OS 1.2 file saving bug?

Been lurking since I picked up an MPC (I knew I'd like it better than working on a computer, but I had no idea just how much better it would be; I haven't sued the computer for anything but rough-trimming and processing samples before loading them into the MPC since I got it). Tons of good information on here, I definitely would have taken longer to pick up the fundamentals without this board.

Over all it's been very reliable since I fixed the previous owner's botched fader replacement (had to rebuild some of the solder pads on the PCB where he'd held his iron on too long, but other than that no harm done), but I have been getting one frequent but intermittent problem

I did some searching and could find anyone talkign about this:

I'm using a 2kxl running OS1.2 with 32mb of RAM and a card reader (not sure which model, the previous owner installed it).

Maybe 1 in every 6 or 7 times I save an ALL or APS file, as soon as I hit "do it" the MPC appears to freeze fo about 30 seconds and then displays the "wait........." alert. So far I've waited as long as five minutes with no luck, and end up having to reboot the MPC. If I am saving over an existing file, after the reboot it is no longer on the CF card (not a corrupted file, NO FILE AT ALL). Saving frequently with a different filename each time makes this not a huge problem, but it's annoying.

I haven't been too systematic about keeping track of the exat sequence of commands, so I'm not sure if there's a pattern, but my impression is that it is most likely to happen when I attempt to overwrite an existing ALL file immediately after saving an APS file.

Anyhow, anyone else have a problem with freezing during file saves? I haven't actually experienced any system freezes at other times.

Thanks!

EDIT:

Left it sitting at the "wait" alert for about two hours, and it never got out of it, so definitely a true freeze.

Update: since I started observing more carefully, I have only experienced this intermittently when overwriting existing APS files and once when creating a new folder under root (I got a disk read error that time, with a full-blown freeze a few seconds later).

As long as I save a new file each time and don't overwrite any existing files things seem to work fine, so at least it's not an unavoidable problem.

Incidentally, I've tried reformatting the CF card (only have one right now, everything else I own that uses cards takes SD) and it's almost instant; does the MPC do a true format? Seems a bit too fast.

^^^The MPC does a standard "quick" format, which is just recreating the empty File Allocation Tables, so the card appears empty to the MPC. Not a real format where each block is tested and bad blocks are remapped or any of that.

Had a feeling that was the case. If I do a low-level format on the PC, I want fat16, right?

There is no FAT16 format option on Windows, only FAT, FAT32 and NTFS (the FAT32 option only shows up if the card is at least 4GB in size), so choose FAT and leave the "Quick Format" box unchecked. That will make Windows to do a real format.

I jsut assumed that was Fat16. Thanks!

fat is fat16 unless it is on a floppy.. then it should be fat12. though it doesn't really matter as long as you dont chose ntfs

Cool,thanks. I reformatted just to be on the safe side, but so far I haven't had a single problem as long as I don't overwrite an existing file. The previous owner warned me about some other issues with filesaving on this particular card reader (the one I remember is that it tends to not actually save your files if they're more than two levels down the directory tree), but never mentioned this one.

wow, that is messed up.

my 0.99cent cf reader doesn't even do things like that.

Yeah, I don't know what model this is, it's an older one. Anyway, I got the whole MPC with SMPTE card (actually useful sicne I have an 8 track analog setup) and 32mb of ram for $100, so I'm not going to complain. The MPC itself works perfectly since I repaired the NV slider, the card reader just seems to have some compatibility issues.

The one the previous owner replaced this one with apparently ejects the CF card if he presses the chassis underneath the record button.

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