I actually ended up purchasing a seagate 500 GB FreeAgent Desk, and it also works great for me so far. The default on mine came with the power savings set to never, but I did plug it in to my computer to make that change with the light. It's great now!

99 bucks for the 500 GB 65HR HD is plenty sufficient.. And with the 5 year warranty, can't go wrong!

Hey guys,

I currently have a 6131 receiver that I initially had hooked up to my external hard drive. I eventually had to unplug the EHD because it was causing a lot of problems. Sometime it would record stuff sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes it would playback stuff sometimes it wouldn't. Anyway now when ever I hit enter on an upcoming program (in the guide) to set a timer the darn thing freezes and automatically resets itself. Has anyone had this happen? Is there a way to completely reset the receivers memory and setup everything all over again?

Any help is greatly appreciated.:D

Hello,

I have had this problem with my 6131 receiver pretty much since it was purchased in early July.

I have a DVR that is setup to record as the same time as my 6131. I would initially try the Auto-tune or VCR mode which from my previous receivers (3100) always worked to change the channel or turn on the receiver to the desired channel. The 6131 book states the same.

This failed repeatedly so I decided to try by leaving it on and now it doesn't change the channel.

I also attempted to program it manually and it has a very low success rate.

My guess is that it has something to do with the program information not being loaded efficiently.

This shouldn't be hit-or-miss in my eyes. It is a basic feature and doesn't behave consistently, in fact it seems to get worse as time goes.

I sometimes force the program load information but it cannot be trusted.

Right now, I leave the 6131 on always on the channel I need but I don't know what I will do once the fall season programming begins as different shows will be on different channels at different times.

Help!

Does anyone else have this problem?

Added the Comstar 320gb external hard drive to our 3100 today. It was recognized instantly and formated. Took about five minutes to restart and download the sat stuff and guide. Played with it for a while and it worked perfectly. Only problem is the inability to watch and record different channels at the same time but that is done downstars on the 9200.

Added the Comstar 320gb external hard drive to our 3100 today.

Wow Lindsay649, that is one hell of a mod.........To a 3100...Hmmmm.....lol

I guess it was really a 6131, eh.?

Shame because that would be quite the trick Bud.

I knew I would get your attention.:)

Is V167 the latest firmware for the 6131? I seem to be missing some channels, e.g. G4 Tech TV.

Is it possible to use a partitioned hard drive with the 6131 receiver? I have a 1TB external hard drive and I don't want to waste the entire thing for PVR. I want to reserve 500GB for my own personal data and use the other 500GB for PVR purposes.

If I partition the drive into two 500GB extended/primary (not logical) partitions, which partition will the 6131 choose to format for PVR purposes? The active partition?

Not possible. The 6131 will insist on reformatting the entire drive before you can use it, and your computer won't be able to use the drive unless it has been formatted for it. Really, what your asking would be very risky anyway. Disks are pretty cheap.

-Mike

Not possible. The 6131 will insist on reformatting the entire drive before you can use it, and your computer won't be able to use the drive unless it has been formatted for it. Really, what your asking would be very risky anyway. Disks are pretty cheap.

-Mike
Did you actually try it or are you just theorizing?

No, I didn't feel a need to try it, but you go ahead.

-Mike

which partition will the 6131 choose to format for PVR purposes?
Neither, the 6131 erases all partitions, creates its own partition table and formats them. It might be possible to hack the drive and/or the 6131 firmware to get around this, but is it worth it? An external enclosure costs $25 and another 1GB hard drive costs $80-$90 or a 500GB drive costs $60-$70. You will most likely fill that 1TB EHD with recorded programming in a few weeks anyway so why bother trying something that could cause data loss or other problems?

Neither, the 6131 erases all partitions, creates its own partition table and formats them. It might be possible to hack the drive and/or the 6131 firmware to get around this, but is it worth it? An external enclosure costs $25 and another 1GB hard drive costs $80-$90 or a 500GB drive costs $60-$70. You will most likely fill that 1TB EHD with recorded programming in a few weeks anyway so why bother trying something that could cause data loss or other problems?
I know hard drives are cheap and I have bought plenty of enclosures and hard drives from plenty of sources. That's not the issue. $100 is $100 and money doesn't grow on trees. I already have a 1TB drive that I would like to use for my personal data and occassional recordings.

I'm going to do some testing on my end and report back to see if it works, because it is obvious neither of you have actually tried anything.

I have looked at the drive structure, performed data recovery and tried a number of different drives. Dish receivers are very sensitive to disk corruption and usually stop working if there is any type of disk problem. Good luck.

I have looked at the drive structure, performed data recovery and tried a number of different drives. Dish receivers are very sensitive to disk corruption and usually stop working if there is any type of disk problem. Good luck.
I did some analysis of the drive on a Linux machine after it was formatted by the 6131. You're right afterall. Once I created another partition the 6131 deleted the entire partition table and I was back to square one.

Looks like I need to get another drive for my data.

Ok, so my 120 gig WD passport drive is now too small to use with the 6131. I have bought a nice new WD 750 gig drive which works great. Now I want to use my old 120 for movies and play them on my PC, how do I reformat the drive so I can use with the PC again? Thanks in advance.:confused:

When you plug it in you should see it in th list of drives. Just reformat it.

Hello,

I have had this problem with my 6131 receiver pretty much since it was purchased in early July.

I have a DVR that is setup to record as the same time as my 6131. I would initially try the Auto-tune or VCR mode which from my previous receivers (3100) always worked to change the channel or turn on the receiver to the desired channel. The 6131 book states the same.

This failed repeatedly so I decided to try by leaving it on and now it doesn't change the channel.

I also attempted to program it manually and it has a very low success rate.

My guess is that it has something to do with the program information not being loaded efficiently.

This shouldn't be hit-or-miss in my eyes. It is a basic feature and doesn't behave consistently, in fact it seems to get worse as time goes.

I sometimes force the program load information but it cannot be trusted.

Right now, I leave the 6131 on always on the channel I need but I don't know what I will do once the fall season programming begins as different shows will be on different channels at different times.

Help!

Does anyone else have this problem?

Hello
First time poster here...
I just bought the Seagate FreeAgent 1TB drive to hook up to my 6131. I want to make sure the auto sleep mode is not active. From what I gather, I should hook the hard drive to my PC and adjust these settings PRIOR to having the bell receiver format the drive. Is this correct??
Thanks

I just picked up a "SimpleTech" "S1000uc" 1 TB external hard drive for my 6131, but cannot get it to work. The receiver goes through the motions tells me theres a new USB, needs to restart to load etc, does all that, updates guide but the PVR function is still not working. I called bell a couple days ago, told me all I need to do is plug and play, my 6131 is ready for the hard drive.

Anyone have any ideas? Going to call Bell tomorrow if anyone here doesn't have a reason why it would not work? Heading out for a bit now, will check these in a few hours.

Also,I was reading sometimes 1TB hard drives do not work, can someone suggest a different hard drive to use? name model# just in case i need to return this.