switched over from the old drive to the new drive before installation. 

All in all, a satisfactory conclusion and faith restored in Naim.

Well, the swing out trays in the NAIM CD players eliminated 50% of the mechanical activity to go wrong, so maybe yes.  But the computer DVD drives should be pretty reliable.  I am told that the driver for the DVD drives is somehow optimized for a specific drive configuration, but is must be fairly broad as they use multiple drive suppliers (Pioneer, Teac, Samsung, etc) and dive types (DVD-ROM, DVD-RW) in the HDX.

...but who says they have the standard firmware on them.

Phil

Thanks Phil.......   So are you saying that Naim overwrites each drive manufacturer's firmware with a proprietary code?

For ANY optical data drive shipped as an OEM variant, features can be enabled or disabled by a device manufacturer (subject to the appropriate agreements) using an OEM firmware tool, effectively whitelisting certain features (such as spin-up / spin-down, C2 error checking, power-saving modes, etc.) according to the requirements of the device into which the drive will be integrated.

As a point of example - both the n-Vi and the HDX originally used the same DVS-manufactured OEM disc loader; however, the requirements for optimized DVD playback and CD-DA extraction are quite different, and the drives were flashed with different firmware prior to installation.

I had my HDX crash earlier this year.  One of the replacement parts was the optical drive.  Since its return it seemed to have been dumped by my network.  They are talking again now, which is nice.  However, I am having the same noisy rejection of CERTAIN  disks when I rip.  Not all but some. The disk themselves are fine and will rip under XLD.  I'm keeping an eye on it but I fear it may need a return trip.  Not had a chance to examine the logs yet but what the OP describes is exactly what I get sometimes when I rip. Curious.

Bummer!  Is your unit still under warranty?  I don't know how long repairs are covered in the UK but it the US it's usually until the end of the warranty (if done under original warranty) or 1 year (if out of original warranty).  Given the relative complexity of networks and streaming, your dealer or Naim should be able to offer some advice and help. Sounds like you may have a couple of issues which may or may not be related.

Not had any problems since my optical drive was replace a week ago - fingers crossed!