Vip 722 Internal Hard Drive Replacement?

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btw, I've got it turned all the way up, and it's very quiet. Nice.

Thanks!

I have found that you don't really need to run the fan at full speed. I have mine set at a bit above minimum, and it still manages to keep my receiver 20-25 degrees cooler than without the fan. Without the fan, when I put my hand on top of the receiver it was really hot; now it is actually cool to the touch.

BTW, In case you are not aware of it, you can monitor the internal hard drive temperature in the receiver's setup menu. Select Menu-6-3, then select Counters. Use the Page-Down key to scroll thru the counters values until the hard drive temperatures are displayed (HDD- High Temp, HDD - Low Temp, and HDD average Temp are displayed). It takes about a month for the HDD average value to stabilize (the receiver software probably averages the temperatures over the last month or so).
 
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I would like to say that I have a hard drive (and complete 722 unit) that came from a yard sale... to dispose of...
Why would you dispose of a high value piece of consumer electronics that many of us around here love?
 
Hey WestTexas, I am eagerly awaiting the find out if that drive you ordered worked or not. I have a 722 that the HD is dead and need to replace it.

I wish I could. I'm two strikes so far on getting a new drive. The first one I ordered (a 500GB drive) was cancelled since it was discontinued, but the vendor hadn't updated their site.

The seond one I ordered (a 1TB) has been backordered for almost two months now, from the same vendor, who doesn't let you know what's going on, and when you email them, they just say "another couple of weeks".

For the buyer beware, that vendor is FuturePowerPC. Absolutely terrible communications.

So, I'm back to the drawing board, and will try yet again a third time.

On a side note, I moved my external USB drive (a WD5000H1S, My DVR model) to this unit, and have experimented in moving programs to it from the internal drive. Upon playback directly from the USB My DVR drive, it works absolutely perfectly, and never ever locks up, freezes, etc. However, if a program that was recorded on the internal drive is really problematic (hard freezes, etc) it won't even copy over to the external.

Thus, this re-confirms my suspicions that the internal drive is just getting more bad sectors, etc.

Keep you all posted....

WT
 
A quick update:

I've ordered a:

Samsung EcoGreen F3 500GB HR-500-SS-HD503HI

These are new, and run about $50 each.

Ordered from a different vendor, so hopefully I'll have it in and installed and a report back soon.

WT
 
A quick update:

I've ordered a:

Samsung EcoGreen F3 500GB HR-500-SS-HD503HI

These are new, and run about $50 each.

Ordered from a different vendor, so hopefully I'll have it in and installed and a report back soon.

WT

New drive arrived....... Dead On Arrival...... Sometimes you just can't win.

In the meantime, while waiting for a replacement for it, I ordered a Seagate ST3500830SCE, for about $85, which I know is on the 622/722 list as well, however, they are direct special order from the manufacturer, so no telling on the delivery time.

More to come....
 
This is just so painful. I just can't seem to find a replacement drive.

The Samsung drive that was DOA on arrival: was just informed by the vendor that the drive has been discontinued.

The other Seagate drive on order (with a different vendor): was just informed that the drive has been discontinued.


Does anyone have a source for replacement drives???????

I'm batting 0 for 4 now.

Thanks in advance,
WT
 
This is just so painful. I just can't seem to find a replacement drive.
Perhaps this is a sign that you shouldn't waste your time with this project.

If DISH won't replace the whole unit, they probably won't activate it and you will have rehabilitated a useless device.
 
Perhaps this is a sign that you shouldn't waste your time with this project.

If DISH won't replace the whole unit, they probably won't activate it and you will have rehabilitated a useless device.

Sorry if you came in late in the discussion, but if you had read the original post, this is my own 722 (not a Dish-owned unit), and I've had it for about a year now online. It's just been in the last month or so that the drive is starting to go south.

Thanks.
 
Two more salvos fired in the drive war.... :)

- Taking a chance on a refurb'ed Seagate ST3500830SCE. was cheap.

- Thanks to clinker! He found a new Seagate ST3500312CS for only $50 on Buy . com

I'll keep everyone updated.

Thanks, WT
 
Two more salvos fired in the drive war.... :)

- Taking a chance on a refurb'ed Seagate ST3500830SCE. was cheap.

- Thanks to clinker! He found a new Seagate ST3500312CS for only $50 on Buy . com

I'll keep everyone updated.

Thanks, WT

Write down ALL your timers before replacing the drive!

I got that surprise after replacing mine with a larger one. ALL my timers were gone... Apparently, they are stored on the drive, and not in memory.
 
Write down ALL your timers before replacing the drive!

I got that surprise after replacing mine with a larger one. ALL my timers were gone... Apparently, they are stored on the drive, and not in memory.

Yep ! That is GOOD advice. I almost made that mistake on an previous unit that I was upgrading the drive on. That was a rude awakening. But thankfully I still had the old drive, so I plugged it back in and captured the timers.

Thanks for reminding me !
 
Sorry if you came in late in the discussion, but if you had read the original post, this is my own 722 (not a Dish-owned unit), and I've had it for about a year now online. It's just been in the last month or so that the drive is starting to go south.
I don't see anywhere where you have asked DISH Network what they were willing to do. You've spent quite a bit of money to no avail thus far and it would be a shame if you were wasting your time on something they might be willing to remedy for the cost of shipping.

If they don't bite there's always the avenue mentioned in post #2.

I only hope you don't find out that the problem isn't with the drive mechanism.
 
I still can't understand why someone would want to purchase their equipment outright then try to fix it themselves. There's no cost advantage, and it's more hassle, unless you just like tinkering with the equipment.
 
I don't see anywhere where you have asked DISH Network what they were willing to do. You've spent quite a bit of money to no avail thus far and it would be a shame if you were wasting your time on something they might be willing to remedy for the cost of shipping.

If they don't bite there's always the avenue mentioned in post #2.

I only hope you don't find out that the problem isn't with the drive mechanism.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. As is usually the case on personally owned equipment, Dish's solution is to offer to lease you a new one. And DHA is great (as was mentioned back in post #2).

However, things get sticky when you're at the max receiver count in the house (which "generally" is up to 6 receivers, 4 leased units and 2 owned), which is what I have.

Also sorry if I gave the impression that I've spent a lot of money on this, which I haven't, in fact to date I've spent nothing, since most of the drives I ordered turned out to not be available, or the DOA one, which was refunded.

The threshhold limit here theoretically would be the cost of buying a replacement Vip722, which roughly run about $200-$250. My personal threshhold on this process is about $50-$100, which is about the cost of the replacement drive.

The unit itself works fine (sans hard drive), and works perfectly well with an external USB drive (too bad Dish hasn't enabled direct recording to USB yet).

Perhaps this is the curse of being both a software and electrical engineer..you just have to fix the dang thing ! :)

Regards, WT