HELP! My new AZbox satellite list keeps getting messed up

[stargaze]

Thanks Radar,
You know I've used Maz for awhile now and saw that camera screen but could never make it do anything before.
Now with your explanation it makes sense.
I was able to take the pics but trying to upload them here I get some incorrect extension error, something about png file being called a .jpg file or something.

Ok now according to your pics posted Radar at one time you had something attached to the USB drive (Screen 2), while you have an internal HD.
Once you took the USB drive off the receiver you should no longer be able to access this feature on the receiver. (screen 1) according to your pics.

So I hope you now see what I am trying to say all along here.

 

[stargaze]

ok I had to try this again, had to use another program and save them differently.. I hope it works this time.
as you should be able to see, nothing attached to USB so I can not even access that area, the receiver will not let me, unlike what was posted by Stan.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Thanks Radar,
I was able to take the pics but trying to upload them here I get some incorrect extension error, something about png file being called a .jpg file or something.

ok I had to try this again, had to use another program and save them differently.

Stargaze,

When I use MaZ to take screen shots, I save the pix to my desktop for quick and easy access.

If you right click on the image and select properties, it shows that it is a *.PNG file, which is not supported by our attachment manager.

I double left click on the image to open it and down at the bottom, in the images tools menu, there is an ICON to the far right (next to the [?]) that opens Microsoft Paint to edit the image.

It closes the current image and opens Paint, then all I do is SAVE AS and rename it as I desire and select *.jpeg as the file type.

It took me a while to figure out that the image MaZ generates was the *.PNG type.

As for Stan's setup, I was under the impression that he did NOT have an Internal HDD at all, just an External Maxtor HDD with USB cord. Stan will have to confirm this.

RADAR

 

[stanleyjohn]

Interesting!! Hey! when i do get my internal drive is it a 2.5 size sata drive for the ultra?

 

[AcWxRadar]

Interesting!! Hey! when i do get my internal drive is it a 2.5 size sata drive for the ultra?

Stan,

I am not sure on the Ultra, but I was thinking that all the AZBoxes that were capable of an internal HDD used the 3.5" SATA drives.
That is what I use in my Premium and Premium Plus. I happen to prefer the Samsung green or "eco-friendly" HDDs such as the
HD103SI (1TB) or HD502HI (500GB) etc. These may have been updated to newer model numbers, but you can still find the specs on them via google.

RADAR

 

[stargaze]

I use the same SATA drives in the Ultra and the P+ receiver.
They appear to be the same size in the receiver to hold them.
The ones that worked were both put in the A-Z guide that is posted here in the forum.

 

[stanleyjohn]

Just ordered my new hard drive !I ordered the samsung HD103si 1 tb from new egg! only $59 free shipping.

 

[Keith Brannen]

Just a few observations to pass along.

USB: My Ultra sometimes "forgets" that there is a memory stick plugged in to the USB port (when I go to save/restore the channel list) and have to unplug it and plug it in again. (Note: I always plug it in after bootup, don't leave it in). I wonder whether stanleyjohn's problems with his USB Hard Drive on recording after the receiver has been in a long sleep mode is a similar problem.

HDD: I have a 1TB Western Digital (WD10EARS) installed (works very well) but have found that 9 times out of 10 the HDD is not recognised on a cold start-up (apparently the drive isn't ready when the query is done, and the AZBox software never checks again). Just have to use the REBOOT function and it finds it no problem. Using a jumper on the HDD (OPT1) does not help (some sites suggested it as a possible fix). Interestingly (and definitely fortunately!), when I first installed the drive the AZBox had no problem finding the unformatted HDD.

 

[jsattv]

Just a few observations to pass along.

USB: My Ultra sometimes "forgets" that there is a memory stick plugged in to the USB port (when I go to save/restore the channel list) and have to unplug it and plug it in again. (Note: I always plug it in after bootup, don't leave it in). I wonder whether stanleyjohn's problems with his USB Hard Drive on recording after the receiver has been in a long sleep mode is a similar problem.

