Favorite channels disappear in TiVo Live Guide

[BlankMan]

Well for those of you that are following this saga and remember my mentioning that Slyvia called me on the 4th of this month (May) and sounded very concerned while I explained the problem to her (for the umpteenth time) to which she promised that she would talk to management about it and get back to me within the next week with a status, even if she had no news to report. Well it's been 16 days, a tad over 2 weeks, not just one, and guess what? I haven't heard hide nor hare from her as the saying goes. Surprise!...... Not!

Just another episode in DirecTV's continual method of extremely poor support. Anyone still want to rally behind how great DirecTV support is? How in the H*ll they win the J. D. Powers Award for Customer Service is beyond me.

We're coming up on the one year anniversary of this thread in two days, might that be a record?

[bstock]

Here's a report on my situation. I made a VERY large fuss over this issue, both via e-mail and by phone. I was finally contacted by someone in their "Retention Group." She was quite nice. First, she offered to replace my old machine with a series 2 for $50 plus shipping charges of $15 -- this instead of the usual $100 plus shipping. This offer had already been made to me, and I told her so. Then she said they'd pay the entire $100 if I paid for the shipping. I said no. I said if they would pay for the entire $100 plus the shipping, I'd let go of my demand for credits for time missed because of the bug. She agreed.

So, I'm set to get a new Series 2 machine installed at the end of the month. They insist on installing it, even though there's really nothing to install. Just plug it in.

One catch. They insisted on a one-year "commitment" with an early termination fee if I cancel the service. I said why should I commit to something when it's their problem? She said she really couldn't do anything about eliminating the commitment. So, I negotiated 6 months of free Showtime (she offered 3 months, but I asked for 6 and got it).

I don't know if my experience will help anyone else, but I hope so.

[jaydro]

Originally posted by BlankMan
How in the H*ll they win the J. D. Powers Award for Customer Service is beyond me.Uh, they're competing against Time Warner Cable.... ;)

[cvarner]

To win, you just have to suck the least.
It's not about being excellent, just slightly better than the competition.

[BlankMan]

Well my TiVo1 unit was hit again sometime yesterday, last night all it had left in the Favorite Channels list was 376 NASA.

Sent off another message to DirecTV. Wonder if Sylvia is going to call me again? :D Yeah right. I make me laugh. :D

[dbett]

Originally posted by bstock
Here's a report on my situation. I made a VERY large fuss over this issue, both via e-mail and by phone. I was finally contacted by someone in their "Retention Group." She was quite nice. First, she offered to replace my old machine with a series 2 for $50 plus shipping charges of $15 -- this instead of the usual $100 plus shipping. This offer had already been made to me, and I told her so. Then she said they'd pay the entire $100 if I paid for the shipping. I said no. I said if they would pay for the entire $100 plus the shipping, I'd let go of my demand for credits for time missed because of the bug. She agreed.

So, I'm set to get a new Series 2 machine installed at the end of the month. They insist on installing it, even though there's really nothing to install. Just plug it in.

One catch. They insisted on a one-year "commitment" with an early termination fee if I cancel the service. I said why should I commit to something when it's their problem? She said she really couldn't do anything about eliminating the commitment. So, I negotiated 6 months of free Showtime (she offered 3 months, but I asked for 6 and got it).

I don't know if my experience will help anyone else, but I hope so.

Thanks. I just replaced the hard drive in my Sony T60 because of an intermittent stuck on "Welcome. Powering Up" screen. I'm irrationally hopeful that the new hard drive will "solve" the favorite channel problem I've experienced maybe 3 or 4 times.

If I have it again, I'm going to call DTv and begin a quest for a free Series 2. The only reason I'm hesitant to do it now is that it will be a pain installing another hard drive upgrade and redoing my MX-500 remote codes.

[kruckenb]

Originally posted by griffincherry
I've had this same problem twice in the last month or so on an unmodified Series 1 with no multi-switch. I did not have this problem at all for the first two years I had the box.

