510 Overheat Shutdown - help

[nitstalker]

Hello... well I have had my 1st problem since I got my 510 a year and half ago... Twice today the unit has popped up with a screen saying that the unit has overheated and to protect the drive yaddda yadda it is shutting down and will reset when it is cool.... This happened in the past when I had my Xbox on at the same time as the 510 (xbox used to sit on top of it) I noticed that the cooling fan will only run for about 10 seconds when I do a hard boot (unplug it and plug it in) and I havent noticed it run yet.... Ive never noticed before how much the cooling fan runs.. can anybody tell me whether it runs all the time or not? If keeps happenin guess I will have to call dish

Stephen

 

[SimpleSimon]

Just give the box the air flow it needs.

 

[Stargazer]

Thank goodness your receiver is shutting down by itself when it overheats.

 

[j5races]

so there is some good to come out of release 3.00 for the 510.....

if you want/need to leave your xbox on top of the 510, then do what i did and install some small computer fans to blow on it 24/7....works like a champ.


Jon

 

[Stargazer]

My 510 just had a hard drive failure. I do not understand how they can fail when the receiver just sits there. I wonder if heat is related to the problem.

 

[Briant73]

My 510 just had a hard drive failure. I do not understand how they can fail when the receiver just sits there. I wonder if heat is related to the problem.

From my limited experience I can say the only time I have noticed the fan working is on a reset of the unit. Heat can contribute to HD failure and also tuner problems. Dish should of put a decent ball bearing fan in there that ran (at low rpm) all the time to keep air moving during regular use so as not to be obtrusive and if the heat got critical the fan could speed up to compensate. A fan running running all the time at low rpms should be whisper quiet and keep the unit working far longer. Also a fan going bad is a quick cheap fix compared to a tuner chip or Hard drive unit. Also well designed heatsinks could help but if not properly put on they could cause problems.

Since dish hasn't done this with their DVR's, the best bet is to make sure they are placed in a spot where ventalation is very good.