Numptie Appeal for Help Please

[DaveKen]

I've had more than a little trouble setting up my Touch and getting it to recognise the fact that there is a 1TB USB drive attached. When I first got it it seemed to do this OK but for various reasons I had to keep shutting the Touch and the USB drive down and I admit that, after a while, I began to ignore the screen message about ejecting the USB drive before disconnecting it. I suspect that I may now be paying the price for this idleness. Although all other programmes on my PC auto recognise the USB drive when connected or powered up my Touch now refuses to see it and tells me that there is no USB device attached. Is there anyway to restore the Touch's ability to recognise and co-operate with the USB drive?
FWIW all resets have no impact on this problem.
Any response would be appreciated.
TIA,
Dave.

[garym]

I'd start with doing a factory reset on the TOUCH. (there's a button just above the power cord on the back). And then once I connected the USB drive again, I'd let it fully scan the library before I tried to browse, play, etc.

[DaveKen]

I'd start with doing a factory reset on the TOUCH. (there's a button just above the power cord on the back). And then once I connected the USB drive again, I'd let it fully scan the library before I tried to browse, play, etc.

Thanks Gary, that's helped a bit (but I also had to shutdown and restart the PC to get it to action). I've now got the Touch and the USB drive talking to each other (and FWIW the ethernet and wireless network seemed to connect much easier) but on both attempts to rescan the library I get an error message "Scan terminated prematurely(or similar) - merge various artists" . So it gives me no track or album numbers - any ideas how to overcoime that one?
I love the Touch, the SQ and diversity it provides but, for me at least, it seems a little flakey and unstable sometimes.
Thanks again,
Dave.

[garym]

Thanks Gary, that's helped a bit (but I also had to shutdown and restart the PC to get it to action). I've now got the Touch and the USB drive talking to each other (and FWIW the ethernet and wireless network seemed to connect much easier) but on both attempts to rescan the library I get an error message "Scan terminated prematurely(or similar) - merge various artists" . So it gives me no track or album numbers - any ideas how to overcoime that one?
I love the Touch, the SQ and diversity it provides but, for me at least, it seems a little flakey and unstable sometimes.
Thanks again,
Dave.

are you running SqueezeBoxServer on your computer? I thought you were connecting the USB drive to the touch and using the "tiny SBS" within the touch. but it sounds like you are running SbS on your PC. That's fine, but if so, you'd be connecting the USB drive to your PC right??? If the error is on SbS on your PC, it sounds like the typical error one gets when there is some sort of virus scanner problem. What virus program are you running?

[DaveKen]

are you running SqueezeBoxServer on your computer? I thought you were connecting the USB drive to the touch and using the "tiny SBS" within the touch. but it sounds like you are running SbS on your PC. That's fine, but if so, you'd be connecting the USB drive to your PC right??? If the error is on SbS on your PC, it sounds like the typical error one gets when there is some sort of virus scanner problem. What virus program are you running?

Hi Gary,
I am a total numptie at the modern audio game so what I am about to say may impress you only on my numptieness . I'm 70 years old and came to PC based audio only about 2 years ago - electrics was never a strong subject of mine, either.
Yes I am running SQBX Server on my PC, that's where I get the "Scan stopped prematurely" error message.
My set up is Vaio MM PC, free standing USB hard drive and LGTech Touch (with a Beresford Caimanised 7520 DAC on the sidelines, connected directly to the PC but not the Touch). Output from the Touch is to Cyrus pre-amp via phono cables. I have a direct USB connection between Touch and USB drive, there is also another firewire direct connection between PC and the 1TB USB hard drive, the Touch is patch cable connected to network ethernet switch and also wirelessly to the same network, the co-ax phono and optical inputs on the Touch are from the PC (connected because the connections are available rather than because they are needed. Hopefully you will be able to follow this mesh of connections.
My antivirus programme is Norton.
I use the Touch mainly (but not solely) for playing FLAC files and for listening to internet radio.
Any pointers, advice or guidance would be much appreciated.
Dave.

[rayman1701]

Yes I am running SQBX Server on my PC, that's where I get the "Scan stopped prematurely" error message.

