Upgrading Samsung HDSKY

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Upgrading Samsung HDSKY

Postby skituscanycom » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:21 am

First of all, I would like to thank PCBBC again for his FANTASTIC software. It really is excellent :)

I first got Sky HD about a week ago. After gasping at the fabulous quality and moaning about the odd lip-sync problem via optical/surround sound, I quickly realised that even with a 300GB drive, I was still rapidly losing recordings as the space fills up soooo quickly with HD programmes.

That, and the fact that I had 200+GB of recordings on my reliable old copy+ upgraded Pace 3000 meant that it was time to upgrade again!

Following a customer review saying it works well with Sky HD+, I bought a 1TB Western Digital Caviar - Green Power - SATA2 drive model WD10EACS from Aria.co.uk

The copy process worked fine. The disk went in the Samsung fine.

NOTE: My Samsung DIDN'T have any security sticker :)

Anyway, everything seemed to work fine - old programmes are playable, 2 HD progs can be recorded and time-slip replayed, FF, RWD etc. etc.

HOWEVER - after 5-10 minutes the Samsung box shuts down :(
The HDD seems to be spinning loudly for a while and then goes quiet.
After waiting a while it can be powered up again via the remote, but is on the default sky info channel.

It still shuts down even if I am doing nothing!

Planner rebuild doesn't help.

It was 100% fine before the upgrade.

What I am wondering is could this have anything to do with the fact that I didn't have Sky Anytime in the Pace 3000?

Any other ideas anyone?

HELP!!! PLEASE :)
skituscanycom
 

Re: Upgrading Samsung HDSKY

Postby pcbbc » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:43 am

skituscanycom wrote:First of all, I would like to thank PCBBC again for his FANTASTIC software. It really is excellent :)
No problem - glad you found it useful.

HOWEVER - after 5-10 minutes the Samsung box shuts down :(
The HDD seems to be spinning loudly for a while and then goes quiet.
After waiting a while it can be powered up again via the remote, but is on the default sky info channel.

It still shuts down even if I am doing nothing!
Well, I'm not an expert with regard to the HD boxes.
But the very first thing I would be doing would be to do a Full System Reset on the 1TB drive (okay, you will get reduced capacity of 492GB - But okay for testing) and then see if the same problem happens.
This will answer if it is the upgrade or the copied data that is at fault.

What I am wondering is could this have anything to do with the fact that I didn't have Sky Anytime in the Pace 3000?
Not that I'm aware of. Plenty of people have done this sort of upgrade before without any sort of problem. However there is always a first time for anything - the above test should help confirm that.

:) Smile I'd rather be skiing in Tuscany! :)
Ah - That accounts for the spurious "Thank you for contacting Ski Tuscany" e-mail I received in my mail box. :o
Unfortunately my skiing days are over, but it's a nice thought... :cry:
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Postby skituscanycom » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:20 pm

Thanks PCBBC for your reply.

I talked my wife through the Full System Reset process and emptied out the planner.

It's still shutting down - driving my wife crazy :shock:
She can't even watch Freeview as it's looped through the box :(

Anyway - do you think it might be a duff disk??

Any other ideas?

Many thanks again!
skituscanycom
 

Postby pcbbc » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:26 pm

skituscanycom wrote:Anyway - do you think it might be a duff disk??
Possibly. Or an incompatibility with the box.
At least we have eliminated Copy+ as the cause - but still keen to help you if I can.

Do you have Instant Rewind turned on?
If so turn it off and see if that helps?
Then try and record something and see if you get the same problem?
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Postby skituscanycom » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:48 pm

Thanks again ...

Unfortunately, even without Instant Rewind on it still crashes the same ... :(

I happen to have a 400GB drive I took out of a MAC which I could try.

Do I have to do anything to clear it out before running Copy+ ?

Thanks!
skituscanycom
 

Postby pcbbc » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:54 pm

skituscanycom wrote:Unfortunately, even without Instant Rewind on it still crashes the same ... :(
Oh - doesn't sound good.

What about using the original drive? Have you tried that? I know you said it was okay before the upgrade, but what about now?
Just trying to establish if this is a drive fault or some damage to the box? :?

I happen to have a 400GB drive I took out of a MAC which I could try.
Do I have to do anything to clear it out before running Copy+ ?
To use it as a destination delete all partitions off it using Windows Disk Management.
If you want to put it straight in the Sky+HD box, do the full system reset via the front panel.
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Postby skituscanycom » Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:10 am

Thanks again.

Further to what I said before, after turning off "Instant Rewind" the box still crashed as I said, but following that reboot it stayed stable. In fact, it stayed good right up until the point where I got home and pressed the pause button. Then it crashed.

I inserted the 400GB Hitachi Deskstar model HDS724040KLSA80 and performed a "Full System Reset".

At first it seemed OK, but then started crashing like the WD010EACS. :oops:

In fact this was EXACTLY the same behaviour, as the WD010EACS had also worked fine for a while initially.

I then put the original 300GB disk back in and since then it has been completely fine with all functions back on. :)

Any more ideas?

By the way, do you know of anyone who has successfully upgraded their Samsung HDSKY? Maybe it's an issue with them all?? :shock:
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Postby pcbbc » Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:35 am

skituscanycom wrote:By the way, do you know of anyone who has successfully upgraded their Samsung HDSKY? Maybe it's an issue with them all?? :shock:
Not personally.
But I'm sure I've seen reports on digitalspy and the AVForums from people who have.
I find it hard to beleive such a basic incompatibility hasn't been noticed.
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Postby skituscanycom » Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:56 am

Thanks, I'll look there.

It's all a bit strange because the symptoms would tend to make me think that maybe the power supply was playing up - BUT the 1TB WD drive actually consumes LESS power than the original Maxtor one as it is a "Green" drive. :?

The 400GB Hitachi consumes roughly the same as the Maxtor...

Hmmmm ...
skituscanycom
 

Postby pcbbc » Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:03 am

Can you power the hard drive separately?
From a USB caddy for example. Sometimes this is a little more tricky with SATA devices than PATA, but it can be done with the correct connectors.
Just a though that might be worth trying.
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Postby skituscanycom » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:13 pm

Yes, I did think of using an eSATA caddy ...

I already ordered it but was accidentally sent an IDE version instead of SATA ... doh! :x

Couldn't find any posts at all on Digital Spy about upgraded Samsung HDSKY units, so maybe I really am the first :shock:
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Postby pcbbc » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:28 pm

skituscanycom wrote:Couldn't find any posts at all on Digital Spy about upgraded Samsung HDSKY units, so maybe I really am the first :shock:
The thing is I know both the new Samsung and Pace boxes are big endian processors (just like the Thomson box).
That means someone must have used Copy+ on the drive and told me which byte order their processors use.
Here you go.

Ah, I see you have also found this thread.
It's not looking good. :cry:
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Postby skituscanycom » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:17 pm

Yes ... thanks for your help.

Maybe though the 1TB Samsung Spinpoint HD103UJ may be just the ticket??!!
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Postby pcbbc » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:32 pm

skituscanycom wrote:Maybe though the 1TB Samsung Spinpoint HD103UJ may be just the ticket??!!
Perhaps. :lol:
I wouldn't want to guarantee it though - It would be nice to get an update from the OP.
Have you tried to send him a PM?
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Postby skituscanycom » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:19 pm

Got a posting from another user who's had success with the spinpoint drive in the HDSKY for 2 weeks ... so it's looking more hopeful. On this basis, I've ordered the drive ... :lol:
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