B2 doesn't play

[Mark Warburton]

Good afternoon.

I bought my B2 480 last September and loaded my cd collection.

For the last two weeks it has on occasion failed to play either cd or radio. Turning the unit off and on three or four times has allowed it to play. This now doesn't work.

I use my laptop to control the B2 and after I turn the B2 on I can pick a cd and a track and click play and it tells me hard disc is playing but the time indicator does not move. Clicking the pause button pauses the non playing cd  and clicking play has no effect.

The B2 tells me the track name but pressing play removes it.

Does anyone have any suggestions.

Thanks      Mark

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Mark,

At this time, if you power the B2 down, wait 20 seconds and power back up, does the B2 boot up and get to the main display (the clock time) on the front panel?  And if it does, does the bottom line of the display show some data scrolling around?

I'm just trying to understand at what point the B2 failure occurs,  and take the analysis from there.

Regards,

Peter.

[Mark Warburton]

Hello Peter

The B2 does boot up and the clock appears with the information scrolling under the clock as normal.

Mark

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Mark,

OK, if you go to 'Settings' --> 'Scan Disk' and if this runs successfully then try to select a track using the B2 remote control and see if it plays the track.

I'm taking a small step by step approach here to try and establish which parts of the B2 are working.

Regards,

Peter.

[Mark Warburton]

I've done as you ask Peter. The Scan Disk ran through all the tracks and I assume this is a success. Pressing play brings up the first track of the first album with the title and info on the screen but it isn't playing. Pressing next does bring up the next track but again does not play.

Thanks

Mark

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for that.  Now, if you could go into the WebUI and go to 'Settings & Status', if you could post the results of that here ( the stats on numbers of artists, albums, tracks, disk used, etc.) then we can go to the next stage.

Regards,

Peter.

[Mark Warburton]

Peter

Software Version B2B Jan 26 2021

8003 tracks in 535 albums 234 artists

0 WAV 8003 FLAC 0 MP3 0 AAC

Capacity 480.00G Used 166.86G

USB 0 tracks in 0 albums 0 artists

0 Youtube

Mark

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Mark,

Those stats look very good (normal), so I think that your music data stored on the SSD is good.  The first query is have you done an 'Export' backup to a USB device?  When a system, such as a PC, Mac or B2 gets into difficulty the first critical action to take is to secure the data to another device.

I'm thinking at this time that the B2 software on the microSD card may be partially corrupted.  If this is the case, you have two options to move this forwards.

1.  Purchase a new preloaded microSD card from Brennan and swap out the existing card with the new one (cost of £10 for the new card)

or

2.  You can take the existing microSD card out of the B2 and re-flash this card with the B2 software.  The software required to reflash is a free download from the web and the B2 software is also available from the Brennan website.  Below is a link which gives the information to the re-flashing software and also to the B2 software.  Scroll down to  'New SD Card' to see what you need to do.

https://www.brennan.co.uk/itemcontent.php/content/Techy

In addition, we can provide additional guidance instructions for this operation if you choose to try it.

If anyone else has any alternative suggestions, please let us know.

Regards,

Peter.

[Mark Warburton]

Many thanks Peter.

I haven't done a backup but will have a go if it will let me.

I think a replacement SD Card from Brennan will be a safer option for me and will order one.

Thanks again

Mark 

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Mark,

That sounds good; all being well the 'Export' will complete successfully and your music collection will be secure.  

To do the 'Export';

1.  A USB device (a 256GB memory stick or a USB HDD is required)

2.  Check that its format is 'FAT32'  (better to use a PC/Mac to check this).

3.  If not 'FAT32', plug the USB device into the B2 USB C port and go to 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> ''Format USB C'.

4.  Then go to 'Settings'  --> 'USB Menu' --> 'Export to C'

5.  Your music collection Export backup will take about 6.5 hours to complete.

After this, you will be ready to do the swap out of the microSD card.  Keep us posted on progress.

Regards,

Peter.

[PMB]

Hi Mark,

As the unit is still in warranty we will send you a replacement SD Card FOC. Please email us on -   thebrennanb2   @   gmail   .   com   - no spaces, requesting a replacement card and mention your post on the Forum.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Mark Warburton]

Good morning Peter/Paul   Problem solved.

As suggested I did back up successfully and the new micro SD card has restored the B2 functions and it now runs as intended!

Interestingly the tone control hasn't worked from day one. I could access it and could move the sliders but there was no change to the tone. 

The new card has brought the tone control to life so obviously part of the same problem.

Thanks for all your help.

Mark

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Mark,

Great news and thanks for the feedback.

Regards,

Peter.

[Graham Smout]

Hi Mark

I would not worry about the "Tone Control" . It's actually a software  EQ system & is not worth the bother. It can result in distortion if you don't understand it's way of modifying the signal. Personally I feel it should be removed as an option from the B2.