HR21 HDD Dead, eSATA wont get OS Urgent

[the_dudeman]

Hi guys,

I need feedback before I buy new DVR, in case I don't need one, or In case new hdd wont fix issue.

HR21 comes up with error: "There is a problem with the storage device, please reboot....blah...blah".

Hooked up eSATA hoping it would take over and load OS, but that's not working. Have a Maxtor 500GB in eSATA enclosure, gonna try popping that in HR21, as I own it. Should I take out drive in HR21, hook up to computer, wipe it, format it and pop it back in.....will that help clear hdd errors?

Is there something else going wrong that wont let esata take over? What do I need to know before trying to swap drives? Should I just buy new HR22.... they have one at Best Buy.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

dudeman

[veryoldschool]

To use a PC "mindset", it sounds like a motherboard error.
The OS isn't on the drive, so it sounds like your problem in on the board.

Try pulling the power cord for a good 10-15 mins and see if anything is different when you power it back up.

[say-what]

Hi guys,

I need feedback before I buy new DVR, in case I don't need one, or In case new hdd wont fix issue.

Should I just buy new HR22.... they have one at Best Buy.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

dudeman
Why pay full price at Best Buy? If the unit is dead, call DirecTV and they should ship you a replacement for $20, even without the protection plan. I had an HR20 die, no protection plan and that's all it cost me - although I had to call a second time since the 1st CSR insisted that couldn't be done. But no biggie.

[the_dudeman]

To use a PC "mindset", it sounds like a motherboard error.
The OS isn't on the drive, so it sounds like your problem in on the board.

Try pulling the power cord for a good 10-15 mins and see if anything is different when you power it back up.

Thanks, did that, left it unplugged all night, no change.

Why pay full price at Best Buy? If the unit is dead, call DirecTV and they should ship you a replacement for $20, even without the protection plan. I had an HR20 die, no protection plan and that's all it cost me - although I had to call a second time since the 1st CSR insisted that couldn't be done. But no biggie.

Called them, they can't replace, said to call local guy, he's a flake called him left message, he MAY call back. I own the unit, didn't get it from him.

Thanks,

dudeman

[WestDC]

Sounds to me like the Drive is corrupt, Adding a Esata drive now is way too late. The Esata has to load the software from the Hard drive (that) being Corrupt it is not able to do it, Hence your error.

Perhaps you couls swap the HArd drive that would confirm that it not the drive but the "mother" board A lot of work for a guess.

If you run out to best buy it's a lease + 2year Commit, Order it from D* for shipping replacement $20 + 2 year commit.

[CCarncross]

The software is NOT stored on the HD, but on the flash ROM chips inside. What type of enclosure is the drive in? Many eSATA enclosures will not work with the HR series dvrs.

[the_dudeman]

Sounds to me like the Drive is corrupt, Adding a Esata drive now is way too late. The Esata has to load the software from the Hard drive (that) being Corrupt it is not able to do it, Hence your error.

Perhaps you couls swap the HArd drive that would confirm that it not the drive but the "mother" board A lot of work for a guess.

If you run out to best buy it's a lease + 2year Commit, Order it from D* for shipping replacement $20 + 2 year commit.

Again, they told me call local guy. But perhaps you're saying buy from them? If so, wouldn't they charge me $199, not $20 to just ship new one? I own the unit.....didn't buy from D*...didn't buy from cable guy. No one has a stake in this to replace it for $20. Unless I'm not understanding what you mean.

The software is NOT stored on the HD, but on the flash ROM chips inside. What type of enclosure is the drive in? Many eSATA enclosures will not work with the HR series dvrs.

Correct, OS is on ROM chip. Enclose is Vantec and had it hooked to HR21 before and it worked.

Thanks,

dudeman

[veryoldschool]

I'm not sure what more I can add.
If the board is the problem, you won't be able to do much mounting the drive internally.
You can call DirecTV and "see" what they'll do for you. What ever you get would be a leased unit and may restart your 2 year commitment, but getting another receiver is going to do that anyway, without the protection plan.
"Owning" receivers does have a downside [without the PP].

[Rich]

I'm not sure what more I can add.
If the board is the problem, you won't be able to do much mounting the drive internally.
You can call DirecTV and "see" what they'll do for you. What ever you get would be a leased unit and may restart your 2 year commitment, but getting another receiver is going to do that anyway, without the protection plan.
"Owning" receivers does have a downside [without the PP].

Yup, with the PP, you would get a replacement at no cost that would still be "owned" or as D* puts it on your bill "additional receiver". Yet another reason to belong to the PP.