I have a direct USB connection between Touch and USB drive, there is also another firewire direct connection between PC and the 1TB USB hard drive, the Touch is patch cable connected to network ethernet switch and also wirelessly to the same network, the co-ax phono and optical inputs on the Touch are from the PC (connected because the connections are available rather than because they are needed. Hopefully you will be able to follow this mesh of connections.

My antivirus programme is Norton.
Any pointers, advice or guidance would be much appreciated.
Dave.

Wow!! Just because there are all kinds of connections doesn't mean you have to plug them all in!!

First If you're running the Server on the Computer, which you said you are, then you DON'T want to also connect the Xternal Hard Drive to the Touch at the same time! That's probably gonna cause some kind of conflict! Just do One or The Other, not both.

Then unless you are listening to the Touch thru the computer speakers there is absolutely no need to have it hooked up with the optical or coax. That just seems to complicate things a bit. Generally you would use one or the other to plug into a DAC which is then plugged into the stereo.

I know everyone use things a little differently, and whatever works for you is fine as far as hooking the audio outs, but usually the simplest works the best.

There are others that are better with the whole anti-virus stopping the scan error, but you need to make sure that ALL Squeezebox entries has permissions set to on with the Norton. Hopefully someone with a little more programming chops can explain that to you a little better.

But having both the computer hooked up to a firewire jack on the hard drive and the Touch hooked up to the usb jack on the SAME hard drive is just asking for troubles! So that's the first thing I'd do. Choose one, with the hard drive hooked to computer alone as the best option.

Hope that I have helped at least a little.....

[garym]

Hi Gary,
I am a total numptie at the modern audio game so what I am about to say may impress you only on my numptieness . I'm 70 years old and came to PC based audio only about 2 years ago - electrics was never a strong subject of mine, either.
Yes I am running SQBX Server on my PC, that's where I get the "Scan stopped prematurely" error message.
My set up is Vaio MM PC, free standing USB hard drive and LGTech Touch (with a Beresford Caimanised 7520 DAC on the sidelines, connected directly to the PC but not the Touch). Output from the Touch is to Cyrus pre-amp via phono cables. I have a direct USB connection between Touch and USB drive, there is also another firewire direct connection between PC and the 1TB USB hard drive, the Touch is patch cable connected to network ethernet switch and also wirelessly to the same network, the co-ax phono and optical inputs on the Touch are from the PC (connected because the connections are available rather than because they are needed. Hopefully you will be able to follow this mesh of connections.
My antivirus programme is Norton.
I use the Touch mainly (but not solely) for playing FLAC files and for listening to internet radio.
Any pointers, advice or guidance would be much appreciated.
Dave.

Ok Dave. I think I see the issue. And I was just as "numptie" as you on this stuff just a couple of years ago, so no apologies necessary. What's happening here is that you're doing a few different things that are "overlapping" each other. First, I'm going to give you the "simple" version of how this stuff works. Then I'll give you some suggestions to get you going. Actually, you're almost there believe it or not!

The (not so) Simple Explanation of How it Works:

1. Each SP Player (Touch, Boom, Radio, etc.) is a stand alone player. They are not connected physically to your computer. Only the BOOM and RADIO have built in speakers/amp. The TOUCH or RECEIVER(Duet) must be connected to an amp/speakers (think of these like a CD player). Any of these players must be connected to a music server (and you have 3 options). This connection from SP player to server is via your home network, and can be either WIFI or ethernet.

You have a TOUCH. Since you have a way of connecting it via ethernet back to your router via a switch, I think you should do this. The TOUCH will connect either via ethernet or WIFI (but not both). So you may need to do a factory reset and then choose only the ethernet connection at that point. So at this point you'd have the TOUCH talking to your local area network (LAN), i.e, talking back to your router.

Next you need a Server to provide the music to your TOUCH.

2. Music Server. Three options.
a. server in the "cloud" - this is connecting to "mysqueezebox.com". You don't need your own local computer running. However, you can't generally play your own music collection (there are some options to upload your mp3 files to a database in the cloud, but I'll ignore that for now). Instead you can play internet radio, pandora, etc. You'll likely NOT want just this, as you have your own music. So move on to option b. below.

b. your own computer running SqueezeboxServer (SbS). Here you have a computer on that runs this software. SbS points to a library of your own music. So with this option you can play your own music AND get internet radio, pandora, etc. I suspect this is what you want to use.

