"to a lack of redundancy and a method in the code for rebuilding file tables" - seems to me you missed that point the file system is proven Linux EXT3 with well known implementation shouldn't make the corruption, if end user will not abuse a capability of the FS.
External Hard Drive Archive Bug Thread
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My customer service odyssey for this issue seems to finally be complete (after two hours on the phone today). I finally got into advanced tech support after a couple of hangups and found a guy that actually seemed to know what was going on (I think his name was Mike and as it turned out he was an ex-Navy ET like myself). We spent a good hour on the phone while he chatted with the advanced tech support guys and they determined that it was a receiver problem. As a last resort I asked him for a rehit and he said sure. I got new household codes and all three of my drives work now. I did not even get an initial message telling me that I had to slave the drives to the receivers (maybe because they were connected and on when I got the hit?).
I finally spend some time on the phone with Dish about the 866 error on one of my drives. The person I spoke with did seem pretty knowledgable about the external drives, issues and my specific issue. She claims that there is no way to recover from the 866 message. It essentially means the file system has been corrupt and all my programming is already lost so I have nothing to lose by reformatting. Not sure I believe this but just thought I'd pass along the info.
Again, this issue only happened on one of my drives (out of three) all used on the same 622. And it happens to be the same drive I moved programs to the night the household key changed to a non-zero number.
Again, this issue only happened on one of my drives (out of three) all used on the same 622. And it happens to be the same drive I moved programs to the night the household key changed to a non-zero number.
Do you have more then 1 622? Did they all get new household codes?
It's interesting that you didn't have to remate the drive. We did when the new housholds codes came in the first time. I wonder if the problem was with the receiver itself losing the code?
Perhaps, but it sure seems like the drive lost track of the location of the stored programs (hence the black screens). Maybe dish has customized the drive access and/or file system to "improve" performance.
What kind of enclosure did you get ?
You might want to test the drive by moving some programs back and forth. I also have seen some enclosures that couldn't handle extended time in 300x FF.
Good Luck.
Only one 'improvement' they did on top of FS - scrambling video, what exactly root of your DVR problem - no issues with FS, but descrambling.
I'm bet for a full price of your DVR, if you'll connect the EHD to Linux PC and run fsck you'll see no error.
What they told you is complete BS. My 866 occurred on a 622 on which it had continuously connected and had been working fine for weeks. After the change it gets an 866 on that receiver, but works fine if I connect it to my other receiver.
Huh? Connecting the drive and simply using it is abusing the file system? Who abused the FS?
.....G
Adam,
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Short version: I read your post which inspired me to call, in spite of their BS I insisted that they just send a rehit to both of my receivers. Now everything seems to work.
I had been having the 866 reformatt message on one of my two receivers as I've described in my earlier messages.
Basically I had one receiver that would accept any drive and another receiver that wouldn't accept anything that had been connected to the other drive and that had rejected the drive that was attached to it when they made the change.
When I called she asked me some obligatory questions and fed me some obligatory BS. Even today she was still telling me it could only be moved 3 times (which was irrelevant because the first drive that had the problem hadn't been moved preceding the 866).
At various points she told me my only options were to reformat (which she couldn't pronounce from her script). She later told me my only option was to attach a compatible USB device.
Rather than asking for a senior technician, I just politely asked her to rehit my receiver. I waited 2 minutes and it worked fine. Now all 3 drives seem to work fine on both receivers.
When I was having the problems last week my household key was different in the last digit. After the rehit they are the same as one another and different than either of the original numbers.
I'd advise anybody else with the 866 problem to call and just politely ask for a rehit at the soonest possible moment before investing a lot of time in troubleshooting.
I asked her to please give other customers who call the option of a rehit and to tell Dish that it works. I realize that request was futile but I couldn't help myself.
What's really sad/scary about all this:
We know how to resolve the issue with the 866 error and the CSRs (who get paid to help resolve the issues) have a script they read from that doesn't even cover the issue.
That's sad...
We know how to resolve the issue with the 866 error and the CSRs (who get paid to help resolve the issues) have a script they read from that doesn't even cover the issue.
That's sad...
Adam/Murky: Glad you got results. However, I have asked for rehits three times, including a couple of minutes ago, and do not get a fix, only a change of household key. Maybe I'll just keep asking for rehits every day to see if there is an element of chance involved.
I have a Free Agent drive, and have been unplugging/replugging it before getting the rehit to ensure it is running.
Was there anything else of value said by the tech types?
Hal
I have a Free Agent drive, and have been unplugging/replugging it before getting the rehit to ensure it is running.
Was there anything else of value said by the tech types?
Hal
There was nothing of value said to me whatsoever. The few answers they gave me demonstrated that they were clueless beyond even my expectation. But of course I didn't talk to a real technician.
I did make sure to have one of the problem drives connected and powered on when they did the rehit.
I also did some troubleshooting with some other drives. I suppose its possible that some combination of establishing and pairing those drives ahead of time got my receivers into a receptive state of mind.
The last thing I did before I called was allow the problem receiver to reformatt one of my new drives with only one program on it. After the reformatt it resets and power cycles the receiver. I then re-attached a problem drive and verified I got 866 before calling.
I requested a re-hit as well and it didn't fix the issue.
The only reason I feel Dish may be correct in that it is a drive/corruption issue is this is the drive that got knocked off the desk and fell a few feet to the ground once, but granted this was months ago and has worked fine since then....until now.
Since it is only TV, I decided to go ahead and reformat my problem drive. Reformatted fine. Tried moving a program to it and about half way through I got a pop up saying there was a problem transferring the program. Tried again and it worked. Transferred a couple more as well. So maybe there is a slight issue with my drive causing the problems, who knows. And it is a Seagate Free agent (as are my other two).
Yes, I thought it was odd that I did not have to remate any of my drives. I tried all three drives on both of my 622's and they all work that way.
I did not check the household code on my basement 622 but I assume it was changed also. They were both on the same code before and I watched it change on my living room 622.
That is BS, pure and simple. Through all of my problems I have determined that they always jump on this answer (based on their cue cards no doubt) as a solution. Well I can tell you that this may not even work for you and then you are going to be doubly pissed that you erased all of your data.
I emptied one of my drives (by spending a ridiculous amount of time transferring back and forth on my working receiver) and did the format thing and still had the 866 error.
No, absolutely nothing. Well, one lady in India said that it might be the weather in my area that is causing this problem....
