Hard Drive capputt

#1

I am so upset I am not sure what to do with this Hard drive, I am new to all this hard drive WD player world and am only just beginning to understand it all.

My disabled son just got for xmas the WD player from his nan as we were forever ruining DVDs as he is unable to put them back in containers etc.  Anyway we have now got a 1 ter hard drive and a WD player i guess its the live one IM not sure ??

Anyway a friend loaded on a whole lot of his most favourite DVD’s and has truly changed this boys life, he now has some level of indepndence when viewing a movie in his bedroom he is the happiest boy ever, until today that is.

it has been working fine since february when it all finally got set up and ready to go, then today we turned it on it all went snap and flicked the fuses in the house and caput it no longer works and we have no power to it at all.  Nothing nudda 

’ upset is the understatement I have a 14yr old intellectually and physically disabled boy pacing the length of my house wondering what is wrong with his movies ?? - even if i could tell him what happened he wouldnt be happy until they were back on the screen - Im at a loss, I cant afford to replace the HD just like that and what if it happens again??

Is this common? , is there a warranty on these things?? what on earth do we do now?? - and of course its Easter Sunday and there is probably no one out there who is able to help me anyway - he is screaching my house down as we speak … oh ■■■■ this is going to be a fun day /week/month …

Mette - any helpful advice is appreciated pretty please x

#2

Maybe you should try contacting WD’s Technical Support about this as the devices should be under warranty if obtained from an authorized retailer. You can do so either by phone or email.

To Contact WD for Technical Support
http://support.wdc.com/contact/index.asp?lang=en

Also, clarifying if the issue is with your Media Player, your Hard Disk Drive or both will allow more users to better help you.

Thread moved to WD TV Live & Live Plus Media Players: General Discussions.

#3

I’m having a hard time rationalizing your whole description.

There’s NO possible way that turning on your Live would draw enough current to blow fuses, even if it had totally failed.   If you were plugging it in to the mains, it’d be possible that the power supply might have shorted out.   If it had a short circuit enough to blow a circuit breaker, it would have gone off in your hands.   Even then, it could only snap ONE fuse in your house, not multiple, as you describe.

This type of failure would be rather obvious as the smell would be unmistakable, but you didn’t say anything about that, so it’s unlikely the fault was with the WD.  

Sounds to me like you’ve suffered a severe voltage spike that destroyed your equipment, and the timing was coincidental.

Good thing you still have the original DVDs so you can satisfy his needs by playing them in the original manner.

#4

I am a qualified electrician. From your limited description a mains power surge is the main culprit. I would check every appliance in the house and contact your insurance company for farther advice. Usually they will send out an insurance investigator to assess any damage. Also contact your local power supply provider; if they are at fault, you may be covered by their mains fusion policy.

You do not say which WDTV box you possess. The power supply for the WDTV Live is in the mains power pack. My power pack is a universal 100 to 240 volt switched mode power supply with a Safety Mark certification printed on the label. Switched mode power supplies also contain inbuilt surge protection circuitry.

All countries have different electrical regulations to suit their particular environment. For safety reasons; in Australia, it is mandatory for power packs to have a built in safety non-replaceable fuse in the mains winding of the transformer or in the case of switched mode power supply connected in series in the active (live or hot) mains supply circuit. Once that fuse blows the power pack is not repairable. If the power pack fuse blows, it should not affect the house wiring – the current draw is too low, maximum 1.5 amps. Even if the power pack did blow an internal fuse the blown switchboard fuse would be confined to only one circuit not the whole house, which suggests that the culprit is your local power supply provider.

If the hard drive is a USB hard drive; have you tried plugging the hard drive into a working computer at a different location and confirming that the hard drive is still working? You could try the same with the WDTV box. You don’t need a TV. If the LED lights displays on the WDTV box work, the chances are that both the WDTV box and hard drive survived.

In Australia; mains surges are not covered by manufacturer’s warranty but house insurance. All countries have varying consumer warranty laws. If both the WDTV box and hard drive don’t work, I would contact the WD office in the country of your residence and ask what their warranty policy return is and if they can check both the WDTV box and hard drive. In some cases manufacturers will replace consumer goods as part of their research and development policy.