Saturday, February 21, 2009

Giving Back to Society: Netgear MP101 & Windows Vista

If you have a Netgear MP101 Wireless Digital Music Player and can't play it/have problems with it on a Windows Vista server, that's because the firmware isn't compatible and Vista has different network timing (MTU). Netgear has withdrew support for the out-of-life product and some awesome guys from the MP101 fan club have made their own firmware for Vista users. Here's how you could fix your MP101:

  1. Download the following folder (1.4.7 beta.rar) on an XP computer with the Netgear server software installed. In case you lost the bundled server, I have also linked it from Netgear's website.
  2. Un-RAR the folder and copy both files (NG.vr and VA1.4.7RNG.2.img) into: Program Files\Netgear\Update. This has to be done on a computer with XP, and using Netgear's bundled software.
  3. Get the MP101 to connect to the server on that XP computer and use its 'Update' function. It should go through without issue.

Unofficial Vista-compatible firmware:
http://www.2shared.com/file/4931350/78851d55/147_beta.html

Netgear Server Software:
ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/MP101_S3_3_23.zip

This should fix the following problems on Vista:
  • No ID3 tag reading (no song name, artist, etc.)
  • Connection failure midway through a song.
  • Can't continue to next track.

The MP101 is an awesome product that serves its purpose well. Its kind is now obsolete because people have stepped up their streaming to include HD video. For me, I bought the MP101 because I found an extra set of 2.1 speakers and decided I want music when I shower or take a dump. iPods don't have a remote I could use to change songs while in the shower.

To all of you out there who took the effort in making the 1.4.7 firmwre, thank you so much.

To anyone still faithful to a simple yet effective player as this, I hope this helps.

37 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the MP101 fix, I found mine sitting in a closet gathering dust... so I thought I would see if it would work with Vista?? Did you by chance find the fix on the Yahoo blogs for the MP101?
Cheers!
P.S I enjoyed reading some of your blog stuff, just remember be honest to yourself.
Sac. Ca.
Sly

Shazwan Azizan said...

Sly,

I bought it without knowing its Vista problems. So I it was two long and hard nights of googling for me before I found some forums that really made sense to me. One guy left his e-mail about a year ago, around the time the MP101 Yahoo group became inactive (stopped accepting new members). He then e-mailed me the fix and I thought it'd be nice to upload it for everyone. Oh, and thanks for the complement. It's nice getting a pat on the back every once in a while =)
Hit me back if you need any help with the fix!

Unknown said...

K, Im at the part now where Im trying to figure out how MS peice of shit WMP11/Vista is supposed to pick up the MP101.. Iv'e loaded the firmware sucessfully and everything seems to work ok?? If you could please provide the needful info?
Best regards,
Sly

Shazwan Azizan said...

I have an iPod so I don't use WMP. I use TVersity. It's cool since the MP101 can play songs even when you turn TVersity off...saves memory, I guess? Anyway, the netgear software should do fine on its own. What seems to be the problem?

Unknown said...

Does the fix work on windows 7? I have been attempting to get mine to work with windows 7 7100, no luck. Have not tried this fix yet.

Shazwan Azizan said...

Oh, damn. Sorry, man but I don't know of any fixes for 7. It was quite a long campaign to get the Vista fix and even then it was just people like you and me who did this fix, not Netgear. And even then they went through XP's and Vista's codes/architecture/programming/etc. I doubt there'd be compatibility with 7, but lemme know if you find one.

Anonymous said...

Rich, I'm using my MP101 with Win 7 build 7100. I've not yet tried the new firmware. Streaming Internet radio works fine, streaming music folders is so-so, as most times it will only play one song.

Anonymous said...

Update: Loaded up the updated firmware, and tested with a Win 7 machine running the TVersity server. Looks like everything is working: ID3, continues to next track, streaming radio.

Note that you must use an XP instance to install the firmware...I had to launch a VMware XP box to do it. Trying to install the firmware from Win 7 resulted in 'File Not Found' from the Netgear media server when trying to find the update.

