SATA CABLE AND HARD DRIVE REPLACEMENT INSTRUCTIONS – SONY RDR-HX525

Please observe electrical safety and take all suitable precautions to avoid shocks and
electrocution, ALWAYS completely disconnect the unit from the mains and avoid the internal
power supply area inside the unit as certain components can hold a substantial charge of
electricity and when touched could kill, if you are in any doubt consult a qualified electrician.

Removing the Top Cover - Remove the screws as shown in the diagram - Note: There are actually 4
large tapping screws  not 2 as indicated in the diagram below (Figure 1)

Figure 1
Slide the cover towards the rear then gently prise off the cover with your fingers, the cover comes
straight off, nothing is fastened to it.

Once this is done you can see the HDD located at the front left and the DVD recorder unit in the
centre, apart from the power supply and boards there’s not much else in there!

The hard drive is held in with 4 large screws with rubber isolators which need to be removed, the
small one at the front also needs to be removed – this holds a metal spring earthing clip connecting
the HDD to the chassis (Figure 2)

Figure 2
Once the screws are removed the HDD can be lifted up at the front to expose the connectors which
need to be removed, there are two, one for the power supply and one for the data connection.

Figure 3

Please note the clip that is on the underside of the HDD frame(circled yellow), this needs to be
rotated 90 degrees to release it from the HDD, then the assembly can be removed away from the
unit.

Clip turned 90 degrees then removed (Figure 4)

Figure 4
HDD completely removed from the chassis (Figure 5)

Figure 5
At this point the sata cable is routed under the DVD recorder unit which needs to be removed, the
removal of the front fascia simplifies this task, start by removing the screw shown with the green
arrow in Figure 5 then gently unclip the fascia, another pair of hands helps at this time, unclip all the
way around and gently draw the fascia assembly forward, again nothing is fastened to this and it can
be completely removed away from the unit. (Figure 6)

Figure 6

Before attempting to remove the DVD recorder unit the ribbon cable connector needs to be pulled
from the main board, this lies to the right hand side of the unit, firmly grasp the ribbon cable (there
is a strengthening plastic pull) between your thumb and forefinger and pull gently upwards – it
should come out easily (group Figure 7)
Figure 7

Remove the four screws that fasten the DVD recorder to the chassis (Figure 8) then gently slide the
DVD recorder backwards until clear of the front chassis then carefully set aside observing that the
connecting wires at the rear are left intact (Figure 9).
Figure 8

Figure 9
Figure 10

The red sata cable can now be seen (Figure 10), remove the black tape that secures it to the chassis
then depress the metal clips on the end connectors and unclip the sata cable from the board.

A new sata cable can be purchased from any good independent computer shop for £2- £4 or from
Ebay but if you can’t get hold of a cable with 2 X 90 degree ends get one with a straight connecter on
one end with a 90 degree connector on the other, you must have one end with a 90 degree
connector, this will fit at the HDD end with the straight connector plugging in on the board – try to
get a longer cable if possible by a few centimetres as this allows for the straight connecter end of the
cable to be arched over if necessary where it plugs in on the board – never buy a shorter cable as it
simply won’t plug in – obvious really, for reference the length of the standard cable is 34cm.
Figure 11

Figure 11 shows the old faulty sata cable, this has been the cause of every HDD Error on the RDR-
HX525 so far, when you compare it to an after market replacement it’s obvious the quality is down
to cost – a new cable feels and looks better made.

Without sounding like a Haynes manual reverse the steps for re-assembly, new sata cable in (90
degree at the HDD end) DVD drive back in making sure all screws are tight but not overtight, make
sure the ribbon cable for the DVD drive is firmly in it’s slot (group figure 7)then clip the fascia back
on not forgetting the screw in Figure 5, place the HDD into the chassis clipping on the cable holder in
Figure 4, connect the power and data cables back on to the front of the HDD and locate it in it’s
position tightening the four screws with isolators making sure the two left clips are in position
before tightening, tighten the screw and front clip in Figure 2 and finally pop on the top cover and
tighten all screws – the physical side of your repair is now complete but before making the recorder
recognise your HDD again in the setup menus I want to make a comment about fitting a new
harddrive just in case yours may be faulty.

