Just installed my new TViX-HD M4000P, formatted the Seagate 500GB HD to NTFS, added the VIDEO, PHOTO and AUDIO maps and put some files in them. I also hooked it up to the network and now I can play any file over the network, but...

...The internal Hard Drive (the Seagate 500BG) won't show up! It does work fine as an external drive in Windows when I connect it via the USB cable so this is a bit weird IMHO. Rather frustrating, since I was going to bring it with me as a music jukebox tonight! :(

Anyone got any clue what's wrong and/or what to do about it?

We don't have the yet to be able to help you.

I'm a little confused about your message, but does the box support the NTFS file system? Some don't.

Alan

Yes, it supports NTFS.
I think what ulrikb is saying is that the 4000P works just fine using the ethernet network connection when streaming media from a networked computer. However, after ulrikb installed a properly formatted NTFS hard drive in the 4000P, the drive shows up just fine when connecting the 4000P to a computer using the USB connection, but the drive does NOT show up when looking for it on the TV.

Spot on, Shannonrawls!
As USB HD to my computer it works great (even better than the crappy built-in HP hd in my computer) but it doesn't show up on the unit itself.

I'm betting the 4000p just doesn't really support my hd, but it works fine as a pass-through unit. That'd be my jolly old regular luck and a rather perfect end to the worst year of my life. Oh, btw... Happy new year everybody! :rolleyes:

At first I though it was my folders that was wrongly named, but I'm guessing I'd still see the HD even if I got that wrong, wouldn't I? (and I didn't get it wrong, as far as I know!). Luckily all 3 computers show up fine in the network, so I can use it at home at least.

Btw: Solved the party problem by hooking it up to the hosts (of the party) laptop, and his brand new HDTV/Surround system, so we're all gonna have a severe head ache in a couple of hours! :p

Do you mean you formatted the internal drive in the Tvix 4000 to NTFS format? I think the internal drive needs to be in FAT32 format for the TViX to see it.

No, no, and no... Then I'd only have a 32GB partition, and the manual clearly states NTFS is preferred.

Also the specs says there's really no limit o the size of the HD. With FAT32 I'd be stuck with four 32GB partitions and that's a pretty darn huge limitation for a machine like this.

Are other units really limited to FAT32, since two people have mentioned this now? I mean, that would be worthless, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I'm gonna test splitting the HD into two or three partitions just to see if one or more shows up. I did that once on an old computer and got at least the first partition up'n'running. Worst case scenario: copy the HD of one of my old computers (via USB 1.1, oh horror) and exchange it with the one in my TViX.

Well... In my TViX 5000, I simply used my Mac to format the internal 500 GB drive as a single FAT32 partition and it works fine as a single, large partition. Shows up under the TViX firmware without a problem. As I understand it, you need to use a command line instead of the GUI to force some versions of Windows to create large FAT32 partitions.

Personally I'm preferring to put the majority of my media files on a central NFS server so I can play back everything on both the TViX AND all my other networked devices. The files inside the TViX are not available to the network and represent a less flexible place to store media files.

Well, in win XP fdisk is gone, and the specs in 'format' clearly says there's a limit of 4177918 clusters with a max size of 64kB... That still only gives me about half the hd if my head calculated right (who cares about calculators).

I guess I could:
1. make 3 partitions
2. borrow a mac or win'98 machine(?)
3. Wait for an official answere from the devs or the supplier. (I have emailed them both)

I'm currently formatting 2 partitions (one extended) in NTFS and OMG it takes time. 3 hours and only 15% done. Formatting the single partition didn't take that long. Sigh...

I really don't want FAT32 since it really sucks (and though we do have several (ooold) Macs at work I haven't got a clue how to use'em).

And yeah, I do like the network, but the reason I boght this little gadget is because I really need to use all 3 computer. I can't spare one for server purpose only anymore. I used to have one machine running GBPVR, Misterhouse and my webserver, but my work pretty much forces me to actually use that machine as a work computer while the other two are locked up in crazy projects (like grinding the last damage & heal badge in City of Villains). (Oh, yes, OT!!!)

I was having the same problem with my new M4000P.
Worked fine with usb but the Tvix wasnt able to find the harddisk.

Finaly solved it: The jumper on the harddisk wasnt set on Master!
The picture on the HDD on how to set the jumper isnt that obvious.

Maybe this works for you to

Gr.
Bikketje

As far as I can see the jumper is set to master. I've followed the picture on the HDD and actually the TViX manual even has the same picture showing how to set Seagate HDDs - very nice of'em.

I must say: I've never ever had a Seagate without getting a lot of problems, so this isn't surprising me at all. (Only available big HDDs from the supplier at the moment) ...and 23% done on the formatting! Sigh...

Might try cable select just for the h*ll of it, or replacing the (darn crappy/cheap) jumper with another one. It's still weird that it works with USB cable though, but I guess it's just a simple USB converter for that, 'separated' from the rest of the unit!?

I have 2 Tvix's. One with a 500 Gb Seagate Drive, the other a 750 Gb Seagate Frive, BOTH USING NTFS. NTFS is a MUCH better filesystem. The jumper must be set correctly, otherwise you will have no/inconsistent behavior. Good luck

So apparently Seagate should work! Guess there just must be something wrong with the jumper after all, or the box needs to be replaced.

