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HD DVRs, Receivers, and R22, Version 0x06D8 -- Issues/Discussion

24K views 219 replies 40 participants last post by  bnwrx 
#1 ·
This is the official Issues and Discussion thread for all HD DVRs, Receivers, and R22, version 0x06D8.

Release notes: http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/205323-hx2x-0x06d8/

We ask that you keep polite and focused within this thread, and post as much detail as possible. If your receiver is set up for network issue reporting, please post the key generated by the receiver.

Being part of the DBSTalk community means working together to help each other document issues and come up with solutions. While everyone gets upset from time to time, this is not the appropriate place for vents or rants. All off-topic posts and discussion will be deleted.

Thanks!
 
#102 ·
I reset my defaults on my HR23, rebooted twice, then cleared the NVRAM, all to no avail. When I press the RECORD button, the HR23 still freezes for 70 seconds. I can't stop the recordng until then. Also, when I check my PLAYLIST, the new recording is not there. I have to reboot to get it to show up. Then when I delete it using the menu, it won't delete, but the red button will delete it. A service call today replaced all of my splitters to increase my signal strength. The service guy said it wouldn't help, and it didn't. He said he had to to it because case management told him to. He said case management are a bunch of idiots. My case manager said I had too many partial recordings even though I have more than 50% disc space available on both my HR23 and HR24. My HR34 has only 48% free and it has more partial recordings than either my HR23 or HR24. The HR34 works perfectly. I told the service guy to please write in his report that my HR23 and HR24 receivers worked fine with 0x062c. After 0x066d is when they both went bad. I know my freezes are a software issue because after I got 0x066d, I forced a download on my HR24 and 0x062c came back. Then the HR24 worked fine again until 0x066d came back again.
 
#103 ·
jibberyerkibber said:
I reset my defaults on my HR23, rebooted twice, then cleared the NVRAM, all to no avail. When I press the RECORD button, the HR23 still freezes for 70 seconds. I can't stop the recordng until then. Also, when I check my PLAYLIST, the new recording is not there. I have to reboot to get it to show up. Then when I delete it using the menu, it won't delete, but the red button will delete it. A service call today replaced all of my splitters to increase my signal strength. The service guy said it wouldn't help, and it didn't. He said he had to to it because case management told him to. He said case management are a bunch of idiots. My case manager said I had too many partial recordings even though I have more than 50% disc space available on both my HR23 and HR24. My HR34 has only 48% free and it has more partial recordings than either my HR23 or HR24. The HR34 works perfectly. I told the service guy to please write in his report that my HR23 and HR24 receivers worked fine with 0x062c. After 0x066d is when they both went bad. I know my freezes are a software issue because after I got 0x066d, I forced a download on my HR24 and 0x062c came back. Then the HR24 worked fine again until 0x066d came back again.
You're on 0x06d8 now for both the HR24 and HR23 right? Have you tried using an external drive just to rule out a bad hard drive? You can boot up with an esata drive and test it for a bit and then go back to the internal drive to get to all of your recordings.

Have you tried or would you be willing to try the "Reset Everything" (which deletes all your recordings)? I'm not sure if DTV already had you try that.
 
#104 ·
Is there anyway to block the 0x06d8 from installing on my other receivers? My HR-21 just installed the update the night before last, and both mornings I woke up to an unresponsive receiver. Only the Red button reset brought the thing back to life. I noticed on my bedroom HR-22 it was still running a firmware from May (do not remember the firmware) and is running perfectly. I do not want this crappy firmware to ruin my other DVR.
 
#105 ·
VABlitz said:
Is there anyway to block the 0x06d8 from installing on my other receivers? My HR-21 just installed the update the night before last, and both mornings I woke up to an unresponsive receiver. Only the Red button reset brought the thing back to life. I noticed on my bedroom HR-22 it was still running a firmware from May (do not remember the firmware) and is running perfectly. I do not want this crappy firmware to ruin my other DVR.
There is no way as far as I know to block the firmware updates. Your HR22 is probably on 0x06BD which has caused some people issues as well. 0x06D8 at least for me has been the best version of the flurry of updates that started sometime in March/April.

