View Full Version : X5 60GB freezes intermittently
I just got my 2nd X5 60GB a couple of days ago and started to noticed an intermittent issue with it (the first one came DOA...not a good starting point :thumbsdow ). The problem is that during playback of either mp3s or video clips, the thing would freeze by simply rotating its physical orientation of the unit...by this, I mean, if I held the device in my hand...just turning the device upside down (or any other angles) would freezes the damn thing! If it doesn't happen the first time, it will happen the next several trial. I'm not even shaking it or subject it to any type of shock...just a simple physical re-orientation. Otherwise, the device will work fine if it is left sitting still (this means that I can't carry it around with me and listen to music at the same time???). This is unbelievable that they could put such a flaky device on the market (and they marketed as a portable device to boot)! When the darn thing freezes up as mentioned, reseting it does NOTHING but brings up the blank white screen (similar to what others have mentioned on several other threads). I found that giving the thing a light tap (sort of a pad in the back) would bring it out of this limbo state. The light pad also works when the device is frozen in the middle of a song as well. FM reception works perfectly fine, so I'm suspecting that it has to do with the hard-drive tracking problem...but then again, I see that this problem occur even when the drive had powered down (music playing from buffered data).
Otherwise, Cowon has a great device at hand...excellent sounds, simple drag and drop file system without requiring extra software to work the thing. This is the exact device that I was looking for, in terms of a DAP. Just wished they wouldn't use their customers as beta testers :( I'm going to try to RMA this thing one last time and then call it quit if that third one acts up!
Anyone else have this problem?
Anyone else experience/test this out?
HeyScotE
11-30-2005, 21:24
Yes, please post any other problems - I just got mine today from New Egg but it is a Christmas Present and I will not open it until then - UNLESS I keep hearing that there are major problems....please post any and all problems with the X5 60 gig!!!
TIA
ScotE
If I were you, I would open it as soon as I can...at least just to make sure that everything is working properly. FYI...you can't get a refund after 30 days from Newegg and it's a big pain in the you know what to deal with Cowon!
Wow that really sucks! So basically they sent you back a player thats worse than the one you sent them?
This happened to me with an MPIO (another Korean company) mp3 player HD300, I got a blank screen. And I had it RMAed and then sent me back the same player with the same problem. They claimed to have replace some cable on the inside but nothing was fixed.
I returned it agian and then they sent me a brand new one.
Anyway I'm still wating on my x5 to be returned to me. So it seems like the 60GB version are the only players to experience this issue?
Well...the replacement player they sent me was actually better than the original one. At least the second unit worked, albeit intermittently. I'm sure Newegg sent me a brand new replacement unit because that second player was in a completely sealed plastic box and it had a different serial number. Anyway...I decided that I didn't want to try my luck on another unit (2 bad units back to back isn't great luck to start with), so I'm getting a full refund. Good luck with your replacement unit!
HeyScotE
12-01-2005, 18:09
What would your order of operations be - i.e. charge the battery before turning on the unit, or just break it out of the packaging and turn it on (is there even enough charge to do this as it comes from the factory?)
My first inclination is to charge it first - please give your advise....
What would your order of operations be - i.e. charge the battery before turning on the unit, or just break it out of the packaging and turn it on (is there even enough charge to do this as it comes from the factory?)
My first inclination is to charge it first - please give your advise....
Well mine, right out of the box was practically fully charged.
I had it in the charger for around 10 min before it told me that the charge was complete. The manual mentioned something like 3 hours to fully charge, but this wasn't the case.
HeyScotE
12-01-2005, 20:57
I opened up the plastic case, taking care to cut it along the edge so that it would look sorta virgin come X-mas morn. I pulled it out, pluged it in and when I came back in an hour it was fully charged. I turned it on and.......everything happened as it should have: the screen came on, the little movie played and I got a quick peek at the file menu. I fiddled with the joystick a little and - I waved it around in the air, upside down, etc...everything seemed to work ok :bigthumbs
-so I put it back in case, neatly, like it was never out, and put it back into my wife's closet until X-mas..
This is going to be a very long few weeks....:rolleyes: I will pass the time learning about ripping my CD's, different formats (I think I'll put my CD's into Ogg and my leave my live shows in FLAC) - which, of course will mean that I am going to be forced, FORCED I tell you, to buy a 250G external hard drive this weekend just so the 100's of gigs of live shows, CD's and digital photos do not slow down the home computer:winker:
vanhalen26
12-20-2005, 20:49
Mine froze today with the background screen on ... I was out and didn't know about the reset button - so I just had to let it run. After about 40 minutes it came back to life. Seems to be running OK now, but had me nervous.
I've had the same problem with my X5 20GB. 2 freezes and numerous white screens at start-up. It doesn't react to me carrying it around; the freezes are quite random.
What happens (freezes):
1. I try to play a track, and no response.
2. I try to choose another track, and am allowed to do so.
3. On this second track, I get the Spinning Hourglass of Death.
3a. The clock still works fine, and shows correct time.
3b. The battery status is updated properly, so you know when the aberration will finally die and let you recharge and start it.
4. After having proved its long battery life for 5 hours or so, the device runs out of steam.
5. It works fine on restart.
The reset button and the 30 sec holds were good to know about.
As for the white screens, I got them shortly after I bought the device. I contacted Cowon via their iaudio site, and they recommended I format the disk and upgrade the firmware. (Seems it requires to be formatted as FAT32, btw.) If I kept getting white screens after that, I should contact the seller, as the device would be faulty and in need of replacement or repair. My reformatting was on monday, and I haven't got any whitescreens since then, but this crash (yesterday) has me nervous that I might get one soon.
Red Kennedy
01-05-2006, 14:57
They really should use a better filesystem. It'd be very easy to add support for XFS, EXT2/3 or any other open filesystem. MUCH easier than fat32.
underthegun
01-05-2006, 16:29
I've had a few hangups. One time on a long trip, mine hungup and I didn't have a paperclip or something similar to reset it with. Since then, I keep one in my backpack all the time. The hangups are not that frequent, though. I think it may have started occurring after the last flash update. Also, there are a couple songs which it hangs up on which may be corrupt. Haven't tried to play it on my PC, yet. Most of my music are from the newsgroup binaries. Nice collections out there.
Which OS do you guys use? I use Mac OS X, Win XP and Mandrake Linux, and switch between them. The iAudio X5 does not disconnect properly when I'm at the Mac or the Linux. Removal and "safe removal" gives me no "OK to disconnect".
I just wondered if this flaw could explain something.
vBulletin® v3.8.7, Copyright ©2000-2013, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.