The sleep problem with the FreeAgent drives seems to be affecting the USB connection which in turn is locking up the 622. This will keep your 622 from recording any events and cut those off that are being recorded when the lock-up occurs.
External Hard Drive Archive Bug Thread
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The sleep problem with the FreeAgent drives seems to be affecting the USB connection which in turn is locking up the 622. This will keep your 622 from recording any events and cut those off that are being recorded when the lock-up occurs.
Follow up....
Just great. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone only to be told that they are sending out a new DVR to replace my 622. It got toasted during the software update. It was rebooting over and over again after trying to locate the satellite and going 1 of 5, 2 of 5, etc.. I don't think this is related to me actually hooking up the hard drive, rather, after formatting it, it had to reboot the 622 and when it did, it never booted back up normally. I hadn't got the latest software until I called to activate the external storage drive. After calling I noticed the screensaver had the tips of the day, so I know it got the update. I think it was pushed when they activated the storage drive. Unfortunately, it was during a good downpour that they pushed the software. During these Florida rains the dish often cuts out and maybe it only got part of the update. I would think it would check the file size before installing after the download, but maybe not.
So now I lose all my DVR movies that I was looking forward to copying to the external drive and get to wait five days for them to send me a box. If I am lucky when I call to activate the new unit I can get a credit for the five days I get to go without.
Lucky me I have cable and Dish. I couldn't imagine them taking five days to replace the unit if I relied just on Dish. Actually, I would never have only Dish based on the weather outages I get. it is more than .1 %, that is for sure.
Just great. I spent about an hour and a half on the phone only to be told that they are sending out a new DVR to replace my 622. It got toasted during the software update. It was rebooting over and over again after trying to locate the satellite and going 1 of 5, 2 of 5, etc.. I don't think this is related to me actually hooking up the hard drive, rather, after formatting it, it had to reboot the 622 and when it did, it never booted back up normally. I hadn't got the latest software until I called to activate the external storage drive. After calling I noticed the screensaver had the tips of the day, so I know it got the update. I think it was pushed when they activated the storage drive. Unfortunately, it was during a good downpour that they pushed the software. During these Florida rains the dish often cuts out and maybe it only got part of the update. I would think it would check the file size before installing after the download, but maybe not.
So now I lose all my DVR movies that I was looking forward to copying to the external drive and get to wait five days for them to send me a box. If I am lucky when I call to activate the new unit I can get a credit for the five days I get to go without.
Lucky me I have cable and Dish. I couldn't imagine them taking five days to replace the unit if I relied just on Dish. Actually, I would never have only Dish based on the weather outages I get. it is more than .1 %, that is for sure.
I bought the Western Digital MyBook 750GB external today and called to activate the external drive service. Two or three hours later I went to hook up the drive. I was getting a picture and the dish was working like it should be. It recognized the drive and I went into DVR and then formatted the external drive. It said it would take a few minutes. A few minutes later it rebooted and I got the Attention screen, trying to locate the satellite transponder.... 61.5... and the normal jibberish I get when I have a bad rainstorm. I let it cycle through 1 of 5, 2 of 5, etc... reboot... and it did this multiple times. I pulled out the box and checked to make sure I didn't knock something loose, and I didn't. So...... I went into my living room where I have another HD Dish box (222 or whatever, non-DVR) and it had a signal fine on all HD channels and everything I checked.
So about an hour and a half or two hours has gone by and it keeps rebooting and going through 1 of 5, 2 of 5, 3 of 5, etc... and it is not getting a signal. I don't get it. Why would it behave this way just for hooking up an external drive?
Anybody else with this problem? Any other suggestions?
My FreeAgent should have been in sleep mode last night but it did record a scheduled program. On the other hand that program appeared to have odd gaps in the recording when the screen goes black or green for seconds at a time. It doesn't look like a signal problem. This was just a quick look this morning. I have to take a more thorough look tonight.
Has anyone else seen this sort of behavior with a USB drive?
Yes, well, that definitely would be a problem. Obviously, one should have nothing to do with the other so there is certainly something amiss with the 622 software.
It almost sounds as if they had considered using the ext drive the way TiVo does, as a virtual extension of the internal drive creating 1 larger "single" drive. When programs are recorded they are/can be spread across the 2 drives, any programs that are recorded while the ext drive is connected will be lost if the drive is "divorced" from the DVR.
