KVR Audio

rephazer · Post by **rephazer** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 9:17 pm

Okay try the Erase Stick method. Here is a link to the Erase Stick file and this was the original text on the SM PRO website. Obviously the mydrive link doesn't work anymore so you should skip that.

To create an 'Erase Stick' follow these steps...

Go to http://www.mydrive.ch/ and log in using User 'vfxuser@smproaudio' and the password is 'vfxuser'
You need to download the file EraseStick.ZIP and unzip the IMG file.
Insert a usb stick into your computer.
Download this software http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/
Select the USB drive letter from the drop down box, select the image in the file box and then press the WRITE button.
The stick has now been created, read below to learn how to use it.
To make the USB stick normal again, you can use the HP USB format tool http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197
Plug the USB stick into your V-Machine and turn it on (you do not need to hold the two LEARN buttons as the stick should have bootable code on it and bypass the V-Machines normal booting). Wait a while and the internal drive will be wiped, formatted and the firmware should be installed. Whilst this is happening you will see the TIMEOUT message, this is normal and please wait 15+ minutes for all the pre-installed plugins to be copied over. You will see the light on your USB stick flashing whilst this is in progress, with the TIMEOUT message displaying the whole time. When it is complete the V-Machine will load the first plugin that is part of the factory installed set of plugins.

dd.exe was used to create the image file and it can also can be used to write the file to a USB disk. Since it is more complicated I wont recommend it to be used, but here is the link on how to use it should the above program not work. http://www.chrysocome.net/dd

rephazer · Post by **rephazer** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 9:19 pm

I hope the above links work, since I do not have enough posts on KVR I am not sure, but will check this thread every once in a while if I can help.

subtlearts · Post by **subtlearts** » Wed Oct 18, 2017 9:41 pm

Thanks for that! The EraseStick link worked and I was able to download that file. I will give it another shot for sure as it would be great to be able to use not just VB3 but a few other things as well. I'm generally handy enough to get things like bootable USB sticks worked out, this isn't my first rodeo, but the original instructions are helpful for sure. Thanks for taking the time and I'll let you know how it goes...

Ojd · Post by **Ojd** » Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:12 pm

Hi all. One day my vmachine just wouldn't boot. It would stay forever on 'vmachine' screen. I've been very frustrated, and I "hot-swapped" flash drive couple of times... my idea was to give it a shortcirtuit, so it would reset. Probably flashdrive is gone now, because it would give TIMEOUT with or without flashdrive. Somehow I narrow everything down to storage device. I tried creating erasestick with older software (from bahmi.com/vmachine), the usb drive would not be recognised after writing image. Now I've found newer soft (Win32DiskImager) and it creates perfectly readable file structure. Anyway, I already bought cf>IDE adapter + 2 GB 233x Pretec CF card + 44 female to 44 female cable. I've done cmd.exe procedure to format cf card to fat32 and clean partition (diskpart program), but i've read about Special Tool. Can anyone point me to the right direction?

rephazer · Post by **rephazer** » Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:23 pm

V-Machine supports 1gb max ram memory so not sure if you also swapped ram.. I would start with troubleshooting that.. Sounds like a ram problem to me, but might as well be a broken drive. Have you tried checking the drive(s) in a normal computer for example to see if they work okay?

Ojd · Post by **Ojd** » Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:43 pm

I haven't found a way to connect computer and flash drive. Some sort of 44 pin IDE to usb adapter?
I've swapped ram. I was running on 1 GB for a while. I did couple of rehearsals with this module. I've swapped back to 512, but nothing changed. Also, if no ram installed, fan would not work, so if fan is spinning, I guess ram is OK.

rephazer · Post by **rephazer** » Fri Oct 27, 2017 6:50 pm

Yes I guess the ram is fine.. not sure how to help, but don't think the 'hot swapping' was a good idea to be honest. Reading your post again now and I don't understand if you were able to make a good bootable erasestick or not? and if so was it able to write the stuff to the internal disk.. reading the instructions I posted above you should see a timeout message and you need to wait 15+ minutes for it to complete.

