# Since 6.3e, Tivo's freezing



## TivoJD

Has anyone else run into the problem of their Tivo freezing since they have gotten the 6.3e update? When I turn the TV on, its like the picture is paused and it will not respond to the remote control. I have to reboot to get it to come back. This has happened about 3 times now over the past few weeks. I have two directv tivos that are doing this. One is a Samsung SIR-S4040R the other is a Directv R10. Best friend has 2 Hughes SD-DVR40's and she is having the same problem.


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## gshumaker

Same thing at our place - 2 of 3 are rebooting and very slow afterwards each time. Guess I need to wait a while and see if this settles out or call D* and see what is up!!


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## mjh

I have an R10 w/6.3e. I haven't experienced the "freezing" problem yet. 

However, my TiVo is incredibly non-responsive after the upgrade. Fast-forwarding through commercials is different. With the previous releases, I had a pretty good rhythm to get to the 3-arrow FF. But it doesn't work now. Now it ends up at only 1 arrow, and if I'm lucky 2. I have to slow way down to get to the 3-arrow FF. And then when I push play to go back to normal speed, sometimes it won't take, and I'll just keep on fastforwarding past where I want to be!

I'm not really happy w/6.3e. It doesn't seem to provide me anything, but does seem to make the device less effective.


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## tbrogan

I have two (2) Hughes DirecTV Tivo Units (SD-DVR120). One is freezing/pausing every few seconds, the other is fine.

TIVO thinks the hard drive is going out. DirecTV wants me to upgrage to their DVR.

I'd rather keep the Tivo DVR. I have a extra internal hard drive (130GB). Do I just replace the old one with the new one? Or is there more I need to do?

Thanks in advance! Tommy


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## restart88

I just checked and I have the update but everything seems to be working so far.


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## litzdog911

tbrogan said:


> I have two (2) Hughes DirecTV Tivo Units (SD-DVR120). One is freezing/pausing every few seconds, the other is fine.
> 
> TIVO thinks the hard drive is going out. DirecTV wants me to upgrage to their DVR.
> 
> I'd rather keep the Tivo DVR. I have a extra internal hard drive (130GB). Do I just replace the old one with the new one? Or is there more I need to do?
> 
> Thanks in advance! Tommy


Check out these resources if you want to replace/upgrade the hard drive ....

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.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm

http://www.9thtee.com/


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## scottjf8

I haven't checked to see the version on my HR10 but I'm guessing it's 6.3e... and it reboots probably once a day (I know by the time being gone from the corner of the screen) and the other day it was totally locked up.

It's starting to make me like the HR20 more and more.


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## TivoJD

mjh said:


> I have an R10 w/6.3e. I haven't experienced the "freezing" problem yet.
> 
> However, my TiVo is incredibly non-responsive after the upgrade. Fast-forwarding through commercials is different. With the previous releases, I had a pretty good rhythm to get to the 3-arrow FF. But it doesn't work now. Now it ends up at only 1 arrow, and if I'm lucky 2. I have to slow way down to get to the 3-arrow FF. And then when I push play to go back to normal speed, sometimes it won't take, and I'll just keep on fastforwarding past where I want to be!
> 
> I'm not really happy w/6.3e. It doesn't seem to provide me anything, but does seem to make the device less effective.


Yeah, my R10 is the same way with the FF, it bleeps weird too when trying to FF, almost like it skipping. The Samsung isn't doing that. The freezing is not good with all the new shows coming in the fall ...


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## restart88

Today I did notice one thing odd. 2 recorded shows seemed to start recording late. Other than that all seems fine for me.

It's been ages since my SA Tivos did that and I only recently reactivated the Tivo functions on the R10, so I don't know if this is a common complaint or not.


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## jimbop99

I have two Hughes Tivos. The one that got the upgrade has frozen three times and has required a reboot to get it going again.


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## rock_doctor

I'm having the same problem with my units. Drop outs, slow to respond and my HDVR2 just crashed on me. The HDVR2 have a new drive in it, so it isn't the drive. Hopefully, DTV will get this worked out I have no plans (what-so-ever) to replace any of my TiVos any time soon.

mark


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## recon225

I have a smiliar problem since two days ago. This is only happening in live TV and recently recorded shows and it doesn't seem to affect older recorded shows. The picture would be fine for a few seconds and then freeze up then repeat this cycle. Tried restarting and it helped for a couple of minutes before the problem came back.


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## snookuda

Im having the same issues of freezing up and only a reboot is a fix with my r10, whats up D*, cant you fix this...


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## cr0100

TivoJD said:


> Has anyone else run into the problem of their Tivo freezing since they have gotten the 6.3e update? When I turn the TV on, its like the picture is paused and it will not respond to the remote control. I have to reboot to get it to come back.


I have the Hughes DVR40 and have been having a hell of a time lately. Each time it freezes up, my only choice is to pull the power plug from the back and watch the slow reboot process. Last night it did this 3 times within 15 minutes. The first time it happened was when I was ff'ing through a commercial. The next time I'd just hit "play", and the final time before I stormed away from the box and went to read a book, it happened while I was just selecting the "Now Playing" item from the menu.

The last time I ever called DirecTV about issues with my box, all they wanted to do was send me another DVR (certainly not a TiVo box), so I don't hold out any high hopes of getting any satisfaction by calling them this time! Boy, was I mad last night.


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## rbtravis

Try clearing the thumbs ratings :up: :down: to see if the problem goes away. These ratings only affect suggestions. good luck


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## rock_doctor

cr0100...

I hate to say it but it crashing that often sounds more like a hard drive problem then a software problem. Calling DTV for help with the TiVo units is a waste of time. Most of the people there are too new to even know they had a TiVo direct tv recorder.... Something to consider.

good luck,
mark


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## snoop

On the old series 1's there was a problem with upgrades which may or may not apply to the newer series 2 directivos. Perhaps someone more in tune with how the newer models work could opine.

On the older tivo's, there were two partitions that the operating system used, one for the 'current' software and one for an upgrade version. I believe the intent was that if the upgrade version didnt download or install correctly, the tivo could boot back to its former image. On the next upgrade, the download would go to the 'old' partition and the two partitions would swap who was 'active' on each download.

Problems came about when one of the partitions wasnt used for a long time, then a new s/w image was downloaded to it, no problems were immediately detected, but the new area was a so-so portion of the disk and progressively got worse. You'd get reboots, freezes, slowness and all sorts of similar sounding stuff.

Seems the trouble originated from the manufacturer writing the image to the disk and not testing the unused areas.

The solution then was to try to copy your disk contents to a new, non flakey drive and hope you could get everything off of it, or install a fresh new drive with a clean copy of the tivo s/w.


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## dtremain

snoop said:


> On the older tivo's, there were two partitions that the operating system used, one for the 'current' software and one for an upgrade version. I believe the intent was that if the upgrade version didnt download or install correctly, the tivo could boot back to its former image. On the next upgrade, the download would go to the 'old' partition and the two partitions would swap who was 'active' on each download.
> 
> Problems came about when one of the partitions wasnt used for a long time, then a new s/w image was downloaded to it, no problems were immediately detected, but the new area was a so-so portion of the disk and progressively got worse. You'd get reboots, freezes, slowness and all sorts of similar sounding stuff.
> 
> Seems the trouble originated from the manufacturer writing the image to the disk and not testing the unused areas.


Well, I'd agree with everything above except the last sentence. You are correct about the update being written to a different part of the disk. What then happens is if there is damage to that part of the disk, the software now on it starts to give the machine problems. Those problems had not appeared before becuase the damaged area was not affecting the software then.

There's really nothing the manufacturer can test for. It is the result of pre-existing damage to the individual unit's hard drive.


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## cr0100

rock_doctor said:


> cr0100...
> 
> I hate to say it but it crashing that often sounds more like a hard drive problem then a software problem. Calling DTV for help with the TiVo units is a waste of time. Most of the people there are too new to even know they had a TiVo direct tv recorder.... Something to consider.
> 
> good luck,
> mark


Sounds like it is time to replace the harddrive, then. Bummer, this one is only about 2 years old!

What is the max size drive that this thing can handle? If I'm going to upgrade I might as well UPGRADE.

Thanks guys. I'm not as upset as I was last night, now that there is a plan of action!

-Charles


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## rock_doctor

cr0100 said:


> Sounds like it is time to replace the harddrive, then. Bummer, this one is only about 2 years old!
> 
> What is the max size drive that this thing can handle? If I'm going to upgrade I might as well UPGRADE.
> 
> Thanks guys. I'm not as upset as I was last night, now that there is a plan of action!
> 
> -Charles


Wait to see what others say but that would be my guess. Rebooting several times a day is what mine did when it went. If your drive is only 2-years old you may be able to return it under warranty. It should have a date of manufacture stamped on it. Most drives have at least a 3-year warranty and Seagate, my favorite, has a 5-yr warranty. Just be sure not to tell them you used it in a tivo. Should not make a difference but you never know. If you can't return the drive you can still use it in a computer, Windows will mark the bad sectors and it will work fine.

good luck,
mark


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## patrickd88

I'm having the same freezing problem the last couple weeks. What can we do? It's obviously something to do with the latest update. Anyone? I don't want DirecTV's piece of junk box. My friend has had hers replaced 3 times in the last year.


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## chuckg

cr0100 said:


> Sounds like it is time to replace the harddrive, then. Bummer, this one is only about 2 years old!
> 
> What is the max size drive that this thing can handle? If I'm going to upgrade I might as well UPGRADE.
> 
> Thanks guys. I'm not as upset as I was last night, now that there is a plan of action!
> 
> -Charles


If your problems started after the 6.3e upgrade then it is the more likely cause of your problems. I have two S4040Rs purchased in 2004. They almost never gave me any trouble with a very rare restart.

Replaced HDs with brand new Seagate units from weaknees several weeks ago. All was well until 6.3e upgrade. Both units have restarted twice in the last week and a half most recently last night. And one had a video freeze which weaknees describes thus:

PROBLEM / ERROR MESSAGE
VIDEO DROPS OUT BUT AUDIO CONTINUES
CAUSES / SOLUTIONS DIRECTV WITH TIVO (DIRECTIVO)**
In early-model TiVos (SAT T60 and DSR6000), this was a problem caused by a software update in early July 2004 to 3.1.0c. More recently, the HR10-250 had this problem, and a software update (to 6.3b) was released to solve it.

** Hughes GXCEBOT, Philips DSR6000, DSR6000r, SONY SAT T-60 and in some cases, Series 2 TiVo models.

It may be that the power supplies are the problem. See the weaknees repair page.
My guess is that many, perhaps most, of the recent problems are related to 6.3e.


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## recon225

Having changed about a dozen directivo drives for my units and others, I believe I can spot HDD failures. I have a stronge believe my live TV freezing problem is due to the new software because none of my older recordings have any problems playing back.


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## Mike_TV

I have two different Series 2 units (HDVR2) one stock 80GB Phillips the other Hughes with a 500 GB drive. I forced a call earlier this week and both rebooted with the new update. Both ran fine for a few days and both locked up at about the same time (a couple days later). one unit was locked up with a frozen image of a program while the other was locked up on a black screen.

Seems like something in the update is messed up. Chances that both units had hard drive problems at the same time seem pretty slim to me.

I did notice that my channel logos came back on both units.


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## recon225

At the same time my problem started, I also received an error 81 activate dvr message almost every hour. My system information shows I have dvr as active and I have no problems recording shows other than this one directivo recording the image freezes. My other directivo is fine. The other hardware difference is that the problem unit has 2 HDDs via a weakness bracket.


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## rbtravis

Having two drives could be drawing to much power. Your power supply could be intermittent . When was the last time you cleaned out the interior. Heat is the enemy of all computers, could cause it to draw more power. Try cleaning out the dust first. When you put in the dual drive bracket did you install the fan as recommended. Remember do all work with Tivo unplugged. Safety first!!!


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## Philo_Beddoe

I am having the EXACT same problem. However, maybe my scenario will help or shed some light. I haven't used my Phillips DSR704 in nearly a year (i moved). DTV came out yesterday and hooked me back up. As of late last night I get serious lock up and freeze. My remote becomes nearly useless, and I cant do anything. Even when I go to the settings area it is extremely SLOW. Only a reboot is solving the issue. 

I don't think it's a hardware issue, but I could be wrong..


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## patrickd88

It's the same problem a lot of us are having. 6.3e IS GARBAGE. Email or call DIRECTV right away!


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## verchad

patrickd88 said:


> It's the same problem a lot of us are having. 6.3e IS GARBAGE. Email or call DIRECTV right away!


I called today after no improvements. The tech, Deborah, suggested a reset.

I told her I tried that.

She suggested a reset that wipes out my recorded programs.

I countered and asked her if they knew if there was any update being worked on for this software, since all my problems have started after the upgrade and it's to the point that you can't watch anything without the stuttering. And also mentioned that I know others ;-) who have Directivos and are having the same problems after the update.

Her response was that even if they were working on an update, it's not like, "it would be ready tomorrow, it would be awhile."

She said that if the total reset didn't work they could replace the system.

Now, I really don't want to do wipe the hard drive, I do have a dvd recorder and can backup my tivoed stuff, but it is stuttering on playback.

So a questions. Has anyone tried the reset that wipes the hard drive and has it actually worked? I don't want to waste time transfering about 10 hours of stuttering stuff to the dvd-r if it's not going to help the DTivo.


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## Beer Geek

My HDVR2 has frozen several times since the software change. The other thing it's doing is flashing to a blank, black screen for just a moment each time I move down a level in the Now Playing List, and each time I start playing a recording.

When it freezes up, that blank screen is all you get, and it won't respond to the remote. It's always happened when I wasn't watching (maybe overnight, not sure), so I haven't seen it freeze.


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## descentr

patrickd88 said:


> It's the same problem a lot of us are having. 6.3e IS GARBAGE. Email or call DIRECTV right away!


I sent an email mentioning the problems I started having with my HDVR2 after the 6.3 upgrade and asked if they were acknowledging any issues with this patch. We'll see what they say.

Mike

UPDATE:
Apparently it is just me:

"Thanks for writing. I'm sorry to hear that you are having trouble with your HDVR2 receiver. Based on my research, I found no known issues reported yet regarding our most recent software download. However, we've found simply resetting your receiver will often restore your service..."

On the plus side, it hasn't locked up today (yet).


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## tbrogan

verchad said:


> So a questions. Has anyone tried the reset that wipes the hard drive and has it actually worked? I don't want to waste time transfering about 10 hours of stuttering stuff to the dvd-r if it's not going to help the DTivo.


Yes, I have tried the "Clear & Delete Everything". No, it did not fix the problem. I had no program info nor any of my local channels. The unit was worse off than before. DTV ended up twisting my arm and sending me a "free" R-15 DTV+, which is very inferior to me compared to Tivo.

I guess I'm going to send the R-15 back and bite the bullet and buy a replacement Tivo drive.


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## tigercat74

I have had no rebooting or freezing problems on my three TIVOS until last night. I was watching live football when a heavy rainstorm hit. Instead of losing the signal like normal, two of them froze up and the other rebooted. I had to unplug the other two to reboot them. All three rebooted twice more during the heavy rain, but after that there has been no problems. These are stock units except for one that had a new hard drive installed when the old one failed. I have no way of knowing what caused this. I posted this in two threads because I did not know which one it should go in.


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## SuncoastTivoFan

Same thing is happening to me. In Tampa bay we get thunderstorms every afternoon. When signal goes out, the DirecTiVo freezes. This has happened on an R10 an Phillips 704. I e-mailed asking what's up.


