[NOLANSKI]

I did a search on "random reboots" and didn't find much that pointed to specifics as to why this happens.
For the last 3 nights in a row I have had a reboot each night twice watching recorded material and once live.

I have a External 750GB Free Agent for a HD.

Is my HR20-100 or HD dying?

 

[Doug Brott]

I did a search on "random reboots" and didn't find much that pointed to specifics as to why this happens.
For the last 3 nights in a row I have had a reboot each night twice watching recorded material and once live.

I have a External 750GB Free Agent for a HD.

Is my HR20-100 or HD dying?

Could you tune to channel 100, then immediately tune to channel 222. This may help, believe it or not.

Also, could you list the type of dish that you have? Do you have a multi-switch? If so, what model?

What are your signal strengths on 101 Sat location and 119 Sat location?

 

[NOLANSKI]

Ok I'm going to try your suggestions and check those things.
And THANK YOU!

BUT... I have to say this.

The non-Tivo units are simply junk when compared to the solid reliability of my old HR10-250. NO ISSUES EVER AT ALL.

I'm tired of having problems to solve every few months.

Defecting to the DN is on my mind once again...

 

[MrMojoJojo]

another thing to keep in mind with random reboots is that while they sometimes come as a result of software, typically a receiver will reset itself if there's some kind of power interruption. what do you have the receiver plugged into?

 

[NOLANSKI]

The issue is not my dish it's a 5 LNB Slimline.
Signals are solid.

The equipment is only surge protected, I don't have a UPS and if it's advised to have one to keep things running properly I haven't read it in the owners manua or been advised by DTV. Again the HR10-250 went through at least 5 power interuptions without incident.

So far no reboot tonite!!!!!!:grin:

 

[Nicholsen]

Nolanski:

I agree. The HR10-250 is one great piece of consumer electronics. People are going to run these boxes for years to come, even if just to harvest OTA and SD programs. It's a solid workhorse.

 

[Doug Brott]

So far no reboot tonite!!!!!!:grin:

This is good .. just for grins could you list out all of your signal strengths for 119?

Menu -> Parental, Favs and Setup -> System Setup -> Satellite -> View Signal Strength

It would be good if you could list out the signal strengths for both Sat 1 and Sat 2.

 

[gregjones]

The issue is not my dish it's a 5 LNB Slimline.
Signals are solid.

The equipment is only surge protected, I don't have a UPS and if it's advised to have one to keep things running properly I haven't read it in the owners manua or been advised by DTV. Again the HR10-250 went through at least 5 power interuptions without incident.

So far no reboot tonite!!!!!!:grin:

It is a computer with a hard drive. If you like the data on the hard drive and like it running reliably, put it on a UPS. I cannot tell you how many recurring issues with HR2x units have been related to poor power. Surge suppressors keep (to differing degrees) equipment from getting too much power. They do not help with the equipment getting too little. It is a cheap way to remove one source of headaches.

 

[NOLANSKI]

It is a computer with a hard drive. If you like the data on the hard drive and like it running reliably, put it on a UPS. I cannot tell you how many recurring issues with HR2x units have been related to poor power. Surge suppressors keep (to differing degrees) equipment from getting too much power. They do not help with the equipment getting too little. It is a cheap way to remove one source of headaches.

I disagree.
I have built every computer I have owned except the first one.
I have always had very good surge protection and never had a issue on any of my computers due to surge or power loss at home or the small P2P network I maintain at work. I will admit the primary data holder at work has a UPS.
If this consumer level POS requires a UPS to maintain its silicon sanity then it truly is a POS and a UPS should be supplied with it or built in.
The HR20-100POS rebooted while we were watching a DVD last night.
Please remember I like my service...I and we all should have little patience for bad hardware.

Signal levels 119 are as follows:
1-16 N/A
17-14 95 0 18 100 100 0 98 27
25-32 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

 

[TomCat]

I work with video servers that are powered by a UPS the size of my bedroom. They still hang and need rebooting every so often, but would probably need rebooting more often without it. A UPS can also provide cleaner power, which anything microprocessor-based appreciates.

It's the nature of computers that stable clean power is always better than variable dirty power, be they professional media servers or a consumer DVR.

 

[GregLee]

I've had very few problems with my HR20-700 since I got it last October, but I keep careful tabs on threads like this where people tell their horror stories. I don't want to have my own to tell. In December I got an esata drive -- on the theory that some of the problems are due to internal drives developing bad spots, I thought this might help. In February, I got a UPS for my HR20, the esata drive, and my AVR receiver. A few weeks ago, I put a laptop fan on top of my HR20, which lowered its reported temperature from 125F. to less than 115F.

I tend to be a little paranoid. Is there anything else I should be doing?

 

[Doug Brott]

I disagree.
I have built every computer I have owned except the first one.
I have always had very good surge protection and never had a issue on any of my computers due to surge or power loss at home or the small P2P network I maintain at work. I will admit the primary data holder at work has a UPS.
If this consumer level POS requires a UPS to maintain its silicon sanity then it truly is a POS and a UPS should be supplied with it or built in.
The HR20-100POS rebooted while we were watching a DVD last night.
Please remember I like my service...I and we all should have little patience for bad hardware.

