Minix u9h, external hardrive crahing/buffering/freezing

[Luis02]

Hi all,
I have a minix u9h which has worked seamlessly the past year or so playing downloaded videos off my 1tb external hard drive using kodi or vlc. However as of late the hard drive can hardly be navigated as is so slow and when videos are playing they work for only a short while before buffering or freezing. I don't know what the problem is as the external hard drive has not been altered and it works perfectly on other devices. Any help is appreciated

 

[ArcticWolf]

Hi all,
I have a minix u9h which has worked seamlessly the past year or so playing downloaded videos off my 1tb external hard drive using kodi or vlc. However as of late the hard drive can hardly be navigated as is so slow and when videos are playing they work for only a short while before buffering or freezing. I don't know what the problem is as the external hard drive has not been altered and it works perfectly on other devices. Any help is appreciated

Assuming we're discussing a mechanical external HDD here, when was the last time it was defragmented if ever?

Have you also error checked the drive?

Ideally you'll need access to a PC to perform these tasks.

 

[Luis02]

Assuming we're discussing a mechanical external HDD here, when was the last time it was defragmented if ever?

Have you also error checked the drive?

Ideally you'll need access to a PC to perform these tasks.

Thanks for your response. I've done as you've said and so far things seem to be working. Although the HDD often would work when first starting up and then start crashing a while after watching something. I'll let you know how I get on if things start playing up again

 

[Luis02]

Assuming we're discussing a mechanical external HDD here, when was the last time it was defragmented if ever?

Have you also error checked the drive?

Ideally you'll need access to a PC to perform these tasks.

Turned on my minix u9h again today to start watching some videos on kodi off my external HDD. Afraid it's back to being incredibly slow/buffering a lot. Minix metro also crashes a lot, don't know whether this is a coincidence or linked. Any more ideas? Thanks for the help

 

[pusb87]

Turned on my minix u9h again today to start watching some videos on kodi off my external HDD. Afraid it's back to being incredibly slow/buffering a lot. Any more ideas? Thanks for the help

you might try clearing your Kodi cache

 

[Luis02]

you might try clearing your Kodi cache

Tried that but afraid it still crashes a lot. Minix metro has also crashed a fair bit. Thanks for the help

 

[pusb87]

could be your minix power supply failing ??

 

[midnight]

Tried that but afraid it still crashes a lot. Minix metro has also crashed a fair bit. Thanks for the help

Throwing spit balls here, but.... have you tried not using your HDD...could it possibly be pulling down the voltage to the U9 causing issue's with the PSU ??

 

[Luis02]

Throwing spit balls here, but.... have you tried not using your HDD...could it possibly be pulling down the voltage to the U9 causing issue's with the PSU ??

How would I know if it's a problem with the power supply. The minix itself runs perfectly, the only time I run into problems is when I've used the HDD on it for a while. It tends to stop working more quickly if I have the HDD plugged in when I start up the minix, however if I plug the HDD in after starting the minix it will usually work for longer. Doing things such as clearing cache and force closing tends to help for a bit, but then it stops working again shortly after. I haven't moved the minix or anything like that so unsure why the power supply would fail. Thanks for all the help

 

[pusb87]

@Luis02

another option would be to factory reset your minix, of course doing this you would lose all apps and data.

If you choose this option run the minix for a good while without plugging in the HDD to see if all OK without. Maybe just install one media app ( say Kodi) and locate one video on the minix itself to see if it can play without issues.

 

[Luis02]

@Luis02

another option would be to factory reset your minix, of course doing this you would lose all apps and data.

If you choose this option run the minix for a good while without plugging in the HDD to see if all OK without. Maybe just install one media app ( say Kodi) and locate one video on the minix itself to see if it can play without issues.

Ok thanks for the idea. I'll give that a go and see how it goes

 

[sinchi]

I have the same issue with an external disk and I don't use KODI, but VLC. It's faster to use VLC to access that same disk connected to my Windows PC's disk over LAN, compared to connecting that same disk to USB.
Factory reset? Well, maybe.

 

[ArcticWolf]

How would I know if it's a problem with the power supply. The minix itself runs perfectly, the only time I run into problems is when I've used the HDD on it for a while. It tends to stop working more quickly if I have the HDD plugged in when I start up the minix, however if I plug the HDD in after starting the minix it will usually work for longer. Doing things such as clearing cache and force closing tends to help for a bit, but then it stops working again shortly after. I haven't moved the minix or anything like that so unsure why the power supply would fail. Thanks for all the help

Do you have add-ons installed to Kodi? Could be a memory leak & eventually tilt, game over!!

Before you try a factory reset try clearing Kodi's data. It'll still totally wipe Kodi clean but that may be all it needs, a good refresh & clean start.

Often a good idea to install the log viewer add-on to Kodi as well. Enable component specific logging & check the log file when the crash happens. May give you something specific to look at as a potential cause too .

Keep us posted how you're getting on .

 

[Luis02]

Do you have add-ons installed to Kodi? Could be a memory leak & eventually tilt, game over!!

Before you try a factory reset try clearing Kodi's data. It'll still totally wipe Kodi clean but that may be all it needs, a good refresh & clean start.

Often a good idea to install the log viewer add-on to Kodi as well. Enable component specific logging & check the log file when the crash happens. May give you something specific to look at as a potential cause too .

Keep us posted how you're getting on .

Only add ons I have on kodi are traktv and a few subtitles. Gave a go clearing kodi data before, sadly didn't work. Since then I've reset my minix and the past couple of days things seem to be working ? thanks for all the help and ideas, the supports been great

 

[Solstra]

Only add ons I have on kodi are traktv and a few subtitles. Gave a go clearing kodi data before, sadly didn't work. Since then I've reset my minix and the past couple of days things seem to be working ? thanks for all the help and ideas, the supports been great

Hi. I had exactly the same issues and symptoms with my brand new Minix trying to read a Seagate android external 4Tb HDD with 1200+/- movie/TV files. The first night or two we plugged it in the load was all-but instant. The third night, it wouldn't read the HDD but we pulled the power plug from the HDD and plugged it back in and it worked. Fourth night - nothing worked. The Minix could 'see' the HDD but wouldn't load the movie folders. The ES load stayed at zero. So we put the TV program we wanted on a small USB and it worked perfectly and immediately. This was the clue.
I am not terribly tech-savvy but I followed the advice above: defragged the external HDD (massively defragged as it turned out); ran an error check (clear); then did a complete factory re-set. I didn't have any apps or data loaded on the Minix in any case so it didn't matter.
It all went perfectly and when I loaded the HDD into the Minix, the recognition and load was complete and instantaneous.
So far; so good. It probably shouldn't have been necessary to do all that but that's how it is sometimes. The leading edge is the bleeding edge!
Thanks for the advice - at least I know now how to go through the reset process!

 

[Solstra]

This device is truly weird and I think I am going to take it back for a refund. After a perfect viewing performance last night, I switched on the TV and Minix but again, it just refused to load the external HDD. After a number of times switching it on and off, unplugging the HDD and plugging it back in, I gave up and tested another much smaller digital drive (no power source), which it recognised immediately. When I pulled that out I put the program I wanted on a small USB stick, which it also recognised immediately. I also plugged the original 4Tb HDD back into the spare slot and it recognised/loaded the HDD immediately and we watched it without issue. WTF, right? I am really tired of screwing around with this thing. My crappy $80 Laser box performed better than this $300 model. Very disappointing.
Oh. And maybe this is supposed to happen but the remote for the Minix also switches my TV monitor on and off as well. Which is really confusing because sometimes it switches on the monitor and not the Minix box, and other times it does both. Totally weird.