In any case, if that was considered there may be some left over code that is trying to access that ext drive while the 622 is recording.
For these types of drives/enclosures it seems powering down while not in use may be a temporary fix, although, I've always been rather adverse to powering devices on and off due to the extra thermal strain it puts on the electronics.
My Maxtor 500GB One Touch III spins up from idle when I go to access it. No problem at all.
Just seems to work like it should.
Just seems to work like it should.
Anyone..
find it ironic that it was the "Seagate" guy that they had on the Tech Chat pushing his drives? WOW- what a bummer. Anyone get his name and number?
Gerry
find it ironic that it was the "Seagate" guy that they had on the Tech Chat pushing his drives? WOW- what a bummer. Anyone get his name and number?
Gerry
8bitBytes is correct. Verified via my Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500. Using the FreeAgent tools, changed my spindown to "never". Programs are all still there.
Also, you can turn the light off if you want.
Having no knowledge of how to do the download thing can you dumb it down for us here , step by step on how to do the never spindown mode? Remember not everyone here has a working knowledge of how to do this .
here is the link to the download you need. it is big 196mb for pc. I am a mac guy and I was able to do this on my sons pc not really knowing anything. http://www.seagate.com/support/freea...very-efigs.zip after I opened up the file there is an icon for freeagent exe this is all you need. http://www.satelliteguys.us/attachment.php?attachmentid=18282&d=1187317930 I got this screen shot from another member this is what you want on your desktop then you just plug in your hd and go to utilities to change settings. if the screen shot does not show here it is also posted by stevend on post 134 in this thread. my link here does not work so you can also go to the chat area at seagate to get it or you can try my link at post 136 in this thread, disregard those instructions with it, those are for putting the file on your seagate which you don't need to do. I tried my link at 136 and that one works
when that file first opened there was a different toolbox that confused me but I did a search for files "freeagent" and found the freeagent file and that is where the freeagent exe is. once I got it on my desktop I plugged the power and usb2 in and changed it in less than a minute
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You don't have to do that. You can install the FreeAgent Pro Tools to your PC, hook up the drive to your PC, with the recordings in place and then make the changes on your PC. I did it and now without the spindown enabled, I no longer have the problem and all of my programs were still on the drive. Remember that currently you can only move programs three times before they can no longer be moved.
This is from memory, so I apologize if the wording is not exact.
For Seagate FreeAgent Drives: To change or disable Sleep Mode or Drive Lights.
1. Download the utility from http://www.seagate.com/support/freea...very-efigs.zip
2. Unzip - Specify a folder <I just created one on my desktop>
3. After unzipping run the setup, extract it to your local drive <Choose or create a folder you can easily find>.
4. Go to the folder you extracted to and execute the installation program
5. End the install when it gets to the "backup software" part.
6. At this point you will have a desktop icon.
7. Plug the drive in, let Windows recognize it
8. Double click on the icon
9. Let the software find the drive
10. Select Utilities and set the Sleep Interval to the desired time (You can also adjust the drive lights here.)
11. Select Apply.
12. Exit program
NightRyder
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I just tried it on my main 500gb hard drive and it was a lot harder than I thought but I think it will work. I will test tomorrow if it still works without any problems. Thanks for the step by step instructions. It really helps.
This is unclear to me. Is each program limited to 3 moves: to disk, to receiver, to new receiver, etc? Even to same receiver after power pull? So some might have 0 or 1 or 2 moves left?
Or is it that the drive can be set up on a new receiver 3 times? With an initialize giving you a new 3 times?
-Ken
WEll I tried the external hard drive this morning and it worked but only after flashing me the " To Activate Call DISH at 1-888 xxxx ". I then hit send to archive and it worked again. THis must be what L 4.42 software is supposed to fix. Otherwise it worked just fine. NOw I have to do it to my second seagate hard drive so I can turn off the yellow light that glows and keeps my bedroom lit at night.
Here is an update on my DVR situation. When I turned on my TV the DVR screen was black. Rebooting the DVR didn't help so I decided to try jiggling the HDMI cable. Sure enough by plugging in the cable halfway I was able to get a picture again. It looks like my 622 has developed a bad HDMI port. Grrrr...
Well the HDMI connection was so marginal that it went out again after a half hour and I couldn't get it to reconnect. I scrounged up some component cables and connected those. My picture is noticeably softer, perhaps even blurry and the colors appear to be off.
