# Hughes HDVR2 Random Restarts



## jimhannon (Aug 25, 2003)

Hello all,
Just recently my HDVR2 (Series 2, 6.2 Software) has been doing random restarts. It immediately goies into the reboot or restart process. Within a few minutes, I'm up and running again. It has happened twice in the last week. When it happens, I turn on my other RCA receiver in another room and it is receiving the sat feed and working . Could this be my hard drive going out on my HDVR2? Any other possibilities?
Thanks in adance for the help

Merry Christmas


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

This could be the classic symptom of hard disk failure, or soon-to-be failure. Can you still get it to restart when you disconnect/reconnect AC power? If so, and you value the recordings on your Tivo, you may want to act fast to replace or upgrade that hard drive. But try these tips first:

*** Note that problems like this can also be caused by AC power spikes or fluctuations. Your Tivo is essentially a computer inside, so you should seriously consider powering it with an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). Good quality 350VA UPS's are available for well below $50 and will power your Tivo for nearly an hour, plus they provide much better powerline isolation and protection than a surge protector.

http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/Sku.asp?PageType=1&Sku=474045

*** Check your Tivo's internal temperature. If it's running too hot you'll sometimes see problems like this. Look in "Messages & Setup" -> "System Information" and scroll down a couple of pages to see the internal temperature. Anything under 50-deg C is usually OK. If it's higher than that, make sure you have good airflow under and around your Tivo. It's a good idea to raise your Tivo up an inch or so for better airflow. Some folks use pop bottle caps under each corner.

*** Try re-seating your access card. Remove power, remove the access card, wait a few minutes, re-insert the access card, and reconnect power.

*** If you're comfortable opening up your Tivo (which will void your warranty if you still have one), then disconnect and reconnect all the cables leading to the hard drive(s). Sometimes connections can work loose, or tarnish, and re-seating them will help.

*** If these steps don't help, then it's likely a hard drive problem. You can try a "Clear and Delete Everything" (in the Tivo's "Messages & Setup" menu). That might help the drive repair itself, but you will lose your recordings, Season Passes, and other settings.

*** Finally, if all else fails, then you might want to try connecting your Tivo drive(s) to your PC and run the disk manufacturer's DOS-based diagnostic utilities. These are usually available for download from their web site. Unfortunately they don't always detect all of the failures that can disrupt your Tivo. Some folks have reported success using the SpinRite disk repair utility available from Gibson Research at http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm or HDD Regenerator at http://www.dposoft.net/#b_hddhid

Also check out these sources of information, much of which you'll find in the Tivo Upgrade Center forum:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=25

http://www.weaknees.com/index.html

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/

http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/instantcake/

http://www.9thtee.com/


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## Dkerr24 (Oct 29, 2004)

Since you've checked the other unit and it is working fine during the restarts, then the hard drive in that unit is suspect. If you have a PC laying around that uses IDE channels, then you can use it to image a new hard drive. Most likely, your image is damaged, so I'd recommend you purchase one from ptvupgrade.com.


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## bschmitt (Mar 16, 2004)

I am experiencing the same issues here... Random restarts
I realize it b/c of the 30 sec skip and clock (lower right) goes missing.

I too have the HDVR2-40 but I have added an additional HD.
Just this past week we have had 2-3 restarts and one about 10-15 min ago
I saw it rebooting and hopped onto here to see if it was a known issue.

Any others experience this? Any help/suggestions? Or, is this just a Bad Software update?


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## John T Smith (Jun 17, 2004)

>a Bad Software update?

Could be
Season Pass Problems
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=332166


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## petersweston (Nov 2, 2006)

Jason One said:


> This is clearly a widespread issue. I have three HDVR2s in my house, and all three have randomly restarted at least two or three times in the past week. I just saw the one in my bedroom restart last night at around 4:00 am.


Same here is this something being caused by D* Exactly like the others. This is to much of a coincedence. My machine also has to 250 drives in it and has restarted like everyone elses. Mine must have resarted last night also.

Btw I know about the restart also by the missing 30 skip and the missing :up: :down: :up: 78 code. This is something being caused by D* Affecting only these machines.


