Denon 2500 freezing

[Fullforceeventsltd]

Had a few probs with the Denon 2500 over the last few gigs.

Playing background music on continous one one side for 20 - 30 mins. No problems, all playing as usual. Go to use other channel to cue up and load a track and it freezes for about 1 minute and wont do anything even though it's still playing the background music on the other channel without any issues.

It's like it's gone on standby and takes a while to come back to life.

It only happens when your playing tracks over a period on one side for lengthy background type stuff and not using the denon why it's playing the long background stuff. When you go to use it itaskes a while to do anything.

If I'm using the denon all time and loading a track in one side and playing off the other it's fine. The issue only seems to happen if your leaving the denon playing one one side for over a period.

Is this normal? Or any ideas what it is. All music is from an external 1tb hard drive connected to a powered 4 way USB port.

[Excalibur]

I can't explain it, or understand it, but it sounds like the HD is sleeping. Which doesn't make sense, because it's feeding the other side.

The simpleton's fix would be to set both sides playing continuous, and leave the fader down on one side. I do know that one member on here has had issues with the drive sleeping while inactive, but that was with both sides idle.

The Technocrats may be able to tell a way to ban the HD from sleeping, but like I said, I'm a simpleton.

[Fullforceeventsltd]

Lol, that's what I have done so far to overcome the problem. I've loaded the other side and left it playing with volume down just to stop it from not responding.

[Vectis]

it sounds like the HD is sleeping.

I would have concurred, until I read

it freezes for about 1 minute

Now if the OP had said 'about 20 seconds' then I'd definitely finger the drive spin-down (especially if the unnamed external drive is Western Digital as these are the biggest culprits).

Which doesn't make sense, because it's feeding the other side.

Actually it can make sense ... now bear in mind I have no working knowledge of the Denon kit but plenty of Numark experience. The Numark boxes (d2/dds etc.) all pull the file from the HDD and convert it to it's own internal format for playout. Said format I believe is akin to .wav (ie uncompressed) which is why picking a large-ish MP3 takes 5-10 seconds to pull in from disk, whereas a WAV can be quicker, despite being bigger. On playout the file is then streamed from internal RAM.

So, Deck 1 loads a long-ish track (longer than the disk spin-down setting) so that when deck 2 is accessed there's the inevitable wait whilst the disk spins again.

The 'do nothing' workaround is to always have deck 2 cued in advance.

The 'root cause' workaround is to determine the manufacturer and model of the HDD, get online and find the method for disabling spin-down. With most WD's and some Seagates there is some utility software you can download, shove onto a Windoze machine, attach the drive and tweak it from there. But the process does vary so be careful to match the drive and software.

HOWEVER the "1 minute" thing worries me. If it really is a minute and not an exaggeration, then the above could well be misleading.

[Fullforceeventsltd]

Yeah it's definitely about a minute if not a bit more. The drive is a Hitachi Simpledrive 1tb

[Excalibur]

The 'do nothing' workaround is to always have deck 2 cued in advance.

Vectis, I was agreeing with every keystroke you'd made, and marvelling at your wisdom, until this point.

I forget lots of things nowadays, but I seem to remember NKR moaning that his Denon would "Hibernate" while Kev was singing, even with tracks cued on both sides.

Being a simpleton in these matters, I offered my standard reponse:

Leave the faders down, and both sides running.

Vectis, I'm not clever enough to tell the HD to stay awake, so I keep prodding it with a stick.

[Vectis]

The drive is a Hitachi Simpledrive 1tb

Google 'hitachi', 'simpledrive', 'spin' and 'down' in the same search. And weep.

There's a clue in the phrase "value oriented storage" that suggests it's probably not the type of kit for business critical use. Unless you have oodles of backup.

[Excalibur]

Google 'hitachi', 'simpledrive', 'spin' and 'down' in the same search. And weep.

There's a clue in the phrase "value oriented storage" that suggests it's probably not the type of kit for business critical use. Unless you have oodles of backup.

Vectis, you don't half burst some bubbles, mate.

There was this simple old DJ thinking bout buying one, becuase it said " Simple".

Catch me buying anything that says "Complex", "Involved", or "Quite tricky"? Not likely.

[Twinspin]

Im getting rid of mine when i can afford to.

[Fullforceeventsltd]

Even if one track is cued up on the other side it still freezes after playing for a while.

The only cure I've found is to leave another track playing with volume down.

I do have 4 back ups of my hard drive.

Would you suggest a different drive that may be more suitable?

Cheers for advice so far.