Signal levels 119 are as follows:
1-16 N/A
17-14 95 0 18 100 100 0 98 27
25-32 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

Thanks, this helps .. You have a 5LNB slimline I see. Do you have a multiswitch or is the dish wired directly to the receiver?

 

[NOLANSKI]

Thanks, this helps .. You have a 5LNB slimline I see. Do you have a multiswitch or is the dish wired directly to the receiver?

Hi Doug, no multi switch...simplest direct wire set up.
Kevin

Oh and I'm calming down now....

 

[Doug Brott]

NOLANSKI,

Perhaps you could do one other thing for me .. Could you press ACTIVE + INFO (from the front panel of the receiver, not the remote). An information screen should popup that gives the signal strengths for your tuners .. Could you list the strengths for Tuner 1, Tuner 2 and Tuner 3?

Be careful when you do this as you may go into ACTIVE mode. This will cancel the buffer of anything you may be watching.

 

[dreadlk]

Doug can you throw the rest of us a bone and give us a clue as to what you think this might be, I had a random reboot last night. What is making me scratch my head the most about your posts is the cryptic nature, like "Go to channel 100 then 222" whats that for?

 

[Doug Brott]

dreadlk,

That was an attempt to make sure that both tuners are on 101. Those channels will help make that happen, although there are other combinations that would also work. Just want to make sure that there is a proper flow of guide data into the receiver.

 

[gregjones]

I disagree.
I have built every computer I have owned except the first one.
I have always had very good surge protection and never had a issue on any of my computers due to surge or power loss at home or the small P2P network I maintain at work. I will admit the primary data holder at work has a UPS.
If this consumer level POS requires a UPS to maintain its silicon sanity then it truly is a POS and a UPS should be supplied with it or built in.
The HR20-100POS rebooted while we were watching a DVD last night.
Please remember I like my service...I and we all should have little patience for bad hardware.

Signal levels 119 are as follows:
1-16 N/A
17-14 95 0 18 100 100 0 98 27
25-32 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

I develop software for a living and have for the last 15 years. The weakest link in most computers is the hard drive. That hard drive is the same one that would be in any other desktop computer. It has nothing to do with your high or low opinion of the HR2x. Hard drives, when power is interrupted, tend to crash. It is a statistical crap-shoot that any power surge, brown-out or black-out will irreparably damage a hard drive.

You may be very fortunate and have clean power. Many are not. There are numerous incidents posted here involving incorrect wiring, unstable power, etc. that have killed HR2x. Some posters went through several before realizing they had wiring faults in their homes.

If buying a $50 UPS is too much of an irritant to you, don't buy it. I find the $50 as a fairly convenient assurance that I can eliminate that one issue. My DVR stays about 80% full and I find the idea of starting over with all the series links, etc. somewhat distasteful.

PS, I had a cable company HD DVR. With clean UPS power, I had three of them die before I left the cable company. If you believe the HR2x is the worst out there, you've never used a Scientific Atlanta HD DVR.

 

[dreadlk]

Thanks for clearing that up Doug.

Mr. DTV please fix these reboot issues, it happens way to often. and BTW why don't you shorten the startup routine? It takes like 3-5 minutes to go through all the reloading. If you get a reboot in the middle of a show by time the system is up again you have missed out a nice chunk of the show

My suggestion is

1) Put in an option to allow the user to forgo the system lnb/hardware checks. In 99.9% of the cases nothing will ever change and if it does I can go in and turn back on the hardware checks. This is kind of like the same thing that motherboard makers realised after years of wasting peoples time and finaly put in the Bios option to skip all the long winded memory checks.

2) Forget loading the Guide data on bootup, do that after the picture comes back.
I would rather get my show back on in 20 seconds with an empty guide than to wait 5 minutes for a full guide when I could be using that 5 minutes to watch my show.

dreadlk,

That was an attempt to make sure that both tuners are on 101. Those channels will help make that happen, although there are other combinations that would also work. Just want to make sure that there is a proper flow of guide data into the receiver.

 

[NOLANSKI]

Ok guys sorry I haven't been around my daughter was married yesterday...it was awesome she was radiant and happy and it was one of the best days of my life!
ANYWAY............
So I'm going work with this a bit more and get more info for trouble shooting as recommended.
I will get a UPS onboard.....BUT when this happens again and I think it will UPS or not (assuming HD is replaced or not) I will still say that if it's up to the consumer in general to protect this DVR with a UPS for trouble free operation then it should be WRITTEN in the owners manual as a recommendation at a minimum.

 

[gregjones]

I will get a UPS onboard.....BUT when this happens again and I think it will UPS or not (assuming HD is replaced or not) I will still say that if it's up to the consumer in general to protect this DVR with a UPS for trouble free operation then it should be WRITTEN in the owners manual as a recommendation at a minimum.

That is a recommendation for any non-solid-state hard drive in operation. The choice is up to the consumer because DirecTV can simply replace it. If the cost of the UPS is worth the reduced hassle of downtime and recording loss, get one. If it's not, don't.