HR21 freezing frequently.

[KillrBuckeye]

My HR21 has recently starting "freezing" several times each day. When this happens, the picture and sound freeze and the receiver is unresponsive to inputs from the remote or buttons pressed on the receiver itself. Usually the receiver returns to normal functionality within 30-120 seconds; however, sometimes a reset is required. A few times the receiver would not power on with the remote or with the power button. In these cases I had to remove and replace the power cord. This has occurred while tuned to many different channels and seems to be happening with increasing frequency. I ran the receiver diagnostic test and no relevant errors were reported (got a dish alignment warning and no telephone connection warning).

Has anyone else experienced similar issues? Should I request a replacement? Unfortunately I have dozens of hours of recorded shows on the receiver that I hoped to watch at some point. I'd hate to lose all of these, but I suppose I can stream many of them on a computer.

 

[ClemSole]

Sounds like the hard drive is going bad. Call D* and have the unit replaced.

 

[harshness]

Make sure you watch everything you haven't already watched as it will all go away when the hard drive dies or you send the HR21 back.

 

[maxlemke]

You can keep your HR21 and buy an external hard drive with an eSATA connection if your unit has an eSATA connection. After you power down you HR21 buy unplugging the unit, connect the external hard drive and power up the unit. The internal drive is deactivated and the hard drive will be formatted for the unit. You will lose all recorded video and all of your recording schedules. I recommend you buy a high quality internal drive and a hard drive box that supports eSATA. These boxes have more room and are not made of plastic.

I did this about a 18 months ago buying a Hitachi 1 terabyte drive.

HR21 - 700