# HR21-700 diagnostic short drive test failure code



## jig (Aug 11, 2008)

I have an HR21-700 that was working fine before the Oct firmware upgrade. Since then I frequently can't pause and then watch from the live Buffer. Playback freezes.

More annoyingly, my old (and new) recordings regularly freeze during playback. No remote (RF) button presses work, no front panel button presses work. Sometimes, the playback will make some progress after having been frozen for 5-30secs. Usually the audio races forward to catch up to the video. It sometimes even returns to "normal" for a few minutes of playback. But on some recordings, it just hangs. Usually I have to RBR to recover. After RBR, same problems.

I just noticed last night that the power light blinks (showing an IR reception) on the first remote button press after/during the freeze. If I use the "List" button fist during a freeze, after the freeze delay, the List screen displays (eventually) and I can browse through that just fine, while the video small window is still frozen and/or jerkily making progress. It appears I am able to select some other recording and eventually it will start (and possibly have the same problems).

Last night I had to RBR and pressed select during reboot to get to the diagnostic screen (as described in other threads). I ran the internal diagnostics and most passed. The short drive test fails with a 0x77 error code. I tried the check file system and that passed. I left the "fix filesystem" test running overnight and when I checked it this morning, the DVR was back to showing normal channels, so I have no idea what the result of the "fix" was.

Anyone know what the error code 0x77 is? Or what other error codes there are?

Is this a real error that I should contact D* for a replacement (and hassle)? Or might a reformat of the drive make a difference?

I haven't tried yet to see if playback still has trouble (after the "fix").

Thanks.


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## claimjumper (Dec 16, 2008)

How do you perform internal hard drive testings? Never know there were utils inside that we could run on the hardware.

Anyone else know if the hard drive tests are accurate and helpful compared to standard tests we run using pc software for testing?


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

claimjumper said:


> How do you perform internal hard drive testings? Never know there were utils inside that we could run on the hardware.
> 
> Anyone else know if the hard drive tests are accurate and helpful compared to standard tests we run using pc software for testing?


AFAIK there aren't any user accessible utilities.

I think it the power on self-test that reported the error but that's just a guess.

Mike


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## allenn (Nov 19, 2005)

I think your HR21-700 is suffering from the same thing mine was except I never got the reformat or diagnostics to work. Please check out the following link:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=148400


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

Be VERY careful of what you select in the BIST (Built In Self Test). While you won't cause any physical harm, you can wipe out everything on the DVR. And I do mean EVERYTHING.


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## jig (Aug 11, 2008)

As described in the thread referenced by allenn, to get to the diagnostics screen: 
* Do a menu-reset or an RBR.
* After the "Just a few more seconds screen", you'll see a "receiver self-check" message. Press SELECT at that point to enter the "Diagnostics Menu"
* Select "Advanced Menu", "Utilities", "Hard Drive Utilities"

I used the "short drive test" in the HD utils and got the 0x77 error code.
Tried playback today, still has freezing/jerkiness.


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

jig said:


> As described in the thread referenced by allenn, to get to the diagnostics screen:
> * Do a menu-reset or an RBR.
> * After the "Just a few more seconds screen", you'll see a "receiver self-check" message. Press SELECT at that point to enter the "Diagnostics Menu"
> * Select "Advanced Menu", "Utilities", "Hard Drive Utilities"
> ...


Now that's pretty cool.

I hadn't sseen that thread. 

Mike


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## pjschwartz (Jul 14, 2007)

Has anyone ever determined what the explanation / definition of 0x77 is? 

I have also had sporadic (and frequent) freezing when playing back recorded material (HR20-700). I thought it was due to some recent software upgrades, but after running all the available diagnostics, and doing a system reset, hard drive reformat and software reloads, I believe my ongoing issues are related to a failing hard drive.

I'm planning on replacing the unit with a HR22 today


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

No one outside the development team has a list of those codes. Before I go further let me say...

*Be very careful with any diagnostics. You can seriously hurt your equipment or erase all your recordings.*

If you choose to go into the internal diagnostics, follow the instructions above. If you're a Linux user you can probably guess the sort of tests being run, the sort of fixes being applied, but the bottom line is that there are no user-configurable options, either it fixes things or it doesn't.


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Stuart Sweet said:


> *Be very careful with any diagnostics. You can seriously hurt your equipment or erase all your recordings.*


I can't speak for all the utilities, but the one time I ran the long repair routine, it was non-destructive. I'm not sure how long it took, because mine ran overnight, but all my recordings were intact the next morning. /steve


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