Oppo BDP103 problem streaming from HD

Having a problem streaming music from my Seagate HD. After playing a few albums, unit will freeze or lock up usually within 15 seconds of the first song of a new album. Other symptoms : will not respond to the remote except to power down after multiple presses; sometimes music stutters; unable to save a log file as suggested by Oppo tech support; etc. Latest firmware update does not help. Music format does not matter. Any suggestions? BDP103D.

 

I Had a problem with my 105 acting weird but that was last year on beta firmware, and the only issue now for me is stuttering in playback of high-rez because I use wifi. I see we can roll back firmware if we can download an earlier version. Can you identify if it happened after firmware update or was it randomly occuring?

Also perhaps see if you can give your Seagate some sort of drive check--scan for errors or see if you can read health. Finally, perhaps try some of the same files, same scenario but on a known good second drive or flash drive. Process of elimination. Then maybe the kind folks at Oppo could give you some guidance if you have tried to narrow down the problem. Good luck with it!

 

I have a BDP105 with absolutely no problems. I'm not sure what you mean by streaming? I have a Western Digital 1TB connected to the front USB port and use a tablet to interface the music. At Oppo's site you can download their media control for either IOS or Android. I happen to use a Samsung Tab, which is Android. I have about 1,800 albums including about 100 HD albums purchased from HD Tracks or Pono Music, all in Flac.
Works flawlessly! Best $1200 I have ever spent.
Can't wait until the next player comes out. I was going to have this one Modwrighted but decided to wait until next year when they release their new player.

 

Hi Allen, Are you on a PC or Mac? I had issues with a seagate drive and my Mac but I don't stream, yet. I have had no issues with Western Digital.

And streaming is where you use Wi-Fi to play music from a computer or other device. Instead of having the hard drive hooked directly to Oppo, it can stay attached to the computer. I toyed with it and plan to play some more.

 

Allen, I stream from a PC (connected to WD External Drive )to an Oppo 103 in the man cave. Flac and WAV files play fine....but some hi res files ripped from DVD Audio do stutter....not sure in my mind whether it's the format or just a poor rip. I never tried direct connect with USB.

 

Could be bandwidth issues with wi-fi. I had issues until I went to wired LAN, and solved all my stuttering issues over the network.

 

Update:
I added a UPS to the Oppo just as a test to see if there is a problem with power - no change. The unit locked up after 2 albums and after it sat overnight not playing music.
I am streaming directly from a 2TB HDD (Seagate). It is the 3rd or 4th HDD I have tried, all with the same issues.
I am not streaming via Wifi, so that is not the problem.
Next test involves using yet another HDD from my brother-n-law who has used it with his BDP-105D. He has never had any problems streaming music. My thought is that if I still have the problem, I think that points to the Oppo. If the problem goes away, there is likely a problem with one or more of the files on the HDD (at least that is what the Oppo tech support rep is telling me.) I am sending Oppo the latest HDD (which has only recently downloaded HD Music files on it) to see if they can replicate the problem. That drive has close to 1TB of music on it, but much of it is MP3, WMA and AAC files, over 120,000 songs.
The Oppo support rep told me that the HDMI(!) cable could be an issue. So the final test (if required) will be disconnecting the HDMI cable and using analog cables.
I will report the results of all tests.

 

So, you are streaming from a usb drive? Try switching cables? Try a powered usb hard drive maybe? Maybe a different USB port? I ask because I have a 105 and have never had a problem. I've used thumb drives and hard drives. I now use a NAS.

 

Two of the previous hard drives I tried were powered, all used different cables, so I don't think that is the problem. I am trying another HD from my brother-in-law with a 105, so we'll see what happens. It is quite possible that there is a problem with one or more of the files that have been common to all the HDs I have used. The current test should prove that one way or the other. The unit is still running now (no lock up) and it's been a few hours. But it might take until tomorrow to lock.

I might want to talk to you some day about using a NAS.

Regards,

Allen Brier
Richmond, TX

 

I bought a new Seagate 2TB USB drive a couple of months ago for my 103D. This is a wired setup too, no WiFi. Right off the bat I had troubles. Many hangs. Never had any issues with any thumb drives.

Seagate sends those drive out the door with a small EFI partition. I removed the EFI. I'll never need it to boot anything anyway. I partitioned the drive as two 1 TB logical disks. This works best for the way I have my music and videos organized. A bonus to this is that I get a 'play list' for each part partition.

I was hoping I'd only need one of the rear USB ports to run the new USB drive. No luck. It's to much of a power hog. I use both.

I can't really say if either or both of these two things did the trick for sure. I haven't had problems since. Not very scientific I know.

B

 

As I recall, the drive needs to be formatted FAT32. Might be wrong on that. Maybe put some tunes on a thumb drive and see if that works. I hate problems.

 

Hmmm. I may have to look into that, too. I sent the HD to Oppo yesterday to see if they could replicate the problem.

I am doing another test tonight with the brother-in-law's HD and using the analog output instead of the HDMI cable, with the HDMI cable removed. Talking to Oppo today, they said there may be a handshaking issue between the Oppo and the Emotiva preamp I am using. I've been running all the hard drives off of one USB port...is there a power issue? I am wondering if the 103 powers down the HD after some period of non-use? Well, it has locked up in the middle of a song too, so that is probably not the issue.

To Jack Flannery: I don't know how the HDs are formatted...FAT or FAT32. I'll check that tomorrow. Does it really make a difference? Regarding thumb drives...I have never had a problem with one of them, either.

