DMS Keg Takes Forever For Computer To Recognize

[BioBob]

I just put together a new computer for myself running a brand new Intel 6700k processor overcloced to 4.6 ghz (water cooled) and a Gigabyte Z170x Gaming 7 Motherboard and decided to put Windows 7 64 bit, which isnt an issue because I do have a USB 2.0 cradle.  Trouble is that when I throw my Kenwood DMS in the cradle, it takes a VERY long time for any of my systems to recognize it.  The Music Keg in my car is using modified firmware care this site so i could run a 120 gig hard drive in it over the chinsy 10 gig original that I had.  To keep it short, it took over an HOUR for the system to see the drive, but the DMS still works just fine when in my car, just my computer wont recognize it.  Once recognized, it responds quickly. 

I actually have two USB 2.0 cradles, one I got from Phatnoise Support was a Prototype back when the company was still around.  I tried all 3 of my cradles, all do the same thing, just take forever for computers to recognize them.

Does this sound like the hard drive in the DMS is dying?  If so, then I'll replace the drive, and I am hoping to go with a Solid State Drive, but Im curious what else I am going to need to do in order to get the Phatnoise system to work with a SSD drive in my car.  Should I just replace the hard drive in the DMS with another old style PATA instead of either a SATA or SSD drive?  What other hardware would I need for compatability?  What are your experiences with getting the Phatnoise head unit to work with SATA and SSD drives?

My hope is that this can be "just like the good old days" where I can pop out my DMS and just use the cradle on my computer and PMM to manage all my music, just like in the days of Windows XP.  Any chance that this will happen?

[Toran]

I have heard members saying that they had success with Windows 7, but it was always unusable for me and finally decided to stay with Windows XP, which recognizes the DMS everytime!

[VorTechS]

It sounds more like an issue with the power supply.  I personally had a lot of problems with the cradle performing poorly when the power supply connector wasn't quite pushed in correctly, and it stands to reason that after all this time the Power Supplies themselves may degrade. 

It might be worth swapping out the power supply, you can use a generic power supply switcher to see if that get's you anywhere.

[BioBob]

Would getting a different power supply for the cradle also be recommended if I were to try swapping the hard drive out for either a SATA or Solid State drive?  I have several power supplies but they all end up doing the same thing, 3 cradles, 1 USB 1.0, one USB 2.0 and a prototype USB 2.0 labeled the same.  Only consistent thing I have across the whole thing is the hard drive itself, would it be worth the time to swap it out?

[VorTechS]

I don't recall if I ever had a drive that's failed on me, you'd have thought that of 3 power supplies, 1 should be a good one!

Do you have a spare 3.5" drive you can swap out with temporarily?  You don't have to worry about it being specifically a PhatNoise formatted one, but just swapping it out for the existing disk and testing the DMS in the cradle to see if/how speed improves should give you a better clue whether or not the cause is the drive.

There are more questions I could ask here, like:

1. Is the drive you suspect causing the problem and original drive?
2. If not, was it prepared using my DMS Tools?

If the answer to number 2 was yes, it's worth noting that older versions created some overlapping partitions due to a calculation issue and that might cause the O/S to do strange things with the drive.

[BioBob]

I will have to find a spare drive to put into the cradle.  Need a few days to do that tho...

1.  The hard drive that is in there now is not the original, it is a 120 gig replacement for the 10 gig I initially got.
2.  It was prepared using your DMS tools.

I did try to run some further tests on the drive itself using standard Windows Error Checking, looking for bad sectors and what not but didnt find any.  Yeah, must my luck that 3 power supplies and they all die?  Is it possible they were damaged by improper wall voltages?

[VorTechS]

If you are in the U.S. I have two original supplies that have never been used (I'm in the UK, so they're useless to me), I'd be more than happy to send you one/both.

Given that the drive was prepped with the DMS Tools, I would definitely not rule out there being an issue with your partitions.
I also wouldn't trust Windows to do a proper check either, and that's coming from a Pro-MS person!

I'm not even sure if I ever released a patch to the DMS tools after it was reported that the partitions were overlapping.  I'll have a look and see if I can determine if I ever did!

[bolopez]

I'm not even sure if I ever released a patch to the DMS tools after it was reported that the partitions were overlapping.  I'll have a look and see if I can determine if I ever did!

I remember having problems with partitions, but never with latest releases...

[BioBob]

If you are in the U.S. I have two original supplies that have never been used (I'm in the UK, so they're useless to me), I'd be more than happy to send you one/both.

Given that the drive was prepped with the DMS Tools, I would definitely not rule out there being an issue with your partitions.
I also wouldn't trust Windows to do a proper check either, and that's coming from a Pro-MS person!

I'm not even sure if I ever released a patch to the DMS tools after it was reported that the partitions were overlapping.  I'll have a look and see if I can determine if I ever did!

Do you think I should recreate the drive partitions using 2.15 of your software?  Im not sure which version I used when I hacked my drive...

[bolopez]

Of course VorTechS' advice is better than mine, but I've done that a whole lot of times. Release 2.15 and always "slow fomatting". No problem there (except when I try to put many files in it, but that's another story...)

Regards

[VorTechS]

@BioBob - it certainly wouldn't hurt to try the latest version of the tools.  I loaded up the code, but I've not put any comments in there specifying which version the fix may have been in, or indeed if in any version!  I don't see anything in the latest release notes that suggests the fix is present, so I may not even have released it!

@bolopez - never assume my advice is better! I'm just like everyone else here, learnt by asking questions of the right people.  It doesn't mean I actually understand it all!

Phatpartition, the utility that prepares the disk is one such example.  I can sit here and look at the code, and wonder how the hell I wrote it because when I'm reading it quickly I find myself thinking, "what on earth does this all mean?"
The 'Quick Format' option should work fine by the way.

[BioBob]

Turns out the drive I was trying to use was dying!

Ok, got the latest tools, found a replacement drive (what a pain that was), used the tools to fix DMS Boot Sector, and everything is up and running.  Then, I copied all the other files I had backed up (thank God), and Im freakin peachy on Windows 7 64 bit, USB 2.0 Cradle and all!  Just like the good old days!

Yay!

[VorTechS]

Great stuff, glad to see you are back up and running!

[doppiogioko]

Hello guys.
I have the same problem. DMS is very slowly recognized . I checked for errors using the Scan Disk for Win XP . Everything is smooth result. Doing a check with Partition Magic the disc is rather damaged. After the DMS is recognized the 2 partitions are perfectly accessible . What may have happened?
I thought it was the HD . Having another DMS I realized that even on that there are the same problems . They are all created by DMS Tool .
I tried to create a new DMS using a new HD , but it does not turn on the Create new DMS button.
Can you tell me if there's a way to solve?
Greetings.

[BioBob]

I had to replace my hard drive, which are becoming more expensive and harder to find.

Once I did that, since my Keg was already hacked, I just used DMS tools and transferred everything over from my old dying hard drive and put it on my new one and it worked like a charm!