HDD for Beosound 3200?

[Thetinman]

So I was dumb enough to spend $148 on a Beosound 3200 with a bad HDD, but at least it came with the PIN.  I have read that it CAN run as a regular 3000 with the HDD disconnected, which (heck, for the PRICE) would be fine.  Question is:  Has there been ANY progress on fitting a new HDD to these things, or is the 3200 basically a dead end now.  Is that maybe why there are so many people hoping to sell these off for stupid asking prices BEFORE the HDD fails?

Like I said, for $148 I didn’t really care, just the parts alone are worth more, but I would like to eventually restore it to full functionality.  Otherwise I’ll enjoy it as a 3000.

[Thetinman]

So the HDD is actually fine, there’s something else going on.  The unit only flashes the red LED and says “WAIT” if I press any button except LOAD.  It does NOT ask for a PIN upon power up, although I have it.  It also responds to service menu commands.  But that’s it.

The HDD spins up and initializes when plugged into a USB HDD port to test, and in test mode in the 3200.  What I don’t know is if it should always spin or does the computer tell it to spin up ONLY when called on?  According to self test, it has under 300 hours on it.

I have no idea what’s going on with it.  Well, if it’s not economical to fix it, I DO get a CD mech with only 61 hours on it, according to diags.

I have a lot of B&O gear, but in the future I will stay away from these.  There is just NO info on them.  Was worth a shot for the cost.  No doubt the seller sold it so cheap because they KNEW this was a dead end.  Or… it was stolen and it’s a fake code.  Will find out.

I’ll stick to legacy B&O…..

 

[Thetinman]

Well, this forum has gotten slow over the years…  Not even someone laughing at me!  🙂

So an update…. I let it sit overnight blinking away.  This morning it was still blinking BUT when I tried a function it finally asked for the PIN.  To my surprise, it WAS the correct PIN and it now works.  OK, cudos to an honest Ebay seller….

The CD needs a new Laser, but we all know THAT.  I’ll have that done once the laser head arrives.

So all’s well that ends well?  Man, these are frustrating.  I’ll be disabling that stupid PIN, thank you.  Mostly because I don’t leave things plugged in all the time.

Wow….

[Ravsted]

Great ?

Maybe the looooong blinking before asking for PIN is the result of someone trying a wrong PIN too many times. Usually that triggers longer and longer delay before next attempt is allowed. Never the less…. happy end ?

[Thetinman]

Well, took the laser pickup apart and cleaned it.  Nice to own a stereo microscope.  It now plays fine.  Although I may sell it soon, this HDD fickleness being totally locked down with proprietary format and partitions, serial number and so on…. I have no place to have it serviced if I had to.  So screw them.  I don’t need something un-repairable for all intents and purposes in my life.  Not if it comes to (now) vintage audio gear.

This thing is a big disappointment.  Why do companies do this?  Only one real reason….  🙁

My 2300 and 2500 never complain and there is a SCHEMATIC for them.

[XavierItzmann]

When I needed N.MUSIC and N.RADIO capabilities in the 00’s, the BS3000 was no longer available new; if I wanted to update my Beocenter 2300, I needed to step up to a BS3200.

I chose to buy BS3000 used over new BS3200 precisely because of the HDD issue.  The 3200 just doesn’t appear to be a viable long-term solution.

The 3000, meanwhile, remains in use via Masterlink and Beolink converter NL/ML.

[Thetinman]

Some people say that the 3200 does NOT work with a bad HDD.  This seems not true….

Fortunately the 3200 works just fine without the HDD, so if cheap enough….. you still get a 3000.  As long as you have the pin, if enabled.

My 3200, it turns out has a perfectly fine HDD, except it is BLANK!  No partitions, nothing.  It does not appear to have ever been tampered with, as all original seals were intact.  So I can’t record CD’s, though it tries to go through the motions.

Maybe at some point I’ll re-visit that, but for now, and $148 I have a lovely near mint “3000” that otherwise works fine.  But I sure as hell would NEVER pay asking prices for this thing with that Achilles heel.  Or ANY B&O product like it.

I absolutely LOVE B&O, but this is unacceptable.

[Guy]

Thetinman wrote:

I absolutely LOVE B&O, but this is unacceptable.

Given that the BS3200 may be up to 20 years old, and that the reasonable life expectancy of a HDD is approx 5-10 years, I tend to see such a failure as acceptable/expected. I generally replace my computer/NAS hard drives at the 5 year point to reduce the risk of data loss.

[Thetinman]

What I mean by unacceptable is the fact that an ordinary Laptop HDD is basically DRM and software locked by B&O and can only be replaced by THEM at a substantial cost, or…. “we no longer support this product, good luck!”

There is absolutely no reason why the service diagnostics can’t just format/prep a new HDD in the unit, so any technician can replace it WHEN it inevitably fails.

This is a stereo, not a high security government device.

[XavierItzmann]

I agree with Guy in that it would be reasonable to change disks after 5 years in order to avoid data loss; at the same time, I agree with Thetin that a reasonable swap process should be: insert blank MS-DOS formatted disk –> the 3200 should “format” or prep the disk for 3200 use.

To give you an example, this is what my 10-year old camera does with any blank memory card.  Yes, I realize the camera is 10 years newer than 3200.

Having to have factory service for such a disk swap seems unreasonable, and it seemed unreasonable to me about 2 decades ago when I faced the quandary.

[Author]

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