The other night the picture would freeze off and on, I thought it was rain fad at first as there was a strong storm semi-close. It did this for a while then the screen went grey. I reset the receiver and it stuck on the self test screen. I unplugged it and plugged it in again and started making a horrible noise (hard drive?) until I unplugged it again. I decided to clean it and used air to blow the receiver out. There was not a lot of dust from it and it has plenty of circulation around it. It has been working fine for now going on a full day. Is this a sign of a failure soon?
Is my HR44 about to quit?
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Interesting ...
It could be the hard drive is going bad, possibly got a bad one when built, I haven't heard of that happening on the HR44's as of yet.
It could be the hard drive is going bad, possibly got a bad one when built, I haven't heard of that happening on the HR44's as of yet.
I believe they do have fans, but they don't engage as early as in an HR34, since the power supply is external with the HR44.
Interesting. Mine started to do the same thing just this morning. Planning on running advanced self-test later for more info but have the same symptoms. Freezing, what appears to be HDD noise, etc.
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How hot is it operating? Go into the Settings/Info screen and then click on More Info to see the temperature. I have seen that many people report the HR44 to run at about 120 Deg F.
Since heat kills hard disc drives, I set my HR44 on top of a USB-powered laptop cooling base. Just a simple one with two fans, a four-inch fan on each side. The fans are also recessed a bit from the top surface to give some room for air flow.
I plugged that into the "future use" USB plug on the HR44. Now instead of running at a constant 120 Deg F in my entertainment center, it runs at a consistent 88-90 Deg F.
Since heat kills hard disc drives, I set my HR44 on top of a USB-powered laptop cooling base. Just a simple one with two fans, a four-inch fan on each side. The fans are also recessed a bit from the top surface to give some room for air flow.
I plugged that into the "future use" USB plug on the HR44. Now instead of running at a constant 120 Deg F in my entertainment center, it runs at a consistent 88-90 Deg F.
I watched 3 different recorded shows last night, 2 from TNT and 1 from HBO and all 3 froze/locked up, but after less than minute and a couple of presses of the rewind button the freeze "released" and they continued to play. I had it happen several days ago and ended up rebooting the DVR. Also watched an episode from FX and had no problem. I didn't notice any HDD noise but I'm about 12-14' from the DVR. Never had this problem with my previous HR20-700 and HR24-500. I did not check the temperature last night but it's currently showing 106.
What would be the best diagnostic test to run to check for HDD issues? I'm talking about the service menu tests, there's several related to HDDs.
What would be the best diagnostic test to run to check for HDD issues? I'm talking about the service menu tests, there's several related to HDDs.
Start with the short test, if it passes run the long test. Unusual for the full drive scan to find anything that the long test won't, and it takes several hours.
Most likely the short or long test will fail based on what you described.
Most likely the short or long test will fail based on what you described.
Thanks. I recall doing, I think 2 HDD tests and it passed but when I tried I believe it was the Long Test it quickly got to 10% but then seemed to just stop. I suppose I didn't give it enough time though, is that typically how that test will work, that is, to appear to do nothing for an extended amount of time?
The only thing I can relate to is laptops and how quickly they died on me, until I started to use cooling fans underneath them. Since I started using cooling fans, I have been using the same laptop computer with the same HDD for about ten years. I only continue to use it because it is extremely reliable, as long as it is being cooled. So that is the only reason I am a fan of using coolers. Running HDD Health on my laptop right now, my HDD is 105 Deg F and my system temp (next to CPU) is 129 DEG F.
Assuming that the Genie is allowed to reach 120 DEG F due to the limitations of the HDD temp, and the Clients usually go up to about 141 DEG F, both of my cooled laptop readings fall well below the nominal thresholds Genie equipment when it is NOT cooled. If it IS cooled with USB coolers, I am able to get the temp of the Genie down to 88-90 DEG F and, as proof of concept, the temp of the Clients down from 140 DEG F to about 137 DEG F. The lesser cooling effect on the client is due to the smaller openings on the side.
Either way, cooling the Genie will not hurt anything, and can only go towards prolonging its HDD life, like it did with my laptops.
My question is in the way the OP has the HR44 situated. If it is placed into a closed cabinet, with no airflow. The CPU fan is going to kick on sooner. I have mine in a two shelved entertainment table, with plenty of free air space. It never gets above 95 deg. Fahrenheit. As for the C31 clients. Those tend to always run hot. I see ours running on average around 130, when watching tv. That is with plenty of air flow around the unit. But also keep in mind that Pace did not do a good design job on the C31's, due to they wanted a small package for the clients.
As for the OP. I am thinking bad habitat (ie smoking, greasy cooking, pets or lots of outside dust coming into the residence, no a/c being ran, the unit crammed inside a cabinet, or into an entertainment center with stuff packed around the HR44, so that it cannot breathe).
I tend to keep our house between 68-71 all of the time during the Summer. Winter around 66-69. We have never had overheating issues with anything. Keep the equipment dust free, let it breathe. It can last a very long time.
As for the OP. I am thinking bad habitat (ie smoking, greasy cooking, pets or lots of outside dust coming into the residence, no a/c being ran, the unit crammed inside a cabinet, or into an entertainment center with stuff packed around the HR44, so that it cannot breathe).
I tend to keep our house between 68-71 all of the time during the Summer. Winter around 66-69. We have never had overheating issues with anything. Keep the equipment dust free, let it breathe. It can last a very long time.
Fwiw, the old HR20's would run up to 127* with no trouble, the Genies will probably do the same although I haven't seen one that high ... IF they do go higher they will shut down on thier own, when you turn it on if it's too hot it won't allow you access to TV, it will say it's running too hot and cool itself down to about 131* ish before turning back on.
At the moment my HR44 is running 117* ...
They also go the other way, they need to be a certain temp warmth wise as well or they will shut down till they warm up.
At the moment my HR44 is running 117* ...
They also go the other way, they need to be a certain temp warmth wise as well or they will shut down till they warm up.
Sounds like a code 14 or 15 may be in your future... hard drive failure. Run the tests you were told about and also the info test. Probably gonna need a new unit. You can try to swap to an external eat a drive and see if it can load the operating system..
Okay. So here's an update on my HR44-500. When I got home, my wife told me the unit had rebooted itself at some point.
Ran BISTests and everything passed including the hard drive. No noise and the unit functioned normally all night and is fine this morning. Could still be an intermittent hardware issue however, I am starting to suspect a firmware update issue that may have been corrected. Will be keeping an eye on it.
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Ran BISTests and everything passed including the hard drive. No noise and the unit functioned normally all night and is fine this morning. Could still be an intermittent hardware issue however, I am starting to suspect a firmware update issue that may have been corrected. Will be keeping an eye on it.
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BTW- I'd be interested to see if lebrat321's system situation has changed.
In terms of the temperature, yes, these units do run warm. I have mine in a cabinet that is well ventilated and have not had an issue until yesterday. The cooling pad idea is an interesting one though. I'm considering trying it, even though my issues seem to have gone away for now.
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In terms of the temperature, yes, these units do run warm. I have mine in a cabinet that is well ventilated and have not had an issue until yesterday. The cooling pad idea is an interesting one though. I'm considering trying it, even though my issues seem to have gone away for now.
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