MEP 7000 starting to freeze

Hi all,

Been a very long time since i was on this forum but could use a bit of help.

My MEP 7000 unit has started to freeze on me. Especially with the front usb port. I rarely use the front port. I recently did a few tests with a small 2GB flash drive, formatted and loaded with just one song on it. The usb port at the back of the unit has my main hard drive - External powered 500GB Iomega HDD with a Seagate Barracuda drive. Using this HDD for years with no problem.

If i play a song from the main HDD and if i insert the flash drive at the front, it freezes

if i play a song from the main HDD and if i insert a usb cable with my back up HDD - identical to the one above, it freezes.

If both usb ports are used after powering off then on, the screen just shows deck A, B in their gold boxes at the top of the screen. Underneath it is has part of the blue border of the scroll screen if you are using CD's. The middle section of the screen is blank. No responsiveness from any of the controls.

If you use a flash drive or an external powered HDD at the front but leave the rear usb with no HDD connected and turn it on, it works ok. Connecting the second usb at the rear, it works ok. However, if you disconnect any one of them and try to reconnect them, it freezes.

Any help here guys would be appreciated. I was hoping to find the answers in the many posts in the articles that seem to be closed, but no joy.

Thanks in advance.

G.