# Dish charge to replace 508 hard drive



## kb7oeb (Jun 16, 2004)

My 508 is starting to get old and I am wondering what Dish does when a hard drive fails. The box is out of warranty and I do not have the dish insurance. Does anyone know what Dish charges to have it replaced? I don't suppose they would just send me a drive so I can swap it myself? 

I have not had any problems with the drive, I am just wondering what they do. I wouldn't want to upgrade to a 510 since they charge that stupid fee.


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## rcwilcox (Jan 20, 2003)

kb7oeb said:


> My 508 is starting to get old and I am wondering what Dish does when a hard drive fails. The box is out of warranty and I do not have the dish insurance. Does anyone know what Dish charges to have it replaced? I don't suppose they would just send me a drive so I can swap it myself?
> 
> I have not had any problems with the drive, I am just wondering what they do. I wouldn't want to upgrade to a 510 since they charge that stupid fee.


Well I wouldn't have a DVR without the insurance but you could call and say it is broke how much to swap it out? Also sometimes when it breaks they use that opportunity to sell you the insurance. No they won't send you the drive.


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## Chris Freeland (Mar 24, 2002)

rcwilcox said:


> Well I wouldn't have a DVR without the insurance but you could call and say it is broke how much to swap it out? Also sometimes when it breaks they use that opportunity to sell you the insurance. No they won't send you the drive.


I recently developed software glitches in my old 3200 (alias 2000), it was locking me out of PG13 on its own. I added the warranty at the same time that I gave the go ahead and they sent me a 3900 for free, I received it 2 days latter and I can cancel the warranty at any time which I will once I know everthing on the 3900 is working OK. I do not know if they do this for everyone or not, I just re-activated after a year, however I have been a sub since 96 and sub to AT180 w/Supers.


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## kb7oeb (Jun 16, 2004)

Its hard to say if the insurance is worth it or not, I have two 24GB hard drives in my file server that have been running not stop since 2000. I had a 40GB drive die 6 months after I got it.

I just thought someone on here might have had to go through replacing an out of warranty hard drive.

I usually leave my 508 on channel 9500 so the disk is spun up but not writing anything, I only turn it of if I am not going to be watching it for a while.


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## boba (May 23, 2003)

The new Digital Home Protection Plan (DHPP) is being sold by DISH CSRs when a product fails. No minimum time under DHPP before filing a claim no minimum time required of coverage(12Mo.) so right now it would cost you $5.99 to get the hard drive replaced. Hard to beat that deal.


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## Chris Freeland (Mar 24, 2002)

boba said:


> The new Digital Home Protection Plan (DHPP) is being sold by DISH CSRs when a product fails. No minimum time under DHPP before filing a claim no minimum time required of coverage(12Mo.) so right now it would cost you $5.99 to get the hard drive replaced. Hard to beat that deal.


Yes, thats what I did. Not quite sure why anyone would get the warranty and keep it though.


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## Bob Haller (Mar 24, 2002)

Chris Freeland said:


> Yes, thats what I did. Not quite sure why anyone would get the warranty and keep it though.


E will fi that $$ leak. I have the old $2 a month warranty, wouldnt be without it


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

Dish has an out of warranty service in which you could pay to get your receiver repaired.


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## kb7oeb (Jun 16, 2004)

Direct from the horses mouth:



> Thank you for your email. $68.99 ($14.95 s/h, $49.99 RA charge, $4.05 tax) would be the outright price to exchange a fixed DVR for your old DVR. We also have the DHPP warrantee for $4.99 /month that would cover all costs.


Probably what it would cost to buy a new 80GB hard drive


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## larrystotler (Jun 6, 2004)

There is a forum on Yahoo where I got a list of the hard drives that Dish used in the DVRs, but the hard drive I put it on is off-line from my network right now. It will probably be hard to find the exact drive you need, but not impossible. It also said that you can put in the 510's drive and it will act like a 510 with the 100 hours WITHOUT the DVR fee. Have yet to try it, but hear it works.


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## GoWFO (Jan 30, 2003)

larrystotler said:


> There is a forum on Yahoo where I got a list of the hard drives that Dish used in the DVRs, but the hard drive I put it on is off-line from my network right now. It will probably be hard to find the exact drive you need, but not impossible. It also said that you can put in the 510's drive and it will act like a 510 with the 100 hours WITHOUT the DVR fee. Have yet to try it, but hear it works.


That will require some Cough.. cough... manipulation of the reciever's firmware. :eek2:


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

kb7oeb said:


> Its hard to say if the insurance is worth it or not, I have two 24GB hard drives in my file server that have been running not stop since 2000. I had a 40GB drive die 6 months after I got it.
> 
> I just thought someone on here might have had to go through replacing an out of warranty hard drive.
> 
> I usually leave my 508 on channel 9500 so the disk is spun up but not writing anything, I only turn it of if I am not going to be watching it for a while.


just put in a new drive the software will reinstall it self


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

kwajr said:


> just put in a new drive the software will reinstall it self


Are you talking about the 500 series? It will NOT format a new hard drive without a special firmware load.

Also, a 510 hard drive will only work in a 501/508 if it has a yellow smart card (which everyone will have in the near future).

Read up at the yahoo group.


