# Brand New Member Here - A quickie



## gregroberts (Sep 29, 2005)

brand new member here on DBS as of today...a quickie question...

one of my receivers, a 501 appears to have toasted its hard disk. I can still watch and apparently record although if I try to play back, it hangs. It takes forever (about 3 minutes to do the picture in picture when I select guide) to update the listings.

is it possible to get a new hard disk and does anyone know of anyone outside of Dish that does it?

thanks

Greg


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## boba (May 23, 2003)

Try unplugging the receiver from AC power for a ten count to reset the receiver if that dosen't work call DISH Notwerk and sign up for the DHPP for $5.99 and get the 501 replaced. After the receiver is succesfully replaced cancel the DHPP hopefully the $6 will be your only cost!


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

Greg,

Welcome to the board!

Since your 501 is new why not call DISH and have them replace it?


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## gregroberts (Sep 29, 2005)

actually, I've had the receiver almost 4 years I think - its now my second one on a TV upstairs. I think I own it outright and I know I don't pay a fee for the PVR.

the receiver works great except for the disk portion - but its the old technology - can only record or watch one channel at a time.

a new box might be the way to go but I really hate to give up a good unit

thanks for the advice on the power - thats what I had to do to get it unlocked after I tried to watch a recorded program

i'll do some homework on the DHPP as well

thanks


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## jerry downing (Mar 7, 2004)

I don't think you can even watch with a fried disk.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

You know, I think Dish will still replace it for free if you subscribe to the $4.99 a month warranty for a year. The warranty covers everything with the Dish brand on it. Even if you don't use it again, you have a "new" (most likely refurbished) receiver for $60 with a 1 year guarantee. Just make sure they send you a 501 or 508 receiver. Refuse a 510 because that one has a $5 "because we can" DVR fee on it.

You cannot easily replace the hard drives in the 5xx receivers.

See ya
Tony


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## chaddux (Oct 10, 2004)

TNGTony said:


> You know, I think Dish will still replace it for free if you subscribe to the $4.99 a month warranty for a year. The warranty covers everything with the Dish brand on it. Even if you don't use it again, you have a "new" (most likely refurbished) receiver for $60 with a 1 year guarantee. Just make sure they send you a 501 or 508 receiver. Refuse a 510 because that one has a $5 "because we can" DVR fee on it.
> 
> You cannot easily replace the hard drives in the 5xx receivers.
> 
> ...


Tony, you've been around long enough to know the warranty isn't $4.99/month! 

The warranty is $5.99/month. And you don't have to subscribe to it for a year. You can subscribe, have the receiver replaced, and then drop the warranty. This is assuming I didn't miss some one-year discounted special or something.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

I guess I should have checked my facts before posting. Thanks Chad. Last time I dealt with the warranty it was $5 a month for a minimum of 12 months. The current TOS for the warranty are avalable here http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/products/warranty/terms/index.shtml


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## dpd146 (Oct 1, 2005)

jerry downing said:


> I don't think you can even watch with a fried disk.


It will actually still work with a fried drive. You just lose all the PVR functions.
Speaking from experience.


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## gregroberts (Sep 29, 2005)

just got back from travel - thanks for the advice on the thread...


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## langlin (Apr 8, 2005)

TNGTony said:


> You know, I think Dish will still replace it for free if you subscribe to the $4.99 a month warranty for a year. The warranty covers everything with the Dish brand on it. Even if you don't use it again, you have a "new" (most likely refurbished) receiver for $60 with a 1 year guarantee. Just make sure they send you a 501 or 508 receiver. Refuse a 510 because that one has a $5 "because we can" DVR fee on it.
> 
> You cannot easily replace the hard drives in the 5xx receivers.
> 
> ...


Tony, did I hear you corectly that the 508 doesnot have a dvr fee, I have a 510 and pay the fee, is there some reason there is no fee on the 508?


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

The 501, 508 and 721 Dish receivers do not have a DVR fee because Dish didn't think of adding the fee before the units were all out. On top of that, they were advertising "no additional fees".

As I imagine it, just as the 510 and 921 was being introduced, some bean-counter somewhere showed Charlie a spreadsheet showing reveneus with and without a DVR fee and the "free DVR feature" vanished!

It's a "because we can" fee and nothing more. The 510 has it because Dish wants to charge more. The 501, 508 and 721 don't because they didn't think of it in time. And even then on the Charlie Chat where the DVR "because we can" fee was introduced on the new upcoming 510, the words "FOR NOW" were used to describe the status of the free DVR service on the 501/508 and 721.

See ya
Tony


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## gregroberts (Sep 29, 2005)

update on the beastie

it turns out it wasn't a toasted disk

it turns out it was software related. my unit updated its software and the unit somehow got confused so the dvr quit working while everything seemed to work OK

a power on reset, then power off and a reload made the magic box work again...

I lucked out big time.


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