Just wondering if anyone could help me. I got a Sanyo HDP-M3000 mp3 player for Christmas, and when I connect the player to the PC with the USB cable it is not recognised at all. No icon or "Removable Drive" symbol appears in My Computer and the connecting screen on the player disappears after about 5 seconds.

I tested it on my brother's laptop which is Windows XP and it all works fine with the mp3 drive appearing.

Is my Windows ME software too old? Am I missing a drive or something? The player was supposed to work with Windows ME.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask for help, it's just I know hardly anything about PCs and it's so disappoitning that I cannot work this thing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Try going to the Add New Hardware icon in the Control Panel. To find this, go Start, Settings, Control Panel and then open Control Panel. I have XP Classic look on my control panel so it should be like yours in Me. Go to the icon that says Add New Hardware and follow the instructions that you will see.
~~Jeannie~

Hi randomer1, welcome to SAF

Adding to what Jeannie said, if you are using the front USB ports, try the rear ones, as in some cases, front ports are not powered.

Chris

Thanks for your suggestions!

I tried what you said Jeannie and the symbol for "Unknown Device" (which I think was the mp3 player?) had a yellow exclamation mark by it. I checked out the error which is code 28 and it seems like maybe a driver needs to be added or reinstalled perhaps??

Only problem is pressing the button "reinstall driver" had no effect!

I'll try what you suggest Chris, hopefully that will do the trick.

Unplug all USB devices, go to device manager and remove (delete) the device which has a yellow warning mark. Click "refresh" or reboot and let Windows detect it again. If asked to locate a driver, insert your disk/CD and point to it.

Also, if you reformatted, install the motherboard and chipset drivers BEFORE doing that.

Every MP3 player I have owned required the driver to be installed for WinME. That is probably what the exclamation is for. Read the directions for installation. You may need to delete the one that is listed and then install the drivers BEFORE you connect the player.

The yellow exclamation mark usually means that there is a problem with the device, usually the device isn't working or the drivers have not been installed correctly.

With many devices under Win98, you have to install the drivers before you connect the device ... this is true of many USB devices.

Since WinME was the next OS after Win98, and is DOS-based, I think it's logical to assume it uses the same mechanisms of Win98 (although I never used WinME myself).

So uninstall any devices that show a yellow exclamation mark as already described and then reinstall them.

Points to ponder:

• Was there a CD with the MP3 player you received containing driver software?
  
• If not, do the instructions manual state that such a CD should have been supplied? I have known things to not be present before, so worth checking this one.
  
• Do the instructions give any indication as to what versions of Windows are compatible? Usually, XP is immediately OK (just plug and play about with it) whereas the DOS-based versions of Windows (95, 98, 98SE, ME) require drivers to be installed from a CD first.

Let us know how it goes!

Thanks everyone! I'm going to try and delete that exclamation mark and then restart the computer. The mp3 player didn't come with a cd so I'll try and install the drivers first and then have another attempt by connecting the USB connection cord. Here goes!

It appears this unit has quite a few problems with it, being the first venture into the MP3 player market by Sanyo. There's nothing on the Sanyo site about it, but I did find a site with a lot of reviews and comments about the problems. One of them on page 3 mentioned not being able to load files in Win2K, so it's quite possible this thing isn't compatible with earlier operating systems.

Sanyo MP3 Player reviews.

If all else fails, I'd take it back and get a different model, and ask them if it will play on your OS. Did you get a gift certifies??

Luckily I have got a guarantee thing so I should be able to get a refund, and on reading those reviews (thanks Jimholly) it seems like I'm not the only one having problems getting this player to connect to my computer.

But, I'm going to ring the helpline tomorrow now that xmas is over and the phoneline is open again, and that will be my last attempt.

Ah well. Cheers for the help and advice!

You are always welcome
Post back if the helpline get you a solution, as it may help other owners.

Chris