If your only problem is that the receiver needed to be reset after the upgrade - consider yourself lucky. Others are having much more severe problems.
 
#106 ·
LiQiCE said:
There is no way as far as I know to block the firmware updates. Your HR22 is probably on 0x06BD which has caused some people issues as well. 0x06D8 at least for me has been the best version of the flurry of updates that started sometime in March/April.

If your only problem is that the receiver needed to be reset after the upgrade - consider yourself lucky. Others are having much more severe problems.
My HR22 is running great with whatever firmware it's on. I have noticed that the D8 firmware (on my HR21) I have had to reset twice (once each morning - hopefully no reset tomorrow morning) and the guides are a lot slower than they used to be (or at least appear to be).

All the new HRs (I have seen) only have one coax on the back. If the HR-21 quits working, what is the current model for replacement of a non-SWM satellite setup? Would I have to upgrade to SWM?
 
#107 ·
Just ran the diagnostics on my HR21. The hard drive passes all the tests except for the SMART Test, and the Speed was 21Mbps on it compared to 33Mbps on my HR22. Could it be failing the SMART test because it is not the factory hard drive? Seagate installed in the HR21 and possibly the factory WD in the HR22. Just seems strange it is having problems resuming from standy power on the same day the firmware was upgraded to the 6D8. I came home after work and it was recording a program, but it wouldn't wake up from standby. I'll have to try to see if I leave it out of standby, if eventually I have the same problem. The HR22 is indeed on the 6BD firmware.
 
#108 ·
VABlitz said:
My HR22 is running great with whatever firmware it's on. I have noticed that the D8 firmware (on my HR21) I have had to reset twice (once each morning - hopefully no reset tomorrow morning) and the guides are a lot slower than they used to be (or at least appear to be).

All the new HRs (I have seen) only have one coax on the back. If the HR-21 quits working, what is the current model for replacement of a non-SWM satellite setup? Would I have to upgrade to SWM?
VABlitz said:
Just ran the diagnostics on my HR21. The hard drive passes all the tests except for the SMART Test, and the Speed was 21Mbps on it compared to 33Mbps on my HR22. Could it be failing the SMART test because it is not the factory hard drive? Seagate installed in the HR21 and possibly the factory WD in the HR22. Just seems strange it is having problems resuming from standy power on the same day the firmware was upgraded to the 6D8. I came home after work and it was recording a program, but it wouldn't wake up from standby. I'll have to try to see if I leave it out of standby, if eventually I have the same problem. The HR22 is indeed on the 6BD firmware.
An HR24 still has 2 coax connections on the back - so if you get an HR24 you wouldn't need SWM. Only the HR34/HR44 require SWM (since they use 5 tuners, it would need to have 5 coax connections on the back of them to make it a Genie - instead they use 1 coax connection and take up 5 SWM tuners).

SMART is an industry standard and if it is reporting the drive is failing it would mean the drive is predicting that it will fail soon. It shouldn't have anything to do with you using a non-factory hard drive. You may not notice issues on a hard drive until it reboots - a power cycle can often reveal problems with a hard drive, so the firmware upgrade causing a reboot of your device could have pushed a soon to fail drive over the edge into failing.

If you didn't have the SMART errors I would have said it definitely could be the firmware and it possibly could be fixed by running a "Reset Defaults" or "Reset Everything" (which results in your recordings being deleted) - but I suspect in your case the drive is failing.

Do you have an eSATA drive you can try to see if using a different drive fixes the problem? (Note - it will format the drive, so make sure it isn't something where you need the data on it).

Interestingly with 0x06bd I had problems with my HR23 coming out of standby - it would not respond at all for about 2-3 minutes and then would eventually come out of standby. When it came out of standby it was awfully slow - but 0x06d8 fixed the standby problem and running a "Reset Defaults" on the HR23 fixed the slowness on 0x06d8.
 
#109 ·
So I found something really interesting with my HR24-500 that may help folks.

