Media center / MFT tip

[briteboy]

Hello all. I know that many of us have experienced "occassional" issues with the MFT system.

I just got back from a 2000 trip this week, and learned something that made a big difference in the performance of MFT.

I had been using a USB stick to play tunes thru the media center. I often got an error message saying that "This USB device is not supported". Well...not only was it not supported, the USB drive was screwing up the rest of the capabilities of MFT.

The system completely locked up. I tried a master reset with no luck. Finally I had to a hard "reboot" of the system (that's mechanic-speak for disconnecting the negative cable on the battery).

I went to walmart and bought a cheap USB drive from PNY. Loaded my songs on it, and Voila !! what a difference! Everything works better now. The navigation, the media center, time lag between functions is almost instantaneous. It's like they replaced the whole system.

So...for those of you that may be frustrated with the MFT system glitches, try spending $5 for a new USB stick (without the U3 system files) and plug it in.

Hope this helps a few people.

 

[briteboy]

Forgot to add I got 23.7 mpg over the 2000 mile trip with a V-6, over and thru the mountains of the carolina's and up to Indiana doing 75 mph+. (just an aside)

 

[Since95]

Yeah that U3 crap basically hijacks the USB driver interface. Removal is really not an option since portions of it are often implemented in hardware on the device. It is my belief that companies should be in the hardware business or the software business rarely can they do both. Just ask HP awesome hardware crappy drivers & utilities.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the bluetooth stack is also a point where resources can be stolen. Just take a look at the phone complaints wrt to simple headsets. RIM, Apple, and Android are all currently experiencing problems. In some respects MFT is simply a glorified headset to the phone.

The phone manufacturers often stray away from the bluetooth version spec to do fancy things, reduce power, meet the release date, and cram components into smaller and smaller packages. The life expectancy is 1.5 years on these devices so it's rare when bug fixes are released for the old version when the new version is right around the corner or Christmas season whichever comes first.

 

[cowboyearl]

Question about this

I can download music from my computer to a USB and then just plug it in my exployer and play songs? What do i need to do on the exployer to play the songs?

Thanks,
Earl:exp:

 

[briteboy]

Usually the USB will start playing on its own in about 10 seconds. If not, open up the entertainment quad to full screen and press USB. That should start it.

I leave my USB plugged in all the time, that way MFT doesn't have to index it each time.