HDD: I have a 1TB Western Digital (WD10EARS) installed (works very well) but have found that 9 times out of 10 the HDD is not recognised on a cold start-up (apparently the drive isn't ready when the query is done, and the AZBox software never checks again). Just have to use the REBOOT function and it finds it no problem. Using a jumper on the HDD (OPT1) does not help (some sites suggested it as a possible fix). Interestingly (and definitely fortunately!), when I first installed the drive the AZBox had no problem finding the unformatted HDD.

Keith got this off the AZBox Web site the WD EARS has some kind of 4 KB Partitions that the AZBox doesn't like:

Here is a short manual how to create a correctly aligned partition with parted (thanks to aadamowski) for WD-EARS eg:

(WARNING: the instructions below will likely destroy any data that's
on the given drive, only do this with drives you're intending to
erase):

# parted /dev/YOUR_DEVICE_NAME

(parted) mklabel gpt
# Here ^ I've chosen the GPT partition table format, but others may be
OK too - untested by me.

(parted) unit s
# Here ^ we're choosing sectors as units of measurement

(parted) mkpart primary ext2 40 -1
# Here ^ we're creating a partition that starts at sector 40, which is
divisible by 8.
# You can also try 48, 56, 64 and others - these should offer the same
high performance,
# but some space will go to waste - it's only some tiny kilobytes, though.

# Parted will likely complain about the end location of the ending sector:
Warning: You requested a partition from 40s to 2930277167s.
The closest location we can manage is 40s to 2930277134s.
Is this still acceptable to you?
Yes/No?
# Of course, we answer Yes.

(parted) quit

# After that, create a filesystem as usual, e.g:
# mkfs.ext4 -T largefile4 /dev/YOUR_DEVICE_NAME

This should get the optimum performance from your 4 kB physical sector
drives even when they report 512 B sectors only to the OS


If you prefer to use fdisk follow these steps (they come from ted):


fdisk -H 224 -S 56 /dev/sdb

running fdisk with these parameters ensures that every partition you create is aligned to 4KiB boundries.


Keith this is why I purchased the WD EADS which is more money but does NOT require any partitioning. Hope the above (which is hard to understand) helps.

 

[Keith Brannen]

Keith got this off the AZBox Web site the WD EARS has some kind of 4 KB Partitions that the AZBox doesn't like:

Here is a short manual how to create a correctly aligned partition with parted (thanks to aadamowski) for WD-EARS eg:

(snip)

Keith this is why I purchased the WD EADS which is more money but does NOT require any partitioning. Hope the above (which is hard to understand) helps.

I saw that couple of days ago when I decided to join that site. I can't see any reason to do the above as the HDD is working well. The AZBox did the formatting without any problems or glitches (currently reads as HDD 931.5GB P(1), P1 931.5GB Linux, Used 19.1GB, Free 912.4GB).

Other than the failure of the AZBox to find it on cold startup (which is really no big deal), I've had no problems with recording (largest file so far was 2GB), transfers of files to and from it, or anything else.

So, am I missing something?

 

[jsattv]

I saw that couple of days ago when I decided to join that site. I can't see any reason to do the above as the HDD is working well. The AZBox did the formatting without any problems or glitches (currently reads as HDD 931.5GB P(1), P1 931.5GB Linux, Used 19.1GB, Free 912.4GB).

Other than the failure of the AZBox to find it on cold startup (which is really no big deal), I've had no problems with recording (largest file so far was 2GB), transfers of files to and from it, or anything else.

So, am I missing something?

Whatever works is great. I have been able to record in HD on 103.0W - but not on HD Net on 99.0W with my WD EADS 1 TB Hard Drive.

 

[Keith Brannen]

Whatever works is great. I have been able to record in HD on 103.0W - but not on HD Net on 99.0W with my WD EADS 1 TB Hard Drive.