I normally have a Keyword search Autorecord setup for recordings - "AALL HDTV RANGERS in Sports -> Hockey".

I didn't add that back in for my HR24-500 when I was adding back my Series recordings after I ran a "Reset Everything" because hockey season is over for the Rangers.

However - I added it back in today - and while it did not immediately cause issues, I found that my receiver started having slowness issues - just like I was previously with the guide loading slowly and the receiver not responding at all. After deleting the Keyword search Autorecord - no issues.

Are there folks with slowness issues that also have Keyword search Auto-recordings? If so - can you try removing it and see if that fixes the problem?

If so and if this fix also work for you - I think we may have figured out the problem. Now the only question is - how do we communicate that to Directv so they can fix it?

Note- I don't think this problem is occurring on my HR23-700, I have had the keyword search enabled on the HR23-700 (never ran a Reset Everything on my HR23-700) and since receiving 0x06d8 it has been running fine.
 
#110 ·
LiQiCE said:
So I found something really interesting with my HR24-500 that may help folks.

I normally have a Keyword search Autorecord setup for recordings - "AALL HDTV RANGERS in Sports -> Hockey".

I didn't add that back in for my HR24-500 when I was adding back my Series recordings after I ran a "Reset Everything" because hockey season is over for the Rangers.

However - I added it back in today - and while it did not immediately cause issues, I found that my receiver started having slowness issues - just like I was previously with the guide loading slowly and the receiver not responding at all. After deleting the Keyword search Autorecord - no issues.

Are there folks with slowness issues that also have Keyword search Auto-recordings? If so - can you try removing it and see if that fixes the problem?

If so and if this fix also work for you - I think we may have figured out the problem. Now the only question is - how do we communicate that to Directv so they can fix it?

Note- I don't think this problem is occurring on my HR23-700, I have had the keyword search enabled on the HR23-700 (never ran a Reset Everything on my HR23-700) and since receiving 0x06d8 it has been running fine.
All 3 of my DVRs have been slow for the last month plus - HR20-700, HR22-100, and HR34-700. The HR20 and 22 are both nearly unusable - channel change, guide, exit rewind, etc. can take 5+ minutes to complete a task, especially after sitting idle. The HR34 was bad, but not quite as bad as the others - and it has worked a little bit better this week (NOT coincident with a software upgrade).

I haven't seen anyone else on this thread that has quite as bad, a problem on such a broad array of boxes.

All 3 do have boolean search autorecordings. I'll delete these and see if anything improves.

Any other suggestions you guys might have would be appreciated. The wife is about ready to cancel D*TV, throw the remote through the TV, or both. I can't go back to Time Warner! Please help!
 
#111 ·
Unplug all your machines including your swim power supply and leave then over night. Plug in the swim In The morning and then after about 20 mins plug in the DVrs. After they all get booted up do a menu restart on them and then When they get up again make sure all guide data has been cleared. If it hasn't do another menu restart and it definitely will clear all guide data. Sometimes a real solid clearing can help a ton.
 
#112 ·
Nosirrah said:
The HR20 and 22 are both nearly unusable - channel change, guide, exit rewind, etc. can take 5+ minutes to complete a task, especially after sitting idle.
The HR22 and 20/21 are known for being the slow DVR's from the rest of the pack, I think it has to do with how much disk space the HD has on those receivers, but others say it still slow even with no recordings at all.
 
#113 ·
Nosirrah said:
All 3 of my DVRs have been slow for the last month plus - HR20-700, HR22-100, and HR34-700. The HR20 and 22 are both nearly unusable - channel change, guide, exit rewind, etc. can take 5+ minutes to complete a task, especially after sitting idle. The HR34 was bad, but not quite as bad as the others - and it has worked a little bit better this week (NOT coincident with a software upgrade).

I haven't seen anyone else on this thread that has quite as bad, a problem on such a broad array of boxes.

All 3 do have boolean search autorecordings. I'll delete these and see if anything improves.

