Hi everyone, has anyone seen a problem like the following before?

I recently bought the BeoPort kit and installed it successfully connected to / running on my iMac (running OSX Leopard) on Windows XP running on a Parallels Virtual Machine (I also have it working directly with iTunes on 'native' OSX using Anders Odlund's BM-Link software and it works fine).

My setup doesn't have an IR eye or any active speakers connected to the BeoPort box because my iMac is in a room that is already served by an IR eye and a set of passive speakers linked back to my main system (a BeoSound 9000) via a Beolink Passive box.

After the initial install of the software in the XP Virtual Machine, everything worked fine and I was able to see and use all my sources ie CD, RADIO etc as well as the 'PC' sources (N.RADIO, N.MUSIC, PC-CD etc), all via the PC Control Bar. However, after restarting the system, I seem to have lost all the 'non-PC' sources (CD, RADIO etc). Somehow the system is not detecting that they are there. Everything else is working fine. I was wondering if I had a faulty connection, but as everything works in native OSX mode (eg the track names etc are communicated back to the 9000's display), I don't think it can be that.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Michael 

When you boot your PC and the Beoport software start, one of the first things the software does is send a signal from the Beoport box onto the Masterlink requesting and detecting products available, if there is time-out, then the Beoport assumes there are no sources available.

In other words if your Masterlink is locked up (software wise) or you have a connections problem on the Masterlink, then you will get this symptom.

I suggest your first step is to power down at the mains switch all products connected to the Masterlink, leave it off for a few minutes and then switch them on again.

Keith, many thanks for such a fast reply. I really appreciate it. I have tried powering down the system and then up again, but without success. However, your advice plus some other posts I have read suggests a number of other things I can check related to my masterlink cabling. My system has grown bit by bit over time and I've got a bit of a mixture of connections made at different times - I have some of the small 4-way junction boxes and also the posher 6-way one with proper sockets (which I just added in order to make the BeoPort connection). I wonder if one of my older manually made connections in one of the small junction boxes might be faulty. I think I might get myself a long well-terminated ML cable and use it to bypass the various connectors in turn to see if I can isolate the problem that way. One other question - is there any way to adjust the wait period for a response to the polling from the BeoPort box to give it a bit longer, or is that a naive question?

Thanks again, perhaps I could post back when I've run some more tests.

Michael  

Michael,

You cannot change the polling time, in fact it is less polling and more handshake. It puts a request out on the Masterlink for control of the bus and the device currently in control of the bus sends a signal to give it up and your Beoport is not getting these signals.

I suggest that you disconnect the the Masterlink at the point of the first device leaving just the Beoport and that first product.

Keith, problem solved, I think.

I tested the various links with a reliable ML cable, bypassing the various connectors and devices, but could not locate the problem. So then I went back to your second suggestion, ie that the ML might be locked up software-wise. This proved to be the problem...I found that I had forgotten to suspend the BM-Link software before loading the Virtual Machine running XP, hence it did not automatically connect to the USB connected to the BeoPort as that was still owned by BM-Link. To fix it all I had to do was suspend the BM-Link software and connect the VM to the USB device and all my sources appeared immediately without even a reboot of the VM. I am sorry to have wasted your time on such an oversight, but I wouldn't ever have located the problem without your advice so many thanks for helping me out.

Best regards

 MIchael

Michael,

We are always happy to help if we can.. I am very pleased everything is working now.