I went to upgrade my 3600 from V3.20 to V3.21 last night but bad things happened. The upgrade progress bar stalled at about 20% and the PVR became unresponsive. I cycled the power and live TV came up as normal but it reports no HDD.
I tried to repeat the upgrade from USB stick and it couldn't find software any more. My PC is happy with the USB stick but my 3600 seems to think it is broken.
I initiated the rescue procedure but the display shows "RESCUE" forever, never showing the V3.21 software on the USB stick and never showing an error message. I put V3.19 onto the USB stick (that was released in order to rescue large HDDs) and the display showed "RESCUE" for a short time and then scrolled "NO STAGE 2 PRESS OK TO RESCAN". The USB stick contained stage2 and stage2.rfl.
I opened the 3600 at this point and found that the heat sink had become partly detached from the main PCB. One of the spring loaded fasteners had become unclipped from the PCB allowing the heatsink to lift off the CPU. That was easily reinstalled but it has presumably been like this for some time (over summer - poor thing)!
I removed the original 500GB Hitachi HDD and it spins up but won't mount on my (Win 7) PC via my SATA dock. The PC and 3600 agree that the HDD definitely seems broken.
I've got a 500GB Seagate HDD but I can't get it till Monday and I'd really like to have a plan today. I connected a 160GB Maxtor HDD to the 3600. Once booted, "System info" shows "160GB HDD" but "Check and repair system HDD" shows "no HDD". The 3600 thinks that this HDD is dead but my PC is perfectly happy with it.
I've tried removing its partition but nothing changed. Is a de-partitioned HDD not valid? Should I manually create the expected partitions? Would that be 400K and the rest? Would I have to format them EXT3 and JFS or could I expect the 3600 to do that?
It seems that my 3600 has died so it can't read USB or SATA storage devices and simultaneously eaten its original HDD. This seems unusual to me (all the power supplies seem in good shape now). Has anyone seen a new MTV3700 on sale for less than about $650 recently?
JefWright: I've got a 500GB Seagate HDD but I can't get it till Monday and I'd really like to have a plan today. I connected a 160GB Maxtor HDD to the 3600. Once booted, "System info" shows "160GB HDD" but "Check and repair system HDD" shows "no HDD". The 3600 thinks that this HDD is dead but my PC is perfectly happy with it.
I've tried removing its partition but nothing changed. Is a de-partitioned HDD not valid? Should I manually create the expected partitions? Would that be 400K and the rest? Would I have to format them EXT3 and JFS or could I expect the 3600 to do that?
After you replace the hard drive, follow steps 1-5 stated in the owner's guide p.65(Rescue Procedure) to get the unit into rescue mode. When the firmware is found, press "1, 5, 9, 0, 0" and then it will ask if you want to format the hard drive. Press 'OK' to execute the format operation.
When you tried to use the 500GB drive from the MTV in a PC, did you repartition it?
Boot off a USB stick into rescue mode. You MUST use a legit firmware NOT one of 2lostkiwis hacked firmware).
If that fails, try this next:
Remove the HDD and replace with another.
Boot off a USB stick into rescue mode (using a legit firmware).
Format the HDD and upgrade the firmware.
Restart.
Meanwhile, load original HDD in Linxu PC and check the drive is readable. If the volume is not validated then issuing fsck.jfs will clean it up.
Refit original HDD back into MagicTV.
Restart.
Can only boot to Rescue mode with a legit firmware (on the USB stick). If you are running a hacked firmware, then that should not be an issue.
To upgrade the Hard Drive (this info is in one of the MTV3600 threads somewhere) you have to carry out the following procedure to get the MagicTV to format the HDD and to recognise it.
After you replace the hard drive, follow steps 1-5 stated in the owner's guide p.69 (Rescue Procedure) to get the unit into rescue mode.
When the firmware is found, press "1, 5, 9, 0, 0" and then it will ask if you want to format the hard drive.
