[SDP]

Originally Posted by Gerardfdz

I think its more a software issue- Today had my XUV software upgraded- The same pen drive takes time to read all folders - I have many!
The same ipod is now having difficulty being read!!! Damn thing worked in front of the Nippon guys -But on the way back home just would not get out of the song being played over and over again!!!
Disconnected tried again- plays the same song! Then after a while you can select Artist /Album/ Song/ etc.

Gerardfdz, you are right. For XUVs, this is an issue with the brilliant Nippon system rather than the pen-drive. But its difficult to prove that to the service center, unless one of us takes 2 cars (one non-Mahindra) to the service center and demostrates that the same drive works in one car and doesn't in the XUV.

[sgiitk]

Can one take it that by and large Sandisk and Kingston USB units are safe!

[motomaverick]

I am using HP, Sandisk 8-16 GB on a Kenwood 6046 HU and all works flawlessly. I guess a default FAT partition should suffice for the HU to read these drives. The songs are on folders. The HU also reads files that are in sub-folders which are under the main folder. I guess we have to check HU specs to see what format they read and how much is the maximum capacity. I have tried to connect a external HDD to the HU but it was failing to detected the same. This was a 250GB NTFS formatted drive.

[Vivek Jayan]

I tried using our 4 year old Transcend 8GB Mp3 player on our 3 month old i20 and it worked flawlessly. Tried a brand new 8GB Sony pendrive and it shows "Reading Error". Formatted it a lot of times, removed the folders inside the pendrive etc. and still no use. The file system is FAT32, as instructed in the i20's manual. If the contact point is malfunctioning then either the car wouldn't read ANY pendrives or my pendrive wouldn't work on my computer. But in this case the car reads my USB Mp3 player and my pendrive works fine on my computer as well . I've used the "quick format" option all this time but now I'm doing the normal, LONG formatting. Will update the results. Cheers.

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I just did the LONG formatting as mentioned before and would like to report that there is NO difference whatsoever with pendrive's reception. I copied just 2 songs into the pendrive and connected it to my i20. The screen just showed the name of the 2 songs initially and concluded with an end result showing "No Songs"!!! I wonder how that's even possible!

[anuragn]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Can one take it that by and large Sandisk and Kingston USB units are safe!

Seems so.
Though not with HU, but I have faced the same problem with the USB port on my DVD player (Oppo 980). Sandisk & Kingston work. Heck, even a 80GB portable HDD works fine. But Transcend 8GB does not. And all of these (incl Transcend) work fine on a PC.
I suspect (actually dont know, just guessing) that it could be because due to particular type of hardware used in Transcend or Sony pen drives, they require slightly more power to work than other ones. While a PC or laptop has a more robust PSU, a HU or any media player just falls short to supply the required juice. This is my proposed theory, which needs to be validated or confirmed.

[sparsh]

My problem is slightly more wierd. In my Ertiga I am using the OEM head unit and 8 gb Transcend USB stick. I am able to some songs using the USB and some songs dont play and just skips. However if I use the same stick in in my i10 which has a Pioneer 8008 BT head unit USB, all the songs on the stick play with out any issues. I am struggling to find the issue here. I have tried formatting the stick and also resaved the files all over again but to no avail. Any feedback from this forum will be really helpful?

[sukiwa]

Originally Posted by sparsh

My problem is slightly more wierd. In my Ertiga I am using the OEM head unit and 8 gb Transcend USB stick. I am able to some songs using the USB and some songs dont play and just skips. However if I use the same stick in in my i10 which has a Pioneer 8008 BT head unit USB, all the songs on the stick play with out any issues.

I had similar experience with stock HU of Swift ZDi. Some songs just get skipped by stock HU whereas those songs get played correctly on JVC/Pioneer headunits in other cars.
I have tried to compare various settings(rip rate, codec) of songs that played Vs those that got skipped, but I haven't found a clue why some songs got skipped on stock HU of swift ZDi.

I have a different issue with SanDisk cruzer Facet 32GB pendrive. This pendrive works perfectly on JVC/Pioneer headunit, but fails to get detected by Windows 7 (64-bit).
It only gets detected by Windows 7 for 1st time after removing from JVC/Pioneer headunit. Successive mounting of pendrive in Windows 7 doesn't work, I have to connect it back to HU to make it work again with Windows 7. Anybody facing similar issue?

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by sparsh

My problem is slightly more wierd. In my Ertiga I am using the OEM head unit and 8 gb Transcend USB stick. I am able to some songs using the USB and some songs dont play and just skips. However if I use the same stick in in my i10 which has a Pioneer 8008 BT head unit USB, all the songs on the stick play with out any issues. I am struggling to find the issue here. I have tried formatting the stick and also resaved the files all over again but to no avail. Any feedback from this forum will be really helpful?

Originally Posted by sukiwa

I had similar experience with stock HU of Swift ZDi. Some songs just get skipped by stock HU whereas those songs get played correctly on JVC/Pioneer headunits in other cars.
I have tried to compare various settings(rip rate, codec) of songs that played Vs those that got skipped, but I haven't found a clue why some songs got skipped on stock HU of swift ZDi.

