I think my ViP211 is headin' south - Any ideas based on experience?

[bhelms]

Hi all I've had a 211 with a connected 1TB EHD ever since that became an option (2009?). Recently the system began showing issues with freezes, random reboots, unresponsive remote, etc. happening a couple of times a week. At first I blamed the EHD, a WD MyBook Essentials that has been connected/running non-stop 24/7 since I attached and activated it; it might have 40K hours on it now. It also suffered a fall that might have taken out any HDD, but it seemed to survive that. Following that incident when I reconnected the EHD and rebooted the receiver it showed I had no programs in the DVR guide and told me that I had to reformat the drive. I knew not to do that and fortunately after about 24 hours the DVR programs reappeared and everything seemed OK with the EHD. But the system issues persisted.

Anyway, the EHD is (has been) full so I connected another similar EHD about a month ago and began loading that one up. In that interim the a/m system issues only happened once, but then twice again in the past 24 hours. I'm less inclined now to blame the EHD because the one that's connected is virtually new and was never used for any other purpose.

Has anyone here had a similar experience? Was it the receiver or an EHD problem? I'm looking for any insight/advice before I call Tech Support. I suppose I could remove both EHDs and try it that way for a while as a confirmation - but frankly I'm quite spoiled on the DVR functions especially pause/skip!

TIA...

 

[Tampa8]

Have you tried with no EHD connected for awhile and see what happens?

 

[dwarren2]

Sounds like you are ready to make the jump to a full fledged dvr. Unfortunately, if you do upgrade, all the recordings on the current ehd's are lost since they use a different format. It's to bad that Dish hasn't made a utility that allows a 211 owner to move their recordings to the full dvr format.

 

[Scherrman]

Sounds like you are ready to make the jump to a full fledged dvr. Unfortunately, if you do upgrade, all the recordings on the current ehd's are lost since they use a different format. It's to bad that Dish hasn't made a utility that allows a 211 owner to move their recordings to the full dvr format.

It would be nice if they allowed but I would just feel fortunate that Dish has this feature at all. You don't see too many other providers out there that let you hook up an EHD to convert the receiver to a DVR with no monthly fee.

 

[bhelms]

Tks, all. I did mention that I had not yet tried the receiver with no EHD connected and I expect that will be the next experiment. I was hoping someone had a similar experience and I could skip that step. I also have a 622 in another room (no EHD) that's less used with its DVR functions (mostly as a 2-room, separate tuners receiver and/or PIP). I could swap them for a time to see what that tells me. The 622 should probably be my primary DVR anyway, but the 211 is a perfect physical fit in my current configuration. I realize I can't swap EHDs between these units.

Thanks again. Anyone else?

 

[dwarren2]

I did have a problem once when I had a 211 with an ehd. Turned out it was a bad power supply for the ehd, I switched to a different power supply and the problem went away.

 

[bhelms]

Tks, dwarren2! In fact I am using the old EHD's PS with the new EHD. I'll swap "wall warts" and see if that changes anything...

 

[sca]

also, change usb cable or use another port if there is one.