Thank you to 2lostkiwis. It's amazing how much you miss the add jump when you have to go without it for a while. I guess it is made worse by the irratic fast forward etc of the 3600. So thank you once again. Fantastic.
I loaded the non modified 3.20 firmware but regularly had no HDMI handshake with the TV. This was easy to resolve by turning the TV off then on. The modified version exhibited the same problems. Had to move to 3.21 and that seems to work quite well. Have now loaded the modified version of 3.21 and things are looking good. Looks like we may get a little more life out of the old 3600 after all.......
JefWright: I've got a 500GB Seagate HDD but I can't get it till Monday and I'd really like to have a plan today. I connected a 160GB Maxtor HDD to the 3600. Once booted, "System info" shows "160GB HDD" but "Check and repair system HDD" shows "no HDD". The 3600 thinks that this HDD is dead but my PC is perfectly happy with it.
I've tried removing its partition but nothing changed. Is a de-partitioned HDD not valid? Should I manually create the expected partitions? Would that be 400K and the rest? Would I have to format them EXT3 and JFS or could I expect the 3600 to do that?
After you replace the hard drive, follow steps 1-5 stated in the owner's guide p.65 (Rescue Procedure) to get the unit into rescue mode. When the firmware is found, press "1, 5, 9, 0, 0" and then it will ask if you want to format the hard drive. Press 'OK' to execute the format operation.
When you tried to use the 500GB drive from the MTV in a PC, did you repartition it?
That's the procedure I attempt to use (forum page printed off and manual open beside me). I get as far as the front panel saying "RESCUE" but it seems that the firmware cannot be not found. I don't get a firmware number, I don't get a format prompt, I don't even get an error message. Pressing 15900 has no effect.
I use ExtFS for windows which normally automatically mounts EXT formatted partitions but that behaved as if the disk wasn't present at all. I get different results now (a day later) and I can see a 0.39Gb ExtFS partition and an unrecognised 465.37Gb partition that both pass a MiniTool surface test. Since it's behaving differently now I'll try my luck with it in the MTV again.
JefWright: That's the procedure I attempt to use (forum page printed off and manual open beside me). I get as far as the front panel saying "RESCUE" but it seems that the firmware cannot be not found. I don't get a firmware number, I don't get a format prompt, I don't even get an error message. Pressing 15900 has no effect.
I have found that happen with various USB flash drives that I have in my random collection. I would try a few more flash drives if you can, unless you have used this flash previously and know it to work.
JefWright: That's the procedure I attempt to use (forum page printed off and manual open beside me). I get as far as the front panel saying "RESCUE" but it seems that the firmware cannot be not found. I don't get a firmware number, I don't get a format prompt, I don't even get an error message. Pressing 15900 has no effect.
I have found that happen with various USB flash drives that I have in my random collection. I would try a few more flash drives if you can, unless you have used this flash previously and know it to work.
Also, double check you are using the legit firmware and not 2lostkiwis hacked firmware. If you try the rescue procedure with hacked firmware, the result is the MagicTV sits showing Rescue and that is as far as it goes. It will never fully start up.
RingoTB: Here's a couple of things to try and note:
If the MagicTV fails to start, do the following: Boot off a USB stick into rescue mode. You MUST use a legit firmware NOT one of 2lostkiwis hacked firmware). If that fails, try this next: Remove the HDD and replace with another.
Boot off a USB stick into rescue mode (using a legit firmware).
Format the HDD and upgrade the firmware.
Restart.
Meanwhile, load original HDD in Linxu PC and check the drive is readable. If the volume is not validated then issuing fsck.jfs will clean it up.
Refit original HDD back into MagicTV.
Restart.
Can only boot to Rescue mode with a legit firmware (on the USB stick). If you are running a hacked firmware, then that should not be an issue. To upgrade the Hard Drive (this info is in one of the MTV3600 threads somewhere) you have to carry out the following procedure to get the MagicTV to format the HDD and to recognise it.