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## kalex

tbrogan said:


> Yes, I have tried the "Clear & Delete Everything". No, it did not fix the problem. I had no program info nor any of my local channels. The unit was worse off than before. DTV ended up twisting my arm and sending me a "free" R-15 DTV+, which is very inferior to me compared to Tivo.
> 
> I guess I'm going to send the R-15 back and bite the bullet and buy a replacement Tivo drive.


Don't buy a new drive, it's almost certainly the software. There are now at least 5 different threads going here about the same problem. Call DirecTV and tell them about the problem. The first time I called I was told that there were no similar things in their Known Problems list and that it took at least 5 reports for something to be listed. I'm guessing that that means 5 reports that get to the right person who sees a pattern, it may take dozens of calls for that to happen.

The second time I called the rep had never heard of the issue but wanted me to format or get one of their units. When I refused both he offered a free service call. The tech showed up with a new unit, which I didn't even let him take out of the truck. He had no suggestions and hadn't heard of the problem yet. Now he's warned.

One thing you might try [suggested in another thread] is to change the number your receiver is set to call, then force a call. I was having a reboot almost every day, sometimes two. I forced a call Sunday afternoon and as of Tuesday morning it hasn't rebooted yet. I did get a lockup with a black screen on a recording show though, but I was able to clear that by just changing the channels. Someone else said that the forced call fixed their reboots for a few days.


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## tigercat74

One of my TIVOs froze up again this morning during a heavy rainstorm. The other two lost signal but did not freeze. The one that did freeze had to be rebooted. This is the only time mine reboot.


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## snookuda

I am having the freezing up problem with the R10 series 2 tivo. The first time i called they said they had no listed problems on this, i dont think they recorded my issue because i was not in front of my tv. I just emailed them again because it happened again yesterday. Waiting for a response now.

I think that if the tivo is recording, even if not be watched and there is a lightning strike or power failure the tivo is locking up. This never happened in the past to me. I have a UPS with my tv and tivo plugged in and never had problems before.

Anyhow, those having there tivo lock up need to make sure DTV records your problem or they wont come up with a fix.

On another note, i have an R10 DTV Tivo 80 GB hard drive original from about 1 year and 9 months ago. If DTV offers to replace the unit with an R15 is this a bad move? If so, why? Would it be benificial to keep my R10 and try to replace the hard drive? 

Can i do a ghost on windows of my existing hard drive, or will this not work?

Thanks,
Snookuda


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## bengalfreak

snookuda said:


> Can i do a ghost on windows of my existing hard drive, or will this not work?
> 
> Thanks,
> Snookuda


Nope, won't work. You need to use the Linux equivalent of ghost.


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## tsg

Hi all,

I have a HDVR2 and in the last couple days it has been freezing up on me. Mine also make a clicking noise after it freezes. I had been able to restore it by unplugging it.. until this afternoon. Now it won't get past the 65 PERCENT mark in the getting info from the satellite. I have never had my receiver hooked up to a phone jack... so I don't know if I have been getting firmware updates....

Do I have the same problem?


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## restart88

I'm thinking it's time to try a hard reset but I don't remember the step by step. 

When you unplug it as it's booting there's a code you can input to trigger a diagnostic mode. I just can't remember the code but it was mentioned recently in one of the forums.

But you could lose use of your Tivo for hours as it trys to self repair, so be forewarned.


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## metermac

I've got 2 DirecTivos that now have 6.3e loaded on them after updating back in August. One, a Philips DSR7000 started having issues like it was losing the satellite signal during a storm. Tuesday morning it decided that it wanted to start rebooting after about 10 minutes of tv watching. It usually likes to reboot twice, then lock-up on the "Welcome. Powering up" screen.

I tried a force dial-home to see if that might clear it up, but it hasn't improved. BTW, it's never been hacked, had it since October 2003, and isn't connected to a phone line.

I'm gonna try a "Clear and Delete Everything" the next time it boots up, but I have a feeling that won't resolve the issue or even add a couple of minutes to the time between reboots.


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## durst

Just to add to this thread, I have TWO Hughes DVR40's. One in the living room and one in the bed room. They have BOTH frozen up twice AT THE EXACT SAME TIME! (requiring a reboot) 

I have never had any problems in the past until just a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully it's not doing it every day like some of you, but it is clearly not a hard drive problem when both of the units freeze up at the same time. I am not moving away from Tivo or going to a stand alone, so a fix is necessary. Any word on this yet?

I refuse to move away from Tivo Boxes as well as stand alones


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## metermac

To follow-up to my post from last night, my Clear and Delete Everything was still running this morning (12 hours  ). I've never seen one take that long so I pulled the plug on it. It booted back up to the Clear and Delete Everything in progress screen, so I guess I'll see what it's up to later after work.


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## snookuda

I really feel like this is power interuption problem along with the 6.3e upgrade. I have a ups hooked up to the tv and tivo and have never had any freezing problems in the past. But since the 6.3e upgrade, i believe any time there is a power outage (lightning) that the tivo is freezing up, but this never used to happen.
I live in south florida and have ALOT of lightning strikes (power issues) so i think its occurring more often.


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## verchad

metermac said:


> To follow-up to my post from last night, my Clear and Delete Everything was still running this morning (12 hours  ). I've never seen one take that long so I pulled the plug on it. It booted back up to the Clear and Delete Everything in progress screen, so I guess I'll see what it's up to later after work.


Well I held out, finally transferred all tivoed stuff to dvd recorder. I started the clear and deletealmost an hour and a half ago, still showing the clearing and deleting message, great. Hopefully the next time I call DTV I don't have to tell them yes I tried EVERYTHING you have suggested and now it's froze up.


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## metermac

My Clear and Delete Everything was still running when I got home tonight, so that's another 10 hours. At this point, I'm thinking about buying InstantCake and putting in a new hard drive.

Very disappointing, but my other DirecTivo is working just fine at this point.


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## chuckg

snookuda said:


> I really feel like this is power interuption problem along with the 6.3e upgrade. I have a ups hooked up to the tv and tivo and have never had any freezing problems in the past. But since the 6.3e upgrade, i believe any time there is a power outage (lightning) that the tivo is freezing up, but this never used to happen.
> I live in south florida and have ALOT of lightning strikes (power issues) so i think its occurring more often.


I live in Berkeley, CA and if we have more than one lightening storm a year it is a bad year. Both of my DTivos have rebooted several times since the 6.3e update.


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## verchad

My Directivo has now been stuck on the clearing and deleting screen for over 18 hours.

Thanks to jeramykeith I used the number he posted - 877-575-4332 to call DTV, got through in one ring.

She transferred me to a tech service person, she checked for current issues in their system, she said nothing under issues about the directv tivo freeezing/software update problems, then put me on hold to talk to a supervisor.

She asked if I could switch the sat in cables and told her the wiring was not that easy to get to in my setup. Then told me unplug the unit for 20 seconds and replug it in, did that, didn't work.

They said I could contact TIVO and see if they know of the problem and are doing anything to fix it. 

In the end, the best they offered was a free replacement sd dvr (non tivo  ) plus shipping or upgrade to HD-DVR for $299-$100 credit=$199 plus shipping. The HD-DVR credit offer came only after she asked how long I had been a customer, almost 9.5 years, I mentioned the Dish Network offer for free HD-DVR for new subscribers (response was they must be doing that because DTV is ready to roll out more HD stuff in October), and that I wasn't crazy about paying $300 for something I was just leasing (response was that you can still buy the HD_DVR but the cost was substantially more). Said I wasn't sure what do. Said the DVR credit would be noted on my account if I wanted to call back within 30 days (I think it was 30).

Decisions, decisions, what to do?


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## metermac

I went ahead and used an old IBM 40 gig drive and put a 6.2a image on it and what would you know, its been working for a good 16 hours now with no reboots. I haven't dialed in yet to see if 6.3e would work or not. At this point, I'm just happy that I have a working Tivo again. Although that old IBM drive is much louder than the Maxtor 40 gig I pulled out.


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## Athenian

TivoJD said:


> Has anyone else run into the problem of their Tivo freezing since they have gotten the 6.3e update?


Yes, I'm seeing similar problems on 2 different units. I don't have to reboot/reset to clear it though, just changing the channel will set things right -- which of course clears the buffer.

I thought at first that it was a problem with one of the tuners but after it started happening on the second machine I now think it's more likely a software problem.


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## richa65

I have had 2 DirecTivos for 5 years. Never had a single problem with either of them except for the rebooting problem created by DTV last fall. About a week ago one of the two froze up with a message "Could not get satellite info" or something to that effect. It then froze up again last night on a black screen. I pulled the power, booted, and tried playing a recording and it froze again within 1 minute.

The other unit has been fine to this point, they both have 6.3e. DTV has shown a clear pattern here in that since they have decided to abandon the Tivo platform, their lab testing prior to a software release has gone to hell. When you have a few million units in the field, you better do some serious regression testing, DTV. But you knew that, didn't you? You just don't care any longer.

I won't bother calling their CSR's, because if they tell me one more time that I need to do a hard reset and lose all of my shows and programming information, I think it might just push me over the edge. You've told me that at least 10 times in the past (I have an HR20, btw) and that has not been the proper solution any of those 10 times. How do I know? Because I didn't do it, you released new software, and the problems magically resolved. Get your ass in gear on resolving this one.


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## tallgntlmn

I have an unhacked Hughes SD-DVR40 (6.3e-01-2-151) and it is doing about what everyone here is describing. I question whether it could be the HDD but I am beginning to doubt that. I've had it since 12/03 and it's been on the whole time with the exception of a few days here and there for moving. 

What seems to happen for me is when I am watching something on the 30 minute delay, when I go to skip the commercials, it wants to freeze or not FF. I hit play, then FF, then play, then FF and it finally goes forward. Sitting here today I am watching ESPN and it's probably 15 minutes behind when it just freezes. Signals are in the 97-99 range on both tuners. I get audio dropouts and random freezes. Another thing that happens when on the 30 minute delay is I hit FF to go past the commercials and it might skip 15 minutes ahead forcing me to figure out where I was by going back and trying to get to where I was. This stuff is annoying as all get out. 

I would think, given the age of the HDD that it could be something to do with it, but with all the issues shown here, I thought I'd throw my DirecTiVo into the mix as being a PITA lately. If I recall correctly, this issue cropped up some time back around the end of June or early July but it has gotten worse over the last month. 

Question though...if I report it to D* and they offer a new unit, would the HD unit work with the ancient 18" dual-LNB that points at 110 or would I need the 5LNB dish? I don't have HDTV but would love to have the dolby-digital on everything. Is the audio also good on the HD channels, yeah I know, that's a little off topic.


----------



## innocentfreak

I was at my friend's house tonight and one of his units finally wouldn't recover after freezing so he is replacing that hard drive. His other unit froze up four times while we were watching it and it was during a storm. When I came home I found my unit frozen which it must have gone out during the storm also, yet my other unit is working fine.


----------



## goony

bengalfreak said:


> Nope, won't work. You need to use the Linux equivalent of ghost.


Search in this forum for *dd_rescue*, which is a utility on many of the utility and tools discs. It will do a block-for-block clone from one drive to another, regardless of the operating system on the drive.


----------



## DouglasPHill

Mine started freezing since the 6.3e update. I never had any problems until now.


----------



## durst

AGAIN, to those that think it is lightning, or a bad hard drive, maybe for you...but not for me.

BOTH of my DVR40's froze at the exact same time (in different rooms) and HAD to be rebooted. Both times, we didn't have a cloud in the sky and the power never went out. Since it was BOTH of my DVR40's I eliminated the hard drive, and concluded it was something to do with the dish. However, that wouldn't cause the Tivo's to freeze, it would just give a bad signal. So that is why I came here. After reading this post I am convinced it has to be something with the latest update. It hasn't froze in about a week, but that doesn't mean it's gone.


----------



## verchad

descentr said:


> I sent an email mentioning the problems I started having with my HDVR2 after the 6.3 upgrade and asked if they were acknowledging any issues with this patch. We'll see what they say.
> Mike
> UPDATE:
> Apparently it is just me:
> "Thanks for writing. I'm sorry to hear that you are having trouble with your HDVR2 receiver. Based on my research, I found no known issues reported yet regarding our most recent software download. However, we've found simply resetting your receiver will often restore your service..."
> On the plus side, it hasn't locked up today (yet).


I love how DTV has no knowledge of this. I have called numerous times and every time they say the same thing, we don't know about that. Then when thay ask all the other crap, I tell them, "worked fine until the latest update, that's when things went haywire."

In the support forums there are even some mentions of the issues, so they might not monitor them as much as you'd think they might.


----------



## mumfinn

It has to be software! I have an HDVR2 (250GB), & an SD-DVR40 (300GB), both with single hard drive up-grades. My parents up the street in separate house with separate system have an HDVR2 with single 160GB hard drive up-grade. NO HACKED UNITS. All drives were done first 3 months of 2007. *ALL 3 UNITS FROZE LAST NIGHT AT ABOUT 7:30PM EST*. Had to reboot all 3. Doesn't sound like HD problem or "We're not aware of that!"


----------



## rwilliams

**Sorry, this is a repost from a much OLDER thread (before I found THIS one)...

I have a Philips 704 and it's the same as you all are complaining about. Random reboots and as of last Saturday (the 8th) the unit just locks up at the WELCOME screen. **THIS IS AN UMMODIFIED UNIT**

Not certain what the software rev was at the time, but it WAS connected to the phone line.

It REALLY p!55es me off that everything was working just fine, DTV sends an update, and WHACK! I'm out $$$ No doubt about it, this is going to cost me one way or another. Either I'm going to have to be forced into an inferior DVR (which I refuse to do) and be stuck in a contract for 2 years, or I'm going to make the move to the competition. On Demand Cable with HD is looking real good (not really) about right now...

I think we should all band together and contact our local news media Problem Solvers (Target 5 investigation here in Chicago) and report this - I bet there are thousands more users just like us, with un-modded DTivos who think their hard drives just crashed and opted to go along with the CSRs suggestion and get a new box from DirecTV - one that doesn't have Tivo.

Think about it. I don't care what anyone says about DTV playing nicey-nice with Tivo now that their disputes are "Settled" - drive enough users away from the Tivo brand and guess what? Tivo goes bye-bye. They've been having a rough go at it as it is. Then for THIS to happen - it's catastrophic!

I'm not a litigious natured person by any means (I don't even think I spelled that correctly), but this has CLASS ACTION written all over it!

I'm so angry over this...


----------



## restart88

Of course you could always get a basic D* receiver and a SA Tivo.  

I have a R10 but don't like that it can't be easily modified to more like the SAs. I think mom's gonna wind up with it because it will be all I can do to teach her basic Tivo-ing on that. She had a UTV for years and refused to record/ play anything.

I, OTOH, am searching the thrifts for a good D* box with serial port on the cheap. Yea, it's not gonna be as good as DTivo but then I don't have to worry about underground upgrades. 

And true it's not dual tuner, but then since most shows repeat season pass takes care of that. :up:


----------



## joeinma

What kills me is that with all the problems reported here and all those who have said they called DTV, yet the CSR's keep saying that there has not been any reports of problems.


----------



## longislander

I am new to the forum, so I thought I was alone on this. I was going to look into replacing the drive when I found this forum and post.

I have a Samsung SIR-S4120R and yesterday morning out of the blue, the picture was frozen as if paused. I pulled the plug counted to 10 and then sat through the painfully slow reboot. When the system was back and running, it was extremely slow, and then quickly locked up again (looked like it was paused).

I pulled the plug and went to work. When I got home, plugged the tivo back in and after dinner all seemed well.

This morning, once again it was locked up.

