The dreaded hard disk error

Well it finally happened. I got the dreaded "No hard disk found" message today. It was COLD out last night so I had the heat on high. When I took the player out it was REALLY hot. I could barely stand to put it in it's pelican case. I fear I fried a disk.

I hope it's just a cable. Time to troubleshoot.

Or perhaps a cold solder joint on the IDE header.

That sucks, man. Hopefully it is just a cable.

I usually keep my heat on front defrost (reg. cab truck), I wonder if that would make a difference in regard to the heat being transferred to the empeg?

Or perhaps a cold solder joint on the IDE header.

Most likely. The quick changes in temperature could have caused a weak solder joint to crack.

I was hoping mine only had a problem with the solder joints, but alas, Rob informed me today that my drive is dead. I can't wait to get it back and upload about 35GB of music again

I just got the the dreaded hard disk error this past week as well... not looking forward to having to send my player halfway across the world to get it repaired.. sigh.. if anyone is in TX and is experienced in soldering and would like to help me fix my player let me know! I'd be more than willing to pay you fairly for your time..

Bart: Milhouse...Milhouse, wake up, quick! Look out the window.
Milhouse: No way, Bart. If I lean over, I leave myself open to wedgies,
wet willies, or even the dreaded rear-admiral!

(sorry for stealing your thread, but the title reminded me of this)

Have you tried checking if the cable has come loose before worring about soldering? I had this problem a few weeks ago, simply pushing down on the IDE connectors solved it!

Cheers.

I haven't had a chance to check anything out as of yet. At this point I'm not going to worry about anything until I dig further. Hopefully within the next couple of days...

I kick myself now for no having a backup.

This is odd. I just plugged it in at home (AC) and it works fine. I'll have to bring it out to the car again and see if I still get a message. Has this happened to anyone else before?

my understanding is that one of the symptoms of a dry solder connection is that the player will sometimes work and sometimes wont...

my player exhibits this.. it'll work for a while then it will start skipping and stop playing.. i'll reset the player then it will say 'hard drive not found'.. then a couple minutes later i'll reset the player it and it will start playing again...

Has this happened to anyone else before?

Yes, lots of people, which is why it's covered by a pretty extensive FAQ entry on the topic. Have you read through it? Just wanted to make sure... you didn't mention it so far in this thread.

Yes, I read through the FAQ. What I was asking was if anyone else had see the message in the car but not using the AC. I didn't see that in the FAQ. It just seemed strange to me. I haven't actually spent the time to sit down and troubleshoot this yet. I don't believe there is a power supply problem in the car so I thought I'd throw the question out there.

Thanks,

Unless the error message is consistently in one place or the other, I'd bet on coincidence. My player had some solder problems that led to an often bizarre game of roulette when trying to listen to music. Besides only getting it in the car could also suggest possible enviromental issues or player install angle that still lead you to a solder problem.

I don't believe there is a power supply problem in the car so I thought I'd throw the question out there.

If it's consistently happening in the car, and never happening in the house, then I maintain that it would most likely be a power supply problem with the car wiring (which is in that FAQ entry), or a temperature problem exacerbating some kind of an intermittent connection (such as the IDE header).

I'll have to check it out. I haven't even brought it back out to the car to see what happens. Thanks for keeping me honest. The amount of information on the board always amazes me.

Well I brought it out to the car and it started right up.

So it's intermittent, then, not consistent. Sounds like the cable or the IDE header. You're not leaving it outside overnight in the cold, are you?

I never leave it in the car, especially this winter. Not to mention the seemingly run on thefts.