Cocktail Audio™ UK Support Forum

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Cocktail Audio X10

Over the past three years I've experienced periodic hassles with the X10 failing to see the hard drive on start-up.
Switching off and re - booting the X10 usually resolves the problem, though sometimes I'd have to restart it several times before it would pick up the 2TB Hdd.
Recently the same symptoms occurred by no amount of rebooting  helped and the X10 cannot see the hard drive at all now.

I live in rural Spain and have only limited access to the Internet,  but have no reason to believe the Internet radio function is compromised.

I've tried the following:

Checked the drive in 3 other Pj's - all can see and read  and write to the drive without any problems.
Tried 3 other known good drives in the X10, - non of them are detected when connected via the normal power and sata cables..
Tried various USB devices all work OK.
It reads and plays CD's without problems Ditto MP3 cd's

Downloaded and installed latest updated firmware.
Tried external power supply and new SATA Cable.
Connected the hard drive to the normal X10 power  cable, disconnected the CD drive,  and connected the hard drive to the CD drive SATA connector. In this configuration it can read and play from the hard drive.
This indicates to me that there is a problem with the data circuit or chip.

I am familiar with electronics to component level and have inspected the PCB and components at high magnification. There are no swollen caps or dry joints, nor any obvious faults.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Please help
Tony johnson


Sent from Blue Mail

Spain has a bad blips in their power supply...that could cause any HDD to malfunction.
Have friends in Spain & i visit there too, sometimes you get this 1-2 seconds ON/OFF power - hence it is best to always get a power socket/lead that protects again power surges & other related issues - especially is you are not in the city.

Excellent advice for X30/X10/X12 - and for all computers, modern televisions and PVRs - no matter where you live

Thanks for your attempts to help and I don't want to offend a home - but I would have thought the context of the message would indicate its not a minor glitch which might be caused by power blips etc.
I have a number of computers and assorted music gadgets etc. Also I have eight assorted external drives. All opsrate OK and i can figure out dirty power issues. Power is fine here. I am now retired but spent most of my working life as an else trical engineer - and all of it in technical fields.
Ideally, I'm looking for a circuit diagram, or advice from someone who understands the data path or the pin outs of the chips.
Thanks again and I hope I don't sound like I'm being condescending.

Thank's Tony. I had not thought of trying the CD drive SATA connector until you mentioned it, and the X10 can now see the 2tb HDD.
I used the X10 to format the drive to make sure that it could access it.
However the 'change storage to internal HDD' option in the menu. Is still greyed out and the 2tb internal HDD shows up as a USB drive in the X10's browser menu.
Without any real indication as to what is actually going on here I can only guess, and it seems like the X10 has lost track of the SATA and USB ports.
Which would fit with the fact that everything worked perfectly fine, until firmware R1760 finished installing, then the internal HDD could not be found.

I do now know for certain that it's not a problem with the HDD and SATA cable, or a power issue.

_________________
Oink Oink!...................................KEF LS50 Wireless/Partington Dreadnought Broadside.

Thanks for replying.
I don't know why it is but I have almost no luck in tech forums. It seems like all the answers one gets are just basic stuff that one has already tried as a part of the logical fault finding process that all engineers go thru when diagnosing faults on equipment.
Unfortunately in electronics (and to some extent - hydraulics and pneumatics) it's almost impossible to fault find without circuit diagrams or schematics.

Although I can understand manufacturers and/or suppliers not wanting to get involved with large numbers of users in trying to solve tech problem - it leaves us in yet more of a throwaway - society.
As a retired bloke I just can't afford to buy a new unit to replace my X10.its a great pity as I really Do appreciate whoever put in the efforts required to make a device that (until it failed) so neatly fulfilled this blokes love of tech stuff to fill requirements in a way that almost exactly replicated what I could envision - but don't have the knowledge or brains to make myself.
Times have changed - some for the better (if you have money !) but the enjoyment and fulfillment of electronic "kit building" has (sadly) gone - and with its demise, we are more firmly on the rails that lead to less choice and freedom - not of where - but of how? and why?
Have to shut up now as it is irrelevant - some change for the worse is inevitable.