I am not surprised that Directtv is unresponsive. I guess the trick now, is to figure out how to roll back to a known good state. The evidence seems to be mounting that the 6.3e upgrade has done damage.


----------



## rbtravis

Joeinma - if you believe CSR's know anything but the company line then you must also believe the BIG DIG is not leaking. They will keep saying everything is hunky dory until the next update in January.


----------



## llurgy

I have an R10 and a Hughes.....The Hughes in the living room has given me the grey/black screen of death twice in the last fortnight forcing me to actually unplug the unit and the R10 in the bedroom has frozen on picture forcing a manual reboot.
This on top of the occasional rebooting left over from the last software update.

I received a 6 month credit of $5 for complaining about the rebooting, I had hoped that the issue would be resolved by now. Not only is the original rebooting issued unresolved after all this time but we now have to put up with yet another issue, this time being the freezes.

Mandy


----------



## Roc570

restart88 said:


> Of course you could always get a basic D* receiver and a SA Tivo.
> 
> Hello
> As you can see this is my first post here and I found this site while looking for info on this freezing issue
> and please excuse my lack of knowledge concerning all this tech, Im a older turn the tv on and watch type guy,
> 
> But what I am now interested in is you mentioned using a stand alone Tivo with Directv, I was told some time ago that it wasnt possible to use a SA Tivo and Sat service and being I have a Directivo I never really looked into it
> 
> So it can be done? is it straight forward or does it take some configuring etc?
> do you lose any features doing it this way?
> I will start searching this info out now that I have come across this site, but please any info (links) you can provide concerning this , if you can pass it along it would be much appreciated....Thank You
> 
> Just to add my .02 cents
> I have a Hughes DVR 40 and have the freezing issue with the remote becoming non responsive, since the update.....however I have not had any rebooting issues
> and 1 last question (sorry)
> I have not read up on the non Tivo dvr's DTV uses, except to read that they are not all that popular, are these dvr's bad machines or just not customer friendly like the Tivo
> 
> Thank You


----------



## chrishicks

I'm just about ready to dump DirecTV. I now have enough SA Tivos(see sig) to cover anything I'd ever want to record now via Comcast. I just replaced the hard drive(in case the drive was actually going bad and not due to the update) in one of my DirecTV Tivos due to constant reboots immediately after getting the 6.3e update. I do not have the phone line connected to that one now. 

my second DTivo is still on 6.2a and has been having major audio dropouts. I checked and double checked all connections. I have dropouts with both analog and digital. as soon as I get everything watched on this box I'm going to reboot it to see if it fixes the audio problem. if it doesn't I'm changing the drive. I have a brand new 300Gb drive already sitting here. I am also going to let this box update to 6.3e and watch for issues. if they show up I'll give it a month to see if its fixed. if not, I think I'll cancel my service.


----------



## MontyL

Not that I'm interesting in jinxing it but...

The drive-upgraded but unhacked (still working on the better half's permission to tweak her machine) living room Philips took the 6.3e update. Other than a (typical) power glitch the other afternoon, it's been as happy and responsive as always.

She had been wondering why the bedroom (hacked) showed logos and the living room just started. 

Anyone have thoughts/recommendations/warnings on updating my zipper'd 7000 from 6.2?


----------



## vigfoot

man i'm glad my machines have not been phone-connected since april!


----------



## phatmatt

I have an R-10 and the only problem I can tell that I have had is that the FF and REW are very sketchy and skippy. Sometimes it takes four or five button pushes to work; or, when it does work, I can't get it to stop until it is way past where I want it to be. I have had no problems with freezups or anything like that.


----------



## m17_jeff

My R10 has been rebooting since 6.3.... Im about to cancel my DTV service...

Any one else seeing reboots since 6.3?


----------



## newsposter

2x the 1st week i think related to storms..but no weather since then and all is well


----------



## chuckg

m17_jeff said:


> My R10 has been rebooting since 6.3.... Im about to cancel my DTV service...
> 
> Any one else seeing reboots since 6.3?


Vast numbers! Even postings on DirecTv forums.

My two units both do it regularly. Last night and today I replaced the new high capacity hard drives contaminated with 6.3e with the original 40 GB hard drives with 6.2a and disconnected the phone lines so 6.2a so *can not* be updated _automatically_ to 6.3e and the problems that started with the upgrade.

Now I will only have to delete the messages reminding me they are not calling home.


----------



## Jumi

SDVR80, newer hard drive, latest software, frozen pix with no sound and no remote response yesterday am. OK since reboot.


----------



## iamgrout

phatmatt said:


> I have an R-10 and the only problem I can tell that I have had is that the FF and REW are very sketchy and skippy. Sometimes it takes four or five button pushes to work; or, when it does work, I can't get it to stop until it is way past where I want it to be. I have had no problems with freezups or anything like that.


Unmodified R10, same here. I've also noticed inconsistent behavior when
using instant replay, and when using advance (while FF/RWing).


----------



## marktd

phatmatt said:


> I have an R-10 and the only problem I can tell that I have had is that the FF and REW are very sketchy and skippy. Sometimes it takes four or five button pushes to work; or, when it does work, I can't get it to stop until it is way past where I want it to be. I have had no problems with freezups or anything like that.


I'm seeing this too (I've also had a couple of freezes) on both my unmodified R10's. It's very annoying.

Mark


----------



## Roc570

mine started (hughes dvr-40) with the pic locking up on replay, and the remote not responding, and if I left it alone it would come back in say 25-30 seconds
now its gotten worse in that once it locks, again no remote response then pic goes black and it reboots.....so it has gotten worse
If I play back a recording from before August it plays thru fine, so I recorded a show and watched to make sure there was no locking during the recording
but when playing back it still locks /freezes reboots 

I called Directv and they "advanced" the problem and offered me a replacement dvr
obviously not a Tivo unit...my question is how are these non tivo units I have no experience with them are they decent? any info is welcomed because I cant use what I have now so I'm thinking of getting the replacement

And will buying a new HD without the 6.3 update and unplug the phone work?

Thanks for any info

BTW My machine is totally stock


----------



## robpickles

Roc570 said:


> I called Directv and they "advanced" the problem and offered me a replacement dvr
> obviously not a Tivo unit...my question is how are these non tivo units I have no experience with them are they decent? any info is welcomed because I cant use what I have now so I'm thinking of getting the replacement


Their DVRs are *HORRIBLE*!

The interface sucks. They work nothing like our Tivo units and are not user friendly in anyway. The are vastly inferior.

This is definitely working its way up to conspiracy. They want you to LEASE their DVRs with a 2 year agreement instead of acknowledging any problems with the Tivo units.

Rob


----------



## rbtravis

Conspiracy is a little harsh. Their DVR is made by a subsidiary of Newscorp which at one time controlled Directv. They were trying to increase their profit margin and thought they would grab Tivo's market share. They were wrong. Their product was not the answer to end all questions that they promised. That is the reason we are all maintaining our TiVos. There is as of yet no better product.


----------



## vigfoot

ok, i'm an idiot. 

my bedroom tivo-DVR 80- *did* receive the 6.3e- no problems so far.


----------



## Roc570

robpickles said:


> Their DVRs are *HORRIBLE*!
> 
> The interface sucks. They work nothing like our Tivo units and are not user friendly in anyway. The are vastly inferior.
> 
> This is definitely working its way up to conspiracy. They want you to LEASE their DVRs with a 2 year agreement instead of acknowledging any problems with the Tivo units.
> 
> Rob


Thanks for the reply Rob
I also heard they are unreliable, like they dont start recordings on time or at all etc
anyway My Tivo started rebooting last night anytime I push a button on the remote
I decided at 4am to clear the to do list and thumbs up thing (next to last option)
well it took 4.5 hours (it says it may take 1 hour) but after 4+ hours the Tivo seems to be working normally SO FAR.....fingers are crossed
thanks


----------



## robpickles

rbtravis said:


> They were trying to increase their profit margin and thought they would grab Tivo's market share.


And they still are - by not addressing our problems and offering one of their LEASED units. Not even for free - you get changed for S&H and have to agree to a 2 year agreement.



> There is as of yet no better product.


Than a Tivo unit of course is what you meant to say, right?

Rob


----------



## ostrom

My HR10-250 has been unstable since the 6.3e upgrade too, with all the symptoms described by others. I am 100% convinced it is not the hard drive, it's just like we had with a previous release (6.3b?) where they shipped a crap release, then fixed it weeks later. Like a previous poster I will pass on calling their service line, they will just insist on a full reset, when what I need is an earlier version of the software until they identify and fix the bug.


----------



## gmwahl

ostrom said:


> My HR10-250 has been unstable since the 6.3e upgrade too, with all the symptoms described by others. I am 100% convinced it is not the hard drive, it's just like we had with a previous release (6.3b?) where they shipped a crap release, then fixed it weeks later. Like a previous poster I will pass on calling their service line, they will just insist on a full reset, when what I need is an earlier version of the software until they identify and fix the bug.


This is all about bugs in the 6.3e release. Nothing about our hardware. I have two different Hughes units (one space upgraded, one with original disk) and a Phillips unit (with original disk). All of them behaved well BEFORE 6.3e hit them, now they all have locked up repeatedly.

This isn't the first buggy release... it won't be the last... but waiting for Tivo's next release is a better option than moving to the lame D* DVR.


----------



## Barryrod

I believe this is DTVs way of trying to get rid of the Directivos once and for all. I too am having the random freezes, while I am watching a recorded show it has happened 3 times so far. The first I thought was a HDD going and I started looking for a replacement, but now after 2 more freezes and reading that others are having this issue here I am sure it is software related. It just figures that DTV will not admit there is a problem.


What does DTV say about the software "upgrade" (HA) as far as what the heck was it for?


----------



## Jon J

The only real solution to these problems is cumbersome but works. Buy a copy of 3.1xx Instantcake, install it and unplug your phone so the unit won't reinstall newer software. You'll also keep the brief program description on the Now Playing page that 6.3x discarded.


----------



## woodsrider250

Hi all....New here.

I'm having the freezing same problem w/ my SD-DVR40, and mine is most definitely a bad hard drive (as reported by SeaTools). I had suspected as much, and have been trying to get a friggin tool to mark the bad sectors bad on the drive so that I can image it with MFStools. The SeaTools disk doesn't appear to do this for Maxtor drives, only Seagate. I'm trying to dig up a copy of Maxtor's old diag disk which I hope will help. Any suggestions? Dave's new DVR sucks.


----------



## verchad

Barryrod said:


> I believe this is DTVs way of trying to get rid of the Directivos once and for all. I too am having the random freezes, while I am watching a recorded show it has happened 3 times so far. The first I thought was a HDD going and I started looking for a replacement, but now after 2 more freezes and reading that others are having this issue here I am sure it is software related. It just figures that DTV will not admit there is a problem.
> 
> What does DTV say about the software "upgrade" (HA) as far as what the heck was it for?


I've joked about them using this to "expedite" the switch to their DVR, but think I agree. My Hughes Directivo was just about 4 years old, no real issues with it, until after the upgrade. Now maybe the upgrade caused it to start to write on bad sectors of the drive and that could be a drive problem then (did they, tivo or Directv, test this first to see if it would even be an issue?).

But when so many people have the same issues and all after the upgrade, I mean we all didn't get these units at the same time, some people have added newer hard drives, etc. Also to clarify, mine is unhacked, installed in an entertainment center, plenty of ventilation, periodically checked the system info, temp was always good ( the first unit they sent me 4 years ago died within a week, the internal temp shot up, probably a bad fan ).


----------



## dcstager

"We've come across this problem before Dave, and it has always been human error."


----------



## mboge

I know it sure _seems_ like the upgrade is the problem... but I have three TiVos and only one has the 6.3e software on it.

They all reboot at the same time  and only one was freezing up as described in this thread... and it's on the 6.2a software (although, I haven't noticed the freezing in a while...)

I'm not convinced it's the 6.3e software... but I'm also not convinced it's not DirecTV, either. Too many reportings of the same issue to chalk it up to bad hard drives, etc...



I also have a couple of theories that I'd like smarter folks than I to shoot down:

- Signal spikes/drops from the satelite causing weirdness (and reboots)
- Changes to the MPEG compression of the signal that could cause problems?
- Sunspots?


----------



## mboge

Holy Crap! Are you kidding me?!?!

I swear, a split-second after I post that message above, one of my TiVo's "freezes" on me!

(oh... and this time, it _is_ the one with 6.3e)

I've loved DirecTV forever... why do they want me to hate them?


----------



## snookuda

I got another complete freeze up on my 6.3e R10 tivo this morning. I thought my problem might have been fixed because the last freeze up happened like 3 days ago. NOT.


----------



## Phantom Gremlin

I haven't seen anyone mention this before, but yesterday I had a freeze on *only one* of my two tuners on my R10. I could use the "Live TV" button to switch to the other tuner and it was working fine.


----------



## Jumi

Since 6.3e:
One freeze (picture frozen, no remote response, rebooted, OK).
Several black & white episodes (hitting pause fixes).
A few minutes ago I lost all to-dos from 10/3 to 10/7 but they returned in a few minutes!

SDVR80 with newer Weaknees 140 hr drive


----------



## Risten

Complete freezes of one of my HDVR2 units since 6.3e. No remote response whatsoever, and required complete reboot. The unit has no modifications whatsoever. Has happened twice. Last reboot seems to have 'taken' for three days, and it appears to be working.

My other HDVR2 spontaneously rebooted twice, after 6.3e, but never froze. That one has a 40 + 120 drive upgrade.


----------



## newsposter

maybe not E related but i went to FF last night thru the Unit and it didnt respond at all...then it rebooted of course


----------



## llurgy

Mine had a complete freeze last night again.
No remote response I had to unplug it again.
I hate unplugging it, it feels really wrong to just unplug it and is ironic when I have the APC on it to stop hard shutdowns.
I am upset as now only have the last 25 minutes of the season premiere of Criminal Minds and the last half of the Series Premiere of The Practice.
Why did it have to cr*p out at Prime time?


----------



## mboge

llurgy said:


> I hate unplugging it, it feels really wrong to just unplug it and is ironic when I have the APC on it to stop hard shutdowns.


How do you think I feel that my three TiVos reboot constantly even with the UPS!



> I am upset as now only have the last 25 minutes of the season premiere of Criminal Minds and the last half of the Series Premiere of The Practice.


Not to mention, when TiVo picks up the remainder of the show after a reboot, not only does it appear as two "partial" showings in the Now Playing list... it also counts against the maximum number of shows to keep!

That's right... if you have "keep 5 episodes" chosen and it's rebooted, then it will knock off the oldest show to make room for the new "partial" recording.


----------



## theta.bowden

Happened twice to me last night. First time as just a solid freeze and had to unplug.
Second time was an auto reboot. Both while I was watching a recorded show.

FWIW, there's a thread on the directv site where a bunch of folks are complaining about this, but I haven't seen any participation by DirecTV tech support folks:

It's the tech support/troubleshooting forum and the thread number is 10274448.


----------



## tigercat74

No more reboots or freezes in the last 10 days until another heavy rainstorm this morning. This is were it gets weird. The one that froze was while I was watching Bionic Woman that I recorded the night before. The other two had the lost their signal and was giving the message searching for signal on SAT 1/2, but they never froze or rebooted. I wish I knew what was going on.


----------



## RLJinCT

llurgy said:


> Mine had a complete freeze last night again.
> No remote response I had to unplug it again...I am upset as now only have the last 25 minutes of the season premiere of Criminal Minds...


The same thing happened to me, crashing during Criminal Minds and recording first 25 min and last 25 min as two separate recordings.

