# Changing fans, hard drive.



## eclipsetrb (Jan 19, 2005)

I figure the first people that got this unit have had it for about a year now and their warranty is about to lapse. Wondering if anybody has looked into changing the fan(s)? or hard drive to quiet these beasts down some. I've only had mine for a month now and don't feel like having to run a 20 foot dvi cable when i get my plasma this summer so its either change the internals or make a soundproof cabinet for it to go in.


----------



## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

I've had my 921 exactly a year now, as of 1/19/05.

I haven't heard of anybody replacing the hard drive in this machine.


----------



## ClaudeR (Dec 7, 2003)

I ran mine 31 feet to a closet. Monoprices.com has best DVI cable prices. Still FRIGGING noisy through the bifold closet door.

If you put in cabinet, make sure you ventilate it.


----------



## eclipsetrb (Jan 19, 2005)

I guess my other question is what is actually making all the noise. I've heard alot of hard drives over the years and nothing sounds this bad. So is it the fan is there more then one? Anybody ever open one up and switch them out to a different type and notice a difference? Thanks Guys


----------



## Tomos (Jan 16, 2005)

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=4057

Here are some pics


----------



## SteveB (Aug 18, 2004)

I put my 921 in the garage below my big screen. Mounted it on a shelf near the garage ceiling. Ran cables through the floor, about six feet. Use the RF remote. Only down side, must go down stairs to reboot. Not as often since last software version.


----------



## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

Some may still not want to open up their 921 or other receivers for the following reasons:

> Extended warranty is available if you have not opened up the receiver.
> If a swapout were to occur (changeover to MPEG-4) they may try to make you pay full price for the new receiver seeing how you opened up your previous receiver UNLESS they do not want the old receivers back or some good points are made that it is not about voiding a warranty but about swapping out everyone's receiver for free. In this case you would lose the extra money you would have invested in the receiver if modifications such as larger hard drives were made to them if the receiver had to be returned to Dish Network.


----------



## eclipsetrb (Jan 19, 2005)

I believe changing the hard drive might not be a good idead but i think most of the noise comes from what I know see are 2 fans probably getting different quieter fans would help alot also adding rubber gaskets arount the screws that hold the hard drive to the case would help with any hard drive noise. This thing could sound alot quieter. And thanks for the picks link tomos


----------



## keitheva (Aug 23, 2002)

I've long been bugged by the 921 fan noise, and since shutting off the fans in standby is way down the s/w update priority list, this post has me motivated to replace the fans. So I just ordered 60mm and 80mm SilenX fans from 3DCool and we'll see what happens.

Cheers,
-Keith


----------



## eclipsetrb (Jan 19, 2005)

Dude your awesome please let me know how it turns out.


----------



## Cyclone (Jul 1, 2002)

and don't forget lots of digital pics too.


----------



## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I did read on other site another mad scientist made a copy of 921's disk by Ghost to different model of Maxtor 250 GB disk and it works fine. Perhaps it's time to try 300 or 400 GB ?


----------



## ClaudeR (Dec 7, 2003)

11 months and counting until my year warranty is over. My receiver is in a wide open utility closet, and runs as cool as a cucumber. I realize the technology may not exist yet, but how about thermostatically controlled fans? Oh, wait, that technology has been around for DECADES. What a JOKE. We're not talking rocket science - wait... we are! Satellite TV REQUIRES rocket scientists. I guess the terrestial boxes can be designed by buffoons. Looks like they are...

You can just look through the rear vent holes and see the big frigging NOISY fan.


----------



## sotagear (Jan 25, 2005)

I popped the hood to check out where the noises were coming from & in my 921 it's mostly the small fan near the front of the case, followed by the hard drive whine. The large fan in the rear is not that loud and doesn't really contribute to the loud stuff I'm hearing.

I purchased a quiet small fan to try out & it made very little difference. The reason being is that it is backed up against a ciruit board so there is no free open space behind it to cut down on the noise. The circuit board acts as an amplifier for the fan. So I don't really see a perfect solution to quiet this thing down unless they allow you to run the fan at a slower speed via software. I wouldn't want to attempt reducing the speed of the existing fan without being able to view the temperature within the case/cpu. Since that is unavailable at the moment in the software, there's very little I would recommend doing to quiet this down except move it out of the room or place it in a sound-proofed cabinet. The hard drive is definitely a loud bugger & if you could replace it by ghosting the hard drive that would help a bit, but that small fan pretty much seals the deal for the noise factor being dramatically improved, in my estimation.

Good thing they give you an rf remote with the unit because it works great in my closet behind my front room - connected via a 30' set of component cables.

Oh, one more thing . . . I have had almost no problems with my 921 & have used it a lot every day for about 6 weeks now. I understand as I read this forum that many think this is a real pile of crap, but for me it works just as I had hoped - so far.


----------



## keitheva (Aug 23, 2002)

Good info SG, thanks.

The SilenX fans come with vibration damping mountings, so that may help with the front fan noise.

I'll try it anyway, and post findings.

Wish that E* would update the s/w to power-down the disk in standby mode (how hard can it be?).


----------

