X7 Browser view of Library/Folders is 'broken'

[SEG]

I was using Napster software to transfer Napster To Go music files (DRM-protected WMA) to my X7 (via MTP as required by Napster; X7 firmware 2.08). Occasionally, when attempting the transfer, the X7 would freeze/hang, requiring a reset. (see footnote).

Last night after resetting and restarting the X7 I noticed strange behavior. When I attempted to use the X7 Browser to look at the Folders, I saw only 3 folder entries--they were '[]', '[]', and '[]'. I tapped on them and eventually found some files, but the files names were unintelligible. The display of the folder tree structure seemed corrupt. When I tapped on a music file (by trial and error), the song started to play and the album art showed, but the displayed artist name and track information were Chinese characters (I believe; it could have been Japanese).

So, used 'load defaults' in the X7 System menu, then I reformatted the X7 HDD, and then I reinstalled firmware 2.08. With no data on the X7 HDD, when I used the Browser to view Library / Folders, and then tapped on '[X7 HDD]' I saw 3 (subordinate) entries named '[X7 HDD]', '[X7 HDD]', and '[X7 HDD]'. Nice, huh?

Following, I copied 4 albums of mp3 files from 3 artists to the X7 (music that I own; using Windows Explorer to move the files with the X7 in MSC mode)--I'll refer to the artists as 'artist A', 'artist B', 'artist C'. Strange result: when Browsing Folders on the X7 and tapping [X7 HDD], I see...

[<album title from artist B>]
[<artist B name>]
[<artist C name>]

When I tap [<artist B name>] or [<artist C name>] I see 'No File'. When I tap [<album title from artist B>] I then see a full listing of artist names and the albums are correctly nested under the artists names.

By the way, if I browse by Artist instead of by Folders, then everything appears as expected.

I reformatted the X7 HDD again and re-installed firmware 2.08. It made no difference.

footnote. This is one of several posts about my experiences attempting to use the X7 (firmware 2.08) with Napster To Go. For background, Napster To Go allows subscribers to transfer, via Napster software, DRM-protected WMA files to portable players in MTP mode, i..e, 'rented' music.

[eliezther6]

Originally Posted by SEG

I was using Napster software to transfer Napster To Go music files (DRM-protected WMA) to my X7 (via MTP as required by Napster; X7 firmware 2.08). Occasionally, when attempting the transfer, the X7 would freeze/hang, requiring a reset. (see footnote).

Last night after resetting and restarting the X7 I noticed strange behavior. When I attempted to use the X7 Browser to look at the Folders, I saw only 3 folder entries--they were '[]', '[]', and '[]'. I tapped on them and eventually found some files, but the files names were unintelligible. The display of the folder tree structure seemed corrupt. When I tapped on a music file (by trial and error), the song started to play and the album art showed, but the displayed artist name and track information were Chinese characters (I believe; it could have been Japanese).

So, used 'load defaults' in the X7 System menu, then I reformatted the X7 HDD, and then I reinstalled firmware 2.08. With no data on the X7 HDD, when I used the Browser to view Library / Folders, and then tapped on '[X7 HDD]' I saw 3 (subordinate) entries named '[X7 HDD]', '[X7 HDD]', and '[X7 HDD]'. Nice, huh?

Following, I copied 4 albums of mp3 files from 3 artists to the X7 (music that I own; using Windows Explorer to move the files with the X7 in MSC mode)--I'll refer to the artists as 'artist A', 'artist B', 'artist C'. Strange result: when Browsing Folders on the X7 and tapping [X7 HDD], I see...

[<album title from artist B>]
[<artist B name>]
[<artist C name>]

When I tap [<artist B name>] or [<artist C name>] I see 'No File'. When I tap [<album title from artist B>] I then see a full listing of artist names and the albums are correctly nested under the artists names.

By the way, if I browse by Artist instead of by Folders, then everything appears as expected.

I reformatted the X7 HDD again and re-installed firmware 2.08. It made no difference.

footnote. This is one of several posts about my experiences attempting to use the X7 (firmware 2.08) with Napster To Go. For background, Napster To Go allows subscribers to transfer, via Napster software, DRM-protected WMA files to portable players in MTP mode, i..e, 'rented' music.

Have you tried going to settings/system/third system screen/database update? That usually helps, maybe your problems are because of napster, don't know...

[SEG]

Thanks for the suggestion, but updating the database had no effect on my problem Browsing the Folders.