Unknown said...

Thanks very much for the firmware upgrade tip. Worked like a charm. I was using my MP101 with Tversity running on a Windows Server 2003 with no issues. Upgraded the server to Windows Server 2008 and immediately had the "play one song and hang/stop" issue.

Looked all over for a solution and found it here. My MP101 was on the 1.3.7 firmware. Upgraded it to 1.4.7 and all is well. Used an XP VM to install Netgear media server and do the upgrade.

Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

Ok, running windows 7 home premium...cannot get xp emulation. do not have an old xp disk to run vmware....any ideas how I can implement this fix to get my old mp101 running again?

Shazwan Azizan said...

I really am sorry, but I can't quite help you out with Windows 7.

Anonymous said...

Great fix, thanks to everyone who worked on this firmware. I just upgraded from XP to Windows 7 x64 and my MP101 would hang after playing one song. I tested it for 20 minutes after applying this new firmware and it seems to have worked. I really like the MP101 because it's got its own display so I play music and watch sports on TV. It seems most of the media streaming players don't have a display so you can't watch TV and browse your music at the same time. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

Hi

I'm running Windows 7 and I've just upgraded the firmware via an old XP machine and everything is fine.

I'd read about this new beta version but hadn't been able to track it down.

Thank you very much indeed - my life is complete again (how sad is that?).

Thanks again and keep up the good work.

Kind regards

Tony Nicholson

Anonymous said...

I have a server version saved from 2005 titled MP101_S3_3_36_us Media server update. Does anyone know if the version here is newer or better?

Shazwan Azizan said...

Yours sounds like it's official. The file posted here is UNofficial and was made to support Vista, and was released in 2006 I think.

Anonymous said...

GREAT resources there.
Dusted off my MP101 having retrieved it from the loft.
Used your simple explanation and downloads to get the Media Player to connect to my Netgear DG834GT, got it to use my Dell Inspiron laptop running XP as one server, then successfully got it to talk to a Dell Vostro Tower running Vista that has an external harddrive connected to it with squillions of MP3s
FANTASTIC
Thanks a lot

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Antony said...

Fabulous! Thank you so much!

Have just acquired a Windows 7 (x64) machine as a new file / media server and found my 101 would play one track then stop.

Applied this upgrade and, after a few more tweaks, it worked fine!

Those tweaks being:

- I'm using TVersity as my media server, rather than relying on Win7; this broke initially ("can't connect to server") *but* going into TVersity and explicitly choosing "MP3 Audio Device" as the playback device rather than leaving it on autodetect (as it was previously) fixed this. At some point I will do a restart of the server and see if I can change back to autodetect - some day I might have another streaming device!

- While TVersity was broken, I tried connecting to the Win7 PC direct (the 101 detected it as a media server as media sharing was enabled). However, the 101 then told me to "authorize this device". In Win7 "Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center\Media streaming options" I had to "allow all devices" - however the 101, although it then connected, claimed there were "no items" on the server under the various categories (Albums, Artists, Genres, etc). At this point I went back to TVersity as above!

:D

Thanks again.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this update. I can now play songs from my QNAP NAS box without stopping after a few tracks. One problem though, if I leave the MP101 idle for a few hours it locks up requiring a power cycle. This did not occur on the official firmware, still guess you can't have everything. Thanks anyway for sharing this.

Anonymous said...

I have benefited A LOT from this post, so I wanted to jump in with both gratitude and clarity about what I was able to do.

I am a long-time multi-instances user of MP101. I love them -- even if an dmaybe because they are so tempermental.

Thanks to the helpful info posted here:
I am running Tversity 1.8 free version (key setting using the GUI = Device is not Auto but is MP3 Player; did NOT have to modify the config XML for "MP101") on a Windows 7 machine (no mods). My MP101s have the 1.4.7 upgrade (using an XP machine to perform the upgrade). They connect, see ID tags (for the first time in years w/ Tversity!), and move to the next song. All is beautiful !!!

Unknown said...

