--- In Curt Olson <> wrote:
>
> My FR-2LE has started "freezing up" on me after running for several
> hours. Not a single control will work, not even the shut off switch.
> The only way around it is to yank out the battery and then reconnect
> it. That seems to fix it... for a while.
[REST OF MESSAGE CUT .......]
> Curt Olson
This is very alarming as I was planning to use the fr-2le for
unsupervised monitoring because of the long run times with RC packs,
and even to switch to it as a main field recorder.
I recognise what Curt describes instantly (and painfully!). These
system freezes used to happen with two early recorders I had, a pair
of Xclef HD800 mp3 players. Like the fr-2le, these use FAT32, and I
ended up assuming that the freezes were something to do with this as
files retrieved from the hard disk after a freeze invariably had a
scrambled sequence or two: parts of the recording would be missing in
the middle and I'd find them, sometimes repeated, strung together at
the end of the file. Maybe Curt has found this?
More similarities: As Curt describes, freezes were total. I would
discover them when I tried to stop the machine recording after half to
three-quarters of an hour -- they didn't seem to happen so much with
shorter recording times. All controls became unresponsive and you'd
just have to leave the machine running until the battery ran out. In
its frozen state the Xclef appeared to be unable to switch itself off
when the battery was low -- it'd just run to the bitter end. Then, as
I said, I'd find a playable but mis-sequenced mp3 file.
In the Xclef case there wasn't an "overheating" problem, even mild.
The problem seemed to develop over time -- I don't remember it
happened when the machines were new. If so I wonder if it could be
related to the way that in the FAT file system directory fragments for
old files are reported to be left scattered over the recording
medium?? Anyway, the problem became so bad that I had to give these
recorders up. I now use them just for listening to the radio!
A thought. Can you reformat a flash card, as in the Fostex, to defrag
it/remove the directory fragments that seem to be a such big problem
with the FAT file system. (Btw my info for FAT is from the Wikipedia
entry for File Allocation Table. There one learns that it's a
Microsoft invention. I'd thought it was an early gift to the world
from the hand of Bill himself, but it seems not.)
Is it FAT at all? If it were one supposes that all recorders using it
would be affected in the same way . . .
It would be bad news if the nice-sounding fr-2le turns out to have
the freeze problem, so all you users please keep the group updated on
findings. Until there's better news or a solution I think I'll have to
put my purchase on the back-burner.
romillyh
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