DVR Locks Up

[daverp]

I have HR21 that is locking up every two-three days. It seems to happen overnight when the boxes is powered off. I go to turn it on the next day and the box won't power on. I must do a red button reset to get the box to power on. Any shows that should have recorded do not.

Here is the kicker. This box is 10 days old. It replaced an HR20-700 that was doing the same thing. That box was only 3 days old. That was replacing an RMA that was OBF (loud squealing nose coming from box). The original box that started my whole major string of problems was an HR20-700 which was either locking up every 2-3 days or would start running very slow (guide would take 30 second to come up, each movement is the guide would take 30 seconds). That box was only about 45 days old. My original HR20-100 worked great for 8 months but died on a software update.

DirecTV sent a tech out the last time to "test everything" he came in and said the HR20 are crap and the HR21 would solve my problems. He just replaced the box and tested nothing. He recommended removing the box from my MonsterPower surge suppressor if the problem occurs again and plug it straight into the wall, which I tried after last lock up, to no avail.

Any ideas?

Thanks Dave.

 

[walindour]

Hi Dave,

Not much I can do to help except let you know I am in the same boat. I have had the HR-21-100 for three weeks and it behaves the same way. I have scheduled a service call (and signed up for the protection plan) and hope they replace the box. It worked great for the first few weeks. Now it will not respond to the power button after being turned off at night, locks up when changing channels, pausing - and pretty much anytime I want to watch television.

I do a red button reset to get things back to normal but that wouldn't do the trick last night. I eventually left it unplugged for an hour and then did a RBR and got connected.

But I do have a question for you. Do you have your HR-21 in a cabinet or media enclosure? I do have mine in an AV cabinet and have wondered if possibly heat could be a contributing factor to excessive lockups. As I type - my box is stuck on reboot (51% complete and going nowhere).

My service call is scheduled for next week - busy folks I suppose. So I am without television for a week (26th) until a service guy gives me a new box.

Kevin

 

[daverp]

Hi Dave,

But I do have a question for you. Do you have your HR-21 in a cabinet or media enclosure? I do have mine in an AV cabinet and have wondered if possibly heat could be a contributing factor to excessive lockups. As I type - my box is stuck on reboot (51% complete and going nowhere).

Kevin

No, it's in a entertainment center but it's on open glass shelf. No doors, or sides or back as a matter of fact.

 

[swampman]

It's a well known fact the HR series is a POS. And yes, DTV knows it. After 8 months I was on my 4th one. I've come the conclusion that the only way of saving my sanity is to go elsewhere when my contract is over. I'm done calling Customer Service, I'm done requesting replacements, I'm done expecting the good service I've been paying for.

 

[rad]

Daverp, do you have it connected to your ethernet network if yes remove it and see if that helps. Also recommend that you check out the Cutting Edge section on this site and participate in the CE program, which is where you get early release software, sometimes if fixes problems like this, other times it might cause more, but might be worth a shot.

And just to counter Swampman, I have two HR20-700 that I got when they first came out and they work just fine. I had a HR21-200 that was replaced because the RF remote function stopped working, now have a HR21-100. I haven't had the problems that you reported with the lockup on that box either.

 

[daverp]

Daverp, do you have it connected to your ethernet network if yes remove it and see if that helps. Also recommend that you check out the Cutting Edge section on this site and participate in the CE program, which is where you get early release software, sometimes if fixes problems like this, other times it might cause more, but might be worth a shot.

It is connected to my network. I'll try and remove it.

 

[sat.ninja]

Unfortunately, all weak techs know how to do is replace equipment..they make all us techs look like idiots.

 

[daverp]

Unfortunately, all weak techs know how to do is replace equipment..they make all us techs look like idiots.

Agreed. This guy was confused by a TOSLINK audio cable.

 

[daverp]

It is connected to my network. I'll try and remove it.

Does seem like RAD was correct. I've removed the network cable and the box has run without issue since. Strange that the ethernet connection would do this.

 

[rad]

Does seem like RAD was correct. I've removed the network cable and the box has run without issue since. Strange that the ethernet connection would do this.

Sometimes other devices on the network an mess around with the UPnP stuff in the box. I'd recommend removing things like media servers or webcams that are network attached first (if you have them) and put the DVR back on, if it still runs OK then start adding things back on until it breaks and then report it here so D* knows about the problem.

 

[daverp]

Sometimes other devices on the network an mess around with the UPnP stuff in the box. I'd recommend removing things like media servers or webcams that are network attached first (if you have them) and put the DVR back on, if it still runs OK then start adding things back on until it breaks and then report it here so D* knows about the problem.

In my case that would basically mean Windows Vista. I'll turn off the media sharing and see what happens.

 

[Renceward]

Had same issue with an HR20-700. Started months ago - read on-line about disconnecting the network cable. Disconnected the cable - no lockups. Occasionally I would reconnect to see if it was fixed, the DVR would lockup within 24 hours.

Then I started getting the blank recording problem - and it was getting worse and worse.

I tried calling DTV - got bounced around, told that they would send a replacement unit - got disconnected during the call transfer to make that happen - didn't call back right away (I had already been on the phone with them for over an hour). So the DVR was never swapped out.

Then they moved some of the stations from one satellite to another (HBO, ESPN, Showtime) and we lost those stations (Searching for signal). I called DTV and decided to deal with one issue at a time - so this time I only told them about the Searching for Signal Issue. They had me check my signal strength and said it was a bit on the weak side - so they were going to send a tech out to realign the dish.

Tech came out - he ONLY realigned the dish. He did not touch the DVR, my network, multi-switch or anything else. Searching for signal problem was gone.

I got brave and plugged in the network cable - this was over two weeks ago - not a single lockup. Also not a single blank recording.

Not sure why - but my theory is that the DVRs flake out when the signal is on the weak side - and realigning the dish strengthened the signal and fixed the problem. Makes sense when I read about folks who swap DVRs multiple times with no solution.

So my suggestion - see if you can talk them into coming out and realigning your dish - and see if it works for you - it sure did for me.

 

[slick1sb]

I believe I had read somewhere that the network does cause issues. I had the same problem till I disconnected it. Hopefully DTV will get this straightened out so we can all enjoy the benifits of having it connected, like VOD.

 

[charper1]

I think its also with particular makes & models; none of my units lock up with either of these: D-link DI-624 or Actiontec GT724WGR

 

[daverp]

In my case that would basically mean Windows Vista. I'll turn off the media sharing and see what happens.

Well it would seem just the fact of being on the network causes my issues. Isolated so it was just DVR, Router, Cable modem and the lockup still happens.

 

[daverp]

I'm at 99% on tuner one and 98% on tuner two. Can't get much better than that. I have a 100% clear view of the sky.

 

[daverp]

Well it would seem just the fact of being on the network causes my issues. Isolated so it was just DVR, Router, Cable modem and the lockup still happens.

I isolated the connections down to just DVR directly to cable modem and the problem still occurs. So it truly the fact of being on the internet that is causing the crash. I'm going to call DirecTV and see what they have to say. I'm think I'm going to need to break out the packet sniffer and see what this box is doing when it crashes.