Is new Hard Drive Installation really possible?

[wilamowski3]

The instructions for upgrading a Hard Drive are really well written. But, so far I can't make it work. My hard drive failed, so I'm trying to install a new one. I have tried numerous hard drives that should be compatible, but still no luck.

Step 6 is where I get hung up. When I plug in the unit it never comes back and prompts me for a "WebTV upgrade". Is this really possible to do throughj the phone system?

Since it doesn't prompt me I tried Step 6A. I powered off the receiver with the remote. I pressed Menu, 6,1,1. The lights on the unit never flash on and off twice. So, I never get to all of the resets.

I've done other things like re-intialize the hard drive. (Menu, 6,3, Info, Browse, Theme, Play, Play, Recall). I got the TV working but still no PVR.

The unit is a 510. I have looked at other sites that talk about having to program the hard drive through the PC. I've gotten as far as zeroing the hard drive. But then it talks about a whole bunch of other programming that I'm not yet up to speed on. (Using IRDR.exe, Flash Edit software, jKeys, a j-tag, virgin firmware, and virgin EEPROM Image).

So does anyone really know? Is there really a way to do a WebTV update or not?

[Allen Gilliam]

I have a PVR501 with a 40g Seagate and the menu 6 1 1 code doesn't do anything on it either. Although, the box did restart once (redetect the satellites & download the guide) after I did it several times. I can get into the memory dump screen only. I wonder if they changed the access procedure to force people to buy new boxes rather than replace the drives.

My box has been used heavily for about 5 years. The drive has started occasionally making distressing noises. I just want to replace it preemptively so I don't miss any TV. I don't even necessarily want a bigger drive.

I've been reading about this for like 10 hours and I still don't know whether a 501 can be made to start using a new hard drive without reprogramming the EEPROM or cloning the drive in a PC with a $70 piece of software. I'm not even sure those options will work. There's all kinds of conflicting information.

BTW, it's a big mistake for DishNetwork to make this so difficult, because a side effect of my research is that I now know about half of what I need to know to start stealing service! I had lots of good will toward DishNetwork until I started banging my head against this brick wall.

[Larryg]

Where do I go, to exactly, get the directions to change out my hard drive. I have a 501. I have followed the links that supposedly is going to take me to the directions. But, I can't find them?
Any help would be appreciated.
hank You.

[coolt]

Where do I go, to exactly, get the directions to change out my hard drive. I have a 501. I have followed the links that supposedly is going to take me to the directions. But, I can't find them?
Any help would be appreciated.
hank You.

Well... the instructions are here - http://pvr.digitalinsurrection.com/dish_network_pvr_upgrade.php

However, I don't know if they still work since there is no more WebTV. Please webmaster, can you confirm if this still works??!! Thanks