522 DVR Noise

[kirkdj]

Are All 522 DVR Noisy?

The 522 was installed on April 15th, it was remanufactured. I've never had a DVR, is it common to make a lot of noise? I guess it's the HD turning, but with all other tv's etc off, you can really hear this thing.....it sounds like a loud seashell type noise....not grinding, just a constant ocean type noise for lack of a better description....very anoying when it's quiet.

Is there something wrong with this unit?

 

[DarrellP]

Probably not. Dish uses 2 brands of hard drive, one either is quiet or it has a very high pitched whine, while the other rattles as you describe. I went through 3 501's and it was a crapshoot as to which one I got each time. I never did get a quiet one.

 

[Pepper]

Every 522 I have seen has had the Maxtor 4R120L0 which is an extremely quiet drive, I would have had to be standing right next to it to notice any noise.

 

[kirkdj]

So is that a cooling fan or maybe two that I hear?

 

[Pepper]

If you stick your hand under the receiver and feel air movement it may be the cooling fan. If it is running during normal operation, you have too much heat buildup. Do you have the unit inside an enclosure of any kind?

Before I completely moved the drive outside the unit, I mounted a couple of old cassette tape cases on the bottom to raise it another 1/2 inch or so above the shelf for improved airflow.

 

[jtravel]

My 522 is not as noisy as my PC harddrives but I can hear the harddrive making normal noise.

I shut the 522 off when im not watching TV. There is no reason to leave it on when not watching TV as it will turn itself on when a timer tells it to record. In these cases only the record light on the box comes on.

 

[GunnerJoe]

Make sure nothing is on top of the 522. I used to have a DVD player on top and the fan ran all the time. Moved the DVD player underneath and now the fan no longer runs unless a book or couple remotes are left on top of the 522. It's never been in any type of enclosure.

 

[GunnerJoe]

From another thread:

Is that what I'm hearing all the time...a fan? I was thinking it was the hard drive.....are all the fans so noisy? I can hear it over the tv sometimes....it runs 24 hr. a day. Nothing on top of the DVR, the 811 is underneath it though.

I find the fan much more noisy than the hard drive. If the top of the 811 feels very warm, then that could be your problem. Heat rises... The fan only runs when the 522 is hot, so try moving the 811 away from the 522 and let us know if that did the trick.