MicroHD - Pre-programmed recordings failed

[sar2012]

I am using a new MicroDH for many months for recording broadcasts to my 500Gi hard drive without any problem. Note that I always left MicroDH on 24/24. The box was set for monthly auto updating firmware.

Yesterday, the box did not able to connect to my USB hard drive (only a green light is on):
1.- I removed this hard drive and connect it to my computer.
2.- The computer can read all files in this hard drive. After copying all file to the computer, I reformat this drive and connect it back to MicroDH.
3.- The box still had difficulty to connect to the hard drive (only a green light is on). I reset MicroHD, re-install antenna, perform Blind Scan, set clock and set 6 pre-programmed records. Disconnect/reconnect the power cable. The box still shown only a green light.
4.- I remove the drive again and connect it again to my computer and found that two test files and a directory is created in the drive by MicroHD. Reconnect the drive to MicroHD, this time MicroHD shown two green lights and I can access hard drive.
5.- I tried manual recording for 5 minutes and it works very well.
6.- The problem is that MicroHD does not execute any pre-programmed recording settings. Recording date, time... are checked carrefuly many times for each setting.

Could you please advise.

 

[primestar31]

What are your clock settings in the menu on the MicroHD? Is gmt ON? If so, it'll sync to whatever setting the channel uses, which in the US is usually wrong 99% of the time.

You need to go into the menu, and set "Local Time Setting": GMT Usage OFF. Then set "Date" and "Time" to your local time.

Turn OFF "Standby" in another menu setting. Leave the receiver on all the time as you said you already do. Format the harddrive to NTFS using the MicroHD itself. Also, if a timer is set for a particular satellite and you have a motor that moves the dish and it's slow, it might not make it to the satellite before the timer wants to fire. If it isn't on the channel before, the recording will just go POOF. If that's what is happening, you need to pad in an extra minute or so for the time between recordings

Thought of a bit more: Is the external drive self powered with a power brick? It should be. Also, if it has a replaceable USB cable, I'd replace it with another one. Perhaps that one is a little worn or loose. I know the USB port on my MicroHD is loose compared to what it should be, and it came that way out of the box.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Sounds like either a power issue or the drive is corrupted. Agree with primestar31, the drive likely needs to be formatted again.

I would use the microHD to format. If this does not work, deep format the drive first (perfer NTFS) with a computer then format using the microHD.

 

[sar2012]

Yes, I always set the clock to GMT off and set date and time manually.

I reformat the drive with my computer. The MicroHD can record when I press the RECORD button but refuse to record on the pre-programmed setting.

I did try to format the drive with MicroHD but cannot find this command.

I think that the USB port on MicroHD or USB cable is the problem. Should I open the box to tie the port?

My 500 Gi Passeport drive is powered through USB port. I did found that I had to move the USB connection at the box to make the hard drive light on. The USB connection at the drive is special thus I am not sure that I can find another one. All of my other external hard drives have more than 2T thus not compatible with MicroHD!

 

[Larry1]

Try a USB stick to see if it works fine. Could be a power issue with that particular drive. You could use a powered USB hub to supply power to the drive.

 

[SatelliteAV]

If the manual record and playback functions, the drive is working. Maybe the drive is spinning when this test was performed, but not able to spin up to speed as it enters sleep mode and spins down between the timed recordings?

Have you tried removing the STB power source for 5-10 seconds to force a reboot?

Performed a Factory Reset on the receiver?

A 500GB drive without external power is a back-up drive and is not designed to be a 24/7 media memory device. A 500GB drive typically draws maximum current and can exceed the USB port rating when spinning up to speed. Agree with Larry1 to connect through a powered hub. Does the drive have a 2nd USB pigtail for connecting to a 2nd USB port or external power supply? What is the drive brand and model?

 

[sar2012]

I will try Memory stick.

Yes, I tried twice to disconnect the power source for 20 secondes and also tried to perform a factory reset but failed many times to run manual update via satellite.

The drive is a WD 500 Gi Passeport (pocket size) that does not have 2nd USB connection. This drive runs fine with this MicroHD for at least the last 4 months. For now, manual recording and playback work fine. Only the preprogrammed settings are not executed.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Manual firmware updates are from the G19 satellite, TP 12115, not the default 11842. Change the OTA Update TP to 12115 and it will update.

Unfortunately, WD does not publish the current draw on the Passport series, but various blogs report the spin-up to draw 1000ma, which far exceeds the USB rating of 500ma. Passport drives are designed for back-up and not intended for continuous use (especially sustained throughput). I am pretty sure that a powered hub will help resolve this issue. Just because it worked for a few months, doesn't mean that it hasn't been repeatedly exceeding the USB rating.

If the HD is already spinning (possibly was in your manual record test) then the recording may occur. If the drive enters sleep mode and must spin-up for a timer recording, the drive may be taking too long to reach speed or mount as it is drawing too much current. The timer may not execute as the STB does not detect the unmounted drive and the timer event times out.

 

[sar2012]

Yesterday, I tried to use my USB 32 Gi Memory Stick in place of hard drive. MicroHD does not record any preprogrammed settings!!! Like the hard drive, I can manually record a broadcast. So the problem is of the MicroHD. May be the new firmware will help.

I will try to manually updates firmware via satellite again using SatelliteAv instruction.

 

[Larry1]

I have found whenever I have an issue with the microHD not operating properly (which is ever so seldom) that the box needs a factory reset then disconect of the power supply. Both must be done to fully initialize the unit. Don't just power the unit off with the remote, but instead, unplug the power adapter.
Do you have multiple timer settings for the same time? i.e. one recording ends at 5:00pm and another starts at 5:00pm?
I am not using the just recently released firmware, but the one before and have multiple timers happening each day operating fine.
Are you sure the timers are set to record and not just change the channel?

 

[sar2012]

I alway shut the unit off by unplugging the power cable for 20 seconds.

I did shut the unit off and restart it then did a factory reset, reinstall satellite and all channel. After that I did shut the unit again and set all 6 preprogrammed settings. These setting are 58 minutes Daily for the same channel and they are about 3 hours interval such as one start at 1:30 AM, the next one is at 4:05 AM, 10:00 AM, 01:45 PM, 05:30 PM and 09:15 PM...

 

[rv1pop]

Not at my set up ... are you selecting "watch" or "record". May not be the right names, but with one firmware update, all my settings got set to watch. Did the firmware get changed ? Again, not in the right building to check, so, just a thought.

 

[sar2012]

rv1pop,

You are right. My program settings are at "channel"!!! I discovered this yesterday night and changed them all to "record". Every things work fine after that.

Satellite RV,

I did my manual firmware update succesfully following your instruction. I got a little difficulty to do it as my Detail Blind Scan did not find TP 12115 thus I had hard time somehow get that TP in and scan for it alone and manually update my firmware succesfully with that TP.

Thank you so much for all of you. I really appreciate your nice and friendly helps.

Regards.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Great to learn that there was no problem. Since you have set so many recordings in the past, I didn't even suspect that this was operator error.

12115 is a preprogrammed transponder. No need to blindscan. That TP blind scans fine on my home system and with all STBs on the work test bench. Missing or low SQ on 12115 is usually an indicator of a slightly misaligned dish.

Remember to perform a factory reset and remove power after the update!

 

[cyberham]

I was going to start a similar DVR problem thread since I've been unable to record anything, either manually or preprogrammed. The symptom was that the microHD was not seeing my disk.

But instead I simply reformatted my entire external Seagate 1TB disk and now all is working correctly.

 

[rv1pop]

One of the first firmware updates changed mine to channel, but it has not happened since. But Those symptoms were so familiar!!