Any other suggestions you guys might have would be appreciated. The wife is about ready to cancel D*TV, throw the remote through the TV, or both. I can't go back to Time Warner! Please help!
A 5+ minute channel change is totally unacceptable. A slow channel change would be in the 10 to 15 second range. My 3 receivers usually change channel in about 5 seconds. This changes a little bit one way or the other with the software changes. I would call DirecTV and have them come out and fix this problem. There are several things that help to speed up the channel change but they are for a few seconds at most. Again 5 minutes, to me, indicates a huge problem in your system.

Things that usually help:

Go into Menu, Settings, Display,
Resolutions and uncheck all but the 1080i resolution,

also Menu, Settings, Display, Video and set Native to OFF

Menu, Settings, Display, Preferences and set Scrolling to OFF.

Menu, Settings, Reset and use the first choice in the list to reset the receiver.

You might want to try this also.
Go to channel 1.
Once the page is operating including audio, use the remote and press Red, Red, Blue, Blue, Yellow, Green in exactly that order.

This must be done quickly. Otherwise the yellow press will bring up a quick
options menu. That will display a message about the NVRAM being cleared in
the lower left.
 
#114 ·
LiQiCE said:
You're on 0x06d8 now for both the HR24 and HR23 right? Have you tried using an external drive just to rule out a bad hard drive? You can boot up with an esata drive and test it for a bit and then go back to the internal drive to get to all of your recordings.

Have you tried or would you be willing to try the "Reset Everything" (which deletes all your recordings)? I'm not sure if DTV already had you try that.
Yes, running 6d8 in both the HR23 and HR24. Have not tried a hard drive yet. My HR23 has a 1TB internal drive from Weaknees. It worked well for a year before 0x066d and the other software after it came down. My HR24 has had a 2TB internal drive for 8 months now, and it has also worked perfectly with all the software until 0x066d and the others after it came down. I don't see how it could be anything but software since freezing problems on both machines were exactly temporally contiquous with the arrival of 66d, especially since when I forced a download on the HR24 and got 62c again, it worked perfectly again. Then it went haywire once again when 66d came back a day later. I can't do a RESET EVERYTHING because I have 85 full one hour episodes of Charlie's Angels on the HD, as well as 70 half hour episodes of Friends, I have a sneaking suspicion that that Universal HD (channel 564) that broadcasts Charlie's Angels is going to discontinue the series soon,
 
#115 ·
Being desperate, last weekend I downloaded/installed a software version that shall not be named. Initially, it was fantastic. The speed seemed back to normal for almost 24 hrs. Then, gradually, as the days went on, the speed/delays/freezing got worse and worse. It is now as bad as ever. This suggests two things:
1) There's probably no fix coming soon.
2) Along with info posted by others, this suggests that the problem is in the software that causes corruption and/or congestion over time. If it were specifically a hardware problem, you wouldn't expect the problem to gradually get worse. Now, maybe there is some specific hardware configuration that is affected, but since the hardware was working fine until certain software versions came along, it suggests software as the cause, and something that is fixable by DTV.

I think I'm just repeating what others have said, but DTV needs to get its act together and fix this.
 
#116 ·
LiQiCE said:
An HR24 still has 2 coax connections on the back - so if you get an HR24 you wouldn't need SWM. Only the HR34/HR44 require SWM (since they use 5 tuners, it would need to have 5 coax connections on the back of them to make it a Genie - instead they use 1 coax connection and take up 5 SWM tuners).

SMART is an industry standard and if it is reporting the drive is failing it would mean the drive is predicting that it will fail soon. It shouldn't have anything to do with you using a non-factory hard drive. You may not notice issues on a hard drive until it reboots - a power cycle can often reveal problems with a hard drive, so the firmware upgrade causing a reboot of your device could have pushed a soon to fail drive over the edge into failing.

If you didn't have the SMART errors I would have said it definitely could be the firmware and it possibly could be fixed by running a "Reset Defaults" or "Reset Everything" (which results in your recordings being deleted) - but I suspect in your case the drive is failing.

Do you have an eSATA drive you can try to see if using a different drive fixes the problem? (Note - it will format the drive, so make sure it isn't something where you need the data on it).