So make sure your PC is connected to your LAN (preferably back to your router (via a switch is OK) with ETHERNET. Then you will install SqueezeBoxServer (SbS) software on your PC. I think you've done this.

Next, you should have your USB drive containing your music connected to your PC. Do NOT also connect the USB drive to your TOUCH. With the USB drive connected to your PC, you'll open SbS, go to SeTTINGS, Basic Settings tab and tell it where your music library is located. For example, on your USB drive, the top music directory might be:

e:\music\
(and under this is e:\music\artist\album\tracks....

So you'd put: e:\music in the "music library" section of the settings.

c. In the case of the TOUCH, there is a "tinySbS" built into the touch. You can connect a USB drive to the Touch containing your music, and the TOUCH will scan this and create a music library. You can also connect to internet radio, pandora, etc. This can work just fine, but it is not a "full service" SbS.

Since you have the PC connected, etc. I'd NOT use this option.

In the case of running your own computer with SbS (option B and the best in my opinion), you can put the computer anywhere you want (basement, back closet, etc.). The key is that you are best if you can connect this computer to your router with ethernet, which I think you've done.

3. I terms of controlling the players you can control with:
a. the web GUI (you can access this from any computer on your network with a network browser). On your computer running SbS, you can simply enter this address in your network browser (internet explorer, firefox, etc.):
http://localhost:9000/
b. the logitech CONTROLLER that comes with the duet or you can buy separately (works via WIFI)
c. iPeng app running on iphone, itouch, or ipad
d. other apps for android phones
e. squeezepad running on iPad
f. Running the software "SqueezePlay" on any computer on your network
g. Of course you can use the provided remote, but this is a infrared, line of sight device....all the other options work anywhere in your local network.
h. The TOUCH you can control from the unit itself (touching the screen and using its menu)

4. You can have many players and each player can play different things at the same time or you can synch one or more players together to play the exact same things. The sync works OK with mysqueezebox.com, but is rock solid if using your own computer running SbS.

=================
OK. To summarize, you're setup should look like this.

1. computer connected to router/switch with ethernet
2. computer runs a copy of SbS
3. USB drive connected to your computer
Once the SbS scans your music directory, you'll be able to browse all your music in the web browser pointed to: http://localhost:9000/
(by the way, in your SbS > Settings > Mysqueezebox.com tab, you need to enter your mysqueezebox.com credentials. If you don't have these, you need to go to MySqueezebox.com to create a free account. You'll need this even if you are not actually using mysqueezebox.com.)

Next, separately from your computer at all, you should have your TOUCH (without the USB drive connected...that is not needed as the touch will get all its music from your computer running SbS). It will be connected to the router/switch with ethernet. And then to get music out of the touch you need to connect it to your preamp/amp/speakers. You can connect the RCA cables for analog out into your preamp. Or you can connect the S/PDIF digital out from the TOUCH to your DAC input, or you can connect OPTICAL cable out from your TOUCH to your DAC optical input.

If you leave your computer on 24/7, you'll have access to your music on the touch. If you want to turn your computer off, you'll need to switch the touch music source to mysqueezebox.com. But until we get it all working, let's just leave your computer on for now. we can deal with other options later.

Now the problem you're having with the scan failing on your computer is the antivirus norton software. Somewhere in Norton you should be able to tell it to NOT scan certain file types. You'll want to add these file types (extensions) to this list:
MY*
MYI
MYD

If that doesn't work, try turning off the virus scanner (just for the time you are scanning your music library...you can turn it back on afterwards).

This is a lot of info and I've probably left things out. But try to go through this carefully then let us know what issues you run into and other questions. Bottom line, Currently you are connecting too many things to each other and that's not the correct setup. But there are lots of folks to help around here!

[Mnyb]

Another tidbit if the music reside on an external drive don't remove it while squeezeboxserver is running it will get cranky and loose the database it just scanned for you.