Were I you, I'd call the Retention department and tell them what's going on. They should make an attempt to help you and you should get a replacement for $20.

But, your original post confuses me. Did you have an eSATA of some sort hooked up to it? Is that the "storage device" that you are talking about? If it is, then you might not need a replacement at all, just a new eSATA.

Rich

[the_dudeman]

I'm not sure what more I can add.
If the board is the problem, you won't be able to do much mounting the drive internally.
You can call DirecTV and "see" what they'll do for you. What ever you get would be a leased unit and may restart your 2 year commitment, but getting another receiver is going to do that anyway, without the protection plan.
"Owning" receivers does have a downside [without the PP].


Yeah I guess I could call and see what they'll say. Doubt I had protection plan with them since I bought it. But they are so mixed up most of the time, I may accidentally a PP. Gonna try swapping drives. Gonna try to format existing drive first, just for giggles. May be able to save esata in enclosure and not have to use for hr21, can buy drive for esata later if I have to use for hr21. Don't use esata much anyway.

thanks,

dudeman

[Stuart Sweet]

If you mean removing the drive and formatting the existing drive in Windows, that would be a mistake. The DVRs use a different file system.

[djrobx]

If you own the unit, open it and put a new drive in.

[the_dudeman]

If you mean removing the drive and formatting the existing drive in Windows, that would be a mistake. The DVRs use a different file system.

Yeah I was just thinking more like just wiping it, formatting was the wrong word. Wiping it may cure errors on drive. But have case open and plugged unit into power and HDD feels like it's not even spinning. But that doesn't explain why esata didn't work. Going to plug in new drive and just lay it on the side and see what happens. If unit fires up, will install drive permanently.

Thanks,

dudeman

[the_dudeman]

New HDD works, but need a set of small security star bits to replace drive in case proper. Going to Lowes. Might still try wiping old drive and see....can't hurt.

dudeman

[CCarncross]

Glad you're on your way to a solution.

Friendly warning to others:

Folks, this is one very good reason NOT to own the DVR's.

Now the eSATA setup you have, you had it hooked to THIS HR21, or another HR21? Are you sure your enclosure is not defective?

[Rich]

Glad you're on your way to a solution.

Friendly warning to others:

Folks, this is one very good reason NOT to own the DVR's.

Now the eSATA setup you have, you had it hooked to THIS HR21, or another HR21? Are you sure your enclosure is not defective?

I'm pretty confused. Are you? If all that happened was centered on an eSATA, I don't see what the big deal is. It happened to me once, I reformatted the eSATA, lost all the recordings and did get the eSATA up and running again, but I figured if it happened once, it would happen again and replaced the eSATA.

These things happen, going into panic mode is understandable, but is it necessary?

The owned HRs are replaced by the PP as owned units, unless you have an owned unit and don't belong to the PP.

Rich

[BAHitman]

Before I wiped the drive, I would download the manufacturers diagnostic tools for it and run them on it (hooked in a PC) if you can do that... Then you would know if it is a bad drive or not... also, most ofthe HDD manuf. utilities will let you zero the drive (wipe it clean). some of the utilities call this a "low level" format, even though it's just wiping the drive...

[the_dudeman]

Glad you're on your way to a solution.

Friendly warning to others:

Folks, this is one very good reason NOT to own the DVR's.

Now the eSATA setup you have, you had it hooked to THIS HR21, or another HR21? Are you sure your enclosure is not defective?

Certain enclosure is not defective. When HR21 gave failed HDD error last night, I watched a movie on eSATA drive on my HTPC because I didn't want to mess with HR21 till this morning.

I'm pretty confused. Are you? If all that happened was centered on an eSATA, I don't see what the big deal is. It happened to me once, I reformatted the eSATA, lost all the recordings and did get the eSATA up and running again, but I figured if it happened once, it would happen again and replaced the eSATA.


These things happen, going into panic mode is understandable, but is it necessary?

The owned HRs are replaced by the PP as owned units, unless you have an owned unit and don't belong to the PP.

Rich

The big deal, only not really big deal was, that when I hooked up eSATA drive I expected it to take over as drive for DVR, which they do under normal conditions. OS gets loaded onto eSATA drive and now eSATA is your only drive. But when I tried that this morning, HR21 wouldn't switch to eSATA drive.

Wasn't panicing, just was trying to get some feedback quickly before I went out and spent money when possibly not necessary.

Don't belong to the PP.

Before I wiped the drive, I would download the manufacturers diagnostic tools for it and run them on it (hooked in a PC) if you can do that... Then you would know if it is a bad drive or not... also, most ofthe HDD manuf. utilities will let you zero the drive (wipe it clean). some of the utilities call this a "low level" format, even though it's just wiping the drive...

