DVR 522 - Harddisk diagnostics

[wilbertnl]

This morning I got a screen with harddisk diagnostics, after I tried to turn the DVR off.
The procedure took a couple minutes and the DVR returned to the current show.

I couldn't find this in the manual.
Is this supposed to be regular maintenance or is this an indication that there might be a problem? I got the DVR installed last week.

 

[jtravel]

I don't know for sure but suspect its a type of scan disk check it does from time to time to help keep the harddrive error free.
I have had the 522 for a couple of months now and have seen the Harddrive diags running about 4 times so far.
I always let it complete this task and have instructed the family to not cancel it if they see it running.
It has taken less than 5 mins each time to run and then returns to normal.

 

[Bizzach]

I have mine set to run diagnostics when it updates the guide, at 4am. However, a couple of days ago, I was recording 2 shows, and went into DVR menu, selected an event, and did a search for that show, and BAM! Diagnostics came up. That made me kind of uneasy, because when it does it outside of your normal time, I think the unit is about to crap out. I have 70 hours of stuff I need to watch!

 

[wilbertnl]

I have mine set to run diagnostics when it updates the guide

That is interesting, Bizzach.
I tried to find that setting, looking in system setup/diagnostics and in updates.
But I failed, how did you setup the diagnostics to follow the daily update?

While searching I found the counters, which offers useful information.

Thank you for your tips!

 

[TuxCoder]

The diagnostics just always run after the update. And actually, that should be the only time the diagnostics run. And even more actually, running the diagnostics every morning like that is not necessary but just a "quirk" of the receiver (some at E* have admitted so).

 

[wilbertnl]

I was expecting that this would be a regular filesystem check.
Just wanted to be sure, the label on the DVR stating that it's very sensitive for shock or vibration scared me a little bit.
On the other hand, I had never problems with any of my PC harddisks.

 

[TuxCoder]

It is a fsck. But not primarily for problems resulting from physical forces, but for problems in the logical structuring of the data (or illogical ) - corrupt FS metadata, etc. If only their software was more sound, there would be no need to check it every day.

 

[maximum]

The HDD diagnostics runs automatically during the update process. It has done so for several software versions. It used to run for several (20 or more) minutes but the last time I saw my box do a scheduled update the diagnostics only ran about five minutes.

But I, too, have noticed it popping up at other times. At least now I know my box isn't the only one doing this. Don't know if this is an indication of problems on the drive or if the software just triggers it more often.

 

[wilbertnl]

The diagnostics ran again during daytime. It took 3 minutes and the DVR rebooted after that, redownloading the program guide.
Both times I noticed that this happens after I maintained the timers/dish pass settings.

I come to assume that a check is triggered after a certain amount of records are deleted from the schedule database.

 

[Bizzach]

I don't think it's doing the diagnostics because of a certian amount of records are deleted or anything like that -- I believe the 522 doesn't have enough memory to sustain everything Dish wants it to do.
For instance, when mine did it last week, I was recording 2 shows, and watching another, then went into the DVR list, then hit search from within the DVR menu. I believe that sequence of memory-draining tasks overloaded the box, and the only way to get out of it would be to reboot - a'la Microsoft's famous blue-screen-of-death.

That's just my personal take on it. They should have designed this reciever to do MUCH more from the start, or at least be capable of doing things the box MIGHT do in the future.
Anyone else think that could be the problem?

 

[supereal]

The 522 is a triumph of marketing over engineering as Dish battles Direct for subs!

 

[maximum]

I had the "Search of Death" happen twice last night. Both times the live TV in the corner froze up, then the HDD diagnostics ran a few minutes then reboot. It must run the diagnostics any time it doesn't get a response in x number of seconds. It wasn't recording anything at the time (thank goodness) so just a search was enough to over tax the system. On the third try it was able to do the search without crashing.