External Hard Drive Problems and Discussion - See Facts Link in Post 1.

[mkey]

For the life of me, I tried the Vantec Nexstar CX with WD10EARS EHD on the 6131 receiver and it does not recognize the drive. I tried on three different 6131 and none of them works.

I then moved the EHD to two 9241 receivers and they both recognized the drive immediately and asked me if I wanted to format the drive.

I tried another EHD which is currently being used to store all my PC data on the 6131 and immediately recognized it and requested me to format the drive.

Why is the Vantec Nextstar CX not working on my three 6131s as it has been recommended in this forum many times over? Help!!!!

[mkey]

I did some troubleshooting and I was able to format the drive with the 9241 and created three partitions (1GB, 500GB and 430.51GB = Total 931.51GB). However, my intent is to have it working on the 6131 receiver.

When I connect the drive (WD10EARS EHD with the Vantec Nexstart CX enclosure) to my PC it shows up as Initio INIC-1610P USB Device. Anyone see this on yours?

Also, how do I disable the sleep mode on the drive?

[Riegeler]

Hey Mkey, I have the same problem, the only difference is that I have a 500G. I have been working on this for a week now, I can't seem to figure that one out. I also see the same initio INIC 1601 when I connect the enclosure to my PC.

My receiver is a 6141. One thing I have notice is when I connect the ehd to the receiver I don't see any message saying ready to format but if I do a reboot (hold power button for 5 secs), then if I unplug the ehd a message pop up that say something like, "receiver lost connection with usb device and will now reboot". So to me the receiver recognize something is connected to the usc port but can't seem to see the ehd.

I'm at a lost. I need help with this one also.

[mpmn05]

My receiver is a 6141, I have a WD 1TB SATA EARS EHD hooked up to it. Its been connected and powered on for the last 10 months and was working perfectly until 2 days ago. I was scrolling through the channel guide when an error box came onscreen "receiver lost connection with usb device and will now reboot" so I did it and all was fine until today. We had a power outage and when it came back on the receiver recognized an external USB EHD and asked me if I wanted to format it. I chose yes and it reformatted it OK and rebooted, but 5 min. after the picture came back it cycles over and over with the "receiver lost connection with usb device and will now reboot".

What to do now?

[ScaryBob]

There were some Vantec cases sold that had defective power blocks. Forget the brand of the bad blocks but the good ones are labeled Powmax. I've had a couple of occasions when the external drive was not recognized. It was solved by unplugging the receiver and drive, disconnecting the USB cable, plugging them back in, waiting for the receiver to boot and then plugging in the USB cable. Don't know why this happens. The 9242 had similar EHD issues just after it's release but they seem to be gone now.

[mpmn05]

Last night I was able to format the drive and set it up to record a program and I sat and watched while it did switch channels as I had set it up.

This a.m. this was onscreen:
959 a USB hard drive has been connected to your receiver, you must restart to...click on restart...
I restarted and got this:
955 the attached storage device is the wrong size. it only supports between 50GB and 1TB.

I've followed your procedure and it does the same thing.

what to do?

[ScaryBob]

What size is the drive? I would try connecting it to a PC and deleting all the partitions in disk manager. This will delete all programming and force the 61xx to reformat the drive. If it is still not recognized, zeroing out the boot records and partition table with a disk utility might help.

[mkey]

Riegeler, what is labelled on your power supply? I am going to check mine. From ScaryBob, we should swap or exchange for Powmax.

[Riegeler]

The power supply has the following marking:

Top side (looks like a label that was put on by Vantec)

Vantec
NexStar
for model:
NST-300S2
NST-300SU
NST-310S3

on the back side

Opti (possibly the brand of the power bloc)

Switching adapter
model: PA-226SA
input:100-240Vac 1A
50/60Hz,50-80VA
output:+12- - -3A Max
output:36W
After that you have the standard safety warning and the serial #.
The original serial # is covered by a second serial # sticker that seems have been added by Vantec.

[mpmn05]

Looks like its my receiver. I traded EHD with a buddy and its working on his receiver. His is not working on mine.

Anything else I might try? Master reset, etc?


Thanks for your help

[djsasso]

Riegeler I am having the same problem. I plug it in and its not recognized, but when I unplug it, it usually gives me a pop up saying a usb device is being unplugged so receiver restarting.....so it seems like it knows the drive is there but its not doing anything with it.

[tron 76]

I was archiving some shows from the PVR to my external hard drive, and the power went out, now i have it showing unsupported device....

Is there anyway to get this back without losing everything that was on this?


Have searched the forums and net with no luck

Thanks

[mkey]

Thanks Riegeler, I have the exact same.

I spoke with Vantec support and they said it is unlikely the power supply. The new Opti PS provides cleaner power and efficiency. I also believe it is not the PS as I can see it from my PC and it works on the 9241 but not 6131.

There are now three of us with this issue and I have spoken with Bell Tech support and he said this particular EHD setup will not work and not supported. Of course, I don't take their comments seriously

I don't suspect turning off sleep mode or head parking feature would be the cause as it only takes a few seconds after turning on the drive for the 9241 receiver to recognize it.

At this point, I am willing to try anything. Anyone know how to turn off sleep mode or head parking on this green drive?

[Riegeler]

Hey mkey and djsasso,
I will continue with testing, I will let you know if I come up with new result. I'm currently on the road won't be able to test until next week.

[ScaryBob]

Anyone know how to turn off sleep mode or head parking on this green drive?

Hdparm under Linux will change the power profile on some drives. I don't think it's supported on WD Green drives. There should not be a problem as Bell receivers do not let the drive sleep. A few drive models will sleep on lack of access but the WD EARS and EALS drives should be Ok since they use the power signal from the receiver, which is always on.