Faulty Maxtor HD on my HM-HDS1

For all discussions regarding the JVC HM-HDS1 (40GB hard disk and S-VHS recorder)

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mike_kitchen
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2005 5:19 pm

Faulty Maxtor HD on my HM-HDS1

Post by mike_kitchen »

Hi

The other posts on this forum seem all too familiar. My HM-HDS1 started turning itself off, needed repeated efforts to reboot and then eventually died.

As it was out of warranty and I'd upgraded the HD on my PC I thought I'd have a go at fixing it myself. I tested the Maxtor D540X-4K 40MB on my PC using the Powermax test program. It reported an obscure error message/number within seconds - an electronics problem?

I found an identical drive on eBay, but once I got it I realised I didn't have a clue what file system I should format the disk with.

After a quick search I found a thread leading to this excellent site with all the details I needed. My problem is that I'm one of those sad people using a 56K modem! I'm never going to manage to download the image files to get the OS etc back on the drive.

Can anybody out there help me with the Ghost images spanned on DVDs - I'm quite happy to pay for them. Alternatively could anybody recommend a JVC repair shop in the UK?

Finally is there an inherent design fault with the HM-HDS1? Very few people seem to have the HD fail on their PC's yet there seem to be quite a few HD problems with the HM-HDS1. I know most video recorders are left on 24/7 but so is my PC.

Thanks for your help
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Andy Cippico
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Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 8:54 am
Location: England

Post by Andy Cippico »

Hi Mike_Kitchen,

Firstly, I'm sorry you had to find this site! In answer to your question, I don't really know why these disks fail so often. My only theory is that as soon as you switch the JVC on, it starts recording live TV, ready for you to press the pause button; i.e. for the 'pause live TV' feature. PC disks mostly sit there, performing an occasional page swap. They're not working nearly as hard.

As to your dialup issue, send me a private message or email detailing your postal address and I'll send you a DVD with the image on. You're not the first I've done this for. I think us broadband users tend to forget that dialup still exists.

If you prefer to get it fixed by an official JVC repair shop then look no further than my fellow BBS moderator, AndyWilks. You can send him a private message from this forum.

Hope that helps,
Andy
Guest

Post by Guest »

Just a quick post to say that I've got my HM-HDS1 working - a big thank you for all your help.

The Maxtor H/D I bought on eBay turned out to be faulty - it had a faulty controller board. The original disk had bad sectors and there was a problem with the SMART monitoring (both tested with Max Blast from the Maxtor website). I got brave and took the control board off the original disk and fitted it to the replacement disk (you just unscrew it and it un-plugs) and finished with a working disk. I then followed the instructions to Ghost the images onto the disk, fitted it back in the HM-HDS1 and it worked 1st time!!

I've now bought a couple more spare Maxtor H/D and Ghosted the image onto each and tested them to check that they work. I'm now prepared if the H/D fails again...

Finally I have stuck some heat sensitive labels onto the Maxtor H/D. They change colour (non-reversable) at different temperatures so you can see what the maximum temperature has been. There must be a reason for so many of us having H/D failures and I wonder if it is heat?

Thanks again

Mike Kitchen
Guest

Post by Guest »

Hi, Glad to here you got it sorted, i too might try the controller board swap thing shortly,

do us a favour will you .... post up your full drive details, just to see if the drive models etc were the same as the rest of us are using

oh ... and they fail so much cause maxtor suck !!
Wayne
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2005 11:19 am

Post by Wayne »

:?
that was me that replied above .... for some reason i got logged out before i replied ... lol
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Andy Cippico
Site Admin
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 8:54 am
Location: England

Post by Andy Cippico »

Yep, sorry Wayne. That was probably me. I noticed that people were able to post as 'Guest'. I've now stopped that, so in future you've got to log in, I'm afraid.
I got your email, btw, and I'm glad you got there in the end. Sounds like a 'mare!

Andy
Wayne
Posts: 48
Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2005 11:19 am

Post by Wayne »

yeah was a bit but working at the moment, Geert doesnt think i'll be able to get those other drives up and running cause of the firmware drive check that is built in
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