My HDVR2 has been freezing weekly since the v6.3e update, but twice in last 2 days.


----------



## luckyllucke

Hi all new member but same problems, I found that if my dvr is turned on from standby one of the tuners will be black no picture and the software thinks it has a full 30 minutes of data? If I hit play or try to jump to the start of the buffer it locks up and or reboots. If I switch to a new channel without trying to access the missing data it resets the buffer to zero and works fine. This has happened on music channels where no recording buffer is allowed (OE Software). I also have the dreaded color dropouts on a Sony RP tv again. I called DTV and spent an hour trying to explain the issues and was told they have not heard any other complaints about these problems and asked to reboot, unplug, swap cables, tvs, universe ,etc.

Just wondered if anyone else was seeing the same problems.
Thanks Dan


----------



## thommygeenh

Hi All...newbe here. We've had an R-10-80 GB unit for over a year now, that has also worked flawlessly, until 6.3e. We have many of the problems stated on these forums, specifically, the slow remote response in 30 second skip, and the freezes/resets. I've found, that if *I just reset the box myself once a week*, (usually on a Sat. when we're not recording a lot), it helps PREVENT freezing up, and seems to run a little better overall. While its not something I'm happy to have to do, its a kind of work around/preventative, at least til D* fixes the problem--let alone admits there is one. 
8 calls to them, 3 e-mails, and they still say "we don't have any reports of those problems." Nice customer service. And of course, each time they want to replace this unit with their lousy R-15--and then extend my committment by 24 more months! I told them, why would I want to be locked into 24 more months of this kind of customer service! (Had the R-15 when it came out...our first ever DVR...went thru 6 of them in 10 months, before they finally replaced the last one with the Tivo unit...and extended my contract by 24 months!). Been there, done that, never again.
One note...last week while talking with Customer Retention, the Rep told me the following: * "TIVO UNITS ARE NO LONGER COMPATABLE WITH DIRECTV'S UPDATED* *SYSTEMS."* Not sure just what he ment by that, especially when we've recieved phone calls, and mailers announcing the "new enhancements" coming. If this is what the new "enhancements" are going to do...I'd rather not have them!
We're considering just getting a new hard drive, with 6.2 on it, but we'd like to know, if we upgraded to a 160 GB (from 80 GB), will we need to upgrade any other part of the system...power supply, fans, etc.? Will the bigger hard drive strain the the rest of the parts? I'd appreciate any feedback regarding that.
Other than that, all I can add, is to baby sit your TO DO lists--not fun I know, RESET ONCE A WEEK, and KEEP CALLING/E-MAILING D*TV just to let them know you're still having a problem...perhaps we'll hit that magic "patch" number soon, and they will release a patch for the mess they created. Or at least stop saying they don't know of any reports of these problems!!!


----------



## robpickles

luckyllucke said:


> Hi all new member but same problems, I found that if my dvr is turned on from standby one of the tuners will be black no picture and the software thinks it has a full 30 minutes of data? If I hit play or try to jump to the start of the buffer it locks up and or reboots. If I switch to a new channel without trying to access the missing data it resets the buffer to zero and works fine. This has happened on music channels where no recording buffer is allowed (OE Software). I also have the dreaded color dropouts on a Sony RP tv again. I called DTV and spent an hour trying to explain the issues and was told they have not heard any other complaints about these problems and asked to reboot, unplug, swap cables, tvs, universe ,etc.
> 
> Just wondered if anyone else was seeing the same problems.
> Thanks Dan


Dan this sounds like the same "buffer problem" I explained in another thread.

I also found that the only way to clear it is by switching the channels to clear the buffers that are frozen.

What dvr are you using? Does it have the 6.3e software?

Rob


----------



## thommygeenh

Reports on other blogs say directv is now telling customers they are now aware of the problem with the 6.3e update and are currently working on a fix! They don't know when the fix will be available though. At least they are now acknowledging the problem! Hopefully it won't be long til the r10 is back to normal!


----------



## kenr

thommygeenh said:


> Reports on other blogs say directv is now telling customers they are now aware of the problem with the 6.3e update and are currently working on a fix! They don't know when the fix will be available though. At least they are now acknowledging the problem! Hopefully it won't be long til the r10 is back to normal!


Can you provide a link to these other blogs?


----------



## leftstrat

Haven't had freezing yet, but I've had the B&W picture. It clears up when I hit the 8-second rewind button.. 

I'm wondering if the freezes have to do with suggestions being turned on. I don't have my record suggestions option turned on, and I guess the only thumbs up I have, is for stuff that has a Season pass, or I manually record. 

I hope I don't have any freeze-ups.. 

My unit is a Phillips DSR-708.


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## Joey Bond

My Tivo has been freezing up alot lately at least once a day and it seems to me that so many people are having the same problem that it all cant be our harddrives.

I thought that maybe the whole mars being so close to the earth thing was somehow interferring with the sattelites because Ive noticed my XM radio audio has been blipping out alot lately too but now after coming here I'm not sure what to think but I do know I'm missing alot of shows and it sucks.


----------



## IndyMark

thommygeenh said:


> Reports on other blogs say directv is now telling customers they are now aware of the problem with the 6.3e update and are currently working on a fix! They don't know when the fix will be available though. At least they are now acknowledging the problem! Hopefully it won't be long til the r10 is back to normal!


Came here this morning because I've been having the freezing problems with BOTH of my DTivos that just started this past week. I have a HDVR2 and an R10, both unmodified, and at least once a day once of them locks up. I talked to DTV last night and they again stated that they weren't aware of an issue (yeah right!) and suggested I do a complete reset. After reading this, I'm glad I didn't go that route yet.

I'll cross my fingers for now and wait for a s/w fix.


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## Malolo

I spoke with DTV this morning (10/5/07) and a Technical Support Supervisor DID NOT acknowledge they were aware of a problem with 6.3e. He denied there was a problem and denied that DTV is aware that this is an issue. After the standard suggestion of the electrical connection and after he heard what i had to say, he said it most likely is the way the update reacts when a bad harddrive sector is encountered. 

He also said every time there is a software update customers/forums point to that as the cause of any problem they may have.

Strange that their reaction is complete denial. When i describe what is going on it seems like it is the first time they are hearing about it. Either they are being honest or real good liars.


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## BHyde

We are now having this same problem. We have three machines - two are Samsung DTivos, one is the DirecTV Tivo from a couple of years ago. In the last few days, they have been freezing or rebooting, often at the exact same time. One of the Samsung machines seems to have started having the problem a few weeks ago, before the other two machines. 

I have called DTV twice now, on Wednesday evening, when the problem was restricted to freezing up, and yesterday, when the units started rebooting. Both times I was told that the problem would be "passed to the engineers," who would call me back in the next few days. The tech people I spoke with seemed to acknowledge that, since this is happening to multiple machines, it probably is not hardware related.

I hope the problem can be fixed. We're definitely not going to switch to non-Tivo units, even if that means going back to Cable. (I've looked at what we spend annually on DTV. Over three years, it would cost me the same to have Comcast, buy three Series 3 Tivos, and pay for monthly Tivo service as what I have been paying to DTV, because of all the extras we get (NFL Sunday Ticket, Setanta Sports, ESPN football) that aren't available on Comcast.)

Has anyone gotten any response from DTV indicating they have found a solution? I remember a year or so ago there was a similar problem, and DTV had a fix after a while.


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## jbl82

Been having the same problem for a week - TIVO DVR freezing, now it starts to reboot. It's in service less than 2 months. Tech. Support at Directv says if it's a problem with 6.3e, it's Tivo's fault - not them! They disavow any responsibility for that upgrade. Furthermore, they said they are not aware of any known issues with that upgrade and no customers are calling to complain! Their suggestion was to do a complete delete and restart - (it can take 4-6 hours - "do it before you go to bed")
If that doesn't work I will have no choice but to let them replace it with "their DVR". 

They were not helpful, rude, yelled at me, and suggested I try a different power cord. Anyone know the number for Comcast?


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## snookuda

We need for more people to call in and complain about this problem. If you have the R10 like myself and it is freezing or rebooting, call in and have them log it. When they tell you they can replace the R10 with an R15 tell them to create a fix because many others are having the same problems. Call them!!!


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## Willie1961

I have two Samsung 4040 units that have both been freezing up since aproximately the 21st of September.

They both freeze up randomly, it started out as an ocassional freeze up back on the 21st, but now its as much as 3-4 times a day on both units.

I called Directv and they dont seem to be taking ownership of this problem. I offered the following advice for them to fix the problem: Provide a working software upgrade, (doesnt seem to be coming anytime soon), or provide equipment at no charge that will correct the problem.

Directv wants to upgrade my recievers and charge me a small amount, plus have me committed for another 2 years. I told them this is a conflict of interest because they caused a problem that made my equipment obsolete (or non functional, reboot unit 3-4 times a day).

Finally I agreed to the following, but I still think it is hogwash that i have to pay:
Upgrade to HD DVD 99.00 (Capacity - 200 hour standard, 50 hour HD)
Free HD Service for 12 months
Free Standard DVR unit.
HBO free for 6 months, automatically shuts off at 6 month point.
Free installation of HD unit, plus new dish.
Free credit on shipping charges upon activation.

Anyone in a similar situation where you are forced to upgrade? I will miss my TIVO :-(


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## Willie1961

I emailed the Connecticut State Attorney General (Richard Blumenthal) on this matter, here is what I complained about.

Directv is acting unethical, and creating fraud by not owning up to a problem that they caused.

Copy of email...

I would like to register a complaint towards DirecTV. The recently put out a faulty software upgrade, version 6.3e. Since about the 21st of September when this upgrade was sent out, It has caused thousands of older TIVO units across the country to lock up and requires you to unplug the unit and plug it back in, then wait for a 10 minute reboot process. This system freeze up can happen several times a day, causing much frustration.

Another potential source of the freeze up could be the signal that they send out for anti piracy, it could be causing older units to lock up.

My big problem with this is that DirecTV is offering nothing to fix this problem, except to upgrade you at a charge to newer equipment, isnt this a conflict of interest? They are making money off of problems that they have created.

Here is proof of this happening all over the country:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=364660&page=1&pp=30

You can also find similar threads by looking at:
http://www.tivocommunity.com

You can see that several hundred people have complained already in various threads in these forums. If you go off the general rule of thumb that for 1% of the peoples complaints actually make it to the forum, then this problem is affectin thousands and thousands of customers. We personally know of 3 other people in CT that are experiencing the same Freeze ups, they actually have newer equipment than us.

William XXXXXX
Gales Ferry, CT
Call me if you need to on this matter
860-XXX-XXXX H
860-XXX-XXXX C

Here is a post that I made on the site:

I have two Samsung 4040 units that have both been freezing up since approximately the 21st of September.

They both freeze up randomly, it started out as an occasional freeze up back on the 21st, but now its as much as 3-4 times a day on both units.

I called Directv and they dont seem to be taking ownership of this problem. I offered the following advice for them to fix the problem: Provide a working software upgrade, (doesnt seem to be coming anytime soon), or provide equipment at no charge that will correct the problem.

Directv wants to upgrade my receivers and charge me a small amount, plus have me committed for another 2 years. I told them this is a conflict of interest because they caused a problem that made my equipment obsolete (or non functional, reboot unit 3-4 times a day).

Finally I agreed to the following, but I still think it is hogwash that i have to pay:
Upgrade to HD DVD 99.00 (Capacity - 200 hour standard, 50 hour HD)
Free HD Service for 12 months
Free Standard DVR unit.
HBO free for 6 months, automatically shuts off at 6 month point.
Free installation of HD unit, plus new dish.
Free credit on shipping charges upon activation.

Anyone in a similar situation where you are forced to upgrade? I will miss my TIVO :-(


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## kolah94

This is strange but i too live in ct, have a R10 with same problems, and have called DTV with similar results. Is there a way to go back to earlier software version to solve problem? I was about to order a new hard drive when i found this forum n(that would have been a waste of money) I Can't believe they are getting away with this, any one know of a good class action lawyer? Good luck to all of you and thanks for any suggestions.


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## kolah94

Just got off the phone with direct tv, She said that my call was the first she has heard of this problem. She instructed me to unplug the unit for 15 sec and plug it back in while she re-authorizes my reciever or something like that. Once it reset the picture was back, she said "did we solve your problem today" (I wanted to throw the phone thru the tv), I said nicely that time would tell. As i sit here typing this the thing just rebooted. I don't know what else to do. keep calling direct tv?


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## lmd

I called DTV last night. I insisted to the rep that this was a software problem related to the 6.3e download and that I wanted him to check with a higher level of tech support. He finally checked with his supervisor. When he came back to me he told me that this is a known problem and that DTV is working on it. Ha! Of course, he had no real info on the fix for the problem. Then he insisted that a tech come out. Whatever. But I told him that under no circumstances would I take their DVR in place of my TiVo.


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## Rafier

Well, I decided to write DTV per their agreement, about problems with my Tivo unit freezing and re-booting. I copied all interested parties including TiVo. Guess what I recieved a call from them. I did request a written reply also, I was told "a written response would need to go through legal". I have great confidence that will be ocurring immediately. Probably 60 days out. That is the time limit before you can go to arbitration. 

I guess if they don't receive it in writing, "it is as good as the air it is written on". Read your agreement, to complain or request resolution, it has to be in writing.

I recommend everyone write DTV and TiVo regarding the freeze-ups for the TiVo HR and R units. Certified with return receipt is best.


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## BHyde

It has happened to me several times again since Thursday. One of the three DTIVO's reboots. The other two just freeze up. I called Tech Support again today (Sunday). She had me clear and delete. I only did it to two of the units, not the one with the most Season Passes. The person I spoke with said if this doesn't work, they'll replace the units with new DTIVO's, for a fee, and a new two-year commitment. I really don't know if I'm going to do that or not. I'll see if the clear and delete has made a difference.


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## Daryl62756

I have a Directv Hughes series 2 Tivo and also have had several freeze ups. They seem to occur while watching and recording simultaneously. I read somewhere to turn off thumbs up recording. I can't see what this has to do with anything but I have had two days of viewing with no problems. I live in Middletown Ct.


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## m17_jeff

I've caught my R10 rebooting several time now... Right before the reboot it displays "Searching for Signal from Satellite..." then the reboot...
I've seen this on recorded shows as well as live TV...


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## Dad440

I live in New London, CT and mostly have just noticed the freezing video, with sound still playing. Have two R-10's, and have to unplug to resolve it. Has been happening every morning for last 7-10 days on 6.3e

Never any problem previously. Called DTV, asked to talk to service plan escalation who said the 6.3e was installed between Aug 2 to Aug 22. If that is true, my problems with freezing don't go back that far. I asked him to fill out "escalated report" which he did.

How do we revert software back to 6.2 if we wanted to?


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## rbtravis

you should use Instantcake from www.DVRupgrade.com They are currently distributing 6.2a the new disk should be larger because this is an upgrade program. it is less than $20.00. after the initial setup unplug the phone line. that will prevent software updates. if you want to order PPV do it through the www.directv.com website. good luck you will find instantcake very easy to install.


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## jrock

I live in Old Saybrook CT and yesterday morning all of my Tivo 6.x receivers froze and they just had a black screen and the red record light was on but nothing was partially recorded. I had to unplug all of them to restart them. I have 2 HR10-250's, 2 HDVR2's, and 1 R10. They have been pretty good other than the HR10-250's rebooting occasionally. This time all of them froze though. I also have 2 HR20-700's and they haven't had any of the freezing or rebooting problems.


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## Malolo

I too live in CT and have a friend who is experiencing problems as well. i am very interested if, Connecticut State Attorney General (Richard Blumenthal) will do anything. he is usually very good at pursueing consumer related issues.


