Neuros DAC 80GB, FW V03.14.02.06 - No graceful shutdown nor PC connection

[Diazx]

Hi,

I've had this DAC for some years but this is a new problem I can not figure out how to solve. The symptoms are: Not possible to shut it down gracefully, it stays forever displaying legend "Shutting Down"; It is necessary to hit the Arrow Up button and the on-off simultaneously so it really shuts down. Another bad symptom is when plugging it to a PC (Windows XP SP3) and it stays in a strange state where no reaction happens (the small bubble in the bottom of the display stays blinking and blinking but the clock shows the actual time, and no reaction to any key). All these began to happen when I cut a WAV file from the Line IN directory to the PC's hard drive using Windows Explorer, then unplugged (following the orthodox XP protocol - disconnect drive), and then noticed in the DAC file-browser menu the file was already there, so I deleted it from within the DAC menu. Now I'm sure this wasn't a good idea. By the way: I have a data backup inside occupying almost all of the 80GB, and that's why I don't want to erase the content from this little friend. Is there something I can do to have access to the data from the PC?

Thanks in advance for your help/advice!

[ChadV]

I have a few ideas, but it is easier if I can narrow things down a bit first...

Original or USB2 "backpack"?

Have you done anything to try and correct it besides hard shutdowns?

[Diazx]

Hi ChadV,

This device has the original backpack, no USB 2.0. And the only thing that I've tried to solve the problem is to erase the "System Information Volume" directory that XP placed there, but since it has so many files and braches I letf that behind. The behaviour after that was exactly the same so perhpas it is safe to think that this wouldn't help.

[ChadV]

Okay, so try this:

With the DAC off, hold 1+5 together, then power on the unit.  This should get you into diagnostic mode.

Under NAND, select "Format" then "Revive Bad Blocks".  This wipes and tests the internal flash in the brain without touching your data on the backpack.

[Diazx]

Great! Problem fixed. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

Now, if you let me abuse a little: Why did the NAND "disk" got corrupt with such file operations on the hard drive? This will let me prevent actions that may put in danger the data on the disk.

[ChadV]

...Sometimes it just happens?