Plextor drive not on list

[Skybird74]

I am surprised that the Plextor PX 716UF is still not on the list for 3.315. PX 716A has been on the lists for some time, but I bought this specifically to use at Shows because I'm using an older laptop with QSI drive, also not yet recognized.

When will the Plextor external drive be recognized?

[ddouglass]

Have you tried the drive? Because Hoster is Not drive model specific any more. It now using a new drive interface that allows it to work with any drive that uses MMC format (most newer drives do) and which is capable of reading CDG which the 716UF is.
I would recommend you check the Plextor website to make sure you have the latest firmware update for that drive.
If it won't work with it now then it will probably never work with it.

[bryant]

I've got the 716 and it works fine, all the time.

[Skybird74]

I don't have any trouble uploading or playing at home. I only have problems with it when I'm trying to add a song to the playlist while I'm running a Karaoke show. After a couple songs, Hoster wants to lock up.

Could it be my laptop just isn't fast enough? I've been using my old AMD Athlon ze4400. It is only 1.05 Gz, with 512 RAM. I don't have any other problems. It runs the Show just fine otherwise, so I always play Singers' disks from my separate player.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by Skybird74

I don't have any trouble uploading or playing at home. I only have problems with it when I'm trying to add a song to the playlist while I'm running a Karaoke show. After a couple songs, Hoster wants to lock up.

Could it be my laptop just isn't fast enough? I've been using my old AMD Athlon ze4400. It is only 1.05 Gz, with 512 RAM. I don't have any other problems. It runs the Show just fine otherwise, so I always play Singers' disks from my separate player.

This is different from your first post which sounded like you couldn't use the drive at all. What difference does it make if it is on the "list" or not if it works?
Your problem is not the drive, but in the laptop.
What version of Windows are you using?
How long has it been running without a reload?
What else are you running besides Hoster?
What other programs are loaded on it?
How full is the hard drive?
How much virtual memory is set?
Have you defragged the hard drive lately or at all?

All of these things can affect the operation of the computer.
When you say Hoster locks up is this a permanent lock or does it come back after a few seconds? If it locks permanently is there an error message?

[Skybird74]

Sorry, I simply meant I couldn't use it the way everyone else does - i.e. be able to Add to Songlist while playing another song.

I have been using this laptop for over 6 months. The only thing I run during a Show is messageoke which uses very little resources. But even when I don't use it, it doesn't make any difference.

I cleaned this laptop out completely, set everything to factory settings, defragged, updated XP, etc. and have everything turned off (no screensaver or anything running in the background) per the Hoster Manual BEFORE I even installed Hoster almost a year ago. I use an HP external harddrive & very little is on my internal HD. I use this EXCLUSIVELY for Hoster, nothing else. I followed all Hoster instructions to the letter, but I never messed with Virtual Memory.

When I say it locks up - after adding a few songs, it starts running slowly like when you're running out of memory, then Hoster stops - meaning it won't play another song. The ONLY time this ever happens is after Adding several songs. I read a post once that said you can have 2 Hosters running at the same time, so while playing songs from one - you can use the other to pull up other song lists. This works GREAT also. I can run a Show continuously for 6 hours & never have any problems, ONLY after adding several songs from singers' disks. So, as long as I don't ADD songs from a disk, everything works like it's supposed to and has since day 1.

[ddouglass]

Just trying to cover all possibilities.
Try defragging again if you haven't done it in a while. Before you do clean out the temp directories including the one under the Windows folder.

When it starts to slowdown (I would test this at home rather than during a show) open the taskmanager and check performance to see how much memory is being used/available. If it is close you may want to increase virtual memory.

What size is your internal hard drive and what percentage is free? Microsoft recommends a minimum of 25% freespace. Many of the older laptops had small internal drives and after a while XP will fill them up if you don't keep it in check.

[Skybird74]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I have not been able to reproduce this at home, but then I'm not doing a Show & constantly having singers bring their own disks. It would be hard to re-create. But, like I said it did the same thing when I used it at the first Show, after doing an F-disk & reinstalling to factory condition & everything turned off as per the Manual. It has a 40Gig hard drive & only has XP and the few programs that game with it, so it's 80% free. So, if it did this when NOTHING was on it and it has NEVER been used for anything else except Shows, I don't really see how defragging it now will make a difference, although it is a good practice after running Shows for over 6 months.

Again, I never messed with Virtual Memory. Don't recall the Manual suggesting changing it, so it is set up however the computer comes from the Factory. How do you suggest I change that?

[MTUSUPPORT]

You might want to upgrade the Firmware on the drive. You can do this from: http://www.plextor.com/english/suppo...s/firm_716.htm

This should at least help. This drive will work fine, so I am not sure what your problem is either.

[admin]

Originally Posted by Skybird74

Again, I never messed with Virtual Memory. Don't recall the Manual suggesting changing it, so it is set up however the computer comes from the Factory. How do you suggest I change that?

Check our Support Center on Hoster Articles. I believe there is one that addresses setting Virtual Memory.

[Skybird74]

Thanks for your suggestions. I did update the Firmware last year when I first got Hoster, but I'll check to see if there is another update.

I'll also read up about Virtual Memory.

P.S. Admin, when you get can chance, would you the read the post about VCDs and my problem with using the multiplex feature. Someone mentioned intalling the ffdshow Codec. What would you suggest?