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## RLJinCT

My sister called yesterday for the 4th time, they are sending an installer to her on Thursday with (supposedly) a new TiVo DVR (the first time I've heard this one). If the installer shows up with anything other than a TiVo DVR, she will refuse it. I decided instead to try to replace my stock 35 hr drive with a new bigger drive from Weaknees, and I just won't connect the phone line until these problems have been resolved, if ever.


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## swspjcd

I also noticed alot of the same problems mentioned here after my HR10-250 upgraded to 6.3e. I just assumed it was a software problem but then after it got worse and worse, I took out the drive and ran the manufacturer's low level diagnostic software (Data Lifeguard diagnostics since it was a Western Digital Drive) on it. The quick test says that the "Raw Read Error Rate" and the "Multi Zone Error Rate" are both below threshold. Also when I boot up with the drive attached the bios says "The Primary IDE master hard drive SELF MONITORING SYSTEM has reported that a parameter has exceeded it's normal operating range." I realize that it is probably just coincidence that this just happened to start after the 6.3e upgrade but I just found it odd that it all started around the same time.
I have since replaced the original 250G drive with a larger one and reimaged with a fresh 6.3d image and have had no problems yet. We'll see what happens if/when the slices for 6.3e get pushed out.


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## Jon J

swspjcd said:


> We'll see what happens if/when the slices for 6.3e get pushed out.


Disconnect the phone line and it will not be instructed to install.


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## swspjcd

Jon J said:


> Disconnect the phone line and it will not be instructed to install.


I already have bootpage set to "upgradesoftware=false" so it won't install without me controlling it first, but thanks.


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## pbod153

swspjcd said:


> I already have bootpage set to "upgradesoftware=false" so it won't install without me controlling it first, but thanks.


 How exactly did you do that?
I may be wrong but if I unplug the phone line The schedule won't update either. Setting the update to false seems like a good solution.

Also, is this a CT issue? I live in CT as well. This started about a week or two ago. First it was just freezing up, not it freezes and then reboots itself several times a day. I emailed Direct tv and sent a written letter but don't expect much in the way of a response.

If I set up networking on my unit will it automatically update the software as well or just the schedule?


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## rbtravis

pbod153 said:


> How exactly did you do that?
> I may be wrong but if I unplug the phone line The schedule won't update either. Setting the update to false seems like a good solution.


For a Directv Tivo the schedule comes through the Satellite so unplugging the phone, it will just keep sending reminder messages which you can delete. If you want to order pay per view just do it through Directv website at no charge.


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## stlfan62

This is going to sound a little far-fetched, but I've been keeping a log of my reboots and lock-ups over the past week, and I've noticed a specific commonality across each one: One (or both) tuners tuned to a local channel.

I kid you not, I went almost the entire weekend with no reboot/lock-up issue, and never once tuned to a local channel. Sunday night, my wife set the unit to record off our local ABC affiliate, and the unit was frozen when we woke up. I restarted it, then tuned both tuners to "cable" channels (TBS and Comedy Central). Everything was fine all day yesterday until my wife switched to a local channel to watch "Dancing w/Stars", and it rebooted within 10 minutes. After the reboot, she continued watching on a non-TiVo TV, and I reset the tuners to TBS and Food, this time. It ran all night, successfully recorded "Daily Show", and is still running. Since I've been tracking this, all of my other reboots/lock-ups occurred when we were watching (or had the other tuner tuned to) our local NBC or CBS affiliate.

If you're in CT, I strongly urge you to try to track this the same way, if possible. It's a little tricky: you have to remember to set the other tuner to a non-local channel (especially after a reboot), and you have to recognize when you are recording from one of those channels. I'd be curious to hear some results.

I know there are going to be replies that I'm nuts, and I would agree that this may be entirely coincidental. There are too few data points so far to draw any conclusions. But I've yet to encounter a reboot or lock-up when both tuners are set to "cable" channels.


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## Mark W

It's not crazy, it's good to post some theories. There sure seems to be a stangely large number of CT people reporting here.


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## pbod153

RBTRAVIS,
Thanks for the info. Think I will redo the hard drives with IntantCake and unplug the phone line.


One more thought about putting pressure on DTV.
I wrote an email to the cnet editor. If they wrote an article on the matter I bet that could have some pull.


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## jrock

I really don't think DirecTV much cares about the TiVo receivers anymore. Every time I call about a problem they try to replace it with there new DVR and say they don't offer them anymore. I end up having to fix them myself just so I can keep the TiVo DVR's.

I have 5 TiVo DVR's and 2 New DirecTV DVR's. The new ones work fine but they don't have the wish lists and the 30 second slip is annoying compared to TiVo's 30 second skip.


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## BEP

So is it a good thing my DirecTivos modem has failed and cannot make a call.
Do I have to worry about this problematic update?????????


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## rbtravis

Is my hair growing back? the answer to both questions is NO.


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## kward3332

I live in Ct and this has been happening to me too. It also started with freezing and now is also rebooting. the theory about local channels sounds interesting since mine has been locked up when it was supposed to record a local station. It also hasn't happened two weekends in a row but as soon Monday rolls around it starts all over again.


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## Dad440

So far, I have to agree that this seems to be related to one or both tuners being on a local channel....mostly NBC. Although I recorded "Chuck" "Heroes" and "Journeyman" last night without any rebooting.

I have finally figured out every morning for the last 7-10 days, my wife puts the Tivo R-10 Directv on local NBC (Channel 30 - WVIT or Chanel 10 WJAR) news here in New London, CT, and it freezes between 8:20 to 9:00am on the local news. She watched it happen this morning. 

Tonight, I was watching Fox News, and the other tuner was on the local NBC WJAR Channel 10 ("The Singing Bee"), and it rebooted. No messages appeared, nothing being recorded on either channel. Came back on with both tuners set on Fox News....but I know the other one had been on WJAR because I switched tuners about 30 mins previously.

I called Directv again today, got put through to the service plan support dept. , and the gentleman said he had no awareness of this issue or any problem with software version 6.3e, and recommended that I reformat my hard drive. I asked him to escalate it which he said he would....and after calling back, this time I asked to speak to a supervisor. Yesterday, I was told it was most likely due to solar flare activity which should end on Oct 10th.

Tonight I was then transferred to a service plan supervisor (John) who was able to check other resources, and did say it was a reported issue, may be related to 6.3e, and promised to escalate it to the software team. I gave him as much information as I could and he seemed genuinely concerned and aware of these forums.

This is the 5th phone call I have made, and this supervisor was the first one who is now considering that this really may be a software issue with Tivo users.


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## Dad440

I'm also considering ordering that InstantCake and having it install 6.2 (have to search for where to get it, and how). I don't use PPV, is there any other consquences of disconnecting the phone line, one your initial verification is done?

Just to try and figure this out, I took a brand new R-10 that I had in the box which I got as a backup when I saw the writing on the wall, and have that running in another room with software 6.1, and I disconnected the phone line. Gonna see if it has any of these issues develop.


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## pbod153

Go here
https://www.dvrupgrade.com/
Look under software.
Best to use a spare computer so you still have internet support just in case when setting up the new drive.
good excuse to increase capacity


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## Dad440

rbtravis said:


> you should use Instantcake from www.DVRupgrade.com They are currently distributing 6.2a the new disk should be larger because this is an upgrade program. it is less than $20.00. after the initial setup unplug the phone line. that will prevent software updates. if you want to order PPV do it through the www.directv.com website. good luck you will find instantcake very easy to install.


I made other posts about things I noticed about the freezing and rebooting earlier, but I'm gonna order this InstantCake. I don't use PPV. Are there any other problems with not having the phone line plugged in such as local Tivo programming for content?

I also had an R-15 on another TV, and hate using their crappy software so much, it has essentially become only a single channel display TV. Last night, I took a brand new R-10 I had as a backup when I saw the writing on the wall, and put it in service instead of the R-15. It has a 6.1 version software, and after authorizing the phone connection, I unplugged it.

Should I use the InstantCake to upgrade that one to the 6.2, or does it not matter if it stays on 6.1?


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## pbod153

Dad440 said:


> I made other posts about things I noticed about the freezing and rebooting earlier, but I'm gonna order this InstantCake. I don't use PPV. Are there any other problems with not having the phone line plugged in such as local Tivo programming for content?
> 
> I also had an R-15 on another TV, and hate using their crappy software so much, it has essentially become only a single channel display TV. Last night, I took a brand new R-10 I had as a backup when I saw the writing on the wall, and put it in service instead of the R-15. It has a 6.1 version software, and after authorizing the phone connection, I unplugged it.
> 
> Should I use the InstantCake to upgrade that one to the 6.2, or does it not matter if it stays on 6.1?


Basically from what I have told in a different thread, the only thing the phone line does is download updates and order ppv


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## dtremain

I had my first freeze and then my first re-boot yesterday. The freeze definitely occureed while one tuner was recording off-the air. Not NBC, however, but the NYC CBS local (It messed up Judge Judy, my wife is not pleased.)  

When I discovered the freeze, about a half hour later, I re-booted the unit by pulliong the plug. Not long after that, it re-booted itself. That was around 5:30 yesterday evening.

As of 5:00 this morning, it hadn't happened again. I know because I set the channel filter setting to "baseball" and it hadn't defaulted back to "movies."

It recorded House and Dancing with the Stars, both on locals, with no problem at the same time last night.


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## scburdet

This is a slightly edited version of a post I made on the DTV forum, where discussions on this problem are ongoing:

Earlier posts in the DTV forums suggest customer service has been instructed to tell customers that they have no plans to fix the problem on R10s, and the only solution is to take the DTV DVR. I (foolishly) have been waiting to see if DTV would come up with a software update to correct the problem, but this seems increasingly unlikely. I finally called customer service and got the same "advice" that others have reported, specifically that I reset the unit or arrange to get a new DTV DVR replacement. I expressed extreme skepticism that a reset was going to accomplish anything based on what I've been reading in the forums. The rep was also quick to note that most customers dislike the new DVR units available from DTV. I did reset the unit, and the only thing that seems to have accomplished is the deletion of all the data, and now most of my local channels aren't coming up anymore (since the reset yesterday, I still only have CBS and a blank screen for NBC; Thanks DTV!!!). This is of course my favorite thing about customer service in general, DTV along with everyone else. They know the stuff that's readily available in the manuals and online, but as far as any real issues, I always seem more knowledgeable than the person on the other end of the line (and that's not saying much). If what recent reports prove to be true, and DTV won't be actively trying to fix this problem, then I suspect many of us are going to be facing a choice soon. Even if it is fixed, how long until the next major issue arises? What is best of a lot of bad options?
Here are my issues:
1. My R10 is less than 2 years old. If I stay with DTV am I going to have the same problem a year down the road when they decide it's time to support a different type of hardware? This isn't the first software issue I've had, although I would say my experience has been rather pain free compared to other posters. I think at the very least DTV should run their operation like the cell companies who give you new equipment every couple of years as technology changes. It doesn't make sense to me that DTV can expect to keep customers if it screws them out of equipment charges every couple of years.
2. The majority of the reviews of the new DTV DVRs are negative. Am I looking at getting a crappy replacement unit? Maybe it won't soft reset, but if it sucks (and may not actually fix the original problem anyway), what's the point in getting a new unit?
3. I've done a little digging and Dish doesn't seem to fair much better with hardware/software issues. The cable companies are not an option, I have had way too many problems with cable in the past. As far as I can tell though, that's the only option if you want TIVO without prohibitive cost and hassle setting up the system.
4. Why are these software updates so critical to begin with? Everything was working fine. I see the point of updating virus software on a computer, but it's unclear to me what I'm getting from these software updates other than headaches.

I noticed several people mentioning the "local channel" reboot (esp in CT). I get reboots on non-locals as well, but with less frequently. It does seem that anytime the satellite signal becomes weak, it initiates a reboot. I can rationalize this behavior because I think the source of the local channels is somehow different than the commons, and it's more common to see interference (weather, non-specific) when watching the locals when things were working properly.

That's my $0.02, more of a rant than anything else...


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## ssorrell

I've been having these issues for a month or so now, but my wife and I have noticed that it happens mostly, if not all of the time, on NBC. We are in an area where we do not receive any local NBC affiliate, so we only get the NYC and LA feeds. Last night we were watching the recording of Chuck, and it froze worse than ever before. Usually we could wait it out and it would indeed start playing again, but last night I had two reboots within 30 minutes. We record shows on many other channels with no problems at all. I was about to come online and research the newest and latest DVRs at Best Buy, but now I guess it doesn't matter...I'll wait it out and see what happens.


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## Mark W

I have not checked specifically, but it does seem that many of my reboots and freeze ups have happened while on NBC.


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## lmd

I live in CT too. Unfortunately my TiVo just froze on VH1. DTV is sending a tech out on Sat - not sure why because I won't take their DVR. Maybe it is time for all of us to contact Blumenthal. DTV has no problem taking our money for TiVo and they are not providing service <sigh>.


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## scburdet

I wouldn't stake too much hope on the AG office.


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## stlfan62

lmd said:


> I live in CT too. Unfortunately my TiVo just froze on VH1. DTV is sending a tech out on Sat - not sure why because I won't take their DVR. Maybe it is time for all of us to contact Blumenthal. DTV has no problem taking our money for TiVo and they are not providing service <sigh>.


What was the other tuner tuned to?


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## Rich584

dtremain said:


> Well, I'd agree with everything above except the last sentence. You are correct about the update being written to a different part of the disk. What then happens is if there is damage to that part of the disk, the software now on it starts to give the machine problems. Those problems had not appeared before becuase the damaged area was not affecting the software then.
> 
> There's really nothing the manufacturer can test for. It is the result of pre-existing damage to the individual unit's hard drive.


So you think this damage is permanent or will disappear when a new software version that corrects the rebooting and other problems is released? I have 6 SD TiVos and if you check my posts you will see how I arrived at the conclusion that the problem is the 6.3 version. Didn't happen for two weeks on my Samsung with 3.1 v. When that unit received the software update the rebooting began again.


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## Rich584

OK, I just started up my Samsung 4040 and I am watching a recorded program. It is 4:55 PM EST. I checked my 30 second skip button and the 30 skip is working. That tells me that it hasn't rebooted in 24 hours. I plan to watch this unit for about 2 hours. If it does not reboot in that time, perhaps the software has been corrected. 

And perhaps the $400+ that I wasted will be returned to me by D*.


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## guz_77

Hi My Tivo just keeps restarting, after i reboot it, freezes and reboots again and again, i cant get to the main menu, can someone help me, i have a Huges dvr 80


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## txtj

Hello all,

Since 6.3e was pushed to my DirecTivo in late August, it has been useless. It freezes and reboots all the time.

I usually just lurk in forums, but I need to let you know that I'm in the 8% that DTV does not offer locals to and my rebooting and freezing are constant. So, the theory that the problems are being caused by local channels is not the case for me.

I'm in north Texas (not CT  ) and the weather here has been nice...no bad lightning storms that I can remember. My DirecTivo is on a UPS that is then connected to a power conditioner. I've checked and the fan inside my DirecTivo is running and sounds normal.

I refuse to do a reset and lose the programs I've recorded since we all know it won't fix the problem. I'm trying to record them to my DVD recorder, but the rebooting and freezing is making that tough.

This is very annoying and I'm truly disappointed in DirecTV's customer service. I'd switch to DISH, but I like watching the English Premier League and as far as I know I can only get that on DirecTV. I refuse to pay for and then lease their less-than-desirable DVR unit.

