>>The simplest way to check for bad sectors, is to just connect >>to the empeg over serial, hit control^C, and then do >>cat /dev/hd* > /dev/null.

>>Go away for a few hours while it runs, and watch the serial >>session for hard drive error messages.

i did it like this

1. open hyberterminal with correct setting
2. connect the player over serial
3. connect power and the player boots and start playing
4. power off the unit so that only the LED in the right corner flashes slow
5. hit control^C
6. the player boots and goes off
7. cat /dev/hd* > /dev/null
8. the player boots and starts playing... but no output to hyberterminal/serial

is this normal?