I asked over at the AZBox website forum, will see what response I get.
Of the Ku satellites that I look at that have S2 and/or HD 24/7 (125, 103 & 85) the only mux that makes the AZBox go squirrely from the get-go when I try to record is the NBC mux on 103 (Universal Sports is fine). All others I have no problems with at all.

 

[stanleyjohn]

Well! i have my new north american satellite list just about completed and loaded with newly scanned channels.Crossing my fingers that if i dont do anything out of the norm with my Ultra the list corruption issue should be history.Installed my new 1 TB internal HD last night and all seems to be working well.Big test will be a 3rd try of recording Elvira's new movie macabre on this network 4 to 6 am est sunday .

 

[Lak7]

If you want to make your new DVBS.sat file the default.......

using the Windows Command Prompt:
telnet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (IP address of AZBox)
Login like using MAZ or FTP: root, azbox
Enter the line below:
mount -o remount,rw -t ext3 /dev/hda1 /DISK1

Now use FTP to send your new North American DVBS.sat file to "/Disk1/Disk2_backup" and replace the existing DVBS.sat file

 

[stanleyjohn]

THANKS LAK

 

[stargaze]

Stan,
Were you ever able to get the ACC program?
That program writes to both disks and makes the process appear seamless.

North Americanizing the box is time consuming, if one wants to get it done right, but the results are worth the effort. You spend more time doing what you bought the receiver for (watching tv) rather than cussing at it's quirks.
I also found that due to 89*W/97*W & 99*W using some O/V close in frequency to others, it is more desirable to have a spare sat near those locations. That way you can still bilnd-scan using the spare instead of messing up what you already had in the receiver on the main satellite once you have the main one the way you want it.

 

[stanleyjohn]

Just an update!Looking good so far! No channel mess ups and recording working like a charm.Found out why recordings failed for elvira movies on this network 5 to 7 am est on sundays.Stupid me when setting up on sat night did not set date for the next day so when it came to recording the time was already passed.Not playing with any of the azbox programs yet!dont really have a need yet.Im just using the backup/restore feature on the ultra!Placing backups on a usb mem stick and it has worked out well for me.Fine tuning now by making a detailed favorities list!do wish there was a easy way of keeping edited channel names from reverting back to default after a scan.

 

[stargaze]

With all the pitfalls you encountered along the way it is good to hear that things are going well for a change. :up

 

[Keith Brannen]

North Americanizing the box is time consuming, if one wants to get it done right, but the results are worth the effort. You spend more time doing what you bought the receiver for (watching tv) rather than cussing at it's quirks.

Having read this thread and the other one about North Americanizing the box, all I can say is that the best thing I did when I bought my AZBox Ultra was to say "yes" when the store where I was ordering it from asked whether I wanted them to update the satellite list!

 

[stargaze]

Having read this thread and the other one about North Americanizing the box, all I can say is that the best thing I did when I bought my AZBox Ultra was to say "yes" when the store where I was ordering it from asked whether I wanted them to update the satellite list!

Don't take it wrong, While there is alot of discussion here on this and the play by play actions of people who have done this procedure it is because there was no manual explaining things to us on this receiver. We are the ones who basically bullied our way through this to try to get it correct.
So what people are reading needs to be taken in context. Some folks experience problems using certain software, some people try to do it a bit different then others. What we are all doing is understanding this receiver much more than we ever imagined.
I have stated elsewhere, I am not a computer geek, programmer, or mechanically inclined; yet I was able to do this by myself, so if I can do it then anyone can. The process did take some time but a good amount of that time was also spent writing down everything along the way so others would not have to go through the pitfalls that were encountered. I believe it would have gone much faster if I had a typist who recorded everything as I was going through it.
But this is part of the hobby that I have been in for many years and am still learning.

I'm surprised the store you bought it from updated your list, I am wondering what they did for you? Did they just update it from the web or did they truly North Americanize your satellite list?