Stick to the same brand that comes out of your machine – mine was a Seagate ST380013AS Sata
80gb that came out and I replaced it with a Seagate ST380815AS 80gb which is a Sata ll model with a
higher performance than the original – writing times are much quicker. Don’t get one any bigger
thinking you may have more space to record to, a 160gb drive only reports 80gb of space which can
be used in the recorder so it’s a waste of money buying one with the idea of “upgrading” your
player. Also, the new drives are considerably thinner and lighter than the old one which means when
you transfer the tin anti-interference cage from the old hard drive you’ll have a gap that looks rather
odd – this is purely cosmetic but the cage must be transferred to the new drive before installation
into the chassis.

Ebuyer have the hard drives priced at £24.36 inc vat - Quickfind code:129414
SERVICE MENU

The original HDD Error is caused by several electronic self checks that occur when powering on the
unit and if any of these fail the applicable error is displayed in the units display. The HDD Error fault
can be caused by a bad sector on the HDD much like any computer or a bad/missing HDD ID check,
this is when the board checks the HDD to make sure no one has replaced the HDD with one from
another machine, this is Sony’s answer to help combat piracy I suppose but it also occurs when a
sata cable becomes faulty and cannot send the data to the board.

Bad sectors can sometimes be “made good” with a format hence in the post this is the cheapest
method to try first but in this case if you have fitted a cable but no HDD the board will need to know
the ID of the HDD again, the only way this can be done is to access the service menu.

To access the menu the mains cable has to be disconnected first, then connect a scart lead to the
“Line 1 - TV” scart socket on the 525 and plug the other end into your tv/monitor, now whilst
holding down the “OPEN/CLOSE” button and the “PLAY” button at the same time, connect the AC
power cord to the power outlet, keep pressing the above buttons until a “S” appears on the display
panel of the main unit, this can take over 30 seconds to accomplish so be patient it will happen.

Once into the service menu you’ll be presented with the following screen:

Using your remote, use the arrow down key to select No. 9, the HDD Mode then press enter.

Just a word of warning, don’t be tempted to play with any of the other menu
settings, doing so could kill your recorder all together and we don’t want to do
that after getting this far – you have been warned!!!
This is the HDD menu.

If no 1 is selected and enter pressed all the details of the HDD are visible and the ID check will be
executed as shown below.

MODEL : MRX1537CE

Serial No. : [ 4MR5GR2A]

Model No. : [ST380013AS ]

F/W Rev :[ 3.00 ]

If any of the above are blank then the “3)Write ID” command needs to be highlighted and executed
– this writes all of the embedded data from the HDD to the units board and chip thus uniting both
and enabling the new/old HDD to work with your unit – when the box asks to “execute write ID”
select “YES” then press enter, “Writing HDD serial ID...OK” will be displayed, press return to go back
to previous menu (If you have fitted a new HDD the lines may be all filled in, however, this is
probably the old HDD’s numbers/data which will need to be overwritten so use the “3)Write ID
command anyway).

At this point it may be worth trying to see if you can recover your previous recordings by pressing
and holding the on/off button on the unit for more than 10 seconds or more until it turns itself off,
it will then turn itself on again and boot for a few seconds before displaying “power off” and turning
off into standby – at this point the clock may show all zero’s, press the on/off button on the unit and
the familiar “Welcome” should display on the unit and after a few seconds the channel should
display along with the lit purple HDD button, now try the “Title List” and see if any of your recordings
are still there – if they are you are in luck and you have no need to proceed – your done!

If you cannot access the title list or HDD Error is displayed or you have fitted a faster HDD anyway
then continue..........

.....Next, select the “4) Format” command, this formats the HDD to the file/surface structure familiar
to only Sony HDD recorders, select “YES” to the format command, the unit display will show the
sectors counting up being formatted and the TV will display “Formatting HDD.....”. When ”OK”
appears, press return then return again to get back to the main menu then press and hold the on/off
button on the unit for 10 seconds or more until it turns itself off, it will then turn itself on again and
boot for a few seconds before displaying “power off” and turning off into standby – at this point the
clock may show all zero’s, press the on/off button on the unit and the familiar “Welcome” should
display on the unit and after a few seconds the channel should display along with the lit purple HDD
button.

You will have to check all the settings such as REC Modes and the TV Guide etc but none of them
should have altered that much, if you’re lucky you may not need to change anything but sometimes
I’ve had to do a Full System Setup from scratch....ah well...some you win!

Copyright ® Phil Osborne 2008