Ok, it's definately a bad harddrive, and it took it's final dump. It started acting up again yesterday with "total signal loss" errors while watching a recording, then it would reboot. I was able to hook up an external drive, and copy off all but about 5 recordings, so I'm ok there. I then tried to run the HDD short diagnostics, and it failed with a 600 HDD_READ_ERROR. Now, I can't even boot up the receiver at all. All I get is 2 binking red lights on the front (tv1 and tv2). Anybody know any secret way to maybe hold down certain front panel buttons, then power up, and it'll wipe the NVRAM? This is an owned receiver, and I'll probably have to swap it out, but I'd like to at least get it going over the weekend. It was working, except for the drive problems, until I ran the drive diags. Guess I should have ran re-format right away instead. I figure if I call Dish today, I'll probably get India, and who knows what will happen then.
Any help???
Since it won't come all the way up anymore, I can't use the remote control commands to get to the NVRAM screen and wipe it.
This post will be long, but perhaps it'll eventually help somebody else with the same issue.
Ok, after I posted the above message, I started just searching the web in general for this same issue. I discovered a posting that mentioned plugging in a thumb drive, and that it would allow the menu to come up. It didn't work for me. I tried both front and rear USB ports, and several different known-good thumb drives. I then opened up my receiver, and unplugged the bad 500gig drive I had installed in mid April 2009 (which was a brand-new Seagate ST3500830SCE from Computer Geeks). Really sucks that it only lasted 1.5 years. After plugging the receiver back in, it still had the 2 blinking red lights in tandem. I then powered down again, and reinstalled the original Maxtor 320gb drive that the receiver came with, it's just sitting loose on top of the receiver, on a small cardboard pad so it can't short out. Powered back up, no difference, still blinking lights....
Ok, at this point, I called Dish, India tech or bust, crap. I got an India tech..... I described what was going on very slow and carefully. She kept repeating it back WRONG, which started to piss me off, but I remained calm (I used to work a computer helpdesk, so incompetence at even that level drives me nuts. What's so hard about hearing something right, and repeating it correctly?). She eventually mentioned that the receiver was in "boot recovery mode", and that it would clear in about 4 hours. She said at that point, to power cycle it before turning it on past the screen-saver mode. So, If I had left it alone in the beginning, I might have at least got it booted much sooner. Anyway, 4 hours finally passed from the last time I messed with it. The 2 lights stopped blinking and turned off, and screen-saver mode came up, like she said. I power cycled it by pulling the power cord, waited 1 minute, and plugged it back in. It was back to the 2 blinking lights! ARGGGGGHHHH!!!
Ok, I determined to wait ANOTHER 4 hours, and I did. This time the 2 blinking lights stopped blinking, but stayed on steady. Screen-saver mode was back! I hit the Power button on the remote, and it came up. It gave me the "hard-drive is corrupt, press select, and drive will format, and receiver will reboot" message. I did that, it worked for a minute or so, then rebooted. When it came back up, we are back to the 2 blinking lights! ARGGGGGHHHH again!!! It's now almost 11pm at night, so I said screw this, and went to bed. This morning, it was back to screen-saver mode. I powered up, and could watch channels. I did the remote sequence to "Clear NVRAM" that worked, and it said to power cycle it. I wanted to make sure that old error code was cleared out, and hoped that would do it. I then power cycled it, it came back up, and I'm back in business! I had to go and re-do all my default settings through the menus, but it all worked. I then tried a small 3 minute recording, and that also worked! I then plugged in my external hard-drive, and I could access the recordings I had moved there the day before.
So, back up and running for now, albeit with the smaller original drive the receiver came with when I bought it. That's ok for now however, at least it works. So, I'll eventually have to power it down again, and reinstalled this drive internally, and replace the case. Hopefully that will also go ok.... When this drive eventually goes, I'm going to just have Dish replace the whole receiver. It appears to be nearly impossible to find replacement drives anymore, unless you are willing to pay like $150 or so, for the few places that have them. I'm no longer willing to do that, there's just no advantage to OWNING the receiver anymore anyway. Yeah, I don't have a contract, and never did, but it's been about 4 years, so I would have been clear of a contract by now anyway...
