I bought the kid a MP3 player from Best Buy for Christmas. While there, I told the guy that I didn't know anything about them, and I needed the most simple piece of equipment he could sell me. He told me there was nothing to it, just load the disk, plug the player up to the USB cord and go. <Insert the I'm so mad I could scream icon here> I loaded the disk, I plugged it up, and on my Win XP operating system, i get a little bubble that pops up that says that new hardware is found, I click on it, then I get another bubble saying that there was a problem installing the new hardware and it may not function properly. I went directly into Windows Media Player, and tried to locate the player that way, no go. I went into Install New Hardware, nope, it can't find it. The USB port is fine, because I tested it with my digital camera and it works. So I call Sandisk tech support for 3 days in a row, only to sit on hold for over 30 minutes each time and NEVER get a live person on the phone. I finally called Best Buy and they said to bring it in. Took the player to them today, the Geek Squad took it from me, went to one of their computers, hooked it up, brought it back and said it worked fine, and that it must be my computer. If I wanted, I could bring it in and they'd look at it (for a fee of course). I said, "Look, just show me what you did to install it, and I'll do it at home." Nope, they want me to bring my PC in. So I went to the manager, and he did the same thing on a different computer. Handed it back to me and told me the same freaking thing. I repeated 3 times, I don't want my computer fixed, I just want to know what you did, other than plug it up, to get it installed, no success. So after I left the store almost in tears (my 10 year old can't play with her Christmas present, and I'm feeling rather emotional for some reason or the other) I called the General Manager who apologized for the way I was spoken to (like I was some sort of re-My Friend btw) and said that by policy they don't show people how to install things for free, but that to make up for how I was talked to, she would see if someone could write down the directions for me. I'm waiting for her to call me back now. I am so flipping mad that I can't see straight. A plug and play thing like this should not be this damn complicated and I will be damned if I am going to pay them to install it for me. I'll take it back and buy her a Walkman first. Can someone please help me? Please? Before I each ten pounds of chocolate and smoke 2 packs of cigarettes and cry myself to sleep tonight? LOL
Remember, Plug and Play should acutally be said "Plug and Pray" :wink: Couple of things to check: 1. You are using XP. Is the user account you are logging in on set as an Administrator? To check, click on START, CONTROL PANEL, USER ACCOUNTS and you can check to see how the account status is set. I metnion this because it may be set at a level that is not allowing you to install new software/hardware, and thus is bombing out on you instead of completing properly. 2. Try it in another USB port. Sounds odd but I have run into occassions when just switching to a different USB port would allow it to work properly. Hope that helps! 8)
I'm pretty sure it's the Admin account, because we don't logon as different users, but I'll double check when I get home. I'll also try a different port, even though I tried 2 different cables as well. I'll report back tonight, lol, thanks!
It sounds like you did everything correctly. Windows XP automatically found the hardware but perhaps did not install the correct driver for the mp3 player. If you right click on your "My Computer" icon and go to properties. On the window that pops up click on the hardware tab. And then click on the device manager. That should pop up a window that shows all the installed devices on your PC. I am willing to bet that there is a question mark or an exclamation mark next to the device for your mp3 player. If that is the case, insert the software cd that came with the mp3 player into your cdrom drive. If a window automatically opens just close it. On the device that has the ? or ! symbol right click on it and click on update driver. The question that says search windows updates click on "not this time" and then click next. On this screen click on "install from list or specific location" and then the next button. On this screen click on "search removable media" then the next button. It should find the driver located on the cd and install it from there. If not it might have to be installed manually. If you cant get it to work I would be more than happy to install it if you wanted to bring your PC and MP3 player to me for $15. If you would rather me come to you it would be $35. But either way that should still be a lot cheaper then BB's Geeks. Hope the above works. Let me know if I can help more or if you run into a question. I tried to tell everyone that Best Buy has gone downhill since they combined with the Geek Squad. Especially in the PC department.
Randy, thanks for the suggestions, I'll try them all when I get home this evening. If I can't get it to work, I will gladly bring it to you to fix, $15 is more than reasonable. How long do you think it would take? Meaning, would I need to leave it with you, or could I wait on it? While we're talking repairs, about a year ago, my CD burner just quit burning CD's, and I never had the patience to try to figure out why. Do you think that would be a simple fix too, and how much do you think it would run me?
Just installing the mp3 driver should only take a tops 10 minutes, so you should be able to wait for it. Depends on what the problem with the cd burner is. If it is a software glitch then I can take care of the issue. if it is mechanically broken or the laser inside isnt working correctly I dont fix them. If it needs to be replaced, either on Friday or Monday I am supposed to be receiving a shipment of DVD burners in. If you wanted to upgrade your cdrw. If the cdrw is just software then it would be an additional $15. If the CDRW is mechanically broken and you would like to upgrade it to a DVDRW then it would be $70.89 installed. I dont have any regular CDRW in stock so if it is mechanically broken and you dont wnat to upgrade to the DVDRW then I can check on the price for a CDRW for you.
I think y'all misunderstood me. I have two disk drives, one works fine, the other is for buring CD's and thats the one that is broken. I loaded the CD from Sandisk in my regular drive. One really didn't have to do with the other, lol.
You are correct. I wasnt saying that the CDRW was the issue. That was just another issue that she was having. I was saying that I can install the driver for her mp3 player AND if she wanted to have her CDRW fixed (if there is a problem with it) I would be able to give a few different solutions.
Well I thank you all for your suggestions. I'm going to go home and see what works, and if nothing works, one, all, some of you will be hearing from me. That is if I don't throw the damn thing out the window first. (FYI-complicated electronics and highly emotional women do not mix well together)
Oh no problem. On a related topic, if you like the barter economy I have a person who works for a barter exchange business company. If you would like to talk to him let me know.
That is why there are people like me. If we all knew how to do everything then no one would have a job!!!!!!!
For the mp3 player I would make sure all the latest updates are downloaded for XP. The drivers for the USB are inherit in the operating system. I would also try changing the USB setting on the player from whatever, MTP to MSC or vice a versa.
Look at these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833180201 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822167006 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822167007
Okay, now I'm really starting to get annoyed. I switched USB ports, which meant I reinstalled my keyboard onto another port, and then I followed Randy's instructions on the rest of it, and it still doesn't show the damn MP3 player. The disk says the device set up wizard should open when I plug it up and I haven't seen that yet. ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH
Yes it did, and when I right clicked on the device, I followed your instructions step by step, and it looked like it did what it was supposed to, but when I open the media player, it still says it can't find the device.
