Ceton Tuner Trouble - Bad Hard Drive?

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Trapper02

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Ceton Tuner Trouble - Bad Hard Drive?

#1

Post by Trapper02 » Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:21 pm

Well Been fighting my tuner for the last couple of weeks. Use to run just perfect, But i think I finally got something figured out.

Used to be member of the old green button, glad to see it has returned.

It all started when the signal/picture on the tv would start "skipping/studder" or pausing, "freeze" on a frame, then it would eventually start back up. Then it just became worse all together, and wouldnt play and gave me the "weak or no signal" blue screen. Then my Secondary hard drive wasn't even being recognized by the HTPC i could feel the drive running, but windows could never see it not even in disk mgmt. Only place it new it was plugged in was BIOS. I could plug it into my other PC and it would show up just fine. So i decide ah heck with it, fresh install. Well at first that seemed to fix almost everything! 2nd Hard drive shows up, TV is working just fine. So I installed my nvidia video drivers, and then of course the barrage of windows updates. Then the same old problems start to arise with the signal. I tried different cable chords, and plugging the line directly into the HTPC still no good.

Frustrated i got to reading forums, come across a post from i think a Ceton guy, saying he has known on board WIFI and faulty Hard drives to mess with the tuner. So I just had to check. disable the WIFI all together in device manager. No luck. So i think maybe that hard drive is screwy, that seems to be what first started problems early on with it disappearing. So i un hook the hard drive SATA/power reboot. Watched TV for 20 mins since it was 1:30am and it seemed to work fine! Changed channels quickly watched other channels, all good picture. In the past if it started messing up it started right away. Also One clue was how much FASTER my machine booted up after i removed the 2nd hard drive. It used to set on the windows 7 logo for like a good 20-30 secs, now its just there for like 5 or so seconds. My 2nd hard drive shouldn't slow my machine down, should it?

Also i had a cable guy came test my lines last week and he said they were good, getting a strong signal. I have an amp. in the attic also. I have 2 TV's that just have a cable line plugged directly into them and they get a clear strong picture.

So i thinking maybe i have a faulty hard drive on my hands. Will know more later, going home for lunch to watch tv and see if i get a solid hour with no interruptions. Any other tips or tricks that i may need to check would be appreciated. Thank you!

My signal has been
-8 to -10
33 to 35
(I can't remember wich is db or dbmv, something)

HTPC Specs
CPU: Intel 2.8GHz Dual Core
Ram: 4GB
Main Hard Drive: 40GB SSD
2nd Hard Drive: 500GB 2.5" Laptop Drive
MOBO: ZOTAC nvidia 9300

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Scallica

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#2

Post by Scallica » Thu Feb 16, 2012 4:01 pm

Install HD Sentinel Pro and reconnect the hard drive. You will be alerted if the drive is producing any SMART errors.

http://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_sen ... creenshots
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Trapper02

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#3

Post by Trapper02 » Thu Feb 16, 2012 4:09 pm

Will give it a shot at lunch, I hope it is just a bad hard drive, please let it be just that simple. I didn't format the 2nd hard drive with the fresh install cause she had a bunch of recorded TV shows so I was trying to save them, I warned her though I may need to format. (I really dont want to mess with copying all those shows to another drive, i could but there's nothing really that important worth saving, Hallmark shows Golden Girls all the time. same goes for Teen Mom. lol)

The wife doesn't have as much patients on trouble shooting, I said hey no TV, means we can communicate more... we lol'd

Trapper02

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#4

Post by Trapper02 » Thu Feb 16, 2012 8:18 pm

Went home for lunch didnt have time to try the HD Sentinel Pro, but will tonight.

Watched TV for about 45 mins, uninterrupted, good picture the entire time. Able to change channels easily.

I'll run that Hard Drive test this evening to make sure its the hard drive and report back.

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STC

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#5

Post by STC » Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:10 pm

If there is a problem reading/writing to the hard disk, a quick check of event viewer/system can also give you clues.
Something like: An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk....
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#6

Post by erkotz » Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:13 pm

stonethecrows wrote:If there is a problem reading/writing to the hard disk, a quick check of event viewer/system can also give you clues.
Something like: An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk....
I will say I had similar problems once with a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 drive (the drives that ruined Seagate's reputation). Drive never returned read errors, but would become somewhat un-responsive once in a while, causing video pixelation
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Trapper02

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#7

Post by Trapper02 » Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:40 pm

Thats what I was starting to think. Cause I am using the 2nd drive to record TV to, took the drive out and so far problems are solved.

I need 2.5" Hard Drive atleast 500GB. The one I currently am having trouble with is a WD Blue. It should still be under warranty being only about 6 months old. Been thinking about getting another one, should i stick with WD?

gpatlanta

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#8

Post by gpatlanta » Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:38 am

I just had a 2.5 Seagate go bad in the same situation. I've had it just under a year and filed a warranty replacement. However they are under stocked at the moment. In any case, i wonder if all the rewriting and reads are too much for these HDs to handle over time.
Greg

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#9

Post by Trapper02 » Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:39 pm

gpatlanta wrote:I just had a 2.5 Seagate go bad in the same situation. I've had it just under a year and filed a warranty replacement. However they are under stocked at the moment. In any case, i wonder if all the rewriting and reads are too much for these HDs to handle over time.
Interesting theory. I would hope not.

Well got home late, and then realized it ways Grey's/Private Practice night... Figured not a good night to jack with the HTPC and not have it up and read by they time the started. And really to late to dive into them after they are over. Gotta keep the wife happy :)

So looks like I will be doing it tonight.

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#10

Post by Trapper02 » Sat Feb 18, 2012 12:46 am

Ran the HD test.

"There are 10 weak sectors found on the disk surface. They may be remapped any time in the later use of the disk.
At this point, warranty replacement of the disk is not yet possible, only if the health drops further.
It is recommended to examine the log of the disk regularly. All new problems found will be logged there.

No actions needed."

Anything else i should be looking at that i can post up?

Also the tv is back to skipping/pausing again, just as soon as i plugged that hard drive in it started.

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#11

Post by gpatlanta » Sun Feb 19, 2012 11:35 pm

Slapped a bigger 3.5 i had lying around until Seagate can get me a replacement (they are out of stock) and it is runnng smoothly for me again. If you have another HD to try, i would recommend that to test.
Greg

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