Sony Japan Posts Fix for Memory Stick Problem with NR Series (Updated)
Sony Japan has posted on its support site a patch that seems to fix the problems some NR series handhelds have had with their Memory Stick slot. However, Sony has not officially acknowledged that the problem exists and the patch only says it is a bug fix for an unspecified read/write errors. Though Sony has only posted this fix on its Japanese site, it doesn't say anything about being only for Japanese versions of the handhelds.
Update: According to a third-party developer, this fix isn't for the Memory Stick disconnect problem at all.
Update (cont.): The developer says the patch on the Japanese site is most likely a fix for a data corruption bug that can happen when apps write data to the Memory Stick. This bug isn't well known because most people use external memory for reading data and few applications do much writing. It is also fairly rare and certain conditions have to occur for the bug to happen.
Sony also says that this fix is for the new T665C, so presumably some users are experiencing problems with the Memory Stick slot on that model, as well.
A Japanese user who was having almost daily problems with his NR70V losing contact with the Memory Stick in the slot reports that after installing the fix five days ago, it hasn't happened again.
Though Sony's Japanese support site doesn't explicitly state that this patch is only for Japanese versions of their handhelds, users of English versions should use caution before installing it. Though some impatience is understandable, the safest option is to wait for it to be posted on Sony U.S.A.'s support site. At the very least, be sure and backup the handheld before installing it, in case a hard reset is necessary.
About the Problem
Some readers report that after owning the NR70 or NR70V for a few weeks, it will occasionally lose contact with the Memory Stick on the slot.
When it first begins to happen, this will be be a momentary problem. This means that the user will be doing something unrelated to the Memory Stick when it will suddenly beep like it has been ejected, then beep again and the application launcher will open as if a Memory Stick had been reinserted .
Some users have reported that the problem became progressively worse until the unit would no longer read any Memory Stick or even acknowledge that one had been inserted.
Thanks to Rabs for the tip and Eugene for his help with this article. -Ed
Related Information:
- PIC: Users Report Problems with NR Series MS Slot
- PIC Forum: NR70 Memory Stick Issues
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Thats good
RE: Thats good
RE: Thats good
------------------------
Mario
CLIE Moderator
[url]http://www.wc101.com[/url]
It's a software fix?
RE: It's a software fix?
RE: It's a software fix?
---
News Editor
RE: It's a software fix?
If the Clie samples the MS port at a high rate, and the length of the momentary disconnection between the Clie and the memory stick is short enough, then lengthening the sample time could remedy some of the problems.
However, people that are having the problem where the card is not being recognized at all, will not get relief from this patch.
Same with N710C
RE: Same with N710C
Same Problem
RE: Same Problem
Hopefully the paper trick will last a while. While I had the problem, inserting the card slowly did help. Could ususally get it back running in about 15 secs.
Serial number?
Does anyone have further information?
RE: Serial number?
Watch your data!
.
And, of course, once your MS slot fails completely, I doubt any amount of software hack is going to fix it. On top of which, by then, you should be well out of your warranty.
.
At least Palm finally made good on it's cradle death problems, and slap a band-aid on them untill the users were out of warranty.
.
If I owned one of these things, I'd open it, spread the connectors, and call about my warranty replacement, NOW, rather than playing russian roulette and seeing if SONY's rather apathetic tech support will bother to let me replace it when it DOES go bad.
.
Good luck, and here's hoping you don't need it.
Does this work on Palm V?
Regards.
RE: Does this work on Palm V?
Very odd.
I suggest you write a formal complaint to Palm and see what they say.
On the other hand you might want to engage your brain, read the article and then examine your Palm V, read the instructions and at that point realise it doesn't support MS... or SD or any other expansion system....
Sony's Apple Mentality
RE: Sony's Apple Mentality
RE: Sony's Apple Mentality
Huh? I don't understand what you mean. I certainly can't buy a Memory Stick for my m515. The only way for anyone to switch to Memory Sticks or to the UC is buy a new handheld.
RE: Sony's Apple Mentality
I merely pointed out that Palm also uses propritry technology i.e. the universal connector.
However if I as a potential PDA producers wish to use either of these two standards, Sony will allow me a licence for MS, while Palm will not let me use the UC.
So which is best? Proprietry technology which is easily and fairly cheaply licenced, or proprietry technology that no one else can use at all?
In this case, I think Sony wins on the basis that they are willing to share.
RE: Sony's Apple Mentality
RE: Sony's Apple Mentality
There is nothing proprietary about Apple, you rotten idiot.
"I still have to stick with the PPC as my main squeeze."
LOL, the PPC sucks. I hope it breaks on you soon.
RE: Sony's Apple Mentality
Creative soundcard in your apple? No. They control the system from start to finish, thus they are relegated to use by dolts who like form over function. As for PPC's, I've been using one for 18 months and it has yet to break on me. Worse still,it is still more powerfult than the palms. So, I think you know where to stick your asinine comments.
FUD: Anybody can licence Memory Stick...
.
Sony is more than willing to licence the Memory Stick protocol to people who are making computer readers for Memory stick, or (Just lately) to people making the media itself. They are NOT willing to widely licence MemoryStick to portable device makers - Hence why you don't see third party MP3 players, video cameras or PDAs using Memory Stick. Even if they DO eventually allow use, it will be so they can just revoke/restrict/charge for that usage at a later date, after it has gained them a wider market share. See: Apple and the CHRP for an example of how that works.
.
Palm is using Secure Digital, which is an industry standard owned by a consortium, and not a corporate standard. As a result, you CAN buy third party MP3 players, Cameras and PDAs(Handera) that use the Secure Digital interface. Manufactuers are more willing to create hardware for a consortium-owned interface because they know that it isen't licenced at one company's whim. See: Any of the Springboard makers who are now basically without a platform to run on or a market to sell to since Handspring orphaned the interface and refuses to make PDAs that use it(*).
.
As far as the Universal Palm Connector - I guess I could see your point if there was such a thing as an industry-standard cradle connector before Palm created the UC standard. CF was around YEARS before Memory Stick.
Face it. Sony's trying the old BetaMax trick again, except that, unlike Beta vs. VHS, Memory Stick is actually WORSE than CF, or even SD.(**)
(*) - I realize that there's more to the orphaning of the Springboard plaftorm than just a desire to shank Springboard makers - If nothing else, the Springboard interface is so closely tied to the Dragonball hardware that designing an ARM unit with a Springboard would probably be a nightmare.
(**) - From VFSMark: Sorry if this misformats. Lower numbers are worse.
Device H330 H330 S-T415 M515 M515
Media-Size SD-64 CF-192 MS-32 MMC-16 SD-16
--------------------------------------------------------------
File create: 78 120 33 60 86
File delete: 51 95 20 74 76
File write: 115 238 10 39 44
File read: 34 92 77 40 118
H330 - Handera 330
S-T415 - Sony T415
M515 - Palm m515
Can the patch be used on Handspring?
This fix worked for me
Before I put the tape on, I couldn't play more than 15 seconds of a song before I got an error. I've been playing continuously for hours with this fix.
I hope this does it.
RE: This fix worked for me
This would appear to be a physical problem of bad contact, so I doubt a software patch is going to solve a bad connection. I guess I'm stuck :(
N760V
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