New software 3.1.1d issues...D* is aware

[gores95]

I had posted this on TiVo Community before but my new RCA DVR40 was working fine until an update at 4:00 am this morning loaded the new software. I awoke to an error message that satellite signals 1 & 2 were not being acquired by the receiver. Some channels worked but all my locals did not. This is my second TiVo in two weeks (first one working fine then after a week did the same thing) and D* told me that the hard drive was fried and I should get a new TiVo which I did. Anyway tonight I went up to extended tech support and BINGO someone had heard that the new software was adversely affecting some TiVos. He had me power off and said he was going to send me the fix and it should be corrected in 15 minutes. I then hung up very excited.

Of course a half hour later no fix so I called back tech support. After 1 hour on hold another tech rep had never heard of the software issue. I switched to the supervisor who told me she never heard of it. After 10 minutes of pleading with her to check with her employees she did and FINALLY admitted that there was an issue and they are tracking it. Not sure what this means but she did not have any time frame for fixing it.

Bottom line is she told me to remove one of the sat lines and switch the recorder to only use one cable from the satellite. I have a temporary fix but only one tuner.

Has anyone heard when this will be fixed? I wish had I unplugged the phone cord so the new software wouldn't have loaded and I wouldn't be having this problem.

One other thing when I do a sat signal test with both feeds in and active the even transponders do not work but the odd ones do. Any ideas on that? My installer is coming out tomorrow to see if the cabling is OK but this whole ordeal almost makes me want to go back to cable! Any ideas on how to remedy?

Thanks.

[Mark Holtz]

HDVR2 has been unplugged from the phone line.

[Steve Mehs]

Both of my DirecTiVos received D the other day, no problems like this on either unit.

[bhuber]

I had a similar problem with a standard receiver only receiving the even transponders and not the odd ones; it turned out to be a bad multi-switch. Hope you get your problem resolved.

[gor88]

Got the D update on my HDVR2 last week. I haven't noticed any problems on my end and have had two season passes recording simultaneously with no problems at all.

The next thing to find out is if this is just affecting the RCA units. I know that the insides are supposed to be identical on all three, but you never know...

[HappyGoLucky]

My HDVR2 was updated last weekend. I've had numerous season passes recorded, many times using both tuners simultaneously. No problems so far. I haven't noticed any improvements or changes in anything with the new software.

[MikeHDTulsa]

I have two RCA DVR40's and one DVR39 and all three work just fine after the update. I am using a phase III dish with a Terk 58 multiswitch. I was not too worried about the update I have the original drives sitting on the shelve for backup.

[spanishannouncetable]

Threads on the tivocommunity seem to indicate this problem is hitting Samsung 4040 and RCA 80 gig models for the most part. 3.1.1d killed my own Samsung this past Sunday. Directv FedEx'ed me a free refurbed HDVR2, which successfully installed the new software. All is well in my house, anyway.

If your DTiVo gets hit with this, make sure the replacement box you are offered is TOTALLY FREE. The tech support guy who helped me tried to charge me $50 for the replacement box until I reminded him that it was just fine the day before, and that a forced software update had killed it through no fault of mine. He agreed and waived all charges.

[bills976]

Does the software update affect series 1 boxes as well? My T60 got the GSOD tonight after a "Cannot boot Kernel" message. It has since recovered from the green screen.... will I continue to get this error message?

[spanishannouncetable]

3.1.1d is only for series 2 boxes, the same as 3.1.1c . Series 1 models have version 3.1.0c, and will get an update of their own after the S2 boxes are finished.

[Mark Holtz]

Surprise. I plugged back in my HDVR2 and the download just completed and the box is at "Pending Restart."

[HarryD]

I got the D update this morning. No problems with my Philips DSR7000.

[Mark Holtz]

I performed a manual restart this morning. The only "problems" that I encountered was that I had to turn back on S-0-R-T, 30 second, and quick-turnoff of status bar.

[Tusk]

One of my Samsung 4040R's updated to 3.1.1d last week without any problems. After reading all the problems of others on the Tivo Community, I unplugged the other from the phone line.

[Guesst925XTU]

My Samsung Series 2 got the upgrade about a week ago.

After the upgrade all my channels were screwed up. ie: ch. 302 said "NickToons" but was showing OLN. About 2/3 of my channels were in the wrong location.

I un-plugged it for 2 minutes, then plugged it back in, now all is fine.

[beejaycee]

I've noticed tonight that many of my recordings have pixelations & distortions making chunks of them unwatchable. I've given up on watching more recorded shows in the last two days than ever before and I have to wonder if this has been caused by the new software. The software updated several days ago and I hadn't realized that anything had changed, other than the missing 30 second skip, until tonight when I erased 4 shows in disgust because they were missing huge chunks. It's as though there were rainstorms which interferred with the signal. Only the weather has been beautiful here.

[jspanitz]

I've noticed tonight that many of my recordings have pixelations & distortions making chunks of them unwatchable. I've given up on watching more recorded shows in the last two days than ever before and I have to wonder if this has been caused by the new software. The software updated several days ago and I hadn't realized that anything had changed, other than the missing 30 second skip, until tonight when I erased 4 shows in disgust because they were missing huge chunks. It's as though there were rainstorms which interferred with the signal. Only the weather has been beautiful here.