Shazwan,

Thank you for posting this. For the first time in years my MP101 is able to move to next song. I am running Windows Media Server on Windows Home Server and right now it is playing second song. Let us hope it continues to play :). Appreciate you taking the time and effort to post this. Keep up the good work.

dsm

Bruce Wahler said...

Thanks to everyone involved in creating this. The MP101 is a very unique, useful device. I have one connected to my stereo, and another in my band's practice PA. I bought them when NewEgg was clearing them out, so I knew that support would be spotty, but I never suspected Microsoft would finish it off in quite the way they did. Continuing the give-back theme, there's newer media software on the site:

ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/MP101_S3_3_36_us.zip

-BW

Unknown said...

I was having lots of problems with 1.3.7 hanging. Using a Stora NAS as the server. Some files worked OK, others gave "cant play file" errors.
1.4.7 improved playback from a PC, but the MP101 refuses to connect to the NAS. Any ideas? Have reverted to 1.3.7 and it connects to NAS, but is unplayable due to hanging. Maybe I have to run it from the PC server? Netgear makes attractive kit, but the firmware always sucks - same with Stora.

Bernard said...

It's fantastic that someone has gone to the effort of releasing 1.4.7 which works a treat on my mp101 now I have upgraded to windows 7 on tversity server. However is anyone experiencing the mp101 not responding to the remote if it has been left turned on but not in use for several hours ?

thanks

Unknown said...

Yes with 1.4.7 i am having this issue too. If I leave it on overnight (just sitting there but not streaming anything) it freezes, not responding to the remote and requiring a power cycle to recover.

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say "Thanks" for posting this update for the Mp101. I loaded it per the instructions and now I am able to stream from my windows7 computer. As per the previous posts the remote sometimes fails to functions after the unit sits for a while but I consider this as minor issue. If not for your site it may have gone to the landfill.

Rob said...

Hi Shazwan,
My MP101 media software stopped working a few weeks ago (the old 'enter the product key problem) so I re-installed the media server software. When I'd finished the re-install it wouldn't import the music - right format, right bit-rate. I installed a later version of the media server software and that seemed to work. Now the MP101 won't recognise the media server (connected over ethernet, gets an IP address, it's on the right sub net). I can't update the client firmware until I get it to see the media server. I've tried going back to the original software disk from Netgear, resetting to factory defaults, pressing the reset button on startup). Any ideas?
Rob

Unknown said...

Hi, anyone know were I can get a replacement remote?
Cheers

Anonymous said...

I bought a second for the replacement remote and a couple of learning capable Allin1 remote controls, and then taught one of the remotes and put the new, working MP101 remote in a safe vault.

Anonymous said...

Thanks!

I had trouble running the media server. It would run and then crash. The error message referred to a "upnp...dll" file. I found the file in the plugins directory of the mediaserver and renamed it. That fixed the crashing and I was able to upgrade the firmware.

Anonymous said...

Worked with Windows 8 64 bit. Couldn't get Rhapsody to play more than one song before applying the 1.4.7 firmware. Thanks so much!!

Anonymous said...

The firmware update 1.4.7 works with Windows 8 64 bit. Before applying the update I could only get Rhapsody to play one song. Now it works flawlessly!! Thanks so much!!

Unknown said...

Awesome blog and Great guide, really easy, sound and clear. i like it.. keep it up..

netgear support

Unknown said...

Replacement remotes.. I use an RCA universal with audio button check the compatibility list the right one list the MP101

Unknown said...

Replacement remotes.. I use an RCA universal with audio button check the compatibility list the right one list the MP101

Unknown said...

Hi Guys, I am in NewZealand and have just purchased an MP 101. Can anyone help me to connect it to my wireless hardrive? I want to do away with my computer and create a seperate stand alone system. Maybe a operating system on the portable harddrive? I have a pqi wireless drive.


Pete H. said...

I just tried out Media Monkey and found that it works fantastically with my MP101 on Windows 8.1. I thought anyone still using their MP101 would like to try that. It's pretty easy.