Arrgh new 508 HD failure

[Bob Haller]

Yesterday I heard a scraping noise that stopped. I thought it was my acquarium pump. Well this AM I hear it again, its my 508s HD dying. Putting my hand on the receiver case I can feel it vibrate. The E rep is very nice. Iam on hold right now as she does the paperwork.

Another day another receiver:(

Too bad I cant just go buy a new 120 gig drive and stuff it in there,.
This is the box I got for $99 from the CEO@echoistar contact. About 2 months old:(:(

Having LOTS of experience with CSR contacts and the virguinia call center they are certinally MUCH IMPROVED! There friendly helpful can do approach is wonderful!

Just wish I didnt need to call them so often:(

Were really broke or I would get CC autopay just to cover the shipping charges:) They are waiving this one since its new...

[firephoto]

wow
So has the unit stopped working?

Just some thoughts, might not apply to your situation Bob.
Hard drives can get damaged really easy if they are moved around while in use and take a small jolt. I'm guessing this could even happen if the unit lost power and the drive was unable to stop (parkl) in a safe place. Since the PVR is always recording or reading something when it is on it could stop in a bad place pretty easy. I would guess that if you are going to be moving these PVR receivers around that a power off and wait for the drive to shut down before pulling the plug would be a good idea.

Does anyone know what brand/model hard drive is in the 508?

[Mike123abc]

Hard disk drives are usually very reliable. It is surprising that they could be going bad like that. It is not like you could get a junky hard drive, manufacturers pretty much have the manufacturing process down with very low margin for defects.

[firephoto]

40gb IBM Deskstars IC35L040AVER07-0 :(
*screech*click*screech*click*screech*click

It's even worse when the IBM disk utilities tells you there is a component failure with the drive. :lol: I guess they are S.M.A.R.T. drives.

[Karl Foster]

Bob,

You are single, unluckiest DBS user I have ever read about! Good luck, and I hope you can get this latest problem resolved quickly.

[jacksg35c]

i am on my 4th 508 pvr. the local dish retailer has been very helpful. my problems were 2 harddrive failures and 1 problem in that the optical out jack in the 508 was broken and 1"software bug" problem that could not be fixed without replacement. i worry that my current one (operating for a month) could go out at any time. i don't think the technology is perfected yet on these pvr's. i won't buy a 921 until i am sure all bugs are hopefully worked out. i paid $199 for the 508 which is a bargain if it would just keep working. a 921 will be $1000+ for sure and i would not invest that much unless it will be a good machine.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Bob remind me to not stand next to you if there is a lightning storm approaching.

Sorry to hear about your 508.

Althought the good news is that the Hard Driver died now instead of later, if a hard drive is to fail it usually fails within its first 2000 hours of use. After that time period it means you usally have a good hard drive.

I do wish that Dish PVRs allowed you to replace the drive on your own, after all everyone hard drive is gonna kick the bucket some time of another.

[firephoto]

Could a software update (from E*) enable the user to be able to replace the hard drive?
If so, maybe E* would consider this someday.

[DishDude1]

Yes a software update would allow it, but E* is against this, blaming Dishplayer problems on customer who "tampered" with equipment.

[Bob Haller]

My 508 has been sitting quietly undisturbed since it arrived. I havent moved or even cleaned. It was very dusty:( Its on a UPS so it hasnt powered off in this time although I do the power button reboot every week or two.

Odd thing I used to move my DPs without regard to the HD spinning down and didnt have a problem. I wasnt even aware of the hazards of moving a not parked HD till I saw the warning lablels of the 508s and 721s....

I really wish they would allow HD upgrades. The 508 arrived near the end of January I think. So it wasnt to its 2000 hour mark yet. Its still working tonight and quiet at the moment.

But its definetely going bad.

Wonder what else will break?

[firephoto]

Are you sure it isn't a noisey fan?
Hard drive noise usually doesn't let the hard drive work anymore.

[Bob Haller]

Its now stalls the playback when the noise occurs. I guess that confirmns its the HD. The CSR could hear the noise on the phone...

[firephoto]

:(
Lets hope E* will be so kind to give us the software update that will allow us to replace the hard drive ourselves. It seems like it would make more money for them, but mabye it doesn't.