Put drive in eSATA enclosure and hooked to HTPC, drive wouldn't even spin. But kinda knew that already. With cover off and unit plugged in, touched drive and couldn't feel it spinning and it was cold. So may try to hook to PC and see what the diagnostics tell me. I use Hiren's disk, which is bootable but also has tools that run under Windows, and has every known drive tool for all manufacturers. It's a free download, you might want to Google it.


So all is fine now, everything working and have a bit more recording space with the new 500GB drive. Lost the drive that was in eSATA drive but oh well, can get another bigger one.


But one thing that nearly made me fall off my chair: They put Temper Pedic type memory foam that covers entire top of drive sandwiched under the cover of the unit as noise dampening material. Oh let's see, lets put something on the drive which gets really freakin hot to make the drive get like way hotter......brilliant!!! What monkey idiot thought that up?


dudeman

[the_dudeman]

Thanks to all who replied!

dudeman

[the_dudeman]

If you own the unit, open it and put a new drive in.

Thanks, I did, HR21 works fine now.

dudeman

[dervari]

Didn't people pay around $400 to "Own" their DVR?

I got mine for free and pay the $5/mo lease. It will take me over 6 years before I pay as much as an "owner" does.

Even if I had paid $200, it would still take over 3 years of lease savings before I broke even.

I never did understand why some people felt they had to own their DVRs. Ah well.

[the_dudeman]

Didn't people pay around $400 to "Own" their DVR?

I got mine for free and pay the $5/mo lease. It will take me over 6 years before I pay as much as an "owner" does.

Even if I had paid $200, it would still take over 3 years of lease savings before I broke even.

I never did understand why some people felt they had to own their DVRs. Ah well.

Couldn't get mine from D* because have to get everything including service from cable guy and he didn't have DVRs and is a flake. Soon as I tell D* anything....screen pops up on thier computer and says tell customer to call cable guy and they give me the number.

Otherwise when error happened to me today, D* would have replaced it.....girl tried but the dreaded screen popped up she told me, and wouldn't let her replace it.....she gave me cable guy's number.....again.

dudeman

[Rich]

Didn't people pay around $400 to "Own" their DVR?

I got mine for free and pay the $5/mo lease. It will take me over 6 years before I pay as much as an "owner" does.

Even if I had paid $200, it would still take over 3 years of lease savings before I broke even.

I never did understand why some people felt they had to own their DVRs. Ah well.

From what I've been able to learn, anyone living in a Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) got owned HRs. Don't know why, don't know how much they cost originally, but they are selling like hotcakes on eBay.

If one of my HRs goes bad, I want to replace it with a model I can live with, not a 100. I do belong to the PP, but they can't guarantee what models they send out as replacements. So, I'll buy what I want on eBay and if I can get an "owned" one and drop a large HDD in it, so much the better. Monetary considerations are not a big part of my life, getting what I want matters more to me.

Rich

[veryoldschool]

Monetary considerations are not a big part of my life...

Rich
Fred told me it wasn't that way with your first wife. ;)

[the_dudeman]

From what I've been able to learn, anyone living in a Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU) got owned HRs. Don't know why, don't know how much they cost originally, but they are selling like hotcakes on eBay.

If one of my HRs goes bad, I want to replace it with a model I can live with, not a 100. I do belong to the PP, but they can't guarantee what models they send out as replacements. So, I'll buy what I want on eBay and if I can get an "owned" one and drop a large HDD in it, so much the better. Monetary considerations are not a big part of my life, getting what I want matters more to me.

Rich

And I do live in a MDU.


dudeman

[the_dudeman]

Fred told me it wasn't that way with your first wife. ;)

lol


dudeman

[Rich]

Fred told me it wasn't that way with your first wife. ;)

He's right. All she wanted to do was lay around the house and watch TV. She had a degree and she never worked. Man, was I broke. But having grown up dirt poor, it didn't seem so bad. She was the main reason that I started questioning the idea that having a degree made someone "smarter".

I still find it hard to believe that my life has come to this point. Given a choice between "dirt poor" and "comfortable" and not having to worry about money, I'll take this any day of the week. :lol:

Rich

[Rich]

And I do live in a MDU.


dudeman

Great! You can answer the big question: Did you have to pay full price for your HRs or the same price the rest of us did?

What's the deal with the MDUs and D*? What difference does it make where you live? I really don't understand it and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone. Could you explain this to us? Please?

Rich

[NaperDan]

Dudeman,

Good work on replacing your drive.:joy: