Freezes during MTP file transfers

[pmv]

Perhaps this should be in 'mobile devices' section, not sure.

Is MTP file transfer known to be problematic, or is there something wrong with my computer?

Its a really hard-to-pin-down problem.

When transferring music files to a Sony player* (not a phone) on one PC (main, up-to-date, windows 7 one) it will constantly freeze the player, requring it to be detached and rebooted.

Curiously it seems to be certain mp3s that do this (maybe one in every couple of hundred - those files will always cause the freeze), yet there really seems to be nothing wrong with those partiucular mp3s and I can find no pattern in it. Some of those are ripped from cds many years ago, some very recently, some are small, some are large, and so on. All appear fine in every mp3-related program (mp3tag, foobar, nothing sees anything odd about them).
It just takes exception to some mp3 files for no obvious reason. Though. weirdly, even with the MTP connection, I _can_ transfer those files via drag-and-drop, just not with any media-manager program - WMP, Media monkey, and Media Go all had the same problem.

On top of that, when I transferred my entire library to another, older, PC, also win 7, the mtp transfer worked fine to the same deivce.

Furthermore, an MSC/USB transfer of the same files from the first PC (to a device with rockbox, which I gather doesn't use MTP?) also worked fine.

Finally, transferring to an ipod with original firmware (which as I understand it, is neither MSC nor MTP but Apple's own protocol?) was sort-of inbetween, not freezing constantly like MSC but not quite as reliable as USB either (it had other problems).

Any clue as to what is going on? USB drivers are up-to-date. Could something software/driver related be upsetting MTP transfers only? Or might there be a hardware problem with my PC's USB, that MTP is somehow more sensitive to?

Googling finds a few complaints about MTP in general doing odd things but nothing specific.

Thanks.

*actually, 2 different players

 

[inachu]

It could/might be a limit on how high the quality file can be moved? I could be wrong but lets say you had 2 songs at the same time length. One was recorded at low quality @32 or 48 bits or even 128bits But the other song encoded at 256 keep failing.

Are all your songs the same bit rate or variable bit rate? How were they encoded? Or were they bought off of itunes or google play?

I had a song that would not transfer once and I forgot that I recorded it in RAW format. So the song was over 200 megs in size and all my devices refused to copy it over.

We need more info.

Also depends on how you are transferring them. from mp3 player over a USB wire. How old is that USB wire? Does it look frayed or has kinks in it or all knotted up?
Many variables for why a transfer can go bad.

 

[pmv]

Thanks for the reply.

There's nothing exceptional about the bit-rate of the troublesome tracks - literally thousands of other tracks of the same bit rates (including those ripped from the same cd at the same time) sync OK. Most of them use VBR, though not all, and some of the obstreperous tracks use CBR some VBR.
(Almost all were ripped from cds, at different times, with different ripping programs)

The USB lead I think is fine, in any case I used the same lead to successfully transfer the same tracks from a different PC.

It seems to be the specific combination of these particular tracks, MTP mode, and this PC. Change any of those 3 and the problem doesn't happen.

I'm wondering is what is special about MTP - is there something about that mode that makes it more sensitive to a driver or hardware fault than is normal USB mode?

Or is there some common feature about the bad tracks that I can't work out? Honestly can't see anything, tags all look normal.

 

[pmv]

OK, I've come to the conclusion there's something awry with the USB ports on this computer.

Firstly, several different sony mp3-players will keep freezing while synching on this PC, whereas they work fine on another PC.

Secondly I had no end of trouble trying to get an ipod to sync with the original firmware, and it would only work reliably when I used rockbox (which would mean switching from whatever sync mode iTunes uses to normal MSC/USB mode).

And now I find another ipod will not charge via USB on this PC, but will do so perfectly well on other PCs.

There's something subtly wrong with USB on this PC, but it doesn't affect everything - rockboxed ipods work fine, as do external, mains-powered, hard drives (and mice, and keyboards and other usb input devices).

I'm wondering if its a failure to supply sufficient power (though its a decent quality corsair psu and hwmonitor doesn't report any particularly low voltages on the 5v line), some sort of interference from other usb devices, or a driver issue (thoug USB drivers are up-to-date). Or just that this (asus z87) motherboard is temperamental?

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Ketchup]

Make sure your USB drivers are up to date.

Use USB ports controlled by the main board chipset, over those from other chipsets, such as Asmedia.

If you have programs that do all sorts of cool things like "fast charge for USB devices," try removing those.