[Bob Haller]

I guess they dont want folks mucking around in their boxes, but in this case I would of replaced the HD, perhaps with one with those liquid bearings. Saving E the repair costs. They could have a recommended size limit and such or even SELL a HD that would work and limit it to tat model. Frankly I doubt much of the DPs woes were HD related, probably 99% were software and moicrosot bugs unrelated to the HDs size oir model....

[DishDude1]

Yea I agree that replacing the HD in the Dishplayers didn't cause problems, but E* sure seemed to enjoy blaming it on people. I never changed mine, and it was the worst POS I ever owned...with my old 4000 that used to blackout once a minute not far behind.

[Bob Haller]

wELL THERE WAS THAt bug if you used a HD that was way too big, but other than that I think upgrading HDs was a conveient one to finger point at/

Hey its not our fault its those $#@ messing with the boxes. Really lame reason if you ask me...

[jcrash]

I am beginning to think you just make this stuff up, Bob.

In my 5(?) years of having Dishplayer and now a 721, I've lost one hard drive and have had very little problems (overall) with them.

Perhaps you live in the Bermuda triangle of Technology, but from here on out, you are definitely an "outlier" on the graph of pvr success/failure - and thereby subject to be discarded as the exception and not the rule.

[Glenn]

Bob, you're not alone. Our 501's disk failed (although it can still receive), and we're currently waiting on our third, yes third, replacement unit. The first two were bad right out of the box. The reps I've talked to can't believe it. But kudos to them -- they're eager to help and genuinely sorry when they have to tell me, yet again, that they'll be sending out another receiver the next day. Will the third time be the charm??

[Bob Haller]

Originally posted by jcrash
I am beginning to think you just make this stuff up, Bob.

.

Well we DO use our E equiptement to the max. Over 65 recordings scheduled? Who would of thought. But sadly there are others out there with troubles. My systems on a UPS, well grounded. doesnt get disturbed often, neither jen or I enjoy cleaning, So I am not dusting moving stuff constantly. Admittely our home is dusty thanks to our two poodles, with their doggie doors. They go out get muddy and come in dragging mud that changes to dust when it drys out. I routinely blow dust out of appliances at this time of year. Once the grass starts growing the mud disappears.

I DONT LIKE being told I am the ONLY ONE with troubles. In nearly all cases this is a cover for a problem. I service machines for a living and this is the manufacturers favorite statement. I have gone so far as to contact other dealers before complaining to a manufacturer about a problem.

When they lie and saY YOUR THE ONLY ONE i ASK WHY HAVE THESE FOLKS CONTACTED YOU WITH THE same TROUBLES?:):):)

[Jacob S]

I never heard or hear of dishplayer hard drives failing, just bugs in the software. I had 3 501 failures myself and have seen problems with a 721, so I know how it goes with these Dish PVR products. With DirecTv going to add locals here by the end of the year and if they get WB local here then the advantages of Dish over DirecTv will be over. DirecTv changes channels quicker, has smaller receivers, has a better feel in the program guide, displays, hardware is cheaper, but no superstations and a charge for the pvr service (except for the higher priced packages) made it at a disadvantage but they have added all of these additional channels as well which was another disadvantage they used to have to Dish.

Dish is losing ground, too many people around here choosing DirecTv over Dish because of the pricing on hardware and other problems. They are even losing ground with retailers because the retailers just choose to sell DirecTv over Dish when they give them problems.

[Bob Haller]

I had one DP HD fail. It was a 40 gig Western digital just out of warranty. I will never buy another WD since they refused at 2 weeks out if warranty to help. Iater gave that HD to a buddy who ran a diagnostic on it. It was 30% trash. It made no noise.

[l.i.t.e.]

Hello all,

I am a network/db admin for a medium size site with approx. 800 PC's, i have been working in the field for nearly 20 years and i can tell you that within the last 2-4 years Western Digitals have gone way down in reliability, we have had countless WD drives fail in this time. Havent looked at my 721 to see what drive brand it has but i sure hope its not a WD...LOL.

[P Smith]

Dish/Bev using a few models from Maxtor and Seagate, only.
Some of them, like STxxxxxxACE not available in USA or Canada at all :(.

[hcosme]

Just checked my brand-new 508... it has a Seagate Model 380020ACE - 80.0 GB/5400 rpm (checked www.seagate.com)