# 515-500 Technical question



## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

First off, I own this R15-500. I am geting steady reboots, I have read the forums and understand the HDD and power supplies fail. My question, I have a used R-15 300 from my neighbor (also owned, switched to Dish) are the power supplies the same in the 300 as the 500, and will swapping a used HDD from the 300 work in my 500? Normally I would dive in and check myself, but I am dealing with some back issues. Thanks in advance.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

Don't know about the power supplies. But I know you cannot swap the drives and access the existing recordings.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

Thanks, no understand the recordings would indeed be lost, kinda hoping the HDD would "reformat" and be functional....


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

litzdog911 said:


> Don't know about the power supplies. But I know you cannot swap the drives and access the existing recordings.


True, but you CAN swap the hard drives as all the R15 series use 160Gb PATA interface drives. (100-300-and 500 series)

Unfortunately, you will lose everything on the drive you swap into your 500 as it will recognize it but not let you watch recordings on it forcing you to reformat it.

The power supplies/motherboards/cases on the 100-300-500 series are all different because they are all manufactured by different companies-(RCA/Thompson, Philips/Magnavox, Humax respectively).

PS: To reformat, wait for "Running Receiver Diagnostic Test" to appear onscreen and press the SELECT key on the remote and you will get a utility menu of diagnostic tests including the HDD reformat command.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

You may not even need to format it. Install it and fire up your DVR. If there are recordings showing on it, you won't be able to access them. Not sure if you can delete them. If not, then you will want to format. Otherwise, delete them and start fresh.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

Great stuff! Thanks all, once I'm a little more mobile, I will remove the cover, give it a try. ThomasM, I tried the diagnostic tests too, says temp: Hot, HDD: OK.

I know the fan works, cuts in @ 123 degrees, out at 118. I will have to look in the forums again, I swear I read a post on how to have the fan run steady. My R16-300 runs @ 105 degrees, my Tivo DSR-704 runs @ 110degrees. I'm leaning to the high temps in the 500, are causing HDD or Power supply issues...or both.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

Make sure your DVR is located where it has good circulation. Placing it inside a cabinet, or on top of, or in the middle of, a stack of other heat generating equipment, can greatly increase heat related problems.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

If you are getting the R15-300 from your neighbor and don't care about the recordings on your old DVR, why don't you just activate the -300 and deactivate the -500. I had a -300 that worked terrific for me and noticed that I seemed to have a lot less issues with mine than did people with -100 and -500 models.

- Merg


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

I guess I could...but really, I enjoy tinkering with this stuff...

So I pulled the cover today, found C7 1000uf 10V cap is bulged, I have seen others have replaced the C7 & C8 caps with 1200uf 35V caps, I have a 1000uf 16V. Should work ok? Right? Any input appreciated.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

That should be a suitable replacement cap. Let us know if that fixes it.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

As litzdog mentioned, that should be fine. There should be at least 2 of those. You might want to replace all of them since if one has gone the other will not be far behind.

- Merg


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

Thanks guys, I was thinking of changing both, couldn't hurt. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

Well the C7 Cap has been replaced...after keeping my fingers crossed, the unit rebooted and is working. Now I'll wait and see if the reboot issue returns...I only changed one(C8 left alone, was not bulged)...not the steadiest hand, didn't want to push my luck! I'll keep you posted.


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

Sea bass said:


> Well the C7 Cap has been replaced...after keeping my fingers crossed, the unit rebooted and is working. Now I'll wait and see if the reboot issue returns...I only changed one(C8 left alone, was not bulged)...not the steadiest hand, didn't want to push my luck! I'll keep you posted.


I can't believe it. Someone who can actually operate a soldering iron today. I thought I was one of the last of a dying breed! 

Let us know if your repair was successfull!


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Hey...lots of us old HAMS can operate a soldering iron. I had to replace 3 caps in the power supply of my SageTv extender when the tops bulged out and it started rebooting. Good thing Radio Shack still carried a few parts.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

Dang...rebooted again...temps ok, HDD ok, according to the diagnostic test. Back to the drawing board. Loaded to 71%, rebooted again.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Sea bass said:


> Dang...rebooted again...temps ok, HDD ok, according to the diagnostic test. Back to the drawing board. Loaded to 71%, rebooted again.


Even though it is not bulging I would replace that other capacitor. Could still be bad.

- Merg


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

ThomasM said:


> I can't believe it. Someone who can actually operate a soldering iron today. I thought I was one of the last of a dying breed!
> 
> Let us know if your repair was successfull!


And as a somewhat young'un, I solder when I work on laptops... My favorite is replacing bad AC jacks on motherboards. Amazing how people manage to break those...

- Merg


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

Ah ha! After a week of no reboots it did it again today. 5 minutes after it re-loaded, the picture on Live TV, not recorded started to skip. The audio was fine, the video was not. After 15 seconds of that, it rebooted. I would have to say the HDD is going! Finally, an answer to the reboots. I'll have to try installing a 160 drive tonight! Hope it works, drive is out of a used R15-300. Any tips?


