New Contributor
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5 Messages
Motorola DVR DCH3416 hangs up.... conflicts with eSATA external drive?
I have a 1TB external drive connected with the Motorola DVR Cable Box (DCH3416) for extra recoding space. I understand that the DVR works something like a hard drive in a computer and 'communicates' with the external drive, but what is happening is that over half the time remote control commands are 'hung up' .... ie-changing channels, switching to recorded shows listing, etc. don't happen at once, as if the DVR is hanging up the way a computer will sometimes. After a few seconds the commands will happen in rapid succession (like when you try to load a browser, get impatient and click several times, so you get several browser pages opening at once).
I've called COX tech support a few times and, depending on the familiarity of the tech with this issue, the answer varies from "it's always going to happen because of the external drive" to "switch out the box for a new one" (not my choice first as I'd lose everything on IT and the DVR itself).
Anyone have a more definitive (ie- useful) thought on this?
Health_Edge
Valued Contributor III
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4.2K Messages
11 years ago
What makes you think the freezing up of the user interface has anything to do with the external drive? Does it not occur with the hard drive disconnected? If so, try disconnecting the drive and running a check disk on it. Also make sure you have decent ventilation.
Something else to check that is separate from the hard drive is how many scheduled recordings and series you have set. If have found if you have a excessive amount it can slow things down.
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midlife
New Contributor
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5 Messages
11 years ago
Well, first........... as I said in my post, one Cox tech told me it did. Second, I just disconnected the external drive again and the hangup did not occur when it did just prior.
I also went through and deleted a bunch of unwanted scheduled series recording but still have maybe 35 or so. I'd be interested in what makes you think that could affect this. Does the drive poll that list before executing a command to change channels? Or are you thinking the internal drive could just have too much on it? I can see that affecting some commands, but not just changing channels. Oh, I also used a different remote (usually used with another Cox box, not a DVR) and the same behavior occurred .I'll leave the external drive disconnected a while and see if the issue comes back with the series list having been shortened, but it didn't on past tries.
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midlife
New Contributor
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5 Messages
11 years ago
Thank you for the suggestion re the series manager list. 36 hours ago I deleted a dozen or so series entries of what had grown to maybe maybe 50 in the list and also unplugged the external drive for a while as well as re-booting the cable box. When I fired everything back up the hanging up had gone away, at least for the first 24 hours. After that I've noticed a bit of hangup in going to the listing of recorded shows, and in fast forward, but nowhere at all near what it was before.
I'm curious as to whether the series manager list was really the culprit. I suppose, if this all happens again, I will do the fixes one at a time to isolate what works. Any specifics as to why you suspected it? Is it possible that the 160GB drive in the box isn't capable of handling a longer list, and why would that be?
Thanks again.
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jcronley
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6 Messages
10 years ago
I think the problem is your external drive. If it goes to sleep while it is connected, it can hang the box up until it wakes. The solution is to get an AV drive like the WD MyBook AV DVR extender, $100 from Amazon. This drive has its parameters set to provide rapid response for AV service.
This works fine with my DCT3416 in Tulsa.
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