So, I'm just waiting and hoping that they will fix the problem.


tj


----------



## alert5

One of my 6.x machines was freezing up almost every night and a power off reboot would bring it back to life.

Before committing to a hard drive replacement, I decided to try a Clear and Delete Everything (C&DE). That was a week ago and the box is no longer locking up. In fact it is as quick and responsive as when first activated.

Conventional wisdom indicates that a C&DE rebuilds the MFS. In theory a C&DE may locate and fix or lockout problem areas on the hard drive.

It would be interesting if one or more of you with the freezing problem would try C&DE and report your results.

C&DE is a drastic process, but less so than replacing the HD. You will lose all your recordings and settings and youll have to go through a new guided setup. You do not need to call DirecTV, but it will take several hours before channels below 100 display in the guide.

If your box is zippered, you will lose telnet, so having a serial connection is very convenient for restoring USB networking since the hack modules will still be on the drive. In other words you will not have to remove the drive to re-zipper.


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## newsposter

wonder if C/D todo/SP list would work as well?


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## Rich584

Rich584 said:


> OK, I just started up my Samsung 4040 and I am watching a recorded program. It is 4:55 PM EST. I checked my 30 second skip button and the 30 skip is working. That tells me that it hasn't rebooted in 24 hours. I plan to watch this unit for about 2 hours. If it does not reboot in that time, perhaps the software has been corrected.
> 
> And perhaps the $400+ that I wasted will be returned to me by D*.


Two days and no reboots.


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## markbox

txtj said:


> Hello all,
> 
> Since 6.3e was pushed to my DirecTivo in late August, it has been useless. It freezes and reboots all the time.
> 
> I usually just lurk in forums, but I need to let you know that I'm in the 8% that DTV does not offer locals to and my rebooting and freezing are constant. So, the theory that the problems are being caused by local channels is not the case for me.
> 
> I'm in north Texas (not CT  ) and the weather here has been nice...no bad lightning storms that I can remember. My DirecTivo is on a UPS that is then connected to a power conditioner. I've checked and the fan inside my DirecTivo is running and sounds normal.
> 
> I refuse to do a reset and lose the programs I've recorded since we all know it won't fix the problem. I'm trying to record them to my DVD recorder, but the rebooting and freezing is making that tough.
> 
> This is very annoying and I'm truly disappointed in DirecTV's customer service. I'd switch to DISH, but I like watching the English Premier League and as far as I know I can only get that on DirecTV. I refuse to pay for and then lease their less-than-desirable DVR unit.
> 
> So, I'm just waiting and hoping that they will fix the problem.
> 
> tj


Try disconnecting the coax cables leading to the dish (power
down, disconnect, power up) in order to watch recordings
without reboots. It worked for me and my unit was rebooting
every 10 minutes prior to that. Let us know if it works for you.


----------



## chuckg

newsposter said:


> wonder if C/D todo/SP list would work as well?


I did a Clear and Delete Everything on both of my DTivos with no evidence it had any effect.


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## ADent

txtj said:


> I usually just lurk in forums, but I need to let you know that I'm in the 8% that DTV does not offer locals to and my rebooting and freezing are constant. So, the theory that the problems are being caused by local channels is not the case for me.


Do you receive NBC or other national networks via DirecTV? Some people w/o locals are eligible for out of market networks.


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## txtj

ADent said:


> Do you receive NBC or other national networks via DirecTV? Some people w/o locals are eligible for out of market networks.


I wish! My locals have huge coverage areas and are very strict. They deny all requests for waivers. My ABC station isn't even in the same state as me. It's close to an hour drive away.

Thanks for thinking of me. 

tj


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## txtj

markbox said:


> Try disconnecting the coax cables leading to the dish (power
> down, disconnect, power up) in order to watch recordings
> without reboots. It worked for me and my unit was rebooting
> every 10 minutes prior to that. Let us know if it works for you.


Excellent idea! I'll give it a try and let you.

tj


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## Rhughes

ADent said:


> Do you receive NBC or other national networks via DirecTV? Some people w/o locals are eligible for out of market networks.


I get all the national networks and they all exhibit the problem. All other channels I try have it too, so I don't think it has anything to do with the channels received.


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## Dad440

Rhughes said:


> I get all the national networks and they all exhibit the problem. All other channels I try have it too, so I don't think it has anything to do with the channels received.


See my post with more testing I did here . It is tricky, but so far if I keep any of the 3 TV's with R-10's completely off of local channels in EITHER tuner, they have not frozen. If I leave at least 1 tuner on a local channel (NBC seems more common) it freezes.


----------



## CTjon

I called Directv yest. about my locking up problem. After 10 minutes of going through rediculous response units menus I was connected to a technician who had me swap cables from the dish (ok what did that prove) and when I told him the picture was fine on both tuners - he said it was the hard drive and I needed to format it (didn't even use the same terms that are on the machine). If that didn't work to call back. 
Well I might to that and call them back but I doubt that is the problem since so many of us are having the same one.

I'll try the no local channel test although I have to figure out how to explain to my wife about switching tuners to make sure neither of them. She is the primary user of that DVR and although she is capable she never wants to hear about technical issues and procedures.


----------



## txtj

markbox said:


> Try disconnecting the coax cables leading to the dish (power
> down, disconnect, power up) in order to watch recordings
> without reboots. It worked for me and my unit was rebooting
> every 10 minutes prior to that. Let us know if it works for you.


I unplugged the unit, removed the sat coax cables and then powered it back up. I was able to watch one recorded show without reboot or freezing. I'll watch more over the weekend to confirm, but it's 100% better.

To me, this "test" proves the problems aren't being caused by a bad hard drive and since I don't have local channels this leaves update 6.3e as the cause.

Any idea what's in 6.3e that's causing the problem?

tj


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## mlubskt

After calling 3 times, and troubleshooting everything except completely resetting hard drive, I finally got a technician who read me a memo dated yesterday that, indeed, the TIVO is freezing due to their new HD signal causing an "inherent flaw in TIVO hard drive to be detected." They aren't saying it's because of their signal.

They said I could get a new DTV DVR (not the one that would pick up all of the new HD channels, though). They also read from the memo that DTV engineers are currently working with TIVO for a resolution. Do not reset! It's not going to fix the problem. 

If you phone DTV and you don't get the same information, ask the technician you are speaking to if he/she would please verfiy there aren't any new bulletins. I spoke to my tech today for 40 minutes before he miraculously read this alert.


----------



## txtj

mlubskt,

Thank you so much for posting that info!

tj


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## Mark W

How could their "new HD signal" be causing problems for DTivos that can't even pick them up? The new HD is being sent over new satellites in a format that DTivos can't read on channels that they can't tune to. 

I do have a new dish that can pick up the new satellites, how about other people who have reported these problems?


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## jeffjob

Two days and no locks ups for me either.

I am in CT and watch NBC and other locals quite a bit.

I did have two shows record as partial however, something my D*TIVO unit has never done without loosing power.


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## jrock

I hope they fix it soon. This is really getting annoying. I have 5 TiVo receivers that are freezing daily. I called and explained it all and the guy said unplug it and wait a minute. Then he waited for it to totally boot up and said ok have I helped you with everything today. I said no that's not the point, I know how to reset it but 5 of my receivers are locking up every day like this. I pay $160 a month and don't want my receivers locking up daily. He finally said ok if it happens again call back and they will send out a tech to find out if any need replacing. I was like umm ok.

So if they don't fix it soon I don't know what to do. This sucks =(. On another note I do have 2 HR20-700's and get all the new HD channels and they are awesome but it sucks that they are having this side effect on my beloved TiVo's.


----------



## Rhughes

jrock said:


> I hope they fix it soon. This is really getting annoying. I have 5 TiVo receivers that are freezing daily. I called and explained it all and the guy said unplug it and wait a minute. Then he waited for it to totally boot up and said ok have I helped you with everything today. I said no that's not the point, I know how to reset it but 5 of my receivers are locking up every day like this. I pay $160 a month and don't want my receivers locking up daily. He finally said ok if it happens again call back and they will send out a tech to find out if any need replacing. I was like umm ok.
> 
> So if they don't fix it soon I don't know what to do. This sucks =(. On another note I do have 2 HR20-700's and get all the new HD channels and they are awesome but it sucks that they are having this side effect on my beloved TiVo's.


The only thing I can conclude by all of this mess is that DirecTV is in complete denial. To even suggest now that the problem is internal to our Tivo's is ridiculous. At least from reading the post above regarding the memo read by the technician, there is some tiny percentage of the company that thinks, "Hey, maybe we really do have a problem." Those of us lurking on this forum have an understanding of the situation, but think of the thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of other people whose Tivo's are locking up every day who have no clue as to what is going on.


----------



## markbox

txtj said:


> I unplugged the unit, removed the sat coax cables and then powered it back up. I was able to watch one recorded show without reboot or freezing. I'll watch more over the weekend to confirm, but it's 100% better.
> 
> To me, this "test" proves the problems aren't being caused by a bad hard drive and since I don't have local channels this leaves update 6.3e as the cause.
> 
> Any idea what's in 6.3e that's causing the problem?
> 
> tj


_
Glad that technique allowed you to watch your recordings
without reboots. However, it still doesn't prove the 
root cause of the problems is with 6.3e specifically
because you were still running 6.3e with the coax to the
dish unplugged and it wasn't rebooting. Instead, I suspect
that the root cause has to do with an interaction between
6.3e and the data on the sattelite network. I setup a 
6.2a hardisk and have no reboots (like many others) while
connected to the sattelite network. 6.2a doesn't seem to 
have any problems dealing with the changes to the datastream
on the sattelite network. So, they have two choices, release
an update for 6.3e or modify the sattelite network 
data stream so it doesn't cause the freezing/rebooting 
issues. The former seems more likely.


----------



## Dad440

OK, adding another day of data. I made sure to keep both tuners off of local channels, and no freezing or rebooting for another day since my last post.

Again, I verify rebooting, either by seeing multiple split copies of a recorded show (with 5 mins missing for reboot time), or my SPS-30-S being wiped out.

Only exception to staying off local channels was last night I was watching & recording The Office & My Name Is Earl on a local channel, and there were two segments of VERY heavy pixelation, and near freezing with loss of audio each lasting about 3-5 seconds. I said out loud "Don't reboot on me now!!!" which it did not do....but the last time I saw such heavy pixelation was last year when a snow storm covered over the Sat dish. I have not seen such heavy and long lasting pixelation/near freezing since last winter.

Now here is the clincher. I have started setting a couple shows to record on two R-10 TV setups in the house in case one rebooted/froze...in the chance that it may be a Hard Drive issue. I went to the 2nd R-10 upstairs with the stock HD, before changing the tuners back to HBO, and saw that both shows had the EXACT SAME HEAVY PIXELATION AT THE SAME TIME as what I watched downstairs. I believe those shows are broadcasted in HD.

Again, this now appears to me to be an issue related to 6.3e with how it is handling some local data that is being sent out....so the HD issue mentioned in the memo above fits my situation exactly.

The only other thing I could add is running the Instant Cake on one of the 3 R-10 drives which installs 6.1 Tivo on the R-10, and see if simultaneous issues like I just saw develops. However, I think I have enough data to be convinced where this is coming from. Before I go to bed, I change all tuners to HBO and Fox News, and verify that the SPS30S shortcut is working.

The problem is none of the DTV front line phone jockeys have much idea what is going on. The first thing I always do is ask to speak to the service plan technician, and try to get them find a supervisor. They have been the only ones who know more of what is really going on, and willing to send the memo to the programmers. There is no reason to reformat your hard drive, or go disconnect/reconnect cables as far as I am concerned.

One supervisor did tell me that they have recently brought a new HD satellite online, so it may be a correlation between 6.3e and this new satellite's HD signal that is causing the issue.


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## NomadJeep

3 units, all the same freezing.

2 R10
1 Hughes

I rattled off this email to Direct, I know it will fall of deaf ears, to a person who will say here is how to restart it, but ohh well. Felt I had to add myself to the list...



> I have 3 DirecTV Tivo Units. 2 R10's and one Hughes. All 3 of them are freezing and require me to unplug and plug them back in to get them to restart. This has been going on since the new software update to 6.3e. I thought maybe there was something wrong with my boxes, but one of them is pretty new. Then I did a search, or your forum and Tivo's. There are countless threads of people with the same problem. Please let me know if there is any intended fix for this issue. If requested to get rid of our Tivo Boxes we will probably discontinue service with DirecTV all together. (so dont offer that)
> 
> Please let me know when if they are working on a remedy for this problem, and when we should expect results.
> 
> Many Thanks


,


----------



## rbtravis

NomadJeep said:


> 3 units, all the same freezing.
> 
> 2 R10
> 1 Hughes
> 
> I rattled off this email to Direct, I know it will fall of deaf ears, to a person who will say here is how to restart it, but ohh well. Felt I had to add myself to the list...
> 
> ,


Please read this thread . Maybe it will Help.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5593690#post5593690


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## Rich584

txtj said:


> Excellent idea! I'll give it a try and let you.
> 
> tj


If your TiVo is not hooked up to sat feeds, it will not reboot. It's the 6.3e software interacting with the units thru the sat feeds. As long as the sat feeds are hooked up, it will reboot.

That said, I just checked all my TiVos and not one reset since the 10th. All still have the 30 second skip and that tells me no reboots. Perhaps they (TiVo) fixed the problem? I didn't do anything else to any hardware, so...


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## Joey Bond

Seems they may have corrected the problem.It has been several days and no freeze ups


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## wedgecon

Wish I could say the same...


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## rock_doctor

Joey Bond said:


> Seems they may have corrected the problem.It has been several days and no freeze ups


Sorry it isn't fixed. You just have been lucky. Mine reboots at least once a day.

mark


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## TVHippy

New to this site, first post. I have to DTV TIVO's, RCA DVR40 and Hughes HDVR2 (same internals). Both have the 6.3e update, not sure when they received it.

I've been having the freezing up solid problem or just a reboot problem for the last month or two, almost everyday. 

I called DTV yesterday (10-19-07) to complain about the problem. They were morons, they wanted me to look at the signal strength when it freezes, I asked how I'm suppose to look at that when it's frozen solid and a unplug is the only way to bring it back. Signal strength is always in the 90's anyway. Then they tried to tell me my TIVO's could be going bad, just a coincident they both freeze at the same exact time. Then they wanted to send someone, which I said would not do any good, that it almost has to be something they are doing to cause it. Then they said they would replace them, I said with another TIVO? No, with one of their brand DVR's, which I told them sucks.

They said they had not heard of this problem at all. So I got on the net and found this thread and thousand of topics about the exact same thing. So either DTV is lying on purpose are they are just completely clueless. My DTV TIVO's have worked flawless for at least 3+ years, till this recent problem.


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## RichJBJ

I called and spoke to a rep. She told me that it was Tivo that was outdates as well. I politely asked to speak to her supervisor. I told him that I knew what was going on, and that DirecTV was responsible for the upgrade. I informed him that there were hundreds of people (thanks to this forum) who were experiencing the same thing. I wanted to know what he was going to do to fix the problem. He assured me that Tivo and DirecTV were "likely" working on the problem. He offered me the their DVR, which in his words, "is a considerable upgrade... 100 hours of recording, faster response times, blah blah blah...."

I told him that it wasn't Tivo, and he said it was better than Tivo. I said that this all sounds suspect. Seems like sabotage to me. I told him I wanted my account credited for this inconvenience, and he said he could only send me the new DirecTV DVR (without Tivo), for the low low price of $19.99 (S & H) and a 2 year commitment. 