Allen Brier
Richmond, TX

 

As I recall, I had a thumb drive formatted NTFS and it didn't wort. The Oppo was new and I was a little frustrated with it. But the Oppo couldn't see the drive at all. Doesn't sound like your problem.

 

Update:

Several things have happened since my last post:
(1) I called Emotiva (pre-amp is a UMC-200). The tech (Damon) told me he was well aware of this problem and told me to make some setting changes in the Oppo(!) setup (Playback, Video, Audio and Device Setup). That seemed to work for about a day but the 103D eventually locked up anyway.
(2) Oppo sent me a link to a new beta firmware release, and it seemed also to help for a while, but next day it locked up again. I noticed that the locked "mostly" occurred during the screen saver mode, or when I tried to exit the screen saver mode, but it still also locked up in the middle of a playback sometimes.
(3) I did a factory reset and changed the settings that Emotiva suggested and it played for for two days. I noticed that the Wifi was not working but I let that go for a while. I finally realized that I probably erased the Wifi settings when I did the reset and reloaded it. Within 10 seconds of re-enabling Wifi, it locked up again! I thought for sure I had found the problem. After two more lockups, I turned off Wifi again and took out the Wifi adapter, but it still locked up again!
(4) I borrowed a BDP-105P from my brother-in-law, but that locked up eventually as well.
(5) I called Oppo again to discuss the matter. They had found a few more suspect files on the HDD and really didn't want to spend any more time on it, so it is being shipped back to me. In the mean time, I deleted the suspect files (both Stevie Ray Vaughn!) and it has been playing for a couple of hours now without locking up.
(6) The Oppo tech suggested that when I get the HDD back, I should run Check Disk on it, and reformat it in X-FAT (never heard of that), then load only a small amount of music on it at a time until the problem comes back. He also mentioned that part of the problem might be that when the HDD puts itself into sleep mode after a period of inactivity, the Oppo may not be able to wake it up. Not sure why. He mentioned a bunch of stuff about a "memory leak issue" that was supposedly resolved in firmware revision .79 and that they use a Western Digital HDD (most of mine are Seagate).

I am really running out of patience on this matter. I want it fixed, and I really do not want to get rid of the Oppo because I really like it and it sounds really good (the 105D sounds even better, looks like an upgrade is in my future!) Anyone else with suggestions? I can't be the first one to have this problem with Oppo...

Allen Brier
Richmond, TX

 

Let me copy some music to a portable drive and test it. I live in Houston so if it works (and I'm sure it will), I'll send it to you. Wo ms on my 105 and not yours? Hast to be the Oppo.

Edit: plugged in a Toshiba portable to the front port. Using the Oppo player. Works fine. Feel free to use it to test if you want. I do not use it with wifi though. Frankly, I think your player is buggered.

 

Sounds like the problem is fixed, now that the suspect files have been deleted?

 

Jack Flannery: I am on my 2nd player and my brother-in-law's 105D makes it three. Yes, I would like to test with your HDD. Thanks! My address:
Allen Brier
1515 Windloch Lane
Richmond, TX 77406

SamS: Too early to claim victory. I've had the player go for 1-1/2 days then burp. However, due to another issue that came up at home, I was not able to test it today. Will advise after more testing.

Allen Brier
Richmond, TX

 

Hey Allen,
If you are in a hurry, I am located in Midtowm in Houston. If you want to pick it up.

 

Just a thought but maybe personal addresses shouldn't be visible on a public forum. Maybe best for PM?

 

Update as of 12:44 am Friday morning...still no lockup. Crossing my fingers... We'll see what happens after it sits all night in screen saver mode...

Jack: you can mail it, I'm not in a huge hurry. Or I can come by Monday a lunch time to pick it up...I work near Westpark Tollway and Sam Houston Tollway... personal email is allen.brier at earthlink.net .

 

I will probably be over there one day next week. Will let you know. That being said, I may have spoken too soon.

 

The only way to rule out the HDD as the problem is to start over with a new HDD, connected to the OPPO, loaded with different files (don't just copy your old ones) and see if you still get the lock up.

 

Sam: When I get my other HDD back from Oppo, I plan to run chkdsk, reformat it in EX-FAT (both recommendations by Oppo) and load just one or a few folders at a time, until it locks up. Then I can isolate the bad files (if that is indeed what the problem is.)

Allen

 

I am more convinced now that it has something to do with the Wifi adapter, which is also plugged into a USB port, somehow interfering with the data from the HDD. Seems the lockups come much more frequently when the Wifi adapter is plugged in and enabled. The unit ran for two days with no lockups, until I enabled Wifi, then, well you know the answer to that...

 

OK latest update:

I got the HDD back from Oppo. Immediately I ran CHKDSK on it...no problems. I reformatted it in EXFAT, per Oppo's suggestion (amazed how quick it was!)
Next, I downloaded 5 or 6 songs and tried it...no lockup. After a day and a half of non-stop playing with no problems, I copied all my "A" Jazz albums (about 50 or so) from the other HDD (yesterday). No problems. Now I have copied all the "B" Jazz albums (about 80) from the other HDD. ... So far, no lock up.
Perhaps the Oppo guys were right...maybe some corrupted files. So I will be loading one letter at a time from my Jazz folder. Then my HD stuff, then my Rock, etc. stuff and so on. It may take a while, but when it locks up, I'll know the last group I added and try to whittle it down from there. I don't know exactly how my songs I have on the HDD, but I think it is in the range of around 130,000. I'm sure I'll never listed to all that music in my lifetime!

Wish me luck!

Allen Brier