Problems installing internal hard disk

[pep_castefa]

I have recently bought an AZBox HD Premium with no internal hard disk (I already had a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 of 1Tb SATA II available) and when plugging it in, the AZBox doesn't recognize it (when powered on, it gets stuck saying LOADING). It is formatted with FAT32 (I used a PC with Ubuntu to format the hard drive) and it is working perfectly when plugged in a computer (so the hard disk is working perfectly), but when plugged in the azbox it stucks saying LOADING and it doesn't go forward (I mean that the SETTINGS display doesn't appear). Sometimes, when it says LOADING, I have tried (after waiting for a long time for the loading message to disappear) to reboot it (pressing for some second the power button) and then it reboots and loads and the settings display is shown, but when I go to the disk option in the menu, it is not recognizing the disk it has installed.
I have also tried with a second disk... a Samsung HD502HJ of 500 Gb and exactly the same result... any help please?

 

[AcWxRadar]

Pep,

Definitely the Samsung HD502HJ HDD should work. I used a Samsung HD502HI which is the same thing and it worked fine. I also used a 1 TB Samsung drive and that also was fine.

However, there is one thing that I did (or didn't do) when I installed the drive. I did not format it first. It was a brand new drive and I just installed it straight out of the box, without formatting. The AZBox detected it and I allowed the AZBox to format the drive.

Also, the electrical connections are unique. The power connection and the data connection are in two different locations on the AZBox board and it seems odd that they are located this way.

The power connection is in line with the DOM (Disk On Module) device and directly behind it. There are two electrolytic caps to the left of it and one directly behind it. To the right of the power connector is the edge of the circuit board.

The data connection is directly to the left and towards the front of the DOM.

Make sure that you connect the power connector in the proper place or damage may or will occur.

RADAR

And...

 

[ParaclipseCKu]

I'm using a 1TB external drive on my Elite. It was formatted to FAT 32 and the Azbox did not like that. I had the Azbox format the drive and is working fine.

 

[pep_castefa]

Thank you all for your support... I think I have solutioned my problem with the AZBox and the hard disk.
Apparently it was a problem with the 3.0Gb speed of the SATA 2 hard disk... from another forum someone told me he had the same problem and solutioned it changing that speed from 3Gb to 1.5Gb and finally, changing that speed to 1.5Gb the AZBox recognises the hard disk! Wha I don't really understand is the undocumentation of this fact from AZBox... it could save many people's hours (and headaches) if they informed of this.
Again... thank you all for your support...

 

[AcWxRadar]

Thank you all for your support... I think I have solutioned my problem with the AZBox and the hard disk.
Apparently it was a problem with the 3.0Gb speed of the SATA 2 hard disk... from another forum someone told me he had the same problem and solutioned it changing that speed from 3Gb to 1.5Gb and finally, changing that speed to 1.5Gb the AZBox recognises the hard disk! Wha I don't really understand is the undocumentation of this fact from AZBox... it could save many people's hours (and headaches) if they informed of this.
Again... thank you all for your support...

Pep,

Thank you for this information. I was not aware of this issue, so you will be teaching me something new here. Is this speed set via a jumper block? Or, is it something that you must do in software when formatting the HDD?

Regarding the documentation of issues like this one here, I find that we FTA hobbyists are usually left on our own to figure all this stuff out via trial and error and research in the very manner that you found out about it. It does make us better technicians and smarter and wiser in the long run, but it would be nice if there were a little more information provided to us from the manufacturer's. Some of this is a great deal of the fun and the challenge for us, so I don't complain too much about it. I learn much more because of this then I would if they handed it to me on a golden platter.

RADAR

 

[pep_castefa]

Hi AcWxRadar... yes, I agree, not documenting this kind of stuff makes us costumers more smart, but having documented this issue would have saved me so many hours, headaches and money... well, anyway, now that it is solutioned and working I will forget this bad time (sometime).
Regarding the speed and how to change it... it depends on the hard drive... some of them is set via a jumper setting and some of them via software... in my case, the documentation of the hard drive was also very bad done, so I had to lose hours to discover it had to be done via a program Samsung provides. In its paper documentation they said it was done via a jumper setting, which the only thing it did is DISABLE the hard disk (it was unrecognized after setting the jumper they said)... but looking further in its web, I saw a program which let you change the speed...
This is a link to the "fake" instructions...
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/200510/20051010165142468_3.5_SATA_eng_r4.pdf
This didnt' work in my case...
And this is the link to the program which really let me change the speed of my hard drive to 1.5Gb
SAMSUNG Hard Disk Drive - support - utilities
Hope it helps anyone in my situation...

 

[Yurek99]

I had problem with all my HDD and AZBOx when trying to use SATA !!.
After I switched HDD to SATA I, AZbox was able to detect HDD

 

[pep_castefa]

The only problem is not documenting this fact in the AZBox manual... it could solve many people headache...

 

[ramviksrille]

And this is the link to the program which really let me change the speed of my hard drive to 1.5Gb
SAMSUNG Hard Disk Drive - support - utilities
Hope it helps anyone in my situation...

Seems Samsung messed links up abit :/ Is there a chance that you have the util handy and possible to post or email it? Or if anybody have a replacement

 

[ramviksrille]

Here is a working link to the solution from Samsung:
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=126

 

[AcWxRadar]

Additional information on this subject: If the HDD RPM is 7200, it may be a conflict. Try a 5400 RPM HDD.

The 3.0GBs vs 1.5GBs issue should not be a problem as I am using a 3.0GBs Samsung HDD HD103SI.

RADAR

 

[ZetaMale]

I have recently bought an AZBox HD Premium with no internal hard disk (I already had a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 of 1Tb SATA II available) and when plugging it in, the AZBox doesn't recognize it (when powered on, it gets stuck saying LOADING). It is formatted with FAT32 (I used a PC with Ubuntu to format the hard drive) and it is working perfectly when plugged in a computer (so the hard disk is working perfectly), but when plugged in the azbox it stucks saying LOADING and it doesn't go forward (I mean that the SETTINGS display doesn't appear). Sometimes, when it says LOADING, I have tried (after waiting for a long time for the loading message to disappear) to reboot it (pressing for some second the power button) and then it reboots and loads and the settings display is shown, but when I go to the disk option in the menu, it is not recognizing the disk it has installed.
I have also tried with a second disk... a Samsung HD502HJ of 500 Gb and exactly the same result... any help please?

I had a similar problem with the Ultra. I solved my problem by re-seating the SATA connector on the main board (which came loose - presumably during shipment).

 

[Beano_face]

I also put my harddrive into the az right out of the box, and let the az format it... its a 500 gig hitachi 7200 rpm