Sounds like fraud to me. I don't remember getting an upgrade from Microsoft Windows that broke my computer's hard drive!! Someone needs to file a Class action suite if these bozos can't figure it out. 

They broke my Tivo, and I want it replaced.

They tried to peddle a 3rd party vendor - weaknees-com - , who want like over $100 to ship you a new hard drive with instructions. DirecTV is RECOMMENDING this!! I told them fine, as long as they rebate the funds to my account. Instead, they decided to waive the Shipping and Handling Fee ($19.99). WOW... WHAT A DEAL!!! Of course, the best part is that I'm on the hook for 2 years if I accept.... no thanks, not after this crap!

I decided to call Tivo and inform them that DirecTV was trying to persuade me to cancel Tivo and go exclusively with DirecTV. Tivo rep could only apologize for the inconvenience and the negativity, and was unfortunately unable to help me because the matter was all on DirecTV for this software update.

Great... both companies sound like they work really well together.

Bottom line... DirecTV has broken my Tivo. I want them to send me a new Tivo. I will continue my plight and update all of you when new information becomes available. 

We all need to stick together on this though. Don't let DirecTV send us the crappy DVR "upgrades" that has us canceling the Tivo subscription that has changed most of our lives!!! <-- a little dramatic, but still true

RichJBJ


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## dtremain

RichJBJ,

Welcome to the forum.

I mean this warmly and nicely since you are new.

In the future, don't double post. It is considered bad etiquette on boards like this.


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## skinnyjm

...So...Did Direc*TV* or *TiVo* decide to put 6.3x on SD DirecTiVos?
I'm not sure. 

Either way, It didn't work. 

SD DirecTiVos should be far more *future proof*, so I don't understand why they would choose the *MPEG-2 HD* version to *"unify"* the code.
Leave 6.1x/6.2x on the SD and cease development of 6.3x, if you want to have only *one*(or two) that work.


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## Jumi

Freeze up at 3:52 pm today. Watching CNN. Other tuner on local Cleveland NBC. It's been a couple of weeks with no reboots or freezes. Thought maybe they had it fixed. Silly me!


----------



## wedgecon

skinnyjm said:


> ...So...Did Direc*TV* or *TiVo* decide to put 6.3x on SD DirecTiVos?
> I'm not sure.
> 
> Either way, It didn't work.
> 
> SD DirecTiVos should be far more *future proof*, so I don't understand why they would choose the *MPEG-2 HD* version to *"unify"* the code.
> Leave 6.1x/6.2x on the SD and cease development of 6.3x, if you want to have only *one*(or two) that work.


DirecTV TV did, Tivo is no longer involved with the DirecTivo's in any way except to do fixes or updates as DirecTV requested.


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## restart88

Well of late I've only have some very sluggish response, especially on the 540, but no outright freezing all together. But it is irritating for it to take half a minute to change channels.


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## Jumi

Reboot today at about 3:35 pm while paused!


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## Kyle

Yummy. I have an R10. It has needed to be reset maybe once every 5-10 days for a while. I've been filing this away as "something to look at when I get a chance." Tonight, it crashed three times in less than an hour!!

What's really sad is that this whole situation is just so much like Dish Network and the Dishplayer. I know I wasn't the only Dishplayer early adopter who jumped ship to a DirecTivo, and now it look like the same ol same ol.

At any rate, we've been considering a hard drive upgrade anyhow. If I get a new hard drive, it makes sense to do a "downgrade" of the software.... is 6.2 considered pretty stable?


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## restart88

I somehow KNEW not to say anything. Now suddenly my 540 cannot MRV with the S2DT (claims there are NO recorded programs when there clearly are) yet my S2DT can see everything on the 540.

I've made no changes of any sort and it is new just of tonight. Waz up with dat?


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## thommygeenh

restart88 said:


> Well of late I've only have some very sluggish response, especially on the 540, but no outright freezing all together. But it is irritating for it to take half a minute to change channels.


We too lately have only experienced the sluggish remote responses...that was the first thing that happened with our R-10, right after the 6.3e update, followed by the random reboots/freezing, etc. It is definately irritating, but what we've found that seems to help--although temporarily--is to just do an unplug reset once a week. We usually do it on a Sat., when we're not recording much at all and it has time to reload the guide before our season passes come up for the next day. I've also noticed, if Suggestions stay empty, the unit for some reason seems at least, to run better. So every now and then, I go into Suggestions, scroll down to the bottom, and starting there, I do the thumbs down to the bottom listing, then scroll up to the next one...and do the same. As I scroll up after doing the thumbs down, the previous entry deletes. I continue this til the suggestions is empty. I also went into our Season Passes, and did a triple thumbs down to each one, so we don't get any suggestion listings from those. We don't "auto record" any suggestions. Given D* track record of fixing things, I don't expect to see a fix to this for at least a year.


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## newsposter

thommygeenh said:


> I've also noticed, if Suggestions stay empty, the unit for some reason seems at least, to run better. So every now and then, I go into Suggestions, scroll down to the bottom, and starting there, I do the thumbs down to the bottom listing, then scroll up to the next one...and do the same. As I scroll up after doing the thumbs down, the previous entry deletes. I continue this til the suggestions is empty. I also went into our Season Passes, and did a triple thumbs down to each one, so we don't get any suggestion listings from those. We don't "auto record" any suggestions. Given D* track record of fixing things, I don't expect to see a fix to this for at least a year.


I must be missing something here. Why not just turn off suggestions if you dont want them? Personally i used them for available space estimates.


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## RichJBJ

well, I finally canceled.... after 3 wonderful years... what a bummer. It's almost like losing a family member. I was told last Sunday that a manager or director (basically someone higher than a supervisor) would contact me personally within 24 to 72 hours, which didn't happen.

I am so depressed. What kind of company/monster has DirecTV turned into? First they break my Tivo, then they pretend it's not their fault, then they try to peddle their crappy DVR on me, then they show me just what they really think of me as a customer by making a call back commitment and then not following through....

There are just way too many choices in Denver, CO to let DirecTV to treat me like this. Good luck to the lot of you... I hope your service goes better than mine. Hopefully this isn't goodbye...........  

RichJBJ

PS... I will be double posting at: OK people, We need to organize and push DirecTV for a fix!


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## restart88

Wow! I've considered the same myself tonight.

Called tech support. After explaining my problem and waiting several minutes for her to get the answer from someone else (I pay per minuite) the lady said hello, and I answered, and then she hung up after mumbling something about not knowing what to recommend.

So I called right back. Same thing, (no previuos notes left, of course) except this lady made it a point not to hang up after telling of my previous call. But she might as well have. Claimed I needed to go to my router settings and open up TCP 443. I said that sounds like a PC setting and she said I don't know *anything * about networks.

Hello? Both times I called I chose the phone menu option FOR network problems!


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## b777drvr

Talked with DirecTV This morning and they agree it is a software issue (previously told me it was the unit itself). Has something to do with the way they wrote the code to add the new HD channels. They say their "engineers" are working on the problem and I can either wait it out or buy the kit from Weakknees or they will send me one of their generic DVR's. Hmm, a standalone series 3 with cablecard is sounding a lot better!! And guess what? Less compression so I can get a better HD picture!!


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## Dad440

I can control the freezes, reboots ever since I discovered it seems to only happen (randomly) if I keep one tuner of my R-10 on a local channel.

So if I want to record or watch a local channel, I take my chances, then switch it to HBO or some channel above 201. Still have some of the sluggish response to remote, but even that is worse if a local channel is on one of the two tuners.

It is disgusting, and I have lined up going either back with my old cable company, or switch to the UVerse which is in our neighborhood. Luckily I was able to return my new Hard Drive for 15% restocking fee to Weaknees, and they also knew about the 6.3e software issue. 

I'll hang with DTV for a little bit longer to see if their programmers fix this screwup. If not, I'm going with TIVO, not DTV's crappy software which I tried for almost a year in 1 of 3 TV's.


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## Phantom Gremlin

Dad440 said:


> I'll hang with DTV for a little bit longer to see if their programmers fix this screwup. If not, I'm going with TIVO, not DTV's crappy software which I tried for almost a year in 1 of 3 TV's.


Don't necessarily conclude that TiVo is a viable alternative. Their new software releases are bug infested steaming piles of s***. And that's being kind. Read the appropriate forums for details.

Quality is apparently no longer a selling point, either from DTV or TiVo.


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## rescuefire

Well I came here to see how to replace my hard drive in my R10 figuring that it was going bad, or had a bad spot in it because it has been freezing. Now I see that the dates coincide with that update ya all are talking about. UGH!! My Samsung is fine but my R10 keeps screwing up. 

I've had good results when calling Direct TV up until they came out with their own R15 which I HATE and WILL not switch to. Of course they are telling me to switch to theirs. I really really don't want to. I had tried the R15 and hated it. I like Tivo.

My question is this; If I change the hard drive in my R10 will I be stuck with the same problems that I have now? In other words when changing the hard drive won't I still have the crappy update on it? Is there a way to format a hard drive with the Tivo stuff without the updates? 

I guess I need a specific how to on setting up a hard drive for my R10


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## rbtravis

rescuefire said:


> Well I came here to see how to replace my hard drive in my R10 figuring that it was going bad, or had a bad spot in it because it has been freezing. Now I see that the dates coincide with that update ya all are talking about. UGH!! My Samsung is fine but my R10 keeps screwing up.
> 
> I've had good results when calling Direct TV up until they came out with their own R15 which I HATE and WILL not switch to. Of course they are telling me to switch to theirs. I really really don't want to. I had tried the R15 and hated it. I like Tivo.
> 
> My question is this; If I change the hard drive in my R10 will I be stuck with the same problems that I have now? In other words when changing the hard drive won't I still have the crappy update on it? Is there a way to format a hard drive with the Tivo stuff without the updates?
> 
> I guess I need a specific how to on setting up a hard drive for my R10


You should consider purchasing a preimaged harddrive from DVRupgrade or Weaknees on the condition that if it does not work you will return it. You won't have to learn how to image and it will be understood if it goes bad you will return it. DVRupgrade will also check out your machine and if something is wrong they will with your permission send it out for repair if something is wrong. Consider
http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/professional_installation.cfm
and if you want to do it yourself there is always Instantcake
http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/category.cfm?SID=1&Category_ID=5&page=cat&ModelID=61
good luck whatever you decide.


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## ronvas

Same problem with me. Since the upgrade everything is like in slow motion. No response to the remote, then the screen goes blank. I have had to reboot several times but that does not increase the response. It is terrible.


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## ronvas

I have the same problem. Since the upgrade, my TIVO is like in slow motion. Does not respond to remote inputs and then the screen will freeze up. It was perfect till the upgrade. :down:


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## restart88

ronvas said:


> I have the same problem. Since the upgrade, my TIVO is like in slow motion. Does not respond to remote inputs and then the screen will freeze up. It was perfect till the upgrade. :down:


I have that on the 540 but not so much on the S2DT. Go figure!

And while previously I couldn't MRV from the 540 to S2DT but had no problems 540 to PC or S2DT to 540 (called tech support and they knew less about fixing it than me) it apparently got corrected a few days ago.

But as of last night now neither Tivo can MRV with each other, but still no problems MRV to PC or PC to Tivo. 

Without MRV I don't need more than 1 Tivo. I could just get a tuner card for my always on PC that I use for the security system and as a media source. Glad I waited on that S3 purchase now!


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## restart88

LOL sorry I didn't realize I was in the DTivo forum. Since I have 2 SA & 1 R10 the thread was in my User CP flag.

So far no problems on the R10. But like I said I'm having my share of grief on the SAs.


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## mitchb2

This has just started happening to us. Freezing and spontaneous reboots.
We've missed endings to shows because of the reboots. Sucks.


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## restart88

Ok now that freeze & reboot is starting on my S2DT. Frustrating!  

For me it happens when I'm changing channels.


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## JohnInMableton

Ok, ran into the troubles the other day la de da, here we are. Explanation from http://www.wkblog.com/2005/12/the_weaknees_r10_r15_compariso.html

"NDS is a company partially owned by Rupert Murdoch (whose News Corp. purchased a controlling interest in DIRECTV). NDS is based in England (specifically Staines - Ali G's home) and in Israel. NDS has made a few DVRs that are available abroad. Since Murdoch also owns much of DIRECTV, NDS started to develop DVRs for it. The R15 is the first NDS DVR to be available in the US. It is standard definition only, but rumors are swirling about an HR20-300, a high definition model."

So yes, the squeeze is on from high up to make some money for Rupert, and why pay Tivo when they have their own inferior company in house? I don't like Rupe and I don't like the squeeze, I'm dumping Direct TV.


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## wedgecon

JohnInMableton said:


> Ok, ran into the troubles the other day la de da, here we are. Explanation from http://www.wkblog.com/2005/12/the_weaknees_r10_r15_compariso.html
> 
> "NDS is a company partially owned by Rupert Murdoch (whose News Corp. purchased a controlling interest in DIRECTV). NDS is based in England (specifically Staines - Ali G's home) and in Israel. NDS has made a few DVRs that are available abroad. Since Murdoch also owns much of DIRECTV, NDS started to develop DVRs for it. The R15 is the first NDS DVR to be available in the US. It is standard definition only, but rumors are swirling about an HR20-300, a high definition model."
> 
> So yes, the squeeze is on from high up to make some money for Rupert, and why pay Tivo when they have their own inferior company in house? I don't like Rupe and I don't like the squeeze, I'm dumping Direct TV.


Dude, that information is several years old. Rupert is in the process of transferring the company to John Malone.


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## Alandra

Has anyone experience stuttering or short duration freezes since the update?


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## Christobal

I am experiencing blocky and short freezes almost all the time, but oddly, I have only managed to catch it live a hand full of times. I usually notice it while watching recorded programs. The times I've seen it live, it's always been on channels on the 101 sat. The program will stutter and pixilate, but the signal strength will never dip at all. I get 90-100 all the time. This is on my SD Hughes Tivo. 

I don't notice it on my HD Tivo as I only have the HD channels available in the guide. I never watch SD TV on that TV in the theater room. That box HAS, however, completely frozen up completely on several occasions in the past few months. That HD box also only has only ONE SAT line active and the OTA going for locals.

I SO want to drop DTV for FIOS, but the FIOS boxes don't have OTA integration. I live close to a secondary market and need to reach that market's towers for out of market sports enjoyment.

C


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## markbox

I've got the Hughes SD TiVo and also had the pixilation/blocky
video problem. Disconnecting the S-Video connection from the back
of the TiVo and using the standard RCA video connection cleared 
up the problem.


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## restart88

Alandra said:


> Has anyone experience stuttering or short duration freezes since the update?


That and so much worse!

It has me questioning my future service needs on an almost daily basis of late. And the CSRs were less than useless.

All I can say is when it works great I'd never want to switch.


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## BigFoot48

Our R10 froze just now for the FIRST time in 17 months while in the Now Playing List with two programs being recorded. After about 4 minutes, it rebooted.

DirecTV has much to be modest about.


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## restart88

It's gotta be the Tivo update software because I'm having these problems on my SA units too.


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## CJTE

The 6.3e update essentially enabled the S.M.A.R.T. function.

So, your tivo is having a heart attack because it just found out that the harddrive actually has some serious corruption that before it was able to ignore.


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## wedgecon

CJTE said:


> The 6.3e update essentially enabled the S.M.A.R.T. function.
> 
> So, your tivo is having a heart attack because it just found out that the harddrive actually has some serious corruption that before it was able to ignore.


Right!!!!!!!!

You have any proof that DirecTV has implemented such a technology? I seriously doubt it could be done on the DirecTivo platform and until you prove otherwise I would not be spreading such rumors.