UPDATE: It appears that the problem with the 'broken' view of Folders in the Browser was, at least in part, related to installation of Chakra on the X7; I want to state up-front that Chakra was developed for the S9/J3 and never intended for the X7. The problem with the 'broken' Folders view first appeared after Chakra was installed, but remained after Chakra was removed (i.e., removing all files from \system\flashUI and \system\flashUI\SOL and rebooting the X7). Also, I strongly believe that Napster To Go was involved in this, i.e., the 'broken' Folders view problem was first noticed after the Napster To Go encountered difficulty transferring files to the X7--either Napster-reported 'failed transfers' or X7 hanging/freezing. IMHO, the combination of X7 + Chakra + Napster To Go should be avoided; perhaps X7 + Chakra should be avoided. Again, Chakra was never intended to be installed on the X7. It also 'threw' me a little at first that the problems with 'broken' Folders viewing remained after Chakra was uninstalled from the X7. However, after later re-installing Chakra and attempting to use Napster To Go, the X7 hung/froze yet again; when attempting to uninstall Chakra again, I noticed that several of its files had become corrupt (and, Windows denied access to delete some of them). I then used Windows to check/repair the X7 file system. Subsequently, I was able to delete all the contents of \system\FlashUI and its SOL sub-folder, as well as \Found.000 and its contents (the lost clusters from corrupt files). Following, I saw that my Folders view was back to normal: under [X7 HDD] I was seeing [Audible], [Music], [Video], as it should be. This makes me wonder whether my earlier attempt to uninstall Chakra somehow left some 'hidden' Chakra remnants behind, but somehow the scan/repair of the X7 volume by Windows helped me to purge (hopefully) all of Chakra.

[SEG]

After more experimentation, I believe that the 'broken' Folders view in the X7 Browser (described above) resulted from file corruption, which can occur when attempting to copy files to the X7 while in MTP mode (firmware 2.08). In another thread, I have described how the X7 can hang/freeze (requiring a reset) when copying files to it in MTP mode; when this happens, files on the X7 can become corrupted. The folders [Audible], [Music], and [Video] can also become corrupt, and that was the circumstance with the 'broken' Folders view. After reformatting the X7 HDD, the problem persisted: what should have appeared as the [Audible], [Music], and [Video] folders subordinate to the [X7 HDD] folder in Browser/ Foders view, appeared as [HDD], [HDD], [HDD]. Next, I used the X7 Browser to delete the 3 [HDD] folders and restarted the X7. After that, the folders appeared as [Audible], [Music], [Video].

Before applying this 'fix' I thought it was strange that when in MSC mode, the 3 folder names appeared as 'Audible', 'Music', 'Video' when viewed with Windows Explorer, but in MTP mode the 3 folders appeared as generic, empty files, each named 'file' when viewed with Windows Explorer.

OTHER THOUGHTS: All of this leads me to believe that, all along, the problems I have experienced resulted solely from the implementation of MTP mode in X7. It may well be the case that Chakra is fine to use on the X7, i.e., that I only experienced problems with Chakra because some Chakra files became corrupt as a result of the X7 MTP issues. Ditto for Napster.

[Actorlife]

I'm having a similar problem. When I plug in the player to my PC I can see the two hard drive, but if I have the player on by itself it only reads the HDD drive and not the flash drive. I put some music in the HDD folder but when I put the player on it can't see the files at all. Anyway to fix this? I upgraded the firmware again, re-formated it and it did nothing to fix it. How can I get it back to factory settings maybe that will help?

[Actorlife]

Fair warning do not plug into a Mac! This is what caused my problem. I only plugged it in and did nothing else, so fare warning.
Found the answer:
http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showpo...5&postcount=13

[SEG]

NOTE: I am a noob and these are guesses.

1. put the X7 in MSC mode, connect to a PC, and use Windows Explorer to scan and fix file system errors on both X7 HDD and X7 Flash. E.g., in Windows Explorer (XP), right-click X7 Flash, then select Properties, Tools, Error Checking (Check Now), click on "automatically fix file system errors" and hit the "Start" button in the dialog box.

If that doesn't fix the problem, then...

2. Use Windows Explorer to delete all files and folders on both drives and then reinstall the X7 operating system.

If that doesn't fix the problem, then...

3. Use Windows Explorer to reformat the X7 volumes and then re-install the X7 operating system.