921 Noise Level

[Andyb]

Hi Guys from Northern Vermont.

I installed a 921 for a customer, and was wondering about noise levels, does the fan run all the time or just as needed? also does the hard drive spin always or does it have a sleep mode?, trying to avoid a trip to the border if I can! thanks!

Andy B Jost Electronics in Morrisville, VT

 

[MikeD-C05]

As of right now , yes it runs all the time unless you unplug it. The 721 has a sleep or inactivity mode between 12am and 4 am if no activity is sensed, it will turn itself off and spin down the hard drive. The 921 should someday have the same feature if and when they catch up with all the promised software updates.

 

[Mark_AR]

I've had my 921 since January.

Honestly, It was annoying for the first few days, but now I don't even notice the fan running.

You only hear it if you enter with all of your AV equipment off anyway. Once you turn the TV on and there is any sound (Unless you have the volume turned WAAAAAAY down or muted) you can't hear it anyway.

SAve a trip.

 

[Andyb]

921 Noise

Thanks, for the reply's it not so much the service call which I get paid for and the customer makes me lunch, it's the fact the customer couldn't get a straight answer from dish network tech support, but now atleast I have some feedback for the customer! Thanks!

 

[tnsprin]

Hi Guys from Northern Vermont.

I installed a 921 for a customer, and was wondering about noise levels, does the fan run all the time or just as needed? also does the hard drive spin always or does it have a sleep mode?, trying to avoid a trip to the border if I can! thanks!

Andy B Jost Electronics in Morrisville, VT

I believe there are several fans, and some run only as needed. The main noise is not the fans but the hard drive. It runs all the time, but there is hope that a future update will have it shut down when not needed.

 

[boy921]

Hi Guys from Northern Vermont.

I installed a 921 for a customer, and was wondering about noise levels, does the fan run all the time or just as needed? also does the hard drive spin always or does it have a sleep mode?, trying to avoid a trip to the border if I can! thanks!

Andy B Jost Electronics in Morrisville, VT

Is the noise from the fan blowing or from the fan vibrating surrounding surfaces where you have it installed? Mine was loud, I put damper pads under the footing of the unit and it reduced the noise lever by about 85%.

 

[sjm992]

Mine was loud, I put damper pads under the footing of the unit and it reduced the noise lever by about 85%.

Which type of damper pads did you use?

 

[ajohnson]

Hmm, if it worked that well, I may cut up an old mouse pad and see what that does. Mines not that bad though.

 

[boy921]

Which type of damper pads did you use?

I cut
old gel pads for shoes. They work so very well! I clean them first!

 

[voodooevil]

so the fan runs with the power off?

Hello. So the fan runs constantly, even with power and all lights on the receiver off?.....(the receiver is pluged in but power on the unit is off). I just want to understand correctly because my fan is running in my 921 24 hrs/day. Why would that be?

Thanks.... Joe

 

[tnsprin]

Hello. So the fan runs constantly, even with power and all lights on the receiver off?.....(the receiver is pluged in but power on the unit is off). I just want to understand correctly because my fan is running in my 921 24 hrs/day. Why would that be?

Thanks.... Joe

maybe. Anyone know for sure? Many fans are heat activated. From someone else who just dismantled his and replaced his fans, THERE ARE TWO FANS.

 

[old corps]

I've been thinking that it might be a good idea to unplug it when its not in use. Seems like having the fan/drive running all the time isn't a good thing. ???????????????????
ED

 

[SteveinDanville]

My 721's hard drive spins 24/7 and now sounds like a buzzsaw. I've replaced two 721's already, both because of hard drive issues. This 3rd one was quiet as a church mouse when I first got it, but now it's horrible, just like the 2nd one was. Wasn't there a software download a while ago that was supposed to spin down the hard drive when it wasn't recording or buffering? I know I've gotten all downloads.....

 

[rsmith7]

Noise

I must agree with all of us complainers about the noise levels. I had a 921 but returned it due to the noise level. I also have a 721 that I had moved into my bedroom. I sometimes wake in the middle of the night and find it difficult to get back to sleep due to all of the hard drive noise.

I must admit that my 508 is a very nice system and environmentally friendly to my ears at night. It shuts off after about 5 minutes.

 

[JAL]

I recently R.A'd my 921 due to the noise level. The replacement 921 is noticably quieter, and tolerable. However, it is not as quiet as my 501, which is almost silent. I also R.A.'d my original 501 because of the noise level. It seems that the remanufactured receivers are quieter. Perhaps Dish is replacing the hard drives or fans with quieter ones when the receivers are sent back, or perhaps I'm just getting lucky.

 

[maitre2pitza]

Still noisey after all these years

Its now the end of Feb in 2005. All the software fixes you said were promised in 2003 have apparently gotton lost. I can't sleep with this noisey box.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Dunno about "2003", but damn little of what was promised has appeared.

Looking back at it all, from what I can see, around ONE decent programmer's worth of production has come out of that ENTIRE engineering team in all of 2004.

So sad.

 

[maitre2pitza]

My solution

My wife has all these X-10 plug in modules for the Christmas candles in the windows. I've taken one, plugged the 921 into it and every night I just de-power the receiver. I know they download stuff at night. Once a week I'll got into system setup and force a download. At least I can sleep.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Sorry, your solution to force a download won't work - the option doesn't exist.

And if you yank power at the wrong time, you could screw the pooch. All the E* boxes (DVR or not) have an exposure window when updating software that can turn the box into a doorstop. The window is very narrow on the DVRs, and is only open for certain types of update, but it can happen.

I strongly advise keeping your receiver on a UPS. That being said, there's a guy on the other forum that has been using an appliance timer to pull power every night for may months.

The box should be rebooting itself every night anyway. You can check this by moving the PiP window away from the bottom right corner. If it returns to bottom right, the box has rebooted.