Interestingly with 0x06bd I had problems with my HR23 coming out of standby - it would not respond at all for about 2-3 minutes and then would eventually come out of standby. When it came out of standby it was awfully slow - but 0x06d8 fixed the standby problem and running a "Reset Defaults" on the HR23 fixed the slowness on 0x06d8.
Decided to upgrade my system to SWiM tech and purchase the HR44 whenever the HR21's drive finally fails or it is a pain to use. As for esata, never bought an esata case...why has DirecTV never enabled the USB port, yet (It would be so much easier). Also, would love if I could have the internal and external both enabled. I don't think I will hit the Reset everything (have a lot saved for family to view). I may have to hook up a PC, and start recording the stuff in SD (another nice feature would be to transfer content to the hard drive in my HR22, yet another feature DTV don't enable).
 
#117 ·
acostapimps said:
The HR22 and 20/21 are known for being the slow DVR's from the rest of the pack, I think it has to do with how much disk space the HD has on those receivers, but others say it still slow even with no recordings at all.
Definetly has nothing to do with hard drive space. I've had a 2TB drive in mine for the past four years, and it has always been slow. Speaking of which what hard drive size does the HR44 have? Hopefully at least a 2TB or I will have to upgrade that when I purchase it.
 
#118 ·
VABlitz said:
Definetly has nothing to do with hard drive space. I've had a 2TB drive in mine for the past four years, and it has always been slow. Speaking of which what hard drive size does the HR44 have? Hopefully at least a 2TB or I will have to upgrade that when I purchase it.
HR44 is a 1TB HDD.

jibberyerkibber said:
Yes, running 6d8 in both the HR23 and HR24. Have not tried a hard drive yet. My HR23 has a 1TB internal drive from Weaknees. It worked well for a year before 0x066d and the other software after it came down. My HR24 has had a 2TB internal drive for 8 months now, and it has also worked perfectly with all the software until 0x066d and the others after it came down. I don't see how it could be anything but software since freezing problems on both machines were exactly temporally contiquous with the arrival of 66d, especially since when I forced a download on the HR24 and got 62c again, it worked perfectly again. Then it went haywire once again when 66d came back a day later. I can't do a RESET EVERYTHING because I have 85 full one hour episodes of Charlie's Angels on the HD, as well as 70 half hour episodes of Friends, I have a sneaking suspicion that that Universal HD (channel 564) that broadcasts Charlie's Angels is going to discontinue the series soon,
kkl said:
Being desperate, last weekend I downloaded/installed a software version that shall not be named. Initially, it was fantastic. The speed seemed back to normal for almost 24 hrs. Then, gradually, as the days went on, the speed/delays/freezing got worse and worse. It is now as bad as ever. This suggests two things:
1) There's probably no fix coming soon.
2) Along with info posted by others, this suggests that the problem is in the software that causes corruption and/or congestion over time. If it were specifically a hardware problem, you wouldn't expect the problem to gradually get worse. Now, maybe there is some specific hardware configuration that is affected, but since the hardware was working fine until certain software versions came along, it suggests software as the cause, and something that is fixable by DTV.

I think I'm just repeating what others have said, but DTV needs to get its act together and fix this.
For you guys still having problems - did you see my post about the Keyword search auto-recordings? My HR24-500 was fine until I added an "AALL HDTV RANGERS" in Sports -> Hockey Keyword search Auto-record. Then I experienced a hang loading the guide and non-responsiveness at times. After taking away the keyword search the HR24 went back to speed.

I think this has to be somehow related to the problem - explains why my "Reset Everything" fixed my problem, could explain why not everyone is impacted and obviously is firmware related.

Interestingly - my HR23 does not seem to experience the same problems but also has the same keyword search autorecord.
 
#120 ·
LiQiCE said:
For you guys still having problems - did you see my post about the Keyword search auto-recordings?
I did, but I'm waiting for you to tell us if it holds up. We've had many reports of things that seem to work for a day or two, then it's back to the same 'ole same 'ole. Just so I'm clear, your HR24-500 got better when you added an external drive, then got worse when you added an auto-recording? Please let us know if the performance improvement continues after deleting it. How long has it been? Thanks.
 
