I bought a Viewsonic VMP74 Media Player about 5 weeks ago and I was very pleased with it. However, since yesterday, it doesn't like being connected to my LAN. If the ethernet plug is in, playback (of ANY media) stops after 20-30 seconds and I can only back out by powering off.

I haven't changed anything on the LAN and everything else on it is the same as it's always been.

What makes this totally bizarre is my friend has the same box and his developed the exact same fault yesterday. Viewsonic CS seem to think it's a hardware problem, but what are the chances of two units a few hundred miles apart developing the same fault on the same day?

Any advice anyone?

I have the same issue. It looks like it is making some sort of internet request that is causing it to crash (started happening in the same time frame as your problem). I have removed the default gateway so i can still access the samba share from my pc. This does mean that any internet services such as youtube will not work, however i dont use these services anyway.

If i find time i will try and take a packet capture to see what it is accessing on the net that is causing the problem.

Surprise, Surprise I have a VMP74 and it has developed the same fault. I've had it for over a year and all of a sudden it just freezes / stops when the network cable is connected. The box works fine when no network cable is connected and i can play media files from an attached USB media drive. Could this be a firmware issue. Have set a static ip address, set my gateway to 0.0.0 and dns to 0.0.0 and can now play shared files from my pc again, which it is mainly what is was used for. Thanks for the heads up.

As with RabStuart, I've had a VMP74 for about 15 months, used 99% for playing films from my server.
Started freezing intermittently sometime between the 10th - 13th June, & got progressively worse.
Have applied your fix, and it's now working with the films on the server.
Interesting that this should happen to us all at nearly the same time? The only common links I can think of are:
1. Firmware?
2. IPv6 being introduced by ISPs at around that date?

Thanks for your posts, I was getting ready to dump the unit & buy another media player!

I have e-mailed Viewsonic asking them if a firmware fix is imminent - I'll keep you posted.

Viewsonic have now confirmed a firmware update will be released shortly. I'll post the link when I get it.

I have also had the same problem with the VMP74 freezing a couple of weeks ago.
The fixs of setting a static ip address, gateway to 0.0.0 and dns to 0.0.0 worked well. Thank you.

Look forward to the new version of firmware to sort the problem out.

Hot off the press, just got a possible fix through for the VMP74 issue.
You can DL from here:
ftp://vseftp.viewsoniceurope.com/Dig...e/VMP74%20Firm
ware/
File Name: v01.16.13.18.35_ViewSonic_VMP74.zip
Login: vseftpguest
PW: proactive

That is the current firmware version NOT a fix for the freezing problem. No date yet for that release.

Scratch that last post! Version number IS slightly different from version I had loaded.

Yes - this is from a product manager at VS - been using this for a couple of days now - all good

Updated firmware is now available from: http://www.viewsoniceurope.com/uk/products/vmp74.htm