Top 10 RCA OPAL M4001 MP3 Player Questions & Answers

I bought this mp3 for my son and had the same problem. Well, it would try to install the device, then say that the device was not recognized. Stupid Vista. So, this is how I made it work: open "Computer" press the reset button on the mp3, press and hold the play button while you connect the USB, continue holding play until you see an icon show up. This seemed to work okay. Hope this helps.

If the player is showing up in your Windows' Device Manager under "portable devices" with a yellow "!":

1.) Right-click the yellow "!" and choose "update driver".
2.) When given the option to connect to Windows Update, choose "no, not this time" and click next.
3.) Choose "Install from a specific location (advanced)" and click next.
4.) Choose "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install" and click next.
5.) Click the "Have Disk" button. Browse to C:\Windows\inf and choose the file marked "wpdmtp.inf"

I can't believe the generic players have such crappy support when so many people have this problem! I think the Windows file problem might be caused by "compressing old files" when you do a disk cleanup.

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.

Press pause and then at the end of the menu press delete

these things are **** ive had a 8 gig for about a week now nothing will come on not even the leds i have a newer one so there is no reset button so i have the best solution take a hammer and smash it and never buy any rca product ever again. ive had dollar store mp3 players that are better

I had this same problem on another RCA player.. with no instructions manual it was hard to figure out what keys locked meant. Then I noticed a little slider on the side of the player, it has a little icon of a pad lock on it. Once I slid this back, the keys lock problem went away and I was able to listen to my music once again.

My best guess of what keys locked means.. you don't want you mp3 player to turn on when you put it in your pocket with your keys, so you change the slider to be locked, when your sit down and your keys are pressing against your on button, the mp3 player will shut off... as we all have experienced in frustration.. saving your battery.

Perhaps RCA should make this slider bright orange so it pops out and does not blend in so much, or they should put it right next to the on button.

go to rca.com

Fatal error on RCA Opal:
What do I do if I experience a Fatal Error? How Do I reset my Opal?
The Opal has a reset hole on the back of the unit in which a toothpick (non metallic) can be inserted to reboot the player. If this does not work, I suggest that you reformat the player by using the Windows format command on the unit. To reformat the memory:
Right click on the device within the Explorer or My Computer window
Select the format command (full format) to reformat the internal memory of the device.
Reinstall the firmware from http://download.rcaaudiovideo.com/downloads/opal_fwutility_v2.3.0.exe

RCA Opal - Stuck on "Initializing"

Go to this website to reload the firmware:
http://voxrightnow.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/voxrightnow.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1415&p_created=1202430585&p_sid=CwOaz8ej&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTIsMTImcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1pbml0aWFsaXppbmc*&p_li=&p_topview=1

Note: websites are subject to change - if you go to http://www.rcaaudiovideo.com and go to the page for the RCA Opal m series, you can also find the firmware reload on that page.

-Tha Mp3 Doctor

you might try connecting the keychain first and making sure it turns on upon connecting to your PC via the USB cable.

my problem is the photo viewer software that came with it doesn't find any JPG images to put on the keychain...it crashes everytime i click a folder to browse and i've removed and re-installed it twice now. what a piece of ****.

my card is corrupted and now my computer did not detect my card i have many things in that and i don't wanna lose all that