Cowon J3 frozen - Cannot switch off!

[Artmuzz]

Hi,

I recently bought the Cowon J3. I am very impressed with this player but I now have a problem. Ever since installing a microSDHC card into my J3 whenever I go into Videos folder I get a green stripped screen and the J3 freezes and will not switch off. I have tried pressing the power button for over a minute but it will not switch off

I fear I have bricked it. Strange thing is that when there was no microSDHC card install the videos used to play fine.

Please advise

Art

[CrowdAds]

[WalkGood]

Have you tried the reset button? Page 10 manual

[NeedBalanceCtrl]

Originally Posted by Artmuzz

Hi,

I recently bought the Cowon J3. I am very impressed with this player but I now have a problem. Ever since installing a microSDHC card into my J3 whenever I go into Videos folder I get a green stripped screen and the J3 freezes and will not switch off. I have tried pressing the power button for over a minute but it will not switch off

I fear I have bricked it. Strange thing is that when there was no microSDHC card install the videos used to play fine.

Please advise

Art

If the manual reset doesn't help solve the problem, then you may have a corrupt video file that's causing the freeze. Try moving all of your video files off of the external card and see if that helps.

If you have no video files at all and you've tried the manual 'reset', then your firmware may be corrupted. You may try upgrading the firmware or reinstalling the firmware.

[Artmuzz]

Originally Posted by Need Balance Control

If the manual reset doesn't help solve the problem, then you may have a corrupt video file that's causing the freeze. Try moving all of your video files off of the external card and see if that helps.

If you have no video files at all and you've tried the manual 'reset', then your firmware may be corrupted. You may try upgrading the firmware or reinstalling the firmware.

I did a reset (after trying to insert a thick needle in and scratching the bodywork around the hole as a result ) and it solved the problem but the videos that I am trying to play are the default demo videos that came with the Cowon J3.

Strange that when I remove the microSDHC card the videos play without a problem. The problem only happens whenever I have the microSDHC card inserted and go into the Videos folder

I am using a class 6 microSDHC card 8GB

Art

[NeedBalanceCtrl]

Originally Posted by Artmuzz

I did a reset (after trying to insert a thick needle in and scratching the bodywork around the hole as a result ) and it solved the problem but the videos that I am trying to play are the default demo videos that came with the Cowon J3.

Strange that when I remove the microSDHC card the videos play without a problem. The problem only happens whenever I have the microSDHC card inserted and go into the Videos folder

I am using a class 6 microSDHC card 8GB

Art

Then it sounds like it's your microsdhc card that's the culprit. I do not have this problem with my microSDHC card. Can you get your hands on another microSHDC card to test out?

[Artmuzz]

Originally Posted by Need Balance Control

Then it sounds like it's your microsdhc card that's the culprit. I do not have this problem with my microSDHC card. Can you get your hands on another microSHDC card to test out?

The thing is I only have MP3s on my external microSDHC card. The videos I am trying to play are actually on the Cowon internal memory as they are the products demo videos.

I will try another SDHC card as you suggested and see if it is the card

[Artmuzz]

I tried another microSDHC card and it still has the same problem where when I try to go into the videos folder the J3's screen goes all funny and crashes the player.

So no matter what card I use I still get the same problems


Art

[NeedBalanceCtrl]

Originally Posted by Artmuzz

I tried another microSDHC card and it still has the same problem where when I try to go into the videos folder the J3's screen goes all funny and crashes the player.

So no matter what card I use I still get the same problems


Art

That is just weird. Do you really need the Cowon demo videos? What about just deleteing the Cowon demo vidoes?

Are you having problems viewing other videos--ones that are not Cowon demo?

[Artmuzz]

Originally Posted by Need Balance Control

That is just weird. Do you really need the Cowon demo videos? What about just deleteing the Cowon demo vidoes?

Are you having problems viewing other videos--ones that are not Cowon demo?

The only videos that are on the J3 are the products demo videos.

To be honest I don't really watch or need videos on a player but its the principle of it not working that disappoints me.

Art

[Artmuzz]

I deleted all the videos from my J3 but now when I go into the videos folder i am presented with a list of files called "27-Accidental Capture.mp3". When I tap into one of those files the J3 screen goes all weird again, freezes and crashes

I would take it back but I fear they will refuse a refund considering the reset button is a bit marked with the thick needle I used to reset it


Art

[NeedBalanceCtrl]

Originally Posted by Artmuzz

I deleted all the videos from my J3 but now when I go into the videos folder i am presented with a list of files called "27-Accidental Capture.mp3". When I tap into one of those files the J3 screen goes all weird again, freezes and crashes

I would take it back but I fear they will refuse a refund considering the reset button is a bit marked with the thick needle I used to reset it


Art

I don't know what to tell you man. It almost sounds like there is a virus.

Taking/sending it back probably is your best bet. If it's defective, then it's defective. Hopefully the laws in your country are friendly towards consumer protection.

[WalkGood]

Before you go through the trouble of sending it back, try to re-firmware, format sd card, reload tunes and try a final time. Going thorough an RMA is a PITA sometimes.

BTW, I doubt the needle scratches would stop a RMA, if it's not fixable via a re-firmware and formating the card they should replace it.

[dfkt]

As for formatting the card, use this app, not the built-in Windows formatter: http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/

[Resiak]

You should try updating with version 2.10 again if you haven't done it already. If it still malfunctions, I would send the J3 back for a replacement....quickly!

[Artmuzz]

UPDATE: I managed to fix the problem The problem was that I had a sansa.m3u file on the miniSDHC card because Iused that same card originally on my Sansa Clip+

I simply removed that file and bingo it now works and I can now access videos without the J3 freezing up and crashing with the weird coloured screen

Thanks for all of your suggestions anyway.


Art

[WalkGood]

Congrats and a format would have done the same.

[Artmuzz]

Originally Posted by WalkGood

Congrats and a format would have done the same.

Actually, I formatted the micorSDHC card then rebooted my J3 and it fixed the problem. However, when I transferred all the files I had backed up back onto the card and rebooted, the freeze and crash problem returned so I figured out that it must be a bad file on the card. Deleting that file eventually fixed the problem

Art

[WalkGood]

All I meant was that formating would delete all, sure a bad file on the card or main memory is going to cause problems, it's good you knew what to look for.

[NeedBalanceCtrl]

Glad to see the problem is resolved.

[ZionGate]

Hi, sorry for digging up this old thread, but I recently bought a J3 (firmware 2.26) and I'm having the same problem.

I use an additional 32Go MicroSD card (class 4) and ever since my J3 freezes on and off as soon as I try to access the Video item from the main menu interface. It never freezes when the card is not inserted, but when it is, it does freeze half the time and I have no other option than to reset it.

At first I thought it was because I put .m3u files on the SD, but even after deleting them the problem was still there. I tried formatting the card, using the app that dfkt suggested, but the problem is still there.

There are only mp3 files on the SD card.
There are NO video files on the J3 other than the default ones (actually default ONE because I deleted all of them but one to see if the problem was still there).
There are no hidden files or folders on the SD.

Any thoughts ?