After you replace the hard drive, follow steps 1-5 stated in the owner's guide p.69 (Rescue Procedure) to get the unit into rescue mode.
When the firmware is found, press "1, 5, 9, 0, 0" and then it will ask if you want to format the hard drive.
Press 'OK' to execute the format operation.
My 3600 won't boot of a USB stick. It gets as far as "RESCUE" but doesn't seem to be able to read the firmware on the USB stick. I've had subtly different results with patched 3.21, un-patched 3.21 and un-patched 3.19b5. 3.19b5 complained specifically about "missing stage 2" which seemed to be present.
I don't have a linux pc available to check and validate the HDD with. Minitool thinks the surface is error free.
Thanks for making the effort. I'll retrace my steps tonight with these comments in mind and see if I get the same or different results. I suspect I'm buying a 3700 tomorrow but they seem remarkably thin on the ground. The retail channel doesn't seem to want to know about them. Dish TV and 100% acknowledge their existence (but 100% link straight to DishTV for specs).
I don't have a linux pc available to check and validate the HDD with. Minitool thinks the surface is error free.
Try downloading a ubunta iso and burning it to disk. One of the options it has is to run directly from the disk. If you unplug you Windows HDD and plug in the MagicTV hdd, there should not be any errors around confusing the hdds. When finished, just plug your windows HDD in and your PC is back to normal.
I am pleased (but not reassured) that my 3600 now reads the same USB stick that it wouldn't before and recognises its original Hitachi HDD. I probably should have tried not rescuing but it was getting late and the experiments do cut into my sleep time ;-). I was able to rescue with 3.21 (the same files I unzipped yesterday on the same USB stick) so I formatted and then upgraded for good measure. It is a pity about the archive of programs I thought I might get around to watching one day. If only we were able to backup content. On restart I upgraded to patched 3.21 (do it properly since I'm mucking with it), disabled time shifting and enabled auto standby (and reinstated a whole lot of series-linked recording). We'll see if we have memory leak or re-start on return from standby issues.
Somehow I think I'll still be lining up for a new PVR soon.
I am not sure if this would have any thing to do with the rescue procedure but I have found the firmware loads much faster if I use the lower / bottom USB port. Only seems to take about half the time. The top one works but is very slow. I have three MTV 3600s that I try to keep up to date and they are all like that. It's not easy when reaching into the tangle of cables in the back of the cabinet doing everything by feel to know which USB port the memory stick is going into but it does make a difference. Maybe the rescue procedure should be done from the lower port. Just my 2 cents worth.
3600 fell over again between uses but this time was able to load rescue software from USB stick. Original Hitachi HDD was finger-burning hot. Replaced last night with old Seagate. So far so good. I'll try & keep the HDD empty-ish for a while. We'll see how it goes on return from auto-standby and whether it gets laggy if it's not re-started regularly.
Nutts: I am not sure if this would have any thing to do with the rescue procedure but I have found the firmware loads much faster if I use the lower / bottom USB port. Only seems to take about half the time. The top one works but is very slow. I have three MTV 3600s that I try to keep up to date and they are all like that. It's not easy when reaching into the tangle of cables in the back of the cabinet doing everything by feel to know which USB port the memory stick is going into but it does make a difference. Maybe the rescue procedure should be done from the lower port. Just my 2 cents worth.
I tried both USB ports last night and they seemed to take about the same time to load the rescue software, find the upgrade and offer to install it. Perhaps there's something wrong with one of the phys on your main board.
JefWright: 3600 fell over again between uses but this time was able to load rescue software from USB stick. Original Hitachi HDD was finger-burning hot. Replaced last night with old Seagate. So far so good. I'll try & keep the HDD empty-ish for a while. We'll see how it goes on return from auto-standby and whether it gets laggy if it's not re-started regularly.
If you want to test if the Hitachi HDD is OK or not, try plugging it into a PC and then run the Hitachi HDD Diagnostic Tools to test the HDD. You can get them here: http://www.hgst.com/support/downloads
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