Phil,

As discussed, we seem to have now identified the core issue which does appear to be a software problem in the Beosound 9000, the fact that no one else has previously reported it other then you, does not mean there is not a problem.

After doing  some further research, I think the problem is likely to occur, not at the 200 titles level, but 255 point. At this point the EEprom would get a "Write Overflow". The reason is because up to 255 uses 8 bit addressing and to go to 256 titles would need 9 bits. It seems likely that the software is not handling the write overflow correctly. In fact diagnostic test 28 does appear to test this function and I am assuming the B&O engineer did run the diagnostics tests without problems.

Whilst you have always been able to delete title names, its not clear to me yet if this action also deletes the CD id code as well.

So, we need to do a test to determine if deleting a name also deletes the CD id code as follows:-

1. Open Beosound control panel lid. 
2. In the second section from the right on the control panel press CD and allow a working CD to play.
3. Below press NAMING button twice and you should see on the display the words CD LIST
4. You can use the up and down arrows to review your CD titles if you have any stored.
5. With a CD title listed press CLEAR and it will be deleted
6. Now delete, say 10 titles

Stop any CD that is playing and add a new CD which has not been on the unit before, if this works without problems, then we know that deleting a title entry ALSO deletes the CD id and makes the memory location available for a new title.

If the CD fails in the normal way, then we know that using the CLEAR function does NOT delete the CD id from memory or leaves the memory location marked as allocated, either way we will need to find another way to resolve the issue in the form of a workaround.

Gulp!

I think I should bring this thread to my dealers attention.

 Isn't this a pretty "humiliating" error is this is the case? Only 255 titles. 

Uh!

I think this is serious, and we should somehow alert B&O about this issue !  

 Hello Keith,

I've just tried what you suggested, fortunately I have a few cds here that haven't yet been played. I went through the above process as suggested and then played the two new cds for the first time - both cds played fine without the reoccuring problem. This is a real result as I finally feel we are beginning to get somewhere, however I don't want to have to go through that process with every cd I play as my collection of cds is so varied and large it will only be a matter of another 6 months until the memory is full again.

I spoke to a very helpful chap from the B&O shop where I purchased the unit from today and he then spoke to the technical department. For the first time they seem to be accepting the possibility that what we are saying is correct and that it could be a software error (this has taken me over 3 years to get to this point as I've always maintained the error is down to the shear variety of cds played). They want to send an engineer to my house to log all the errors so these can be sent to Denmark and then the engineer will reset the unit to the factory settings hoping this will wipe the memory clean - do you think this will work? We need to find a way that I can periodically wipe the memory in one go, otherwise the unit will become unplayable for many of my cds as it is currently. What are your thoughts?

Many thanks,

Phil

Phil,

In my view there is a few more steps we need to take to fully pin down all the variables and come up with a suitable solution/workaround.

The following points need to be considered:-

1. All the units which have failed for you are Beosound 9000 Mark III, we need to understand if this problem occurs on Mark I & II or Mark II's which have had a software update to provide N.Music etc.
2. As far as I am aware there has not been a software update that should effect The "Naming" memory, but the memory is used for other functions of the unit and some of these have had changes which could effect the memory
3. Given, that to date we only know for sure that the problem occurs on Mark III's, we need to do the test on a Mark II which I will do tomorrow. If the problem does NOT occur on Mark II units, then the most like cause is going to relate to software changes made to fix something else or the introduction of new functionality. If it occurs on all other versions, then we must assume that the problem has always existed, but no one found until you did.

It is possible for an engineer to reset the memory, but that is hardly a solution or workaround and that is why we must pin it down a bit further.

I would like to ask any member with a Mark I or Mark II Beosound 9000 who is willing to spend a little time adding CD's with names to see if they get the problem with their unit to speed the whole process up.

Great news Phil, glad you are finally getting there. Be sure to keep us up-to-date with how you get on with B&O and their engineers.

I don't have a BS9000 (yet), but have been following this thread with interest.
I am so pleased you are starting to get this sorted Phil, it must have been really frustrating.
Thanks to Keith, there is a light at the end of the tunnel now.
What would we do without you  Keith!

Andy T.

Good morning,

great respect to Phil for holding out so long with this frustrating problem

great respect to Keith for his know how and help!


I have the feeling that this forum is the right place for EVERY B&O user.

While reading this very interesting thread I'm asking myself:

Could this problem affect EVERY B&O stereosystem that has the feature "CD Memory" integrated?
Do Beosound 3000, 3200 and 9000 have this problem?


 

Thanks for everyone's comments and support, I really appreciate it and it's good to feel supported. Yes it has been extremely frustrating but once I set my mind to something I don't give up easily and I've always maintained this is an inherent fault within the 9000 and no amount of repairs or replacements will fix the problem until the cause is fixed - I'm just glad I'm finally starting to get somewhere after what has been one long headache.

The B&O engineer is coming on Saturday to take a note of all the error codes so they can be sent back to Denmark. He's then going to reset the machine to factory settings in the hope this wipes the memory although I see this as a short-term fix as I don't want to be going through this process every 6 months as anything stored on the unit (radio settings etc) will also be wiped, I feel this is a 'fudge' to get the unit working and nobody should have to 'fudge' a high-end hi-fi system so it will play cds. The only long-term solution that I can see is for B&O to make a software upgrade!

I'll keep you posted in this continuing saga.