Archos Av500 Problem, PC connection failed (not formatted?!) Options

[ixus]

I recently connected my Archos AV500 to my PC as I had done many times before, and could only get a message stating that the drive was not formatted and asking if I wanted to ‘format now?’ !!!

Knowing that this would lose all the valuable data I had stored in it, as well as all the factory installed data, information, samples etc. I was a little concerned to say the least.

All that I had done differently recently, was to changes the settings to ‘windows device’ from ‘hard drive’ so that I could synchronise some stuff from a friend’s computer (he has XP … I use Win 2000) … and then back again.

It’s not the end of the world if you have to format the hard drive … but it was a bloody nuisance!

Others may be interested in the lessons learned!

1. Copy all factory installed files from the Archos on to your PC hard drive or write a CD / DVD.
2. Download the latest software from www.Archos.com and keep a copy safe (not on the Archos!) … there was a new version last week by the way …1.5.12
3. If you record any films, music, or TV that you want to keep forever then don’t keep them on the Archos!
4. Factory installed samples (photos & films), wallpaper, etc are available for download from FTP://support.archos.com
5. If you need to format the drive but it won’t talk to the PC through the normal USB, try plugging a flash memory card (the bigger the better) into the other (left hand) USB socket and copy stuff onto it.
6. Avoid changing back & forward between ‘hard drive’ and ‘windows device’ … not sure if this was the cause of the problem but you never know!
7.Always have mains power (not battery) when moving files around.

Hope this helps others avoid similar problems!

[Qazeebo]

HOLD UP PEOPLE

DO NOT IMMEDIATELY REFORMAT THE HARD DRIVE.
i had this problem also, and so what i did was to change it from hard drive mode to wmp mode. My computer recognised it fine. I left it plugged in like that for half an hour, synchronized the archos with my wmp (it doesnt delete the material already there). Once it was all synchronized, i changed it back to hard drive mode and it worked fine, just deleting any files wmp had added.. I have had no problems since.