I have a different issue with SanDisk cruzer Facet 32GB pendrive. This pendrive works perfectly on JVC/Pioneer headunit, but fails to get detected by Windows 7 (64-bit).
It only gets detected by Windows 7 for 1st time after removing from JVC/Pioneer headunit. Successive mounting of pendrive in Windows 7 doesn't work, I have to connect it back to HU to make it work again with Windows 7. Anybody facing similar issue?

What bit rate files does the OEM head unit support. I'm guessing the skipping while playing tracks may have something to do with the songs bit rate. For example not all head units play variable bit rate MP3s.

[sparsh]

All songs are ripped at 128kbps. The OEM headunit of the Ertiga is a Nippon unit and it does support 128 to 320 kbps. I am also using a 8 GB pendrive as well. However the same songs are also playing seamlessly in my iphone 4 when connected to the OEM unit. I have done a full format of my pendrive using FAT32 file system. I am scratching my head to figure out the reason for this issue.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by sparsh

... I am scratching my head to figure out the reason for this issue.

The closest reason I could think (from what I have experienced) is that the USB line or the pendrive is influenced by RFI sometimes (USB communications is high-speed serial). I have this happening in my system, where the HU skips folder or tracks for no good reason. Sometimes it even says "Unrecognized format"!!! :O Surprisingly, when I reselect that errant folder or track, the HU happily plays it.

I am using a Moser Baer 16GB. The Transcend 16GB I was using earlier lost it's primary format one day. :(

[sparsh]

Thanks DerAlte for your feedback. In my case, I am unable to select the track and select play. Even if i try doing that, it just reads for a few seconds and then moves to the next track. I am planning to just use my iphone to play songs to avoid this inconvenience. I am unable to think of better alternatives.

[rajwheelz]

Originally Posted by vikram_d

What bit rate files does the OEM head unit support. I'm guessing the skipping while playing tracks may have something to do with the songs bit rate. For example not all head units play variable bit rate MP3s.

My transcend 4GB with around 300 songs in two folders is plugged into my Ertiga ZDI stock system. I observe audio stalling every 10 seconds or so. The MP3 plays fine on my home computer. All MP3 are 128kbps.

I thought maybe the drive is being initialized. So i left it playing that way for 30 minutes or so. Still i do not see any improvement.

Today I shall try out the FAT32 format with 32k cluster size and see if it helps. Will update again.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by rajwheelz

My transcend 4GB with around 300 songs in two folders is plugged into my Ertiga ZDI stock system. I observe audio stalling every 10 seconds or so. The MP3 plays fine on my home computer. All MP3 are 128kbps.

I thought maybe the drive is being initialized. So i left it playing that way for 30 minutes or so. Still i do not see any improvement.

Today I shall try out the FAT32 format with 32k cluster size and see if it helps. Will update again.

Is it stalling while on the move or even when the car is parked?

For once, I'm happy I don't have an OEM HU. I've got Pioneer, Kenwood and Sony USB HUs in my cars and all of them seem to be more reliable than the OEM units!

Personally, Pioneer>Sony>Kenwood is my order of preference when it comes to ease of use and compatibility. Kenwood doesn't like bad roads much and the playback might be interrupted when going over potholes but I've not faced any issues when on smooth roads. Its probably some loose contact with the port due to the vibrations.

I've tried Sony, Sandisk and Transcend USBs so far.

[rajwheelz]

Originally Posted by zenren

Is it stalling while on the move or even when the car is parked?

..... Its probably some loose contact with the port due to the vibrations.

I've tried Sony, Sandisk and Transcend USBs so far.

Goodness me. Haven't thought of this at all. Yes, I saw the problem when driving. But now I need to see if it's fine when parked.

If this turns out to be true, Would I be in any luck prevailing upon Maruti to change the OEM Nippon HU claiming "loose contact" ?

On the other hand, considering bangalore's notorious speed humps and the sheer numbers ( I would put it at 1 hump per 500 meters ), looks like USB is not an attractive option.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by rajwheelz

Goodness me. Haven't thought of this at all. Yes, I saw the problem when driving. But now I need to see if it's fine when parked.

If this turns out to be true, Would I be in any luck prevailing upon Maruti to change the OEM Nippon HU claiming "loose contact" ?

On the other hand, considering bangalore's notorious speed humps and the sheer numbers ( I would put it at 1 hump per 500 meters ), looks like USB is not an attractive option.

Since it is ZDi and the port is actually separate, issue could be with the connector cable as well. Even if loose contact is the culprit, I don't think the HU would need to be replaced - just the cable might do.

I cant understand why these guys cannot include an SD slot if they can support a USB. Pioneer (4150SD) in my Zen has an SD card slot too which is neatly concealed behind the face plate - so its rock solid even with the vibration levels in my 18 year old Zen. I've loaded an 8GB card and kept it there. USB port is used only when I want to listen to some new songs.