Ojd · Post by **Ojd** » Fri Oct 27, 2017 7:03 pm

With flashdrive and no erasedisk: TIMEOUT
With flashdrive and erasedisk: Vmachine logo forever
Without flashdrive with erasedisk: Vmachine logo forever

Content of erasestick is in image attached. FAT32

I need guidance in creating internal storage with CF card/ memory upgrade. What program to use for formatting? Why format FAT32 if all partitions should be deleted? Can I upload some files/images not from vmachine but from pc (OS/ plugings etc)?
How to troubleshoot flashdrive?

rephazer · Post by **rephazer** » Fri Oct 27, 2017 7:18 pm

That is really weird.. Have you checked all connectors and connections and you sure no pins are bend of the ide port?
Is there a jumper on the main board that moved perhaps? I am not sure if there are any.. You tried a replacement internal drive, yes? Is there activity on the usb drive/erasestick when inserted with internal drive connected or no activity at all, because it should flash.

Ojd · Post by **Ojd** » Fri Oct 27, 2017 9:46 pm

What happened next:
https://youtu.be/xuGYSA2TSVA
https://youtu.be/rEX8ywxvxzg

I took the usb out (frozen on device disconnected), rebooted and still timout... Need to investigate further.

(It might be that I had fat32 partition on the card)

Ojd · Post by **Ojd** » Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:46 pm

So after erasestick does its job, I can load and play plugins from factory bank, but upon restart its TIMEOUT again and again. What's wrong? Master/Slave jumper? I cannot pinpoint the problem
My search led me to some "Special Tool" for formatting CF card.
The link is below, but its long-dead now.
http://smproaudio.helpserve.com/index.p ... le/View/39
Here's the chat about this problem

"I tried to use a 16b 266x CF flash card. I was able to get the flashcard formatted using the erasedisk and it loaded plugins from the card until I powered down. However, it always produces a timeout error on startup so is unusable. Any idea on why there would be a usb storage timeout with no stick attached? Maybe only the 133x 8gb cf flash will work? Thanks for a great video!
I just tried again with the same card/setup as this video (8 GB Transcend) and the same problem of getting a USB storage timeout occurs. Is it possible to startup the V-Machine on a CF flash?

Thanks, I did remove all the partitions and formatted the media with the erase stick. I can then load and save plugins from/to the CF but it will not boot, I always get the USB startup timeout error without any usb attached. What tool did you use to format your CF?

Special Tool here? http://smproaudio.helpserve.com/index.p ... e/View/39

OKAY! That was the ticket thanks. Although I had formatted to fat32 and deleted all partitions, I guess the V-machine did not like the way I did it and the Special Tool (Link above) worked. After formatting to Fat32 with the, I used disk management in windows to delete the partition then formatted with the SMProAudio erasestick img burned to a usb stick. Then it booted. Still getting some write type errors but hopefully they will clear up"

rephazer · Post by **rephazer** » Fri Oct 27, 2017 10:56 pm

Well that's great you have things working again and there is not something wrong with your main board! I suppose you'll have it running again eventually

cheers!

Btw. if nothing else works with 'deleting all partitions in windows' perhaps try some sort of linux usb thing like gparted to make sure the drive is really empty. Perhaps some 'boot stuff' is left even when removing all partitions in windows.

Ojd · Post by **Ojd** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 1:02 am

I don't know what to do. I've stuck with erasestick (deleted storage.zip to boost startup, but still). CF card comes out FAT after erase stick, so formatting and deleting partitions may be useless. It has 3 partitions: 5 meg, 28M and the rest. Only 5M are accessible. Gparted is linux only, right? I couldn't find win32 version.

The jumper on vmachine is curious. But it boots up only in one configuration.

Ojd · Post by **Ojd** » Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:41 am

Conclusion of the quest:
https://youtu.be/3jrejbJcWUM
+9000 exp, levelup

Gennadius · Post by **Gennadius** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 12:03 pm

Hello. I have a problem with v-machine. After loading it works less than a minute and hangs, fan stops working and the device does not react to any actions. What could it be? What is the problem? Prompt please if who that can than help.