Skybox s11 stopped recording HD - Device too slow??

[Montebox]

I've had my Skybox s11 for about 10 months now and it's recorded all HD chans on to my external WD 1TB hard drive perfectly (The hard drive is powered by its own psu)I could also pause live TV when watching HD chans. It now flashes up with "device too slow" and will not record (or pause live TV) to to the HD. It will record SD chans OK, but not HD. If I play back previous HD chans that I had recorded on it, it stutters and is slow to read.

I've tried another WD 1TB (inc leads and psu) and that's the same - slow to read, so it's not a fault with the hard drive.

I've not changed the firmware or any other setting, the box has just decided to not record/play HD any more.

Do I have a faulty box? The pin out voltages on the box USB socket are +5v and 0v respectively, so I haven't lost the 5v rail.

Or more cynically, do these boxes after a year decide to have a fault*? I think the firmware is 08/08/11

Any help would be appreciated.

[slugworth]

you're lucky it lasted this long.
I had to get a usb3.0 case for my hardrive to avoid that error on hd,especially the high symbol rate wildfeeds.
As a consolation,the programs will play back on a pc fine or you can to burn to dvd and watch that way.
I would go with the 10-10-2011 firmware at least.

[Montebox]

Thanks, Slugworth. I'm scratching my head at this one. I know you can watch the files via the PC, but I like to record in HD from the box (ESPN has UFC on very late!)

Would a newer firmware solve this? Or do I have a tired box?

[slugworth]

I spent more money on cases and hardrives than I did on the receiver.Problem was solved with the usb3.0 case.

[Montebox]

Slugworth, does your usb 3 case need external power from a psu or does it power directly from the skybox?

Can I remove my hard drive (WD 1tb) from my case and fit the USB 3 one easily?

Any help appreciated

[slugworth]

The usb3.0 is externally powered.
I had to remove my seagate 1.5tb from the original case which the openbox wouldn't detect.Only old firmware from june 2011 would detect it,so the usb2.0 original case was useless for this.The usb3.0 case has a display for temp and it has a fan built-in.