VIP 722K will not boot, recovering recorded shows

[wenjen4]

My VIP 722K failed, would not progress beyond "Starting up" screen. I called Dish, went through all the trouble shooting steps and was informed it would have to be replaced. I decided to upgrade to a Hopper. My question is this. Can I remove the hdd from my 722k, place it in an external hdd enclosure and transfer my recordings to my Hopper? I have tried to search the forums and failed to find an answer. If I missed something I apologize. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated as I have a number of recorded football games that I am desparate to recover. Thank you.

p.s. I know I should have used an external back up hdd. That is in my very near future.

 

[MattG@DISH]

If the 722k will not boot up, there is no way to recover the recordings. Do not take the HDD out of the 722k, especially if it is a leased unit.

 

[dare2be]

Unfortunately, the EHD is not a backup...recordings can only be moved between the EHD and the receiver. If the HDD fails which houses your recordings (whether EHD or receiver HDD), you will lose those recordings.

 

[The Fat Man]

Welcome wenjen4 to the site. You are now the fourth person here to complain about failing/potentially failing 722k in 5 days. I was the first. Your whole situation mirrors mine. Even upgrading to the Hopper. I hope Dish is reading. I know DIRT is, but what about the others? Is my argument making traction? Are those who make the decisions listening? This needs to be investigated.

 

[wenjen4]

Thanks for the answers everyone. While it wasn't the information I was hoping for, at least I can let go and move on.
Thanks again.

 

[KAB]

Fat, this is far from the first reported failure of a 722K. More than likely, just a coincidental reporting due to overheating because of placement where there is lack of ventilation. Regardless, they fail from time to time. Nothing new...or to be pulling a fire alarm about.

 

[wenjen4]

Thanks for the response dare2be.
I just want to understand a little more. I do understand that using an EHD is not a "back-up" and that programs can only be transferred back and forth. My question is, if the receiver fails, you can't transfer recorded shows on the EHD to a replacement receiver from a functioning EHD? And if that is the case what is the purpose, other than expanded storage, of an EHD?

 

[The Fat Man]

I disagree KAB. My receiver sat on a foot stool next to my TV strictly for overheating issues. I had proper ventilation and was dry dusted regularly. These systems are all dying randomly in a small window from each other and in the same manner. And why is it 722ks but not 722s, 622s or 922s? There's something out of the ordinary ware and tare going on.

 

[MattG@DISH]

I disagree KAB. My receiver sat on a foot stool next to my TV strictly for overheating issues. These systems are all dying randomly in a small window from each other and in the same manner. And why is it 722ks but not 722s, 622s or 922s? There's something out of the ordinary ware and tare going on.

If you are having trouble with a receiver, I'd be happy to help with anything that may be occurring.

Where we do want the equipment to work just as much as you do, we understand that it does sometime fail. I have never had any trouble that I couldn't handle with the receivers I've ever had, including the infamous 612 and 922. I think it's best to also keep in mind that this is a support sight, so the same issue is likely to show up more than once, but that doesn't always mean it is a software issue.

 

[KAB]

I disagree KAB. My receiver sat on a foot stool next to my TV strictly for overheating issues. These systems are all dying randomly in a small window from each other and in the same manner. And why is it 722ks but not 722s, 622s or 922s? There's something out of the ordinary ware and tare going on.

Maybe you just not been around here all that long/enough...they All have and will go bad occasionally. No conspiracy/dramatic event going on.

 

[dare2be]

Thanks for the response dare2be.
I just want to understand a little more. I do understand that using an EHD is not a "back-up" and that programs can only be transferred back and forth. My question is, if the receiver fails, you can't transfer recorded shows on the EHD to a replacement receiver from a functioning EHD? And if that is the case what is the purpose, other than expanded storage, of an EHD?

Yes, if the receiver fails and your recordings are on your EHD, you can transfer them from the EHD to the new receiver, provided it is the same Dish account as the old receiver, or you can just leave them on the EHD and watch them from there using the new receiver.

 

[The Fat Man]

Matt, thanks but I did get my problem resolved last week. KAB, really man? 5 days ago mine died randomly. It showed no signs of issues until that night. Since mine died, people have reported the same issue several times. From the video just freezing, to the video freezing and the receiver dying. In 5 days time! All 722ks! I've been reading a lot around here and have never seen a collection of threads open up in less than a week about dying receivers with the same issues leading to their crashing...

The reset of this message has been deleated by The Fat Man:

Reason: Tired and became a whinny b* when it wasn't warranted.

 

[dare2be]

There was a rash of reported failings of 922s not too long ago...I still hold that it's a planned obsolescence by Dish to push people to the Hopper. My non-k 722 will be next.

 

[The Fat Man]

LOL. I'm not meaning to say that Dish is doing this maliciously. But I believe that there could be a software glitch.

 

[wenjen4]

Ok,
Thanks again for the response, you've been very helpful.

I'm sure it's waaaay more complicated than what's going on in my tiny brain, but I still don't understand why if the recordings are on my dead 722k receiver why I couldn't just put the hdd into a powered external enclosure and transfer them to my new hopper. Is the HDD in the receiver formatted differently than an EHD? Shouldn't the file just be able to be transferred between HDD's.

Like I said, I'm sure it's something that I just can't get my pea-brain wrapped around. Perhaps the Dish tech can give me more insight. Please forgive me, I don't like coming off as a whiney baby. LOL.

 

[The Fat Man]

Think of your receiver like a computer. If the hard drive on your computer crashes and you have no way of accessing any of your files on it through either windows or DOS (assuming you are using a dinosaur) then those files are unfortunately gone.

 

[TheKrell]

I'm sure it's waaaay more complicated than what's going on in my tiny brain, but I still don't understand why if the recordings are on my dead 722k receiver why I couldn't just put the hdd into a powered external enclosure and transfer them to my new hopper. Is the HDD in the receiver formatted differently than an EHD?

As a matter of fact, the file systems are different. There is a program called PVRExplorer-722 that might work if the receiver is alive enough to spin up the disk. It involves powering up the receiver, let it spin up the disk, and then hot swapping SATA cables to an adapter that reaches to a PC. Not for the faint of heart.

If the receiver won't spin up the disk, you might try this ploy. (I don't know if this will break seals and void warranties these days, but let's put it out there since we could in the past do this.) Before returning the dead receiver, and after the replacement is connected to the satellite antenna and authorized on your account, unplug it again and swap disks from the dead receiver. You don't want to remove the disks from the receiver when you do this; put them top to top and move the cables over that way. If necessary, get a longer SATA cable to do so. Use the good receiver to transfer the recordings off the dead receiver's disk to your EHD. Send the dead receiver back to Dish. Restore (if you like) recordings on your EHD to the new receiver. Done.