external hard drive on Explorer 8300HD Cable Box

This post is loosely related to PC's in that it uses a PC hard drive. If you happen to have a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HD cable box, and a cable company who didn't disable your E-SATA port then you can try this.

Supplies:
1 external (and powered) E-SATA capable drive (1.5Gb/s will do)
1 esata cable

Instructions:
1. Disconnect the power from the cable box

2. Connect the drive to the cable box via the e-sata port, plug the drive power cable into the outlet and turn it on, and connect the power to the cable box.

3. After booting up, the box will give you a prompt asking if you want to format the drive. Say yes, and wait until the drive calms down so you know it is done formatting. Check your DVR menu, and if the % of spaced used has not dropped, you will need to disconnect the power from the cable box again, and then it should work properly and give you a message that it is using the drive (keep doing this last step until the % of recording space used drops).

WinXP CDROM Error Code 39 Drivers Corrupt Missing

PROBLEM: CDROM drive(s) don't show up in my computer, and when you check their properties in the Device Manager in MS Windows, you see error 39 saying the drivers are corrupt or missing.

SCOPE: The problem seems to affect (and can be solved on) Windows XP (64/32) machines.
It may be induced by Windows updates and/or NVidia NForce 4 drivers.

FIX:
Run REGEDIT, open up the following folders:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SYSTEM
CurrentControlSet
Control
Class
{4D36E965-E325 -11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

After clicking on {4D36E965-E325 -11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} you should see two settings on the right-hand side:
"Upperfilters"
"Lowerfilters"

Click on each of them, press DELETE and click YES.
(Do not worry if one is not there, it still worked for me with only Lowerfilters existing).

Uninstall the device(s) from the Device Manager.

Rescan h/w in Device Manager.

Your drives should appear and work again.


SOLUTION SOURCE

I want to help you

I am starting this blog with a noble cause. I want to catalog all the solutions to computer problems I come across. The reason I am doing this is because I have noticed that, over time, helpful information gets removed from forums scattered across the net. My intention is to create a place where helpful information for resolving some vexing computer issues can live on for a long time to come. This blog will grow as I run in to such problems personally. Feel free to send info about problems and solutions you have discovered and found helpful. I don't expect people to read this blog regularly or anything, but I hope it will be found when someone is searching for a solution to a particular problem. For that reason, the titles for the posts shall be as concise and relevant as possible.

Happy problem-solving,
Freetolio