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## finniganps (Jan 23, 2004)

Bob Haller said:


> E will fi that $$ leak. I have the old $2 a month warranty, wouldnt be without it


Did you know that the $1.99/month ends early next year? When I signed up for it ($1.99/mo.) at the beginning of this year they said that in either January or February 2005 that this plan would be discontinued and everyone would be converted to the $5.99/month plan. That's one of the reasons they stopped selling the $1.99 plan at the beginning of this year.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

David_Levin said:


> Are you talking about the 500 series? It will NOT format a new hard drive without a special firmware load.
> 
> Also, a 510 hard drive will only work in a 501/508 if it has a yellow smart card (which everyone will have in the near future).
> 
> Read up at the yahoo group.


mine did


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## crodgers79 (Jul 18, 2004)

kwajr said:


> mine did


Could you please explain a bit further? I have two 508s and I've seen the disc on one start to degrade this past year. I've read about the insurance program which seem like the way to go, but if I can slip in a drive myself, like I did on my old DishPlayers then that would be my preferred "fix." If you were able to replace your own drive, did you use the exact same make/model or is it possible to upgrade a 508 with a larger drive?

Thanks for any and all info..

Chris R.


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## finniganps (Jan 23, 2004)

crodgers79 said:


> Could you please explain a bit further? I have two 508s and I've seen the disc on one start to degrade this past year. I've read about the insurance program which seem like the way to go, but if I can slip in a drive myself, like I did on my old DishPlayers then that would be my preferred "fix." If you were able to replace your own drive, did you use the exact same make/model or is it possible to upgrade a 508 with a larger drive?
> Chris R.


You can't replace or install larger drives in any of the E* PVR's EXCEPT the DISHPLAYERS (7100 and 7200's).


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

crodgers79 said:


> Could you please explain a bit further? I have two 508s and I've seen the disc on one start to degrade this past year. I've read about the insurance program which seem like the way to go, but if I can slip in a drive myself, like I did on my old DishPlayers then that would be my preferred "fix." If you were able to replace your own drive, did you use the exact same make/model or is it possible to upgrade a 508 with a larger drive?
> 
> Thanks for any and all info..
> 
> Chris R.


no one here said larger i put another maxtor drive in and it worked on a 501 3 yrs ago by the way i had one replaced by maxtor under there 3 year factoery warranty on the drive


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## Bob Haller (Mar 24, 2002)

finniganps said:


> Did you know that the $1.99/month ends early next year? When I signed up for it ($1.99/mo.) at the beginning of this year they said that in either January or February 2005 that this plan would be discontinued and everyone would be converted to the $5.99/month plan. That's one of the reasons they stopped selling the $1.99 plan at the beginning of this year.


first I heard that,not really surprised, it certinally fits the current E direction.


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## larrystotler (Jun 6, 2004)

finniganps said:


> You can't replace or install larger drives in any of the E* PVR's EXCEPT the DISHPLAYERS (7100 and 7200's).


Yes you can, but it has to be a very specific type of drive. I have read all of the instructions and plan on doing it myself soon. I'm going to create a hot swap setup so I can put the HD in my computer and create DVDs from the raw files. All the thing is is a computer anyway.........


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

larrystotler said:


> Yes you can, but it has to be a very specific type of drive. I have read all of the instructions and plan on doing it myself soon. I'm going to create a hot swap setup so I can put the HD in my computer and create DVDs from the raw files. All the thing is is a computer anyway.........


should work fine since its a self healing linux distro means that any change detected should result in a reinstall of the os part of the reason for those random long reboots


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## crodgers79 (Jul 18, 2004)

kwajr said:


> should work fine since its a self healing linux distro means that any change detected should result in a reinstall of the os part of the reason for those random long reboots


 I've been out to the Yahoo groups and have seen long instructions regarding all sorts of technical manuevers that aren't appropriate to discuss here.

All I want to know, for sure, is if my 508 dies, can I open it up and then, if I have the _exact_ same_ make and model of drive, simply replace it myself? Again, I'm not trying to mod firmware or do anything of the sort, just replace a failed drive without having to resort to some kind of monthly insurance plan. I build computers all of the time so popping open a PVR is no big deal as long as it just a physical swap-and-go type routine and doesn't involve all of the technical stuff best left for the Yahoo forums.

Any and all comments are appreciated!

Chris R.


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

I don't think the 501/508/510 OS has anything to do with Linux (OS or file system).

This is my understanding:

Larry is correct, a new drive can be swapped in, if it is the EXACT same model (no upgrades). 3 Sectors must be copied from the original drive (so if your old drive is completely dead this will not work - unless you saved off the sectors at an earlier date).

The box can marry a new drive (if it's on the approved list) with a special firmware load.

kwajr: Did you do anything special when you swapped the 501 drive? Same model? Did you clone anything?


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

David_Levin said:


> I don't think the 501/508/510 OS has anything to do with Linux (OS or file system).
> 
> This is my understanding:
> 
> ...


i had maxtor ship me a new one they have A 3 YEAR DRIVE WARRANTY i told them it was from a dish dvr that was out of warranty they didnt care since the drive had a warranty from maxtor


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## larrystotler (Jun 6, 2004)

David_Levin said:


> I don't think the 501/508/510 OS has anything to do with Linux (OS or file system).


It doesn't. The 721 does. I think the 322/522/921s do as well, not sure tho. The 5xx series uses E*'s system.


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