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

Should be a pretty straight forward swap of drives. Just exercise normal caution when working inside. Make sure all connections are properly made, no loose parts left laying around, etc.

If you want to get fancy, you can try ghosting the old drive to a new drive before you put the new drive in. Then you should be able to preserve any recordings and settings. I know copying using linux dd works. There are some threads around here on other ways to do that. Only question would be what happens when the copy process hits one of the bad sectors on the source drive.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

Sea bass said:


> Ah ha! After a week of no reboots it did it again today. 5 minutes after it re-loaded, the picture on Live TV, not recorded started to skip. The audio was fine, the video was not. After 15 seconds of that, it rebooted. I would have to say the HDD is going! Finally, an answer to the reboots. I'll have to try installing a 160 drive tonight! Hope it works, drive is out of a used R15-300. Any tips?


Well, I finally changed the HDD. I installed a used HDD from an R15-300, figured I would reconnect everything, power up, see what happens. TV back on in 5 minutes! Old playlist recordings showed up, not viewable of course, deleted those, cleared any series link recordings, all seems ok. Unit records, plays back...just wondering if I should have reformatted though...will post if unit reboots again...I hope not, I'm kind of attatched to this R15.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

You should be good to go. I knew you would be able to see the recordings listed, and that you would not be able to watch them. Wasn't sure if you would be able to delete them but it sounds like you were able to. Given that, everything should be fine.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

Well after changing the HDD, 2 more caps, I had 4 more reboots. I figured I'd try the 02468 code at start up, downloaded the old 1274 software. All has been normal for 36 hours now. Any other issues I had are cleared up. 

I can't help but think conspiracy. I know, I know, I hate the conspiracy $#!t too...but could I be on to something, and this could well be the demise of the R15's. Don't get me wrong, I love Directv, I've been a loyal customer since the mid 90's. But with all the trouble lately...well..I bought a new HR24 because of all the reboots, how many others are doing the same? Not everyone posts here. It would be interesting to see the subscriber list of returned, or upgraded PVR's.


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## crkeehn (Apr 23, 2002)

Sea bass said:


> Well after changing the HDD, 2 more caps, I had 4 more reboots. I figured I'd try the 02468 code at start up, downloaded the old 1274 software. All has been normal for 36 hours now. Any other issues I had are cleared up.
> 
> I can't help but think conspiracy. I know, I know, I hate the conspiracy $#!t too...but could I be on to something, and this could well be the demise of the R15's. Don't get me wrong, I love Directv, I've been a loyal customer since the mid 90's. But with all the trouble lately...well..I bought a new HR24 because of all the reboots, how many others are doing the same? Not everyone posts here. It would be interesting to see the subscriber list of returned, or upgraded PVR's.


Except that a conspiracy would suggest that all R15's would be impacted UNLESS DirecTV is out to get you specifically :eek2:.

We are running two R15-100 receivers, both recently installed and both updated with the current software. Both of them are operating flawlessly, no reboots and at least mine seems to be recording the programs it should. The second is in my sons room so I don't know whether he is having problems, however he is not shy about complaining when things go wrong.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

crkeehn said:


> Except that a conspiracy would suggest that all R15's would be impacted UNLESS DirecTV is out to get you specifically :eek2:.
> 
> We are running two R15-100 receivers, both recently installed and both updated with the current software. Both of them are operating flawlessly, no reboots and at least mine seems to be recording the programs it should. The second is in my sons room so I don't know whether he is having problems, however he is not shy about complaining when things go wrong.


Maybe I should take my tinfoil hat off! Seriously, I'm not sure what to make of this, but flawless is what I can say about the recent download of 0x1274 software. Maybe the 131 software was corrupted on download? I am pleased to see this unit working again.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

Sea bass said:


> Maybe I should take my tinfoil hat off! Seriously, I'm not sure what to make of this, but flawless is what I can say about the recent download of 0x1274 software. Maybe the 131 software was corrupted on download? I am pleased to see this unit working again.


Not to beat a dead horse, but a month since 1274 was reloaded, not a hiccup!


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## dtremain (Mar 3, 2004)

Sea bass said:


> Not to beat a dead horse, but a month since 1274 was reloaded, not a hiccup!


From what I understand, each time a software download happens, it goes to an alternate place on the hard drive. If the place it goes to is damaged, it can cause problems.

By doing this, you probably went back to the other part of your hard drive that was working fine.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

dtremain said:


> From what I understand, each time a software download happens, it goes to an alternate place on the hard drive. If the place it goes to is damaged, it can cause problems.
> 
> By doing this, you probably went back to the other part of your hard drive that was working fine.


Actually I changed the drive...reboot issue remained.


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