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## petersweston (Nov 2, 2006)

John T Smith said:


> >a Bad Software update?
> 
> Could be
> Season Pass Problems
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=332166


 These machines Have not had an update in years Mine is on 6.2 and has been there for 1.5 years or something like that.


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## petersweston (Nov 2, 2006)

bschmitt said:


> I am experiencing the same issues here... Random restarts
> I realize it b/c of the 30 sec skip and clock (lower right) goes missing.
> 
> I too have the HDVR2-40 but I have added an additional HD.
> ...


Exactly what version do you have down to the last #'s mine is 6.2-01-2-351 Is that the same version on the 704-708 phillips


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## petersweston (Nov 2, 2006)

Anyone else get seinfeld recorded the other night in 2 parts I believe it was at 10;30 eastern time. Last week thats when i know it rebooted the other day because i woke up in the morning and My 30 skip was off and in my NP there was a seinfeld recorded at 10 30 eastern in 2 parts. That only occurs during a restart when a show is recording


Btw Litzdog My tivo is on an Ups and its internal temp is 35c. I feell alittle better now it sounds like it may not be my drives (I hope to hell not Spikes Voyager marathon are 38 of my all time favorite episodes)


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## dleithaus (Oct 29, 2005)

Adding my voice to this thread .... also posted with more detail in the Season Pass Problem thread and in the Direct TV technical forums.

Random resets are occurring! More than likely an attempt to fix the program guide and season pass searching problems. 
Twice, while watching a recorded movie, the reset interrupted.
Everything was "normal" upon resumption, cept the resume play started at a point well before where the spontaneous reset occurred. 

Might be nice if DTV waited until the unit was idle before forcing resets... not good for increasing customer satisfaction by interrupting TV watching!


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## rock_doctor (Oct 22, 2000)

Nice to hear we all are in the same boat. Mine also rebooted which concerned me since it has a new drive in it. I guess DTV has got something in the works. I wonder what??? I still have the same version number (6.2-01-2-151) so unless it was an unnumbered update it must have been something dealing with the access card...

mark


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## petersweston (Nov 2, 2006)

rock_doctor said:


> Nice to hear we all are in the same boat. Mine also rebooted which concerned me since it has a new drive in it. I guess DTV has got something in the works. I wonder what??? I still have the same version number (6.2-01-2-151) so unless it was an unnumbered update it must have been something dealing with the access card...
> 
> mark


my version ends with 351 it is a sd-dvr40


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## goony (Nov 20, 2003)

Here is a chart of the 3-digit service numbers for Tivo and DTivo boxes.


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## rock_doctor (Oct 22, 2000)

True, the one reported is a HDVR2 but my SD40 has also rebooted. I noticed the difference in version numbers and just assumed mine was a later version. 

thanks,
mark


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## petersweston (Nov 2, 2006)

goony said:


> Here is a chart of the 3-digit service numbers for Tivo and DTivo boxes.


Got it. The last 3 are service #. Nothing to do with software.


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## bschmitt (Mar 16, 2004)

Well just wanted to chime back it... the holidays have been crazy around here.
Our rebooted twice this week once on Thurs and again today....
This is very Odd.. My wife did have difficulty setting up a season pass so, for shows that should have been there (24 and Dirt???) anyways our version number when I checked the other day ended in 351


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## bschmitt (Mar 16, 2004)

BTW what is the TU TD TU 7 8 code do?
Thanks


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## drew2k (Jun 10, 2003)

bschmitt said:


> BTW what is the TU TD TU 7 8 code do?
> Thanks


That enables "Info display" right on the Now Playing List page, and as you scroll up and down the list, the Info at the top of the screen stays in place and updates accordingly, per the program you are currently highlighting.

Note: This trick doesn't work on all boxes/software versions.


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## bschmitt (Mar 16, 2004)

Cool... Thanks!
Just tried it out and it works for me.


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## CraigHB (Dec 24, 2003)

Last week my Samsung S4040R started doing random reboots. My first thought was the hard disk conking out, but the hard drive is only a year and a half old. That seems premature to me. I would expect them to last at least 3 years. 

I have a spare S4040R I'm putting into service. I'll pull the hard disk on the old one, give it a destructive scan, then restore it. If I don't find anything wrong, maybe it was something DirecTV did on their end. That would be very odd.


