510 hard drive problem manifesting itself?

[catnap1972]

For the last couple of weeks, I've found that my 510 will skip a split second or two on playback or on occasion freeze entirely for a split second before recovering. Seems to also happen with somewhat greater frequency if I'm watching something recorded while the unit is currently recording.

Is there a bug with 363 causing this or could the hard drive be developing bad sectors (or something else entirely)???

 

[Jim5506]

Hard drives are a mechanical device, they will eventually all fail.

 

[Smith P.]

For discover if there are developed bad sectors you must remove the disk and after install into PC run some diagnostics like MHDD; btw the program could help to remap bad sectors, ie recover lost space and give the disk 'second' life .

 

[Stargazer]

I would think that this would be more likely a tuner issue than a hard drive issue even if you notice this on playback of your recorded shows because it would affect the recordings. If it happens more when you are watching a previously recorded show while something else is recording then maybe there is some issue with the hard drive sectors. No matter if it's a hard drive or tuner issue, the receiver needs to be replaced and Dish should be called for an exchange. The problem is just going to get worse as time goes on and it will get more and more annoying.

 

[catnap1972]

No matter if it's a hard drive or tuner issue, the receiver needs to be replaced and Dish should be called for an exchange. The problem is just going to get worse as time goes on and it will get more and more annoying.

Obviously I'll have to archive whatever I still want from the drive before I exchange the unit but is it advisable to do it before I call them to notify them about the problem (in other words is there anything they rep will have me do that will reformat or wipe the drive while on the phone)?

Doing an edit on my post as I made an interesting observation which may be coincidental, though maybe not. The problem(s) I'm having only seem to only be there on shows from locals and supers (NBC and CBS, especially, though I've seen it on WWOR occasionally), and not on anything from "cable" networks. That would more lend itself to being a tuner issue, correct?

 

[Anole]

danger, Will Robinson

You could check signal levels for each bird you are watching.
(I didn't look to see if the shows you are having trouble with are all on one satellite, but that's easy to discover)

Also, go outside and see if a new tree limb is growing into the path from your dish to the sky.
(it happened to me)
Or, maybe the neighbors trees have grown since last season...

AND...
Before anyone takes the hard drive out of their 5xx series PVR and connects it to their computer, be advised that any destructive data-testing you do will render the drive useless in the PVR.
In fact, folks trying to extract shows from their PVR for the first time, occasionally and accidentally have Windows format the drive because it doesn't show up in the file explorer.
That'll blow it , too.

 

[Smith P.]

MHDD is totally safe and working from DOS bootable floppy. Tested in IT for MANY different types of disks and file systems. Try it before judge.

 

[Anole]

I'm glad to know of such a program.

HOWEVER...
I don't give loaded guns nor power tools to folks without educating them first.
The chance someone would get a destructive test program, or mess up with Windows by connecting a PVR drive, cause me much concern.

Please heed my other comments above, too.

 

[Mike_H]

After a power cycle due to getting a Dish1000 system installed, I had my 510 act up by showing now DVR recordings, but showing zero space. Nothing I could do would fix it.

I had to find the group on yahoo and search around. I finally found the instructions that let me reset the hard drive. Basically causing the receiver to call the drive blank, reinstall stuff onto it, and start over.

Fixed it, and it dvr's fine now. Find one of the dishrip groups on yahoo. Search for drive re-initialization codes.

 

[catnap1972]

You could check signal levels for each bird you are watching.
(I didn't look to see if the shows you are having trouble with are all on one satellite, but that's easy to discover)

Our locals are on 110/SB18, signal strength is in the 85-90 range right now.

Also, go outside and see if a new tree limb is growing into the path from your dish to the sky.
(it happened to me)
Or, maybe the neighbors trees have grown since last season...

Nothing in the way of it.

I did notice something else--about 2 seconds before it "skips", I notice partof the picture breaks up (never all of it) for a split second...either pixellated, turns "wavy", or a green mess.

 

[Smith P.]

Could be an issue with sat tuner chip, but I would check HDD first. Easy and reliable by MHDD, IMHO.

 

[catnap1972]

The more I think about it, the less I'm tending to blame the hard drive, and more pointing a finger at either the tuner or the 363 F/W causing problems. Makes no sense that the hard drive would only have problems with the local channels and not any of the cable nets (at least not that I've noticed). I do know that the problem doesn't occur on my 4900, and it will occur on my 510 on "live" or on recorded shows.

 

[Smith P.]

doesn't matter what you're watching on the 510, it's always writing into buffer on the HDD
checking the disk will bring you confidence and will eliminate one of reasons
I would do that from my fist minute of cencern

 

[PKII]

For the last couple of weeks, I've found that my 510 will skip a split second or two on playback or on occasion freeze entirely for a split second before recovering. Seems to also happen with somewhat greater frequency if I'm watching something recorded while the unit is currently recording.

Is there a bug with 363 causing this or could the hard drive be developing bad sectors (or something else entirely)???

Mine did the exact same thing then the hard drive failed. If you have anything on the DVR you don't wanna lose I'd copy it over to something else.