HDTV Forum

Has anyone had this experience? I activated the USB port on the 622 and bought a 750 Gb Seagate Free Agent Pro and hooked it up. Everything went smoothly. I copied the TCM movie GREED - 4 hr. SD - to the Seagate in 14 minutes and it played back beautifully.

Several days later, I went to copy two more movies. I immediately got an error message that just said an error has occurred. No elaboration. Several tries resulted in the same message. So I went in and tried playing back GREED. Started just fine but when I pushed the "stop" button, it stopped but instead of reverting back to the menu, it just hung up. Pressing "play" did nothing but pressing the "skip forward" button, continued the playback. Nothing else seemed to work. Only way out of this mess, it seems was to press the "live tv" button.

Being a very long time computer geek, I did what we always do -I rebooted the 622 - what's to lose? As soon as it's up and running, I try copying the two movies and - VOILA - it works fine. So does the playback.

Two days later, I try copying a 30 minute HD program and we're back in the hangup mode..... Reboot...... works fine.......

I know, Jerry, you shouldn't bitch when you've found a solution, but is this what DishNet had in mind when they finally activated that port??? Is this a software problem or is my 622 on the fritz?? Will anyone at DishNet know? Help?

Jerry

I got the answer to this in another forum and will pass it on here in case someone else runs into the same thing. It's the Seagate drive that causes this problem. It goes into sleep mode and so the next time your 622 tries to access it, it apparently is not capable of turning iton and so it doesn't find it and thus you get the error message. Simply unpugging the HDD and plugging it back in will solve the problem more quickly than rebooting the 622. Too bad there isn't an off and on switch on the Seagate

One other solution offered was to hook the Seagate up to your PC, use the utility software provided and change the sleep mode to "never". I tried this but after a few hours I discovered the HDD was VERY hot so I don't think this is a good solution.

A better one is to buy some other brand that does not cause this problem.

Jerry

Other dedicated DBS forums are full of posts like this. I honestly don't mind since this stuff is archived. When I want to access stored content, I just yank the power cord at the back of my Seagate and reinsert it after 5 seconds. Then, the drive is powered on and accessible.

I wouldn't alter the auto power down on the drive since IMHO the drive will last longer if it's not spinning at full tilt 24/7. It's not a server spec'd HD.

Yes...I, too, encountered this "sleep mode" problem. I have a seagate 500gb drive which works fine (MOST OF THE TIME)...but because of the stupid bright yellow light that wraps around the unit I unplug it when I'm not using it. Often, when I plug it back in it is not recognized by the 622...so I then disconnect the power cord from the Seagate, reconnect it, and then everything works fine. I also have the problem that a transfer will get down to the last minute or two and then freeze...I have to cancel the transfer and start all over again and the second time it works fine! Go figure. I do not have this problem with the SimpleTech 500gb drive that I alternate connecting to the 622 for foreign and art films (blockbusters go on the Seagate). I haven't tried connecting an external to the 722 yet, but plan to get a 750gb for that...it WON'T be a Seagate.
John D.

This sounds very interesting. When the drive spins down and goes to sleep, it just needs a command to spin back up to be ready to do the next read/write operation. It sounds like the 622 is not issuing that command. Perhaps other brands simply do an implicit spin up command when they receive the read/write operation and the Seagate is not doing that. Or it's possible the 622 issues a command and the Seagate does not spin up in time and the 622 "gives up" waiting.

I believe the problem "could" be resolved by either party, but getting either one of them to take action will likely be a long process. To Seagate, this is a very small market for now and if Dish doesn't have the problem with other brands, they may be reluctant to spend any effort to resolve the issue.

Since this feature is relatively new on the 622/722, maybe Dish will get enough complaints to modify their code to resolve this issue. I would agree that we wouldn't want the hard drive spinning all the time although it does in my 942 and apparently at least on the 622 as well. I suspect this is the behavior of the 722 as well. I was surprised by that as well and figured the PVRs would spin down/up to save on the life of the hard drives inside, but maybe they found more failures in the up/down scenario than just leaving it up all the time.

AaronS

Here's my "solution" - went to True Value Hardware looking for an extension cord with a switch in the line. They had one with a "remote control switch" - it's hard to describe but simple - a male and female combined plug into your main line with a cord coming off of it - 15 feet - with a switch on the far end. So you plug the plug into your outlet, plug your HDD into the other side of the plug, run the 15 foot cord to wherever is convenient and then whenever you want to power up the Seagate, just snap the switch off and on again. Not exactly high tech, but it works.


Yes, Aaron, the 622 spins all the time too - and I worry about it constantly too - you could almost fry eggs on top of it, it's so hot. I've been looking for a little 3 or 4 inch cooling fan to blow over it. So far, it looks like the little fans they make to cool aquariums (from their hood lights) might just be the answer. A trip to PetSmart next week will provide the answer. Radio Shack has a couple, but they're about twice as expensive plus you have to wire the stupid things yerself......duh......

Jerry

jerfilm wrote:
Yes, Aaron, the 622 spins all the time too - and I worry about it constantly too - you could almost fry eggs on top of it, it's so hot. I've been looking for a little 3 or 4 inch cooling fan to blow over it. So far, it looks like the little fans they make to cool aquariums (from their hood lights) might just be the answer. A trip to PetSmart next week will provide the answer. Radio Shack has a couple, but they're about twice as expensive plus you have to wire the stupid things yerself......duh......

Jerry

Jerry, I would use a clapper before I went back to using a remote control with a wire. IMHO, that's just way too old school.

Many people use notebook coolers under/over their 622's. I'm not sure about the noise factor of that or the aquarium fans. I can barely deal with the fan noise of my DLP when it turns on--just MHO.