Sony NW-HD3 problems w/Vista

megakid · 17 May 2007 at 12:19

Just recieved an NW-HD3 and have been trying to get it to work for the last hour or so. Vista just wont recognise the drivers. I've installed SonicStage 4.3 (the one with Vista support), downloaded lots of driver files but nothing seems to work.

The closest I've got is installing "Net MD" properly but a harddisk did not appear so I couldn't transfer anything.

When I force Vista to use one of the drivers (despite warning me it isnt compatable) it either says there's a section missing from the .INF file or "The Device cannot start (Code 10)"

Can anyone shed any light?

Fubsy · 17 May 2007 at 13:26

No problems here with a HD3 and Vista, not sure what I can suggest apart from it does work.

megakid · 17 May 2007 at 15:00

Fubar said:
No problems here with a HD3 and Vista, not sure what I can suggest apart from it does work.

Can you find out what driver it is using? Even the name it appears as in "Device Manager" would be great.

Thanks!

megakid · 17 May 2007 at 16:55

Grrr, I've just done a complete system restore (to before I had the player) and tried again from scratch. Following the instructions to the letter, still no joy. It just gets detected as "ATRAC HDD" with no drivers installed.

I've tried everything, different cables, hacking .INF files etc - I fear something is faulty :/

I will try on my XP desktop tonight and see how I get along.

EDIT: Just tried connecting it to my uni's dell XP machines (with all the limitations on the user account etc) and it worked first time!! argh! *regrets moving to Vista*

megakid · 18 May 2007 at 18:42

Hey! Good news - I've fixed it (with some help from Fubar)

I hate to leave others without a solution so here it is:

I downloaded the PA_Driver.zip/.exe (exe extracted using WinRAR) that you find with a quick google - I used the one that tends to be attached with SonicStage 4.3 (The one with Vista support). Once extracted you can ignore every file except 2, both inside the "Win2000" directory: "SonyUSBF.inf" and it's associated system driver, "SonyUSBF.sys". Move these files to a temporary folder of their own.

Also you will need to COPY (do not move as they are critical Vista files) 4 more files into this temporary folder:

disk.inf from Windows\inf
volume.inf from Windows\inf
volsnap.sys (volume.sys if you cannot find volsnap.sys) from Windows\System32\drivers
disk.sys from Windows\System32\drivers
Now you should have 6 files together - first thing you need to do is to edit "SonyUSBF.inf" in notepad
Locate "[SONYFILT.CopyFiles]" - below this, on a new line, add "SonyUSBF.sys" (alternatively remove the semi-colon from the start of the line containing this filename) - Save and close this file.
Now we edit "disk.inf" in notepad
Locate "[disk_device.NTx86]" and add this line:

%disk_devdesc% = expect_orderly_removal_disk_install, USBSTOR\DiskSONY____ATRAC_HDD_PA____
Save and close that file - now you are ready to install the drivers.

Go into device manager and locate the "ATRAC HD" (which should not being working, hence found under "Unknown Devices"), right click and choose update/install drivers. Then tell Vista you will pick your own and point it towards this folder. It should ask you to confirm a driver install here - say yes.
Once this is installed, another device, a "SONY ATRAC HDD PA USB Device" will be found - again point it towards your folder. As above, confirm the driver install.

Here you might be lucky and get put straight through to the end or it might pickup the Volume "device" in which case, you have to again, point it towards your folder and install the driver here too.

At this stage my device worked ... I still had another "Unknown Device" popup but this didnt have any impact it working so I just ignored it.

Hopefully will work for others that may or may not find this!