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## Christobal

markbox said:


> I've got the Hughes SD TiVo and also had the pixilation/blocky
> video problem. Disconnecting the S-Video connection from the back
> of the TiVo and using the standard RCA video connection cleared
> up the problem.


Thanks for the glimmer of hope, but no, this solution doesn't work for me. At least, items on my HD that are screwed up still don't play without pixelation.

My father in another state is reporting the same picture break-up on the same channels using the latest MPEG4 DTV branded box. When I see pixelation on live TV, it's always on channels on the 101 SAT but they show an excellent signal strength.

I'll leave it like this for a while to see if any new recordings are effected. I do hate the way that the picture is not nearly as clear with the RCA cables as using the S-Video cable.

LOTS of neighbors are getting FIOS.....

C


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## markbox

Removing the S-VHS connection won't help clear up previously recorded 
programs because those were recorded while the S-VHS connection
was in place. It hopefully will resolve the pixelation problems
for live viewing and any new recordings.


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## Christobal

Okay. Sounds odd, but I'll give it a try.

Thanks again.

C


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## Tburt

markbox said:


> Removing the S-VHS connection won't help clear up previously recorded
> programs because those were recorded while the S-VHS connection
> was in place. It hopefully will resolve the pixelation problems
> for live viewing and any new recordings.


Recordings have nothing to do with what kind of cable one plays back video with. DTivos connect using coax, and then you use S-Video, RCA, or whatever to connect the Tivo to the TV.


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## chuckg

Tburt said:


> Recordings have nothing to do with what kind of cable one plays back video with. DTivos connect using coax, and then you use S-Video, RCA, or whatever to connect the Tivo to the TV.


What gets recorded may very well depend on how one uses the ouput. Even if isn't supposed to. See this thread.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=333631&highlight=s-video+sat2.

Now if you check the position of the Sat 2 in F-connector and the position of the S-video output connector you will find that they are adjacent to each other on several DTivo models. I downloaded several DTivo manual PDFs and examined the pictures of the back panel.

Remove the cover and examine the circuit layout of the Sat 2 RF input with its direct conversion receiver and demodulator chips. Note their relationship to the output circuitry of the S-video output. Adjacent.

In all likelyhood the S-video load variations are causing a modulation of the Vcc (don't know is that term is still used  ) and/or ground to the Sat 2 input circuit.


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## markbox

Tburt said:


> Recordings have nothing to do with what kind of cable one plays back video with. DTivos connect using coax, and then you use S-Video, RCA, or whatever to connect the Tivo to the TV.


_
From a strictly external viewpoint, you are correct that the
outputs "should" have nothing to do with recording the inputs.
Unfortunately, testing proves otherwise. With the S-VHS output
connected to the TV the video pixilates and any recordings made
will include the video flaws. With the S-VHS output disconnected
the pixilation goes away which means any new recordings won't
be affected. At least this was my (and others) experience.
_
I believe what may be happening is what chuckg describes above.


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## snowfall

First, I am so grateful to have found this forum. Ironically, I found you when googling for a replacement Hughes 40 Tivo box because my living room box inexplicibly went seriously on the fritz over the past months, with freezing, blank screens, error messages and not recording. I had no idea about the DTV software upgrade. 

I tried moving my box to another room and once plugged in got only "serious error" messages for 3 days. I finally called DTV yesterday to complain. He agreed that my hard drive was fried and tried first to give me a DTV DVR which I rejected. I then reminded him how long I had been a DTV customer (10 yrs). The c/s rep then agreed to credit my DTV account for the cost of a new DTV/Tivo box. I have to fax them the receipt when I buy the box. 

If not for this forum, I would have eaten the cost of a new Tivo box. Thanks so much. 

Question: where's the best place to buy a new box? I'm not looking to spend a ton of $$. 

2nd question: I detached the phone line from my still-working second Tivo receiver (also a Hughes 40) but the DTV guy insists that I will not get the DTV schedule updates without a phone line. Is this true? He was very insistent.

Thanks again.


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## MurrayW

snowfall said:


> First, I am so grateful to have found this forum. Ironically, I found you when googling for a replacement Hughes 40 Tivo box because my living room box inexplicibly went seriously on the fritz over the past months, with freezing, blank screens, error messages and not recording. I had no idea about the DTV software upgrade.
> 
> I tried moving my box to another room and once plugged in got only "serious error" messages for 3 days. I finally called DTV yesterday to complain. He agreed that my hard drive was fried and tried first to give me a DTV DVR which I rejected. I then reminded him how long I had been a DTV customer (10 yrs). The c/s rep then agreed to credit my DTV account for the cost of a new DTV/Tivo box. I have to fax them the receipt when I buy the box.
> 
> If not for this forum, I would have eaten the cost of a new Tivo box. Thanks so much.
> 
> Question: where's the best place to buy a new box? I'm not looking to spend a ton of $$.
> 
> 2nd question: I detached the phone line from my still-working second Tivo receiver (also a Hughes 40) but the DTV guy insists that I will not get the DTV schedule updates without a phone line. Is this true? He was very insistent.
> 
> Thanks again.


1. You should be able to pick one up on craigslist or ebay for $30 or $40. It might be tough finding one from a retailer that will provide you with a receipt that D* will accept.
2. Besides being very insistent he was also very wrong.


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## rock_doctor

snowfall said:


> 2nd question: I detached the phone line from my still-working second Tivo receiver (also a Hughes 40) but the DTV guy insists that I will not get the DTV schedule updates without a phone line. Is this true? He was very insistent.


The schedule comes from the satellite. Some here haven't had their phone line plugged in for years. Just cancel the complaint message when it pops up and that is the worst you will have to deal with.

good luck,
mark


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## snowfall

MurrayW said:


> 1. You should be able to pick one up on craigslist or ebay for $30 or $40. It might be tough finding one from a retailer that will provide you with a receipt that D* will accept.
> 2. Besides being very insistent he was also very wrong.


The DTV guy said I could buy any new Tivo I wanted, why would they not accept certain receipts? He swore that I would get no [email protected] when it came to getting a credit. I told him I was taping the call (I wasn't).

I don't have to buy another Hughes 40 which was 5-6 yrs old anyway, I would happily upgrade if there was one with a bit more space that you all could recommend.

I really appreciate your f/b.


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## Tburt

markbox said:


> _
> From a strictly external viewpoint, you are correct that the
> outputs "should" have nothing to do with recording the inputs.
> Unfortunately, testing proves otherwise. With the S-VHS output
> connected to the TV the video pixilates and any recordings made
> will include the video flaws. With the S-VHS output disconnected
> the pixilation goes away which means any new recordings won't
> be affected. At least this was my (and others) experience.
> _
> I believe what may be happening is what chuckg describes above.


If that is the case, it sounds like something breaks/shorts out and starts causing this. I have both mine connected using S-video and neither has experienced this. Sounds like DTV and Tivo were trying to cut corners to save money on making the DTivos.


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## chuckg

Tburt said:


> If that is the case, it sounds like something breaks/shorts out and starts causing this. I have both mine connected using S-video and neither has experienced this. Sounds like DTV and Tivo were trying to cut corners to save money on making the DTivos.


Not necessarily. Traces on printed circuit boards can crack from flexing. All kinds of things can cause/contribute to the specific flexing that generates the specifc crack.

Dust that is only very moderately conductive when dry can bridge two conductors when damp. Whether there is anything that sensitive in a DTivo I do not know.

I may yet obtain a DTivo to follow the circuitry (which may destroy ICs) involved to satisfy my curiosity.


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## CJTE

wedgecon said:


> CJTE said:
> 
> 
> 
> The 6.3e update essentially enabled the S.M.A.R.T. function.
> 
> So, your tivo is having a heart attack because it just found out that the harddrive actually has some serious corruption that before it was able to ignore.
> 
> 
> 
> Right!!!!!!!!
> 
> You have any proof that DirecTV has implemented such a technology? I seriously doubt it could be done on the DirecTivo platform and until you prove otherwise I would not be spreading such rumors.
Click to expand...

Step 1: Lose the sarcasm, you make yourself sound arrogant.Or maybe your ego is inflated.
Step 2: Who said anything about DirecTV? Im pretty sure TIVO wrote the software running on your HR10-250, DirecTV just put the hardware together. Like the RCA SDVR40, or any of the other Tivos.
In regards to proof... Lets see.
6.3e rolls out.
Tivos start having panic attacks and *show symptoms of "harddrive failure"*
Many, many, users report this error, _but not all of them_, many more of them are running just fine.

So, are you going to tell me that 6.3e was sent out specifically to disable YOUR Tivo? Are you some kind of special case that needed to be given a headache? Along with the rest of the members here that've been having a problem?

I'm open to being countered, and even proven wrong, with a good explanation. But I have no problem ignoring your response if you're just going to troll.


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## rbtravis

CJTE said:


> Step 1: Lose the sarcasm, you make yourself sound arrogant.Or maybe your ego is inflated.
> Step 2: Who said anything about DirecTV? Im pretty sure TIVO wrote the software running on your HR10-250, DirecTV just put the hardware together. Like the RCA SDVR40, or any of the other Tivos.
> In regards to proof... Lets see.
> 6.3e rolls out.
> Tivos start having panic attacks and *show symptoms of "harddrive failure"*
> Many, many, users report this error, _but not all of them_, many more of them are running just fine.
> 
> So, are you going to tell me that 6.3e was sent out specifically to disable YOUR Tivo? Are you some kind of special case that needed to be given a headache? Along with the rest of the members here that've been having a problem?
> 
> I'm open to being countered, and even proven wrong, with a good explanation. But I have no problem ignoring your response if you're just going to troll.


 Wedgecon is right, you don't know what you are talking about. RCA does not make sdvr40 they make a DVR40 the SDVR40 is a Hughes box. The fact that smart shows problems reflects that the owner of the box did not replace the drive at the end of its useful life ( usually 3 years ) and that was the owners decision not TiVo's or Directv's. They chose to do breakdown maintaince rather than preventive maintaince is their fault rather than Tivo's. All the Directv TiVo's are past the expected drive life and the drives should have been replaced. The ones that have are not complaining where the one's that haven't are talking a vast conspiracy. If you want the TiVo to work replace the drive. Smart Technology has been around since the 1990's. It is not causing the drives to fail. Things like conflicts between spot beams on local channels are causing problems in some local area's have already been documented in this forum as well as the Dual speed green drives(5800 rpm to 7200 rpm) which have been shown to be failing in the upgrade as well as Spike2k5's forum. Wedgecon has made over 1000 posts, You have made 4, Trust Wedgecon, he is more likely to know what he is talking about.


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## mmallory

Have all of you with problems called DTV? They are telling me they haven't heard of the problem. This almost made be blow a gasket yesterday. DTV tells me that at least "5" people need to call in, with the same model DVR, to get a response. They should call and ask to speak to, get this, "upper management".

Both of my Hughes units have the random pauses. A new drive didn't fix it, but I didn't know to stop the upgrade so I have the dreaded 6.3e.

Mark


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## axelbrunger

I, too, have problems with the 6.3e release on my Directv TIVO HR10-250. There are now frequent reboots, especially when recording off-the air channels 9.1-9.5 (KQED) in San Francisco. Does anybody know how I can downgrade my software to 6.3a?


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## sh0knah

I agree that the s-video being connected or not SHOULDN'T affect the recording. But, in a moment of desperation (I was actually contemplating getting a DirecTV DVR ), I tried it.

Short story: it worked!

I was having intermitent freezing on my Tivo for months. It would just hang. I had to unplug it and reboot. I missed quite a few recordings that way. I was seriously frustrated.

Even when it was working, it would pixelate, stutter, etc., so badly on some shows that they were unwatchable.

So I noticed this in the forum. I thought, "That's impossible. That won't make a difference." But I (again, in desperation) walked over to my TV, unplugged the S-Video cable and plugged in the composite cables. (I had them there from a previous device.)

I am now 3 months WITHOUT A SINGLE PROBLEM. No freezing. No stuttering. No pixelization. And no frustration.


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## rescuefire

I never had the s-video connected, just composite cables. I have solved the problem by getting a new hard drive and an instantcake disc. I don't have the R-10 hooked to a phone line so all is well now. Once a day I get a message telling me to make a call, yeah right like that's every gonna happen again, and I just delete the message. All is well now :up:


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## paul95831

About mid-point during the Olympics, my HDVR2 would start to die - always during a recording session, it would simply freeze. I was suspecting that the process to expand my original 40gb hard drive to a 120gb was flawed, and only just now showed itself because I had collected many many hours of recorded shows during the Olympics. My upgrade I did about 2 years ago.

I also had some pixelation, and confirmed my signal strength was at 92&#37; on both cables. Swapping them made no improvement - the pixelation is random so hard to get a grasp of any real change.

I noticed today my system is running 6.4a, but unsure as to how long it's been at that version. My system freezes seem to have gone away, so far, including any pixelation issues. So 6.4a maybe fixed a problem that crept in on the 6.3 releases perhaps?


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## bschop

I have an R10 running 6.4a which had the freezing / rebooting problem for a couple months ... very annoying. Last week that escalated to being stuck at the Welcome screen.

I had previously upgraded the disks, and like others here, suspected that as the root cause.

However, I bought a new 500GB drive ... paid the $20 for InstantCake to rule out my bad drives. That system was only up for three days before I had it freeze today, requiring a reboot to solve the problem.

To me, this clearly point to it being something other than drive / software ... I also preemptively ran the complete WD diagnostic tests on the drive before use ... all passed.

If anyone has a suggestion, I be happy to hear it.


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## rbtravis

CCS corp can repair your problem. http://www.ccscorporation.net/dss.htm:)


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## Lori

bschop said:


> I have an R10 running 6.4a which had the freezing / rebooting problem for a couple months ... very annoying. Last week that escalated to being stuck at the Welcome screen.
> 
> I had previously upgraded the disks, and like others here, suspected that as the root cause.
> 
> However, I bought a new 500GB drive ... paid the $20 for InstantCake to rule out my bad drives. That system was only up for three days before I had it freeze today, requiring a reboot to solve the problem.
> 
> To me, this clearly point to it being something other than drive / software ... I also preemptively ran the complete WD diagnostic tests on the drive before use ... all passed.
> 
> If anyone has a suggestion, I be happy to hear it.


I finally had to replace my R10 with a new HR23. No more TiVos for me...but no more random freezing, either.


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## rbtravis

You are cashiered out of the TiVo army for disgracing the TiVo name.


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## rescuefire

I still get random freezes problems. Two days ago, that would be the 26th it happened ...ya gotta wonder if its not something with the satellite because I haven't had that hooked up to a phone line in 296 days to be exact. I wonder if others have their freezing problems on the exact same day and time, or close to it?


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## tigercat74

rescuefire said:


> I still get random freezes problems. Two days ago, that would be the 26th it happened ...ya gotta wonder if its not something with the satellite because I haven't had that hooked up to a phone line in 296 days to be exact. I wonder if others have their freezing problems on the exact same day and time, or close to it?


All three of mine froze up the other day when it was raining real hard and caused the signal to go out.


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## dtremain

tigercat74 said:


> All three of mine froze up the other day when it was raining real hard and caused the signal to go out.


That's correct. That's when it happens. Older units that lack a certain feature (I can't think of what it's called right off the top of my head but it's an acronym that pops up all over the place here), freeze or re-boot in rain fades witn the past several software versions.

It's becoming very annoying, but it is clearly not an individual issue with specific units.

All the repairs in the world aren't going to fix it. It's a software glitch that Directv seems comfortable ignoring.

Overall, I'm a happy customer, but I'm not happy about this.


----------

