Gogear shows question marks instead of menu items

[ursulavasey]

Hello everyone.

It is my first posting here on this forum, so be gentle with me! I bought a Philips GoGear Muse 16gb (Model Number SA3MUS16S/02) and downloaded Songbird to my Windows 7 netbook, to see if there were any updates for the player. There was an update available from Version 1.34 to 1.46, so I downloaded it.

This is where the problems started. Prior to the update, the menus all worked; they displayed correctly and everything was fine. Since the update, the menu icons show up, but the actual menu details are showing as question marks. This happens on every menu, and every sub-menu, all across the player. Information I have added myself, such as music files, video files, etc, all have their correct listings, in English, as I set them. It is the built in menus that are having this problem. Is it a known problem, or am I the first person to have this problem? Can anyone offer a solution for me? I don't mind resetting or reformatting the player if it would help, but I have some Iplayer files that I would lose if I were to reformat the player. I am happy to do this, once I have seen the programmes though.

[Philips - Andrea]

Hi Ursulavasey,

Sorry to hear the problems you are having with the menu details coming up with ?'s.

In this instance, I would please firstly recommend that you RESET your player using a pen nib or pin (gently)- the reset button is on the player. (This will not delete any files on your player).

Please then check your Menu and see if the ?'s have gone. If you are still having problems then please REPAIR your device using Songbird. Please connect your GoGear and select TOOLS and follow the steps from the REPAIR option for your Muse.

Please make sure that you back up any files (music/ videos) before performing the REPAIR as this tool will delete the contents of your player.

I trust one of the above steps will solve your issue, however please let me know if you need any further help.

Kind regards,
Andrea

[ursulavasey]

Hello, Andrea, I thought I would drop by and let you know how I have got on with my problem. I have sorted it, and got all the music and videos back on the player, but not without problems and hold ups. I had already reset the player using the reset button, but it had made no difference. I am back up and running now, but the whole experience has been a nightmare, due to the laborious process that Songbird put me through.

I decided to back up all my files to the computer and do the repair as instructed in your answer. I uninstalled and reinstalled the Songbird software (which took ages to install) deleted the files from the player (which also took ages) and repaired the player. The repair worked, but that took ages to do too. I then re-synced my player music, then the videos. The whole process took around 4 hours, due to Songbird being extremely slow at doing everything. When I connected my player and tried to mount it for syncing, even the mounting process took about 20 minutes for the Songbird software to read the presence of the player.

Why is Songbird so slow and clunky? I know I can sync the media via WMP, but I cannot update the firmware that way, and that was essential to perform the rest of the operation.

[Philips - Andrea]

Hi Ursulavasey,

Firstly, although it was a seemingly time consuming process I am glad that you are back up and running now.

With regards to Songbird, I understand that there can be a few issues from time to time however this can be caused by a number of variants including your PC system and internet etc. For direct help with Songbird and its usability it may be worth visiting the Songbird Nest under the tab Help > Help Topics as you will receive help and support from the developers of the Songbird sofware.

In the meantime, I think you may benefit from using WMP for your general file management and checking into Songbird every so often to check for updates?

Kindest regards,
Andrea