No new software?

[pt121]

I'm going with the DVRupgrade Drive kit (250GB). I see they come with the 6.2a software version, how do I make sure DirecTV doesn't update the software to 6.3e. I'm replacing the drive because of the endless rebbots since the last update. I don't believe it is the drive, but since I wanted more space to begin with, this would be a good time. However, I don't want to tempt fate and let it install 6.3e and end up back where I started.

Also, do I need to add another fan to it when just replacing the drive with this bigger 250GB? And I see on the site you can buy the bare DB35 drives, but they don't make mention that the upgrade kit I'm going to buy (D2R-250000-381) is the Seagate DB35.

Thanks
Patrick

[Lou Jacob]

I'm going with the DVRupgrade Drive kit (250GB). I see they come with the 6.2a software version, how do I make sure DirecTV doesn't update the software to 6.3e. I'm replacing the drive because of the endless rebbots since the last update. I don't believe it is the drive, but since I wanted more space to begin with, this would be a good time. However, I don't want to tempt fate and let it install 6.3e and end up back where I started.

Also, do I need to add another fan to it when just replacing the drive with this bigger 250GB? And I see on the site you can buy the bare DB35 drives, but they don't make mention that the upgrade kit I'm going to buy (D2R-250000-381) is the Seagate DB35.

Thanks
Patrick

The standard replacement drive kits we are currently shipping for these units have 6.2a on them. They will automatically update to 6.3 however you can prevent this from happening simply by not plugging the unit into your phone line (guide data comes down from the satellite). The only drawback to this is that if you want to order pay-per-view events, you would have to either call DIRECTV or use their web site, to order.

PTVnet kits are another option. These kits have our networking software on them, and allow you to connect to your home network with the appropriate USB to Ethernet connector and you can then access the unit via your web browser for remote scheduling. Your unit will also be accessible via telnet and ftp, so if you are an advanced user, you can install additional tools and hacks (eg in the articles area of the site there is a short article on how to enable HMO and MRV). These kits also have 6.2a on them, and an upgrade can be similarly avoided by simply not plugging into the phone line. You will not get a "nag" message (you will when using a standard kit not plugged in) reminding you to plug the phone line in, either.

Lastly... from the scenario you described, it IS likely that your problem IS a bad hard drive. Traditionally, whenever there is a software update, some number of drives will begin to fail and although many people think that it is because of the software, it really isn't -- the issue is that when the software updates to your unit, it installed on a different partition of the drive and once it is installed, the unit begins using a 'dormant' portion of the drive that has not been in use since the previous upgrade. Sometimes, that area of the drive is defective or is going bad, and it does not surface until you begin using it. We have seen this situation many many times over the past seven years. It is easy to diagnose this problem using PC diagnostics on the drive.

So, with all that said, I recommend you do just get a standard capacity upgrade kit and not be afraid to let it update to 6.3. Your chances of a drive failure are the same regardless of whether the software updates or not.

The 250GB kit is based upon a Seagate DB35 drive, as are all of our other kits for TiVo units, except for a couple of Series3 kits we offer.

[pt121]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I'll have a little faith and see what happens with the 6.3e update.

Patrick

[RobertHull60322]

Well i have to post after reading a lot of the posts in here particularly these 2. Lou I just bought a new hardrive for my R10 from you and set it up on sunday as a replacement for the original drive which seemed to be going bad everything was fine until today when it downloaded and obviously installed the 6.3 update this evening while watching tv using the R10 it rebooted it had not done that since sunday when I installed the new drive from you Lou. Before I installed the new drive it was rebooting at least once a day and after no reboots until the 6.3 update. So either the drive I purchased from you Lou has gone bad already which I doubt or there is something to this 6.3 update problem and it also makes me wonder if my old drive truly was going bad or whether and I would have to reinstall it to check that it had been updated at somepoint recently to 6.3 and that was causing the nightly reboots. Is there anyway to get the new drive back to 6.2 and if I reinstall it and check and it indeed was updated to 6.3 is there a way to get the old drive back to 6.2. I would really appreciate any and all help with this as I have no wish to buy a new dvr until I move up to HD and even than my r10 will still get used in the puter room

[Clark Kent]

DirecTV sends software updates though the satellite antenna not though phone line. My DSR708’s and HDVR2 are NOT connected to a phone line or network and they have received upgrades. Like Showcase, Deleted Folder….