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## crkeehn (Mar 1, 2005)

I guess I can also add my name to the list of the spontaneous rebooters with my Samsung 4080. It has rebooted a few times in the last couple of weeks, the only way I would know was that the 30 second skip was gone. Over the holiday while we were watching it did reboot once.


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## skodises (Jan 3, 2007)

Ditto here- 4 restarts since 12/20, 2 while watching live TV, one of which resulted in missing the end of a football game. I'm glad this thread is here to know that the pain is shared. 

It amuses me more than a little bit to realize that we have suddenly come to regard our HR20 as somehow "more reliable" than the 2002-era DirecTivo. Hopefully, the D* folks will track this issue down soon, because it is causing some strain on the otherwise calm and simple "his and hers" DVR setup we've been enjoying...


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## Dkerr24 (Oct 29, 2004)

skodises said:


> Ditto here- 4 restarts since 12/20, 2 while watching live TV, one of which resulted in missing the end of a football game. I'm glad this thread is here to know that the pain is shared.
> 
> It amuses me more than a little bit to realize that we have suddenly come to regard our HR20 as somehow "more reliable" than the 2002-era DirecTivo. Hopefully, the D* folks will track this issue down soon, because it is causing some strain on the otherwise calm and simple "his and hers" DVR setup we've been enjoying...


You guys should hack your units with the Zipper... neither of mine have restarted a single time (unless I force a reboot myself).


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## vanclute (Aug 4, 2003)

Numerous reboots here on a several-month-old reconditioned DSR704 from PTVUpgrade. I bought two identical units and put identical drives in them, one has not rebooted a single time, the other is rebooting at least once or twice a week on average. And it seems to be getting more frequent... sometimes while playing, other times while recording, other times while idle. Most annoying.

Jonathan


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## ttodd1 (Nov 6, 2003)

There is a thread at DDB of the tvlog file filling up very fast - this in turn fills up /var which may cause the tivo to reboot. Some have speculated that this may have to do with some bad guide data and/or the start of the new year. Of course one should not rule out a bad hard drive as the problem either but.....


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## The Flush (Aug 3, 2005)

Dkerr24 said:


> You guys should hack your units with the Zipper... neither of mine have restarted a single time (unless I force a reboot myself).


My Zippered Hughes DVR40 has unexpectedly rebooted twice while I was watching in the past couple weeks. I am not sure about the Zippered DSR708 since I don't watch it as much. I have not looked at any log files to look for hints at the problem yet.


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## CraigHB (Dec 24, 2003)

I did a "Clear thumb ratings and suggestions" and "Clear program information and To Do List" I've done this in the past and it normally only takes a few minutes. The second "clear" took several hours which implies the partition may have been filling up with information. The spare box I put into service in lieu of the problem box hasn't been hooked up for 6 months. It's not having any problems. The "disk filling with bad guide data" theory sounds reasonable.


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## frylock19 (Jan 2, 2005)

I'm having a similar problem - still - as far as random resets. This just started for me yesterday with my Hughes SD-DVR80(un-hacked). 

However, there are a few more details that may lead me to thinking the hard drive being the problem.

At any point in all of the resetting, did any of your Tivos start acting sluggishly: the menus would take forever to appear, the video feed will pause every few seconds or so...and then I'll have to reboot the unit. I'll get a good 5 minutes before the whole process starts again, leading to a reboot(on it's own if I don't intevene).

I'll try Instantcake if I have to, but I want to make sure this isn't a D* issue first.

Any help is appreciated.


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## dtremain (Jan 5, 2004)

frylock19 said:


> I'm having a similar problem - still - as far as random resets. This just started for me yesterday with my Hughes SD-DVR80(un-hacked).
> 
> However, there are a few more details that may lead me to thinking the hard drive being the problem.
> 
> ...


When it caused my "To Record" menu to not be populated, it took a long time for the small list of shows that did appear to come up. After forcing a re-boot and waiting a half hour, when everything was back in order, the list opened right up, like usual.

This happened once each on both my unhacked, unmodified units.

I haven't had the other problems you mention like pausing video or it getting loused up again in five minutes, however.


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