#121 ·
kkl said:
I did, but I'm waiting for you to tell us if it holds up. We've had many reports of things that seem to work for a day or two, then it's back to the same 'ole same 'ole. Just so I'm clear, your HR24-500 got better when you added an external drive, then got worse when you added an auto-recording? Please let us know if the performance improvement continues after deleting it. How long has it been? Thanks.
kkl,

It got better when I added the external drive, stayed better after I ran a "Reset Everything" (using the internal drive) but got worse almost immediately after adding back the keyword search and then got better immediately after removing it. I haven't had problems for over a week now (last Friday is when I ran the "Reset Everything") EXCEPT when I added the keyword search auto-record and then it returned to normal after removing it. IMHO - this is the smoking gun.

Almost a week with no issues (I added the auto-record Thursday) and then in less than an hour - issues return when I add the autorecord and then go away when I remove it - seems very suspect.

This is something non-destructive that others can try - it is a lot less harsh than the "Reset Everything" - just remember your auto-records.

The longest I have had to wait for the guide to pop up or the HR24 to respond to a remote command is ~3 seconds including the animation for the guide.

Actually I just had problems with my HR23 too - I don't use it very often (usually just use it for extra tuners to record) but tried turning it on recently and it wouldn't power up from standby and when it did - it was really slow responding to remote commands) - I just took off the auto-record from the HR23 to see if it stops.

Funny enough - the one HR23-700 I have that has zero problems is the HR23-700 without an auto-record (my wife uses it primarily and doesn't record anything that requires an auto-record).
 
#122 ·
LiQiCE,
You da man! Thanks so much for discovering and sharing this tip. I went ahead and deleted my two autorecordings. Immediately, the receiver's response to all of the usual problem areas dramatically improved. It seems miraculous. Hopefully, this holds up and the info gets back to DTV. You've made my day.
 
#123 ·
kkl said:
LiQiCE,
You da man! Thanks so much for discovering and sharing this tip. I went ahead and deleted my two autorecordings. Immediately, the receiver's response to all of the usual problem areas dramatically improved. It seems miraculous. Hopefully, this holds up and the info gets back to DTV. You've made my day.
Glad to hear it is working - if you don't mind, report back after a few days and let me know if things are still good for you.

I hope this will help Directv identify what the problem is.
 
#124 ·
LiQiCE said:
Glad to hear it is working - if you don't mind, report back after a few days and let me know if things are still good for you.

I hope this will help Directv identify what the problem is.
I have been following this and you certainly have not backed off of trying any and everything to see if you could identify the root of these problems.

Excellent work.
 
#126 ·
inkahauts said:
Guess no one wants to try my suggestion.. A simple reset of everything including the swim might help.
Doubt it would help with the problem I was having - I have 4 receivers, 3 of which were acting up - one of which was fine. Just so happens the one receiver with no problems does not have an auto-record, and the other 3 did. Removing the auto-record cleared up the slowness. This follows a clear pattern that I don't think a power cycle would resolve. Especially considering the problem started following a firmware upgrade (0x66c) - it is clear to me the problem is firmware related.

I have separately reset everything from the SWM (by removing the power inserter) to pulling the plug on the receiver, to resetting the Internet Connection Kit, removed the Internet Connection Kit entirely, ran a "Reset Everything" on my HR24, etc etc.

Considering others are also having success by removing Auto-Records too - I think it would support my case that this is the problem and caused by a firmware bug and not something that a full power cycle would fix.

If I start having problems again - I'll definitely consider your recommendation.

BTW- 0x66c also introduced "Far in Advance" which provides some guide data up to a year out. I wonder if this is related to the Auto-record issue - maybe the "Far in Advance" data increase guide data significantly causing the Auto-record to take significantly longer to search or maybe it just causes the Auto-record to hang on the Far in Advance data.

http://blog.solidsignal.com/content.php/1466-Older-DIRECTV-DVRs-get-Far-In-Advance-and-Watch-Now
 
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