Just got a N2000 - Won't Play AudioCDs/Can't Access VLM2-Help!!

[ovalbugmann]

Hello I am an Atari Jaguar and Jeff Minter fan and have long wanted to play Tempest 3000 and use the VLM2 so I recently found a N501 unit on ebay and bought that but the seller or USPS screwed something up and lost it on me(bummer ) so the seller had a N2000 unit also he put up on ebay and I won that and received it in the mail recently- so I ended up with a N2000 unit - has original game controller. I have downloaded the manual online, and have been reading about it's operation, however I ran into a big problem that I need suggestions with. It will not play any audio cds. This N2000 didn't come with a remote control but I found a N501 remote which I bought and am using.

I was able to play select various released DVD movies in the player, not everything I threw at it but a good amount - it doesn't seem to play burned dvds, released or burned VCDs.

And I was finally able to play Tempest 3000 also, it's great!

The problem is with the VLM2, This unit will not play released audio cds much less burned audio cds. I have not seen the VLM2 yet as none of the discs from my large purchased Audio CD collection, many from the Nuon's time, just don't play it just keeps saying: "No Disc", "No Disc", "No Disc", again and again.... wth - it plays real DVD movies and games but not retail audio cds. Did I miss a step or something ?, do I need to set something in the menus? I tried two disc cleaners on the unit, they have little brushed that take the dust off the laser eye but that didn't work. I've tried 20-30 Audio Cds all Retail and a 1 burned but none will show anything -No spatializer or VLM2 lightshow, the N2000 just keeps saying "No Disc."

What can I do to fix this? - Try to find a replacement DVD drive to put in the N2000? Do you think that would work? What is reason Audio CDs won't play? How else can I access the VLM2? Is this a common problem with the N2000? Can I do a firmware update? Replace bios chip? lol.

Also, I wasn't able to find Iron Soldier 3 for the NUON online but I did find one place that has a IS3 download I could burn to a DVD, but have to pay to access. - But will this unit even play burned anything? Nuon-Dome says it doesn't but the seller said he made a copy of his real nuon IS3 disc just to see if it worked and he said yes his burned IS3 does play in THIS N2000 unit. Do you think he's bullshiting? If not, I would really like to try burning some of the homebrews on Nuon-Dome.

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions as to why I can't play Audio Cds in this N2000 unit.

Anyways, I'm glad to have a very nice DVD player and Tempest 3000 to play at least, I was really looking forward to the VLM2 tho........damn!

 

[gameblabla]

Why can't the Samsung DVD-N2000 or Toshiba SD2300 play downloadable games?
These two DVD players do not have the required firmware to load the NUON.CD files that the downloadable NUON games come in. The NUON.CD file format was originally created as a means of allowing firmware upgrades to be loaded via CD. A file size limit of 4.5MB was implemented to prevent software piracy on CD format, but a work-around was released to allow larger files to be loaded at runtime, making games like Doom possible as a downloadable/burnable game. In addition, the drives on these players were not designed to read CD-R format in the first place.

From what i red, CD-RWs should work on your unit. Try to burn a lower speed. (something like 4X)
Homebrew games will only work on your player if they were signed by the Authentification tools (available on DragonShadow Industries) but the tools only work properly on an old distro of Red Hat Linux. (Tried to run them through Cygwin but they don't work)
Source code of the tools are provided as well but they need to be fixed.

 

[ovalbugmann]

OK great thanks! I will try burning a audio CD on 4x speed on a blank CD-RW, I have some lying around here too, I will test it out - at least I could access the VLM2 that way. I did try a bunch more of my retail Music CDs -some were from the 1990s and some were 2010 and earlier - still no VLM it just says no disc with every insert. I wonder if the drive is failing? It plays DVDs and Games without any hiccups tho... so unless playing redbook audio requires more power/work of the read laser, then that leads me to believe its something else, something I don't know about and haven't figured out yet.....

Does anyone know about or encountered, the N2000 not playing Audio CDs - no VLM access with storebought(glass mastered) music CDs?

Going to try out copying a CD to a CD-RW, very shortly, hopefully that will work! (fingers crossed) It's not ideal to have to copy over everything to a CD-RW before use in the N2000 but I could live with that just to use the VLM2, until I can spot a N501 or N504(lol - would like one of these) to buy and be able to upgrade the firmware and play CD burns. Otherwise, I have saved Jaguar CD Players with replacing the drive in them, so I could search out the NUON drive maker/model and then try to locate one for purchase and take the N2000 apart and start soldering in a new dvd drive. Then again there's no guarantee that will work! lol and with my luck prolly not but could be worth a try I guess since the N501s are so hard to find.

 

[gameblabla]

You're not alone , everyone had the same problem :

Don't get too excited, though, because even though the N2000 blows the SD2300 away in VLM music effects, you wont be able to get the full effect from them because the N2000 hates CD-Rs. If you want to burn your favorite tracks onto a CD and experience them in VLM Bliss, you better cross your fingers, sacrifice a chicken and pray to the techno gods, because the odds are the N2000 won't even recognize your CD-R, much less play it.