Malcolm H Malcolm wrote:
: I've have had my current Pace Sky+HD (modified to 1Tb) box for couple of
: years and it may have crashed 3 or 4 times but NEVER when using Anytime.

I have had VERY similar experiences - but with a Thomson HD box upgraded to
1Tb! Despite what other people seem to find with Thomsons mine has been
rock solid from new!

"Brian Mc" wrote in message
...
Malcolm H Malcolm wrote:
: I've have had my current Pace Sky+HD (modified to 1Tb) box for couple of
: years and it may have crashed 3 or 4 times but NEVER when using Anytime.

I have had VERY similar experiences - but with a Thomson HD box upgraded
to
1Tb! Despite what other people seem to find with Thomsons mine has been
rock solid from new!


To be honest, I think my Thomson was not well enough ventilated and suffered
from overheating. I improved the ventilation when I swapped to Pace.

On Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:57:45 +0100, "Malcolm H" Malcolm
wrote:

I've have had my current Pace Sky+HD (modified to 1Tb) box for couple of
years and it may have crashed 3 or 4 times but NEVER when using Anytime.

You say "NEVER", but Anytime is working all of the time recording
stuff in the background if it's turned on, so how can you tell if
these crashes were caused by Anytime or not? Either way your statement
could support what I was saying.

Either you have Anytime on, and those crashes could well have been
caused by Anytime. Perhaps those crashes wouldn't have happened if
Anytime was off.

Or you have Anytime off, in which case 4 crashes in a year sounds
pretty good going for a Sky+HD box, and could be attributed to having
Anytime off.

I do notice a trend, however, that people with upgraded hard drives
don't have this problem as much. I have associated I/O load as a
problem for Sky boxes crashing in the past. That being that they seem
to crash way more frequently the more hard drive bandwidth that is
being used. I can make my Sky box crash in about 15 seconds by
recording two HD programs at once, then quickly and randomly pressing
the Play/Pause/FF/RW buttons on another pre-recorded HD program.

--
Vincent

[snip]

I can make my Sky box crash in about 15 seconds by
recording two HD programs at once, then quickly and randomly pressing
the Play/Pause/FF/RW buttons on another pre-recorded HD program.

--
Vincent


I just tried recording two HD programs simultaneously then played back a
previously recorded HD program. No amount of play/pause/FF/FR button
pressing could make my box crash.

What make is your box? what size is your HD?

On Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:59:59 +0100, "Malcolm H"
wrote:


[snip]

I can make my Sky box crash in about 15 seconds by
recording two HD programs at once, then quickly and randomly pressing
the Play/Pause/FF/RW buttons on another pre-recorded HD program.

--
Vincent


I just tried recording two HD programs simultaneously then played back a
previously recorded HD program. No amount of play/pause/FF/FR button
pressing could make my box crash.

What make is your box? what size is your HD?

It's a standard Thompson box, no modifications. I've had a total of
three Thompson boxes over the years since Sky HD first appeared.
They've all had this problem, even when brand new. My Dad has a Pace
(I think), and I've witnessed his crashing when FFing adverts too.

I maybe exaggerated with the 15 seconds bit. It would be more accurate
to say that 9 out of 10 crashes that do occur with Anytime off (which
happen maybe once a month or so) are when the box is heavily loaded.
By that I mean it's recording two things at once and I'm pressing
buttons to FF/RW/Play another.

It's relatively well ventilated and it's not dust or bulging
capacitors as this happens even when the box is new. There's a 4" gap
at the sides and above it, and it's open at the front. There's also a
4" diameter hole at the back where the cables come in.
--
Vincent