a trick to revive your 721

[retiredTech]

My 721 went wacky last night. I had only 18 hours recorded (about 82 left) when it lost all recordings (100 left).
It had some wacky characters where the "name of guides" should be. (example : "All Channel was" *o";e2 ect)
It wouldn't change channels, actually record anything or really work.
(it seemed hopeless).
I tried softboot... hardboot... smartcard pull... restore factory defaults... nothing worked.
So I did this: (which I found posted somewhere before, glad I saved the info )
Quote:
There is a little trick for malfunctioning 721 receivers that "might" work for a variety of problems.
It basically forces the 721 to reinitialize the hard drive.

1) Unplug power from the unit and remove the cover
2) Unplug the hard drive ide cable that goes from the main board ..."at the hard drive"
(Do not remove the hard drive as this will break that little 'hard drive warranty' sticker, only unplug the IDE cable from the drive.
3) Plug the unit back in a wait for the failure message about the hard drive
4) Unplug power from the unit again and plug the hard drive IDE cable back in and replace the cover.
5) Finally, plug power back in a let it run for about 30 to 45 minutes.

This will force the unit to completely wipe the PVR partitions on the hard drive and rebuild and reformat them.

WARNING: this procedue will ERASE all recordings and timers. One of my units "died" and it resolved my problems with it.

The nice thing is that this doesn't void you warranty since we are simply using the recovery features that are build into the unit" End Quote.
(thanks to the orginal poster)

Now my 721 works... better than before it died!!!

 

[chrisb83]

I had the same thing happen and I deleted the timer, then put the timer back on and now it works.

 

[Derwin0]

Now my 721 works... better than before it died!!!

Used that method once on a 721 that got bricked on the initial software download (didn't like the DPP-44 and Seperator at the time). After following the method above, worked like a charm.

 

[Bob Haller]

522s auto reformat hard drive when it gets corrupted. saves E big bucks in replacing boxes

 

[kstuart]

The same method should work for 501s and 508s as well.

 

[MRUSS]

I have a dead one now with the same issues where the all channel and all sub is just mixed up jumbo, unreadable. Unit is now dead and waiting for a replacement.I think the tech killed it when they sent a hit down to it. This might revive it if I try this.

 

[Lean Guy]

Thanks!!! - But still one small issue

My 721 went wacky last night. I had only 18 hours recorded (about 82 left) when it lost all recordings (100 left).
It had some wacky characters where the "name of guides" should be. (example : "All Channel was" *o";e2 ect)
It wouldn't change channels, actually record anything or really work.
(it seemed hopeless).
I tried softboot... hardboot... smartcard pull... restore factory defaults... nothing worked.
So I did this: (which I found posted somewhere before, glad I saved the info )
Quote:
There is a little trick for malfunctioning 721 receivers that "might" work for a variety of problems.
It basically forces the 721 to reinitialize the hard drive.

1) Unplug power from the unit and remove the cover
2) Unplug the hard drive ide cable that goes from the main board ..."at the hard drive"
(Do not remove the hard drive as this will break that little 'hard drive warranty' sticker, only unplug the IDE cable from the drive.
3) Plug the unit back in a wait for the failure message about the hard drive
4) Unplug power from the unit again and plug the hard drive IDE cable back in and replace the cover.
5) Finally, plug power back in a let it run for about 30 to 45 minutes.

This will force the unit to completely wipe the PVR partitions on the hard drive and rebuild and reformat them.

WARNING: this procedue will ERASE all recordings and timers. One of my units "died" and it resolved my problems with it.

The nice thing is that this doesn't void you warranty since we are simply using the recovery features that are build into the unit" End Quote.
(thanks to the orginal poster)

Now my 721 works... better than before it died!!!

This worked like a charm!!! I was ready to toss this sucker. Only one issue though - Sometimes I get just a black screen, but with audio. I have to Channel up/down or just wait to make it go away. Any advice on how to fix this?

Thanks.

 

[rcwilcox]

This worked like a charm!!! I was ready to toss this sucker. Only one issue though - Sometimes I get just a black screen, but with audio. I have to Channel up/down or just wait to make it go away. Any advice on how to fix this?

Thanks.

it's a 721 it is a little quirky. I love mine but have to reboot fairly frequently but show me another dual tuner E* receiver with no fees.