RCA Opal M4008

You you guys must have XP......it wouldnt work on my daughter's computer. But it worked on my new laptop with Vista Premium.....I was told she neede to update her Active X controls to 9.0 version to get it to work properly. I hope this helps someone.

This is the BEST solution. I just had the same problem and ran across this solution and it actually worked. If you are experiencing this problem, this is the only fix I found and I have tried several. Solution #2 posted on Dec 30, 2007

Billy_K
Rank: Apprentice
Rating: 95%, 9 votes
I had this problem. Backing up data wasn't a concern though, as I hadn't anything on the OPAL yet.
First I let the OPAL charge up for 3 hours. Then I made sure it was powered off. I had previously downloaded onto a PC the firmware update for the M4004 which also works on the M4008 and other OPAL's. I plugged the OPAL into the PC, and booted up the PC. After installing the firmware package in the PC, you get an install screen for the new firmware with a format option for the OPAL. I selected that option, but the "start" button was greyed out as the PC still couldn;t see the OPAL. I pressed the reset (paperclip in the back of the OPAL) for about 15 seconds, than held down the "Play" button and waited. Eventually the software recognized the OPAL, and started to format it.
If you get a dialogue to restart the PC, press NO! You have to read the instructions that come with the install. Eventually I reformatted the drive, and installed new firmware.
BTW, there was no picture folder after I did this, so I just created a new folder named picture and it worked fine for the thumbnail pics I threw in there. Also when I use a MAC with the OPAL, I power the MAC up with the OPAL off but attached. After drag and dropping files into the OPAL, I power down the MAC. After power down the OPAL will after a pause give the "building databases please wait" messages, then when done go to the start menu. It is difficult on a MAC to eject the OPAL, it just reappears on the desktop so shutting down is the only safe way to administer the device. But to update firmware, which is easily corrupted BTW if you unplug the thing at the wrong time, you HAVE to do it on a PC operating system. Might work on an Intel MAC with a PC OS though.
Hope this helps.

Try it in another computer, in my windows xp it read the program, but not in the Vista. Format it over there and download the Firmware there too, it works.
Good luck

If the player is turning on an off while connected to the computer, its not because of the opal. This a data sinc error caused by media player. The program goes into a loop trying to get the data to build and trying to get the player to start. Solution: Back up your computer - uninstall media player. The computer should now recognise the device as an MTC instead of MTP. (or you can go into system properties an change opal to MTC manually but who knows how to do that)

---MTC means that the computer will treat the player just a flash drive---

Personally, I find that treating the opal like a flash works way better and Media player 10-11 s^&^ks. If you want a good player you should download media player clasic because its not invasive about things and dosn't force auto-updates.


The problem you have with your opal could be the problem I had....

Now about the problem "I" had with the player. For some weird reason the player just stopped recognizing picture files with the Srgb color profiles and would not build a data base if I had pictures with Srgb profiles.
Solution: I had to save the pictures a Adobe RGB 1998. (I also found that you can save the photos in Paint and it works just like photoshop)