If sbs is starting when you booting your PC the external drive should be conected then to

[DaveKen]

Hy Mnyb and Garym,
Many thanks for your help so far. I can now get music out of my Touch fairly readily so now I need to focus on more minor issues.
FYI my PC is left on 24/7 - it was designed for this sort of operation - this also applies to the 1TB powered exterior hard drive which is connected to the PC by firewire.
First thing I now noticed is that, on first start up after making only the recommended connections, the Touch refused point blank to couple up using the ethernet connection, despite repeated attempts, but coupled up immediately to the wireless connection. After establishing the wireless connection I again tried the ethernet connection and it immediately connected - weird or what?
Next thing of interest is that, as soon as the Touch resumed normal operations it immediately displayed cover art and scrolled the 'Now Playing' info, which is how I always tried to set it up but it would never co-operate, so 'result'. However, after about half an hour or so I noticed that the screen was blank except for the 'wallpaper' and 'Now playing x of y' at the top and the stop, start and volume controls at the bottom, i.e. no scrolling, no album art and no track info. FWIW I'm also running iPeng on my iPod Touch and both track info and album art are displayed on that so it seems as if the problem is with the LGTech Touch. Also, FWIW, when I go into settings, screen, scrolling mode ALL the options are chosen - I un-tick the unwanted ones and withdraw, but nothing changes and visiting the scrolling mode screen again shows all option boxes to be selected, as if that's the over riding default position.
Next, search as I might, I can not find any option within Norton Internet Security 2010 to exclude the MY*, MYI and MYD files - any ideas?
Thanks again for all your consideration and assistance - much appreciated. The Touch is basically a great piece of kit and it would be nice to get optimum performance from it. I am told that the SQ it gives when fed by a 5v linear PSU lifts it considerably - I happen to have such a supply available but will not implement it until it operates across the board as it should.
Cheers,
Dave.

EDIT PS.
I still cannot get SB Server to do a proper rescan - it continues to give the same error message: Music scan terminated unexpectedly - various artists merge files.

[garym]

Hy Mnyb and Garym,
Many thanks for your help so far. I can now get music out of my Touch fairly readily so now I need to focus on more minor issues.
FYI my PC is left on 24/7 - it was designed for this sort of operation - this also applies to the 1TB powered exterior hard drive which is connected to the PC by firewire.
First thing I now noticed is that, on first start up after making only the recommended connections, the Touch refused point blank to couple up using the ethernet connection, despite repeated attempts, but coupled up immediately to the wireless connection. After establishing the wireless connection I again tried the ethernet connection and it immediately connected - weird or what?
Next thing of interest is that, as soon as the Touch resumed normal operations it immediately displayed cover art and scrolled the 'Now Playing' info, which is how I always tried to set it up but it would never co-operate, so 'result'. However, after about half an hour or so I noticed that the screen was blank except for the 'wallpaper' and 'Now playing x of y' at the top and the stop, start and volume controls at the bottom, i.e. no scrolling, no album art and no track info. FWIW I'm also running iPeng on my iPod Touch and both track info and album art are displayed on that so it seems as if the problem is with the LGTech Touch. Also, FWIW, when I go into settings, screen, scrolling mode ALL the options are chosen - I un-tick the unwanted ones and withdraw, but nothing changes and visiting the scrolling mode screen again shows all option boxes to be selected, as if that's the over riding default position.
Next, search as I might, I can not find any option within Norton Internet Security 2010 to exclude the MY*, MYI and MYD files - any ideas?
Thanks again for all your consideration and assistance - much appreciated. The Touch is basically a great piece of kit and it would be nice to get optimum performance from it. I am told that the SQ it gives when fed by a 5v linear PSU lifts it considerably - I happen to have such a supply available but will not implement it until it operates across the board as it should.
Cheers,
Dave.

EDIT PS.
I still cannot get SB Server to do a proper rescan - it continues to give the same error message: Music scan terminated unexpectedly - various artists merge files.

Let's solve the Norton scanning problem first.

I found this from googling, and added the SbS bits:
==============
1. Open Norton Internet Security and select the "Settings" link next to "Computer".

2. Scroll down the list and locate the "Exclusions" category. Select the "Configure" link next to "Scan Exclusions".

3. Click on the "Add" button and then navigate to the file that you do not want scanned and then select the "OK" button. [here is where I'm not sure how you add just the *.MYI and *.MYD to the "scan exclusions" but maybe you see something there.

4. Select the "Apply" and then "OK" button at the bottom of that window when you have finished adding the files you want excluded.
=================
I don't know whether there are any NORTON forums, but you might check and your question is how you exclude certain FILE TYPES (EXTENSIONS) from scanning.

Did you try temporarily turning norton virus protection and firewall (if using) to OFF, and then running the music scan within SbS?