How to check if your hard drive is overheating

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Learn how to check whether your cable box hard drive is overheating. If the PVR's hard drive overheats it will disable the hard drive and you will find that you are presented with the error DVR Service Unavailable or your recordings will fail. Overheating most commonly happens when the PVR or Expander is not getting enough airflow, due to the vents not being exposed.

How to check your Pace Digital Box

Follow these steps to check if the hard drive on your Pace Digital Box is overheating.

1. Ensure that both the TV and Pace Digital Box are powered on
2. Press POWER using the button directly on the front panel of the digital box and within one-second press the OK button
3. The Diagnostics menu/Dashboard will appear
4. Select HDD Health
5. Check that the temperature has not risen over 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit)

Ensure that there aren’t any unnecessary objects lying directly on top of the equipment, and thereby blocking the vents for the fan. Lastly, you will need to reset your digital box. Please refer to:

• Resetting Your Digital Box: if you do not have an Expander connected to your PVR
• Reset a Digital Box with an Expander: if you have an Expander connected to your PVR

How to check your Motorola Digital Box

Follow these steps to check if the hard drive on your Motorola Digital Box is overheating.

1. Ensure that both the TV and Motorola digital box are powered on
2. Press POWER using the button directly on the front panel of the digital box and within one-second press the OK button
3. The Diagnostics menu/Dashboard will appear
4. Select DVR/HDD status, and scroll down to the second page
5. Check that the temperature has not risen over 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit)

Ensure that there aren’t any unnecessary objects lying directly on top of the equipment blocking the vents for the fan. Lastly, you will need to reset your digital box. Please refer to:

• Resetting Your Digital Box: if you do not have an Expander connected to your PVR
• Reset a Digital Box with an Expander: if you have an Expander connected to your PVR
   

These steps are only for Motorola Digital Boxes using the classic guide, and will not work for units using the new HD Guide.

Related readings

• Troubleshooting: DVR Service Unavailable
• Resetting your digital cable box
• How to reset a digital box with an expander