Oh, 70% formatting done... apparently this formatting will take about 13 hours! LMAO!

Sigh, I just might go kill myself...

Problem solved:
1. The image of the jumper settings where 'upside-down' and I didn't check because I think I'm Gods gift to the technical world
2. That really didn't matter (I keep thinking that at least) since the jumper had a crack in it and really had to be replaced.

I try to blame my feever and/or my hangover, but really I'm just a n00b with too much experience for my own good. (Guess that Alt I just created in City of villains - Hybris - fits me well!).

Interesting note: With the HD partitioned and formatted in 2, the device wouldn't even start with the jumper in the wrong setting - it got stuck on the 'loading' screen. With one partition it worked fine (except the HD didn't show up).

I guess it might also explain the horrible time for the formatting (almost 14 hours)!

TY alot for forcing me to check that darn jumper once more.
[close thread] :rolleyes:

I find the help on these forums utterly amazing....

When you are getting nowhere and it's not working, there always seems to be someone with the knowledge or "distance" from the problem to help you out.

I love this place!

Francois

I just installed a Western Digital WD3200AAJB 320gig hard drive in my Tvix M4000P.

I connected the M4000P to my Windows XP machine, and opened Windows disk management. I created a single primary partition, and formatted it as an NTFS partition. Then I right clicked the drive and "Activated" the partition. I named the drive "TvixHD". Then I copied my video files to the drive.

Unfortunately, when I unplug the player from my computer and connect it to my TV, it shows the drive but the file list is empty. If I press "Info" on the remote, it says 299 gig is 100% free, instead of showing the 130 gigs of videos I have on the drive. If I connect the M4000P back to the computer, all of my video files are still there.

I tried changing the jumpers to "Single (standard installation)", "Dual (Master)", "Dual (Slave)", and "Cable Select". None of the jumper settings had any effect.

I tried unplugging the cables and reconnecting. No change.

I tried returning the M4000P to factory settings by pressing the STOP and SETUP buttons on the device. This reset the settings to the factory defaults, but it still won't read the hard drive.

I tried reformatting the drive again this morning, and only copied 5 videos (about 13 gigs) to the drive. All videos are standard 5000kbps MPEG2 videos created with Cinemacraft Basic Encoder.

I can access the drive and files fine from the computer, just not from the M4000P. I had previously used the M4000P to stream shows over my home network, so I know it plays videos OK.

How can I get the M4000P to recognize the hard drive?

Thanks,

Anthony

PS. I can play the same video files from an external hard drive, just not the internal drive. So I know the files are good and the player works. It just won't read the files on the internal drive?

I still can't get my M4000P to see the files on the internal hard drive. I connected an external USB drive and it played the same files fine from there, so I know the player and the video files are working correctly.

I can also verify the files are on the disk when I connect it to my computer.

The M4000P sees the internal drive, it just says 100% of the 299 gigs is free instead of showing the files on the drive?

Can anybody help?

Thanks,

Anthony

For future reference to anyone else experiencing this problem, I finally found a solution.

Dvico told me some Western Digital drives were not compatible with the Tvix M4000P. Unhappy to hear about this after my purchase, I did some quick searching on Google for "Tvix Western Digital" and ran across a brief reference about smaller drive sizes working.

So, I reformatted my 320 gig hard drive with a 250,000 megabyte partition and was happy to find the M4000P could finally see the files! Yes, it wastes a good portion of the drive, but I only needed a bit over 160 gig anyway. IDE drives are getting hard to find anymore, so this solution will do just fine.

I set the drive jumpers to the "single (neutral position)", and made sure to "activate the partition" in Windows XP disk manager.

Anthony

Well, it seems I spoke too soon...

Formatting the drive to 200 gig or less allowed the M4000P to read the directory listing, but it still won't play the files correctly. If I select a file in one folder, it sometimes plays a file in a completely different folder.

After several attempts, I'm returning the western digital drive and will be trying a Seagate drive.

Anthony

Hi, i'm experiencing the same problem with a 500 Gb WD5000AAKB (Western Digital Caviar Blue)...
Is there a way to be sure that it's a compatibility pb. Do Divco give a list of uncompatible hard drive ? By the way how to contact them, i can't find an email on their website except from the commercial one...
Thx

Cineloic,

i'm experiencing the same problem with a 500 Gb WD5000AAKB (Western Digital Caviar Blue)... Is there a way to be sure that it's a compatibility pb.

I tried everything I could think of with the WD drive and couldn't get the M4000P to work correctly with it. Reformatting the 320gig drive to use only 200 gig allowed the M4000P to show the file listings, but it would still play the wrong videos when I selected a show for viewing. I tried reformatting to various sizes but all reacted the same.

I replaced the 320gig WD drive with a 160gig Seagate drive and it worked perfectly the first time out. So, this seems to confirm the M4000P has a compatibility problem with WD drives. The Seagate drive seems to work great.

Do Divco give a list of uncompatible hard drive ?

Not that I'm aware of.

how to contact them, i can't find an email on their website

You have to create an account on their web site and use their "My Q&A" system. So far they've responded to every question I've asked, though it can take a week or two and the answer isn't always very helpful after waiting.

Anthony