[SeptemberBaby]

We had a power outage here yesterday that lasted for about 4 - 5 hrs.

When the power came back on, the HD DVR in our family room was turned on right away and there were no problems.
However, the dvr plus wasn't turned on until 6 hrs after the power came back on, when it was the setup screen came on... like I was a new customer... I couldn't get out of it, so I went along and did what it told me too... I had to enter my zip code, it did a strength test, etc... all of this wasn't a big deal, but I did find it strange that I had to do it..
The problem is: it wiped out my entire 'to do list'. The Guide had to download, so it was empty for the 20 min I had it on....
Not the end of the world because I didn't have it set to record anything last night. But, if I were away and came home and found out that nothing was recorded because there was a power outage and no one did this setup routine, I would have been ticked.
I checked it this morning and everything seems to be in order.

We've lost power many, many times before and this has never happened.
What did I do wrong, and more importantly, what should I do if this happens again?

 

[sngalla]

Best practice is to prevent it from happening in the future: Use a battery backup.

 

[ThomasM]

When the power failed, it may have done so with a spike instead of cleanly like when you pull the plug out. Or the spike could have occurred when the power came back on and everything in your house started up at once (refrigerator, lights, motors, etc.)

If it was a thunderstorm, the smart move is to UNPLUG all of your valuable electronic devices. If it was just an ordinary power failure, you should have unplugged your DVR's & other electronics when the power was off so the startup spike wouldn't hurt them.

It's possible the spike was only on the circuit with your one DVR which is why much of it's programming was wiped out.

 

[sundude90]

Do you have that Receiver on a Surge Protector?? I think that it probably did that because of a surge or a spike in power. Who knows. But I would have all my equipment on a Surge Protector to be safe.

You may try calling Directv