Replaced HDD in Samsung DVD-SH893M

[mombic]

The old hard disk was noisy but otherwise worked fine. For some reason the replacement HDD prevents the Digital TV tuner from working so TV can't be copied. However prerecorded video's from the DVD can be copied to the HDD. Refitting the old HDD and everything works fine.
Could this problem be due to files being needed on the new HDD? All suggestions greatly appreciated .

[DB83]

Did you format the HDD within the recorder ?

[mombic]

Did you format the HDD within the recorder ?

Yes the new HDD formatted when installed in the machine without any problem.

[DB83]

Ok. So was the new HDD the same make, model and size of the original ?

Someone with more knowledge of how these work could fill in but HDD in recorders never seem to go over 250 gig. I suspect also the seek speed of them is critical. I suppose the original could even have some different electronics on the controller

[mombic]

Yep same make, type and size, 160GB. That's why I thought a tricky bit of software needed to be loaded after formatting. Perhaps you or someone might know if other makes of HDD recorders need that software.?

[DB83]

But there is no CPU inside a dvd-recoder to operate this non-existant software. There will be a Rom which holds the software/OS that controls the recording etc.

[DB83]

I have one other thought.

There may be some 'matching' of the HDD to the OS of the recorder during the initial setup (manufacturer).

Is there a master reset to leave the machine as it was when it left the factory ?

You will lose all your stored channels and other settings but I would have thought that they are quite easily restored.

[mombic]

Problem solved by my 11 year old granddaughter in 10 minutes. With the new HDD installed she went into the menu and checked everything until she came to channel set, she asked me if she could press Auto Scanning but before I said yes she hit it. To my amazement up popped one Digital channel after another. After it stopped and hit ok we checked the channel list and all were stored. Did a recording of a couple of channels all ok. Clearly my granddaughter is going to be a better engineer than I ever was!
I hope this will be of use to others.

[jman98]

It will probably help but ...
You did a TERRIBLE job of describing your problem originally, which caused people to waste their time worrying about the wrong thing.

If you had said "I can't see any channels at all now" that would have been an accurate description of your problem. However you said:
"For some reason the replacement HDD prevents the Digital TV tuner from working so TV can't be copied."
which to me indicated that you could indeed see TV channels but you were prevented from copying them for some unknown reason. In hindsight I can understand how to you this seemed like a good description and it is correct, but perhaps you can at least understand how your words were misleading to those who tried to help you.

Once again we're expected to be mind readers to help people.

[DB83]

@jman98

Nail hit on head.

@mombic

Glad it is working now but wild goose chases are quite frustrating. For the record you could or should have solved your problem with my last suggestion of a 'factory reset' The exchange of the HDD in all probability wiped the nvram that stores the channels. They are not stored on the HDD. But if the nvram was wiped then other settings should also have gone so you had better check the clock etc.