I have noticed the same problem. The pixelated video looks just like a weather related interuption, but as you have said, the weather hear has been clear for over a week.

[Tusk]

It might be solar activity. This is the time of year when the satellite signals are most affected. Of course, the few times I've seen it happen, a message screen from D* says that solar activity is affecting the picture.

[beejaycee]

I'd have to say it is probably not solar activity. I have 2 Dtivos, one upgraded to 80 megs in the bedroom and one upgraded to 127 megs in the den. The one in the den just started with this pixelation problem. A few of the shows we watch are recorded on both boxes and I checked one of them last night before falling asleep -- on the den box I deleted the show in frustration from the pixelation, whereas on the bedroom box the recording was crystal clear. Both boxes do have the newest software and both are Hughes HDVR2s. It is possible however that the harddrive on the den box is failling but it is only 4 months old.

[tjbrown]

Is anybody else having message "Searching for signal on Sat in 1(2 or both)"? Since last week I have had this and Tech Support is trying to convince me that I have a bad unit.

Tech support initially had me go into standby for 1 hour and try again. Did this 4 separate times at recommendation of tech support and now they claim my unit is defective (Hughes SD-DVR40; software version 3.1.1d-01-2-351; new Feb 2004).

Right now, the unit is functioning randomly, it will receive signal on one input and will randomly loose it. Depending on what channel I am trying to watch the message may be "Searching for signal on Sat in 1"; "Searching for signal on Sat in 2": or "Searching for signal on Sat in 1 and 2".

Any help on this would be great.

[dtremain]

Is anybody else having message "Searching for signal on Sat in 1(2 or both)"? Since last week I have had this and Tech Support is trying to convince me that I have a bad unit.

Tech support initially had me go into standby for 1 hour and try again. Did this 4 separate times at recommendation of tech support and now they claim my unit is defective (Hughes SD-DVR40; software version 3.1.1d-01-2-351; new Feb 2004).

Right now, the unit is functioning randomly, it will receive signal on one input and will randomly loose it. Depending on what channel I am trying to watch the message may be "Searching for signal on Sat in 1"; "Searching for signal on Sat in 2": or "Searching for signal on Sat in 1 and 2".

Any help on this would be great.Sounds like the type of problem other people are having on this thread and lots of others. Directv is swapping out refurbs for people. Some are waiting for a fix, saying that it has been promised by the end of the week. Others have been told there won't be a fix because a software download that knocked out about a third of the Series 2 Directivo units out there is a "hardware" problem. Yeah, right.

For me, I unplugged my unit from the phone line when I heard about it so I wouldn't install the upgrade. Now I'm checking this board, dbsforums, and tivocommunity on a regular basis to see if a fix is sent down and if it works. When that happens, I will plug the phone line back in.

Sorry it happened to you.

[Mark Holtz]

I got the update on my HDVR2 and it appears to be working fine. It's a modified box (two 160GB hard drives), so I would be very hesitant about swapping it for another box and lose all my recordings.

[benn5325]

My bedroom Philips Tivo has just started "searching for signal on Sat 2". Downstairs is OK but it already had the D update.....

[nrholland]

I had the same problem on one of my Samsung DVRs. I got a refurbished Hughes unit and had no problems until the 3.1.1d software was put in my unit. I called D* and they sent me to Tivo support. After doing a few tests, the lady concluded that because I have two tivo units in my house (one which works fine, and the other doesn't) one of the units is not getting enough power off the multiswitch. Anyhow, I've got a service call coming, and they believe the problem is in my cable lines that runs from my multiswitch to the one tivo unit. Let's hope they're right.

[benn5325]

Seems OK now. I went through the setup again from the begining and noticed that Sat 2 was only picking up even transponders for sat 101.
When the setup finished I still got the "No signal message"
Went to tuner 2 and just had a black screen, change it to channel 2 and BAM!
Worked, message gone all chanels look OK.

[lucentman]

I had the same problem on one of my Samsung DVRs. I got a refurbished Hughes unit and had no problems until the 3.1.1d software was put in my unit. I called D* and they sent me to Tivo support. After doing a few tests, the lady concluded that because I have two tivo units in my house (one which works fine, and the other doesn't) one of the units is not getting enough power off the multiswitch. Anyhow, I've got a service call coming, and they believe the problem is in my cable lines that runs from my multiswitch to the one tivo unit. Let's hope they're right.


Let us know how it turns out. It may be helpful to us other lost souls who are having problems

[bobmcl]

When Directv installer arrived this morning I showed him what was running on dbstalk.com his reply 'never heard of it'.

I am slated to receive a replacement TIVO tue next week. If the unit doesn't have 3.1.1d I plan on pulling the telephone cord till this problem has been corrected. Most software companies react with the answer 'we have never had a problem' Look at Microsoft.

[jdspencer]

For those having this problem, there may be a temp fix for you.
See this thread on the TiVo forum.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=200710

[jdspencer]

Update:
There is a version "e" being released.
See http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=201355 for details.