Hello, I have a 2TB HDX and it refuses to boot, the hard drive seems to stop working. The technician said he had to send it to Naim for a replacement drive and that cost more than $1000, not including shipping. I know this has already been asked here but I’ll repeat this request: please provide a disk image so that we can replace this disk locally without having to send the device to you, which is not environmentally friendly at all and I don’t understand why you would pay such a large amount of money for 300 MB of software and a disk that costs barely 50 dollars. Nobody works like that anymore, I find your policy counterproductive towards your customers. If I can’t get this image the drive will go to waste and you won’t see me as a customer again.
Naim has never listened to the many such requests posted here, including I remember from one man in Russia who had no practical means to return his legacy server to Salisbury. Naim ignored that, so I would be very surprised if you got any encouraging response from them this time, although their management changes their policy from time to time of course, so who knows…?
On the other hand there have been increasing numbers of reports of people successfully cloning the HD onto a new SSD, so assuming your technician can still get the image off the old HD, you may have a way forward that is more in tune with the times.
Of course the repair charge (which should be less than $1000 plus carriage, according to the current price list) isn’t just for a new drive and 300 MB software. You already have bought a licence for the embedded Windows XP software, so what you would be paying for would be for the unit as a whole to be brought to as new condition, with a warranty. Whether it’s worth the money you would have to pay is for you to decide.
The hard disk is dead: circular stripe on one of the platters, certainly on the boot sector according to the technician. I need a Naim custom Windows XP image. No need to pay for a licence again as the current one can be reused with the serial number, just like for a PC.
Imho, it’s a mistake not to come and see what’s being said on this forum, we’ll see what their community manager thinks (if they have one)
In the meantime, I’ve sent an email to the support team, you never know, they might review their practices.
Interesting to understand how the technician determined the platter issue without destroying the disk anyhow lol.
But the reality is you are trying to keep alive a 14 year old PC. Its running Windows XP. Its heart breaking, particularly if you ponied up the real money back in the day, but in PC terms its pushing up daisies.
Now I do agree. At this stage Naim, should just release the image, with no warranty and at the same time stop offering to repair HDX/NServe etc. This seems a very sensible approach. But there again how would they get their 500 hundy for every return to base?
For your information, although I don’t recommend doing so, opening the cover of the disk will not destroy it, at least not immediately. It’s a legend that we often hear but it’s not true. You just have to be careful and not do it in a dusty place and not wait to recover any data. In my case we could see that there are circular scratches on the platter, the disk must be replaced. This Seagate 2TB Video Pipeline ST2000VM003 disk is still on sale and costs about 50 dollars. The reality is that this 14 year old PC will proudly continue its life in my hifi rack or end up in a barrel in the rubbish dump for a simple problem of a defective disk.
“Circular stripe” sounds like you are dealing with a rip-off merchant. That is not a meaningful root cause description of HDD failure. Head crash causing platter surface damage, maybe. The phrase you quoted would be right up there with a car mechanic saying ‘smoky pipe thing at the rear’ to describe a blown exhaust…
Yup, but there it is, I rather think naims pricing on this matter is to discourage people from trying to get them fixed. The problem with ancient computers when you open them is something else soon goes wrong!
I have full confidence in my technician, there is no need to compare him with a DIY mechanic. In short, as soon as circular marks are visible on one of the platters, you don’t need to be a physicist to understand that the disc can’t work like that.
I expect sending out images would land them in hot water licencing wise as they won’t be permitted to do this under their OEM agreement with Microsoft.
I would think a way round this may be to offer hard disk exchange scheme. i.e. you send in your old disk and a new one, ready for use for be sent to the customer.
A hard disk is almost a consumable, but it does require the customer to open and install a disk, observe anti-static precautions etc so it could be understandable why Naim would be reluctant to offer this. Also we don’t know what configuration is required on first boot, again there may be some licencing restrictions here as OEM distributions are quite specific in what the end customer experience should be so the approach above may not be viable.
I love Naim but I’d be reluctant to spend $1000 on a new HD. Depending on the age of the device, the image file should be stored internally on a small chip/SSD and automatically transferred and installed when a new hard drive is detected and therefor never needs to be placed in the hands of the consumer.
Sadly, $1000 would probably be better invested in a system that doesn’t need to rack up a load of air miles just to replace a disk.
I think a hard disc exchange scheme could work actually. The first boot bios settings are stored in the firmware and how to set these to Naim defaults is already well discussed here, because it has to be done after changing the CMOS battery.
No doubt! But as a customer it’s not my problem. I’ve already paid for all these licenses, why should I pay a second time because my hard drive died. On a PC you use the key license and in the worst case you call Microsoft, it always worked like that. No one has officially replied to me at Naim yet, but I am aware that there is a delay in the processing of tickets.
tobee, it seems the main problem here is that Naim have a very strict policy not to supply parts, schematics, etc… to anybody but official Naim service partners, hence why the factory have asked you to arrange repair of the HDX through your Naim distributor.
FWIW, I made enquiries with Naim and the cost of repair should not be anywhere as high as $1,000 (of course the full cost cannot be exactly determined until the full extent of the faults are known). I’m told that they have contacted you in this regard. Obviously they don’t wish to lose a loyal customer but at the same time their policy re. supply of parts etc… is a cardinal one. They can fix your HDX, but it has to be done through the proper channels.
The technician installed the disc on a computer, it was spinning but there was a “clicking” sound. He decided to open it up to force the head back into park, then immediately saw big scratches on the platter. The hard drive died
I think once you have opened a drive unless in a specialist setting you may as well say goodbye to it.
I am pretty sure that even if Naim just sent out new drives there is some specific thing that have to be done in first boot.
It’s harsh but time to put her out to pasture. Or do what I did and stick another motherboard in it and run Roon or daphile. The power supply is fine for another motherboard.
I put a raspberry pi screen in their too with a pi to run ropieee to show the currently playing song.
A hdx is a glorified pc so it’s standard atx in there.
Instead of loosing your money to repair a 14 years old HDX, why not buy a second hand Naim Uniticore and Ndac. Maybe 2k for the combo. But you will be safe for many years ( the Core has a removable hdd or ssd) and a better sound than HDX.
the “turn it on the side” or " hit it with a hammer" approach!