Recent HD problem with 501 -- what to do?

[mdrobnak]

Ok, here's the thing: I noticed in the last few days my PVR 501 has been spinning up the disk, but then the "Please Wait for the Disk to Spin Up" message stays on the screen -- indefinately.


It missed my 9:00 Alias recording on Sunday because of this (thankfully, Alias wasn't on hehe). I had to do a Power-Button-Reset to fix it.

Everything was fine up until 10 minutes ago. My mother (who I gave the PVR to, so she could have it downstairs instead of the crappy 301) yells for me, and tells me about this message on the screen....Same one. :(

So, power-button-reset. EXCEPT

"Error 0457" hmm -- which I found out means "communications error" -- which is strange, cause up till now it's been fine.

Here's the kicker:

I'm on the Dish Home Plan. I have opened up the unit once to grab some of my alias recordings off it (It was easier than spending about 20 hours recording). So, I broke the outside warrenty seal -- didnt break the drive one though. (That toook quite a bit of trouble to snake a IDE cable through there!!)

So, the question is. What do I do?? Btw, I don't like the new software. Big deal about Slow-Motion-Replay. And the menu when you hit "rec" is even more annoying. Back to simplicity please. It worked better when I had 165 than 168 or 169 (not sure what it's at).

Anyway.

Help! Please. :(

-Matt

[Mark Lamutt]

Matt, I think you may be out of luck because you opened the box and broke your warrenty. You may very well have broken your DHP agreement as well. You could certainly try calling Dish to see what your options are, but other than that, I don't know what to tell you.

[Wedgecon]

I did not know you could extract the video off a 501?

[Mark Lamutt]

It's possible, but directly extracting video from the 501 before it's been decoded violates our Terms of Use, so no more talk on that aspect of this post, please or I'll have to shut the thread.

[mdrobnak]

Well, hopefully, if it doesn't give me any more trouble, I'll wait till the end of my DHP agreement (August), and buy the unit outright, and revist the hardware issue if it sill occurs. If it becomes a major pain, I have a spare 301.

Basically I'm SOL though, huh?

-Matt

:: Kicking himself for opening up the box... ::

[Mark Lamutt]

Unfortunately you may be. The warrenty clearly states that it no longer is valid if that outer seal is broken. That's standard with all electronics including Tivos. Open it up, and you take your chances.

I hope that it doesn't give you any more trouble.

[bearklaw]

Matt, I believe the place you got the info on extracting video from the 501's disk also has info on extracting the disk's ID. You could try pulling that out, and making an exact copy of the disk onto a similar one (same capacity, probably manufacturer) and see if it works.

Anybody know if the 50x series uses the serial # of the disk, or just the ID it writes onto it when first booted? Since that isn't really relevent to decoding the video, hopefully it is in this boards terms of use.

Me, I'm not opening my 508 as long as it keeps working.

-BearKlaw

[boba]

mdrobnak you might want to rethink your plans, nowhere in the Digital Home Plan contract do you have the option of buying the equipment. That equipment belongs to DISH NETWORK and at termination you must return that equipment to them.

[mdrobnak]

Ok, let me ask this then:

Say either:

a) It breaks, and I send it to Dish for service

or

b)The end of the contract is up, and I have to send it in.

How much are they going to charge me?

-Matt

[Mark Lamutt]

I dunno, but I bet it'll either be the full price of the receiver, or they won't notice it and charge you nothing.

[Dave]

Its always been my understanding that under the Home Digital Plan if you are renting the equipment it would never be out of warranty as long as you are on this plan. Why didn't you just call Dish and get another 501 to replace the bad one, instead of taking it apart to begin with? Just wondering.

[mdrobnak]

There wasn't anything wrong with it the first time ;)

[IQP]

Ever since 169 update my 501 has developed the same problem. The "Wait for Disk Spin Up" message will come up on power up and never go off. This has happened three times since 169 and the only solution is a re-boot. Looks like a software bug rather than a hardware issue with a single unit.

[mdrobnak]

Well, that's reasurring! I can relax a little now.

I swear, after the next software update...I'm changing it to "prompt" before installing new software..I could care less about these "features" -- they do nothing but add bugs. It would be nice if I could downgrade to 165. It worked quite well then.

-Matt