FreeAgent Theater and GoFlexTV

[bodhi78]

I've missed what you mentioned a few posts ago: "One thing I did notice, when I was using my Go drive on my PC. After unmounting the drive the lights on the drive were still on." I think your FA Go drive is the

problem. The light should always turn off when you click the USB icon on the system tray

and "Safely Remove" .

[codebutcher]

Actually the lights do go off after about a min.  Most of the time I'm in a hurry to remove it and don't wait for the lights to completely go out.

While on the NewEgg site I saw Sony USB media player of the Theather+, for $50. I might get that if the problem is not fixed. 

[tmwnn]

Just so you guys don't think you are the only ones with the problem, I recently got a Freeagent Theater and Freeagent Go 500GB drive.  I had the same problem with the Theater not recognizing the drive when docked, but recognizing it when connected to an external USB cable to the front USB port.  I sent the Theater back to Amazon, and they sent me a new one.  The new one has the exact same problem.  If I don't get some resolution soon, this Theater will be going back to Amazon for good.

[codebutcher]

We never assumed we were the only ones, there are probably more out there.  We are the ones who bothered to register on this Forum, and post our problem. I'm waiting for my replacement from NewEgg. If it has the same problem, then it will probably be a X-Mas gift to someone who does not own a Go drive. Otherwise, I'm going to just use the External port and cut my loses.

The Theater+ does not have the docking problem, so I'm told by Seagate TS. Though it has more features, i'm not about to go and buy it. Maybe in the future, when it goes on "Sale".

[codebutcher]

Update: I got my replacement back, and have the same problem. I've come to the conclusion that the internal Go port does not work properly.  Some people have gotten it to work but most it seems use the external port.  The new Seagate 2.5" portable drives do not have the same port location as the Go drives.  I'm done with this issue.

[penyekz]

This problem also occurs on the FAT+. Not just the older model. Its intermittent on my FAT+. I need to power off/on the device for the FAT+ to recognise and load the files. Its an annoying bug. But I'm not sure whether its a hardware or firmware issue....

[CFcrash79]

Yup... the FAT+ definitely has this issue, and I thought it was better when using the cable, but last night it bit me again.... this time my ".theater" folder was "corrupted and unreadable" according to Windows... I fixed it and put it back in the FAT+ and everything works again (for a few days, and then it will happen again).

My advice, if you don't need the DVD menu support, which is the only feature I found that this product has that you can't get anywhere else... go elsewhere!! 

...by the way, this being a Seagate forum, you'd think they would be interested in helping out, but their response is "this is a community forum, not technical support".... so guess what, a company that is too slow to realize that this is the way the world works, will not be making this product for long.... we have problems, we come here for help, if no one helps, we return the product... simple as that. If I were Seagate I would definitely be paying some intern to sit and monitor this forum constantly and be providing feedback to the developers to fix bugs and keep customers happy..... but what do I know (besides how to fix a corrupted file-system, because I have had lots of practice ever since I purchased this FreeAgent Theater + HD)

[dagihl]

Wish I would have checked out this forum before I bought a 500gig freeagent drive today. Oh well time to get out the screw driver. Maybe I will return the drive.

[MaSe]

I have the same problem. I tried two Theater devices with a 320GB CnMemory and a 500GB FA Go. Both Theater devices  (the old one without +) didn't recognize neither the 320GB nor the 500GB on the FreeAgent GO Port, but both disks work fine on the extern port of both Theater Devices. I gave up any hope to get a working device and looked for a workaround. If you don't worry to lose your warranty, you may open the box and change the two ports on the main pcb. The FreeAgent Go will be recognized as extern drive even if it is mounted in the slot. The extern port will be unusable. I like this more than having those cables in front of the player.

Here you will find some pictures how to modify the device:

http://www.senger-net.de/download/fat_workaround.jpg

If you connect the two cables as shown in the last picture, it is very important that you connect red with red and black with black. Otherwise you'll destroy your disk!

You make these modifications at your own risk. I'm not responsible for any damages!

Hope I could help.

MaSe

[bodhi78]

---

MaSe wrote:

I have the same problem. I tried two Theater devices with a 320GB CnMemory and a 500GB FA Go. Both Theater devices  (the old one without +) didn't recognize neither the 320GB nor the 500GB on the FreeAgent GO Port, but both disks work fine on the extern port of both Theater Devices. I gave up any hope to get a working device and looked for a workaround. If you don't worry to lose your warranty, you may open the box and change the two ports on the main pcb. The FreeAgent Go will be recognized as extern drive even if it is mounted in the slot. The extern port will be unusable. I like this more than having those cables in front of the player.

Here you will find some pictures how to modify the device:

http://www.senger-net.de/download/fat_workaround.jpg

If you connect the two cables as shown in the last picture, it is very important that you connect red with red and black with black. Otherwise you'll destroy your disk!

You make these modifications at your own risk. I'm not responsible for any damages!

Hope I could help.

MaSe

---

Nicely done! thanks for sharing this. Now I'm curious and wondering if you have more close-up pictures? so we can see what chips are used and what the layout looks like? perhaps some HW experts among us can even tell if network capability is already there in the FAT version.