I probably should have had Dish send me out a replacement 622 but instead I decided to upgrade to the 722. Extra storage is always a nice thing. Does anyone know if the HDMI port on the 722 is better than the one on the 622?
Well the HDMI connection was so marginal that it went out again after a half hour and I couldn't get it to reconnect. I scrounged up some component cables and connected those. My picture is noticeably softer, perhaps even blurry and the colors appear to be off.
I probably should have had Dish send me out a replacement 622 but instead I decided to upgrade to the 722. Extra storage is always a nice thing. Does anyone know if the HDMI port on the 722 is better than the one on the 622?
Here is an update on my DVR situation. When I turned on my TV the DVR screen was black. Rebooting the DVR didn't help so I decided to try jiggling the HDMI cable. Sure enough by plugging in the cable halfway I was able to get a picture again. It looks like my 622 has developed a bad HDMI port. Grrrr...
Well the HDMI connection was so marginal that it went out again after a half hour and I couldn't get it to reconnect. I scrounged up some component cables and connected those. My picture is noticeably softer, perhaps even blurry and the colors appear to be off.
I probably should have had Dish send me out a replacement 622 but instead I decided to upgrade to the 722. Extra storage is always a nice thing. Does anyone know if the HDMI port on the 722 is better than the one on the 622?
Don't take any chances - be sure to take ALL stress off the HDMI port by using a ziptie to hold the HDMI cable firmly in place on the back of the receiver so that there is no tension on the port by the cable.
I have been using the HDMI port on my 622 the entire time I have had it and because I have the cable anchored to remove tension from the port, I don't have any and will not have any problems.
It's not a $40 dvd player, treat it like it is delicate and worth something.
Same WD 500 Drive
Everything worked fine the first two days. Went to it last night and the 622 reports nothing is attached yet no cords were disconnected. I sut down the 622 and rebooted, I don't know if this cured the probem as I went to bed.
I'm reading about sleep modes on various drives and I wonder if that is at play here.
If not I just lost my 007 collection of movies from film fest I have been saving. Uggg!
Haas anyone experienced this problem on this drive.
Wade
Everything worked fine the first two days. Went to it last night and the 622 reports nothing is attached yet no cords were disconnected. I sut down the 622 and rebooted, I don't know if this cured the probem as I went to bed.
I'm reading about sleep modes on various drives and I wonder if that is at play here.
If not I just lost my 007 collection of movies from film fest I have been saving. Uggg!
Haas anyone experienced this problem on this drive.
Wade
Everything worked fine the first two days. Went to it last night and the 622 reports nothing is attached yet no cords were disconnected. I sut down the 622 and rebooted, I don't know if this cured the probem as I went to bed.
I'm reading about sleep modes on various drives and I wonder if that is at play here.
If not I just lost my 007 collection of movies from film fest I have been saving. Uggg!
Haas anyone experienced this problem on this drive.
Wade
I don't have this drive, but cycle power to it and I bet the 622 will see it again and all your recordings will be there.
It's best not to leave them on 24/7 anyway. Turning it on when you are actually going to use it probably will avoid the glitches.
I Did what NightRyder said and changed the sleep modes to never, on both of my seagate modems. But on my main hdtv in the living room I have the hard drive plugged into an extension cord with the lights over the shelf behind the tv -all into the plug in on the back of my a/v receiver. When I turn off the a/v receiver it turns off my external hard drive and my lights too behind the tv. This way I can use the seagate external hard drive anytime I need to and when I turn off the tv and receiver, it goes off too. Works seamlessly now with no problems when I try to archive shows or view them. Just like my internal hard drive. 
On my second hard drive I use it just for Adult movies, so I keep it turned off untill I need to access it . I have it plugged into a surge protector power strip with a simple on /off switch. So I am happy now that I can use the hard drives now the way I thought I could use them when I bought them , except I can not turn the lights off. I did this both times from the seagate menu over the computer but each time I plug it in again to the 622s it comes right back on.
On my second hard drive I use it just for Adult movies, so I keep it turned off untill I need to access it . I have it plugged into a surge protector power strip with a simple on /off switch. So I am happy now that I can use the hard drives now the way I thought I could use them when I bought them , except I can not turn the lights off. I did this both times from the seagate menu over the computer but each time I plug it in again to the 622s it comes right back on.
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