[snip]

Even stranger, both times this has happened I noticed the TiVo running unusually hot -- in the low 60s (which even though it says "Normal" seems dangerously high to me). Generally it runs in the high 40s. I actually noticed an increase in fan noise starting a couple of days before the first zap. After the first occurrence, I spread out the shelves in my entertainment cabinet and kept the door open. This brought the temp back down to normal. A couple of days ago we cleaned the living room and closed the door again, and within a day we got zapped.

My HD10-250 supposedly arrives today, so I'll be moving this unit up to the attic where it gets much hotter. I'll see if that increases this problem.

Has anyone determined whether heat is a factor causing this DTivo problem?

[lgkahn]

knock on wood my back unit hasn't been hit for at least a couple of months...
I really think it is some kind of anti- piracy crap they broadcast that screws up certain units

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by kruckenb
Has anyone determined whether heat is a factor causing this DTivo problem? Asked and answered. Right at the top of this page at that.

But I'll say it again, my T60's run at 44-46C, you're not going to get a Series 1 DTiVo to run much cooler then that unless you leave the cover off.

[BlankMan]

Once again I got hit yesterday, this time to my TiVo2 unit and this time the Channels I Receive got nailed big time. Even though TWC was still in my Favorites Channels list along with only one other channel it said I was not authorized for that channel because it was removed from the Channels I received list. Also had a large number of programs that Won't Record in the To Do list because they were No longer in the Guide Data. Hope it recovers before it really loses all of them.

Time to contact DirecTV. Again. Haven't even heard back from them yet from last weeks occurrence.

[PJO1966]

It seems I got hit on Saturday night, right in the middle of a recording. It happened at 11:42pm PT.

Time to call again.

[Budget_HT]

Originally posted by PJO1966
It seems I got hit on Saturday night, right in the middle of a recording. It happened at 11:42pm PT.

Time to call again.

Hopefully on your SD DirecTiVo and not your new HD TiVo?

[gregstud]

I get the impression from these posts that it's the same few people who keep having the same problems over and over. I HAVE had this problem happen to me...but only twice in over 2+ years. Not nearly to the frustrating extent as some on this board. Maybe you should think about taking them up on the offer to replace your series 1 with a series 2 (as I've heard has been offered to others).

[stevel]

I have had it happen five or six times, sometimes twice in a week, but not in the past couple of months. Strange.

[Edit - I knew I should have kept quiet. I jinxed it - lost the channels again sometime today.]

[mboge]

Originally posted by stevel
>>Steve, what's Seven hundred seventy-three, zero?
Those are today's counts. The first number keeps going up on an almost daily basis - I get it from the newspaper. The second I am certain never will. If you need a further hint, send me a PM.
I got it! It has to do with Iraq, doesn't it?

Except I think your numbers are off a little... the first one should be something like three-hundred thousand and growing all the time (that would be the number of mass graves found of the people murdered by the Saddam regime, right?).

The second number is correct, though... zero is the number of people that Saddam will ever be able to murder again.

[stevel]

Well, I had another long chat with DirecTV this evening. At least this time they didn't deny knowledge of the problem. I was told that the C update would fix it. but as we know (and as they told me), it is not being rolled out to Series 1 boxes and they have no idea when or even if it will be. To be honest, I take the statement about C fixing it with a carton of salt, but...

They initially offered to replace both my DSR6000s with "series 2" models (hey, that's what THEY called it!) for $49. After I griped some more and got transferred to a supervisor, they waived the fee.

The problem I have accepting the offer is that both my units are hacked, with big drives and network adapters. I can reuse the drives, but would lose the investment in network adapters. Then I'd have to enter a whole new phase of hacking to restore the added functionality I have now on the new boxes - and would have to buy new network adapters. I know how to do all this, but it's a LOT of work. On the other hand, my wife would no longer gripe at me about losing her shows. I spoke to her about this and she is for the swap.

Sniff. I've had these boxes for 2+ years and this sort of feels like a "giving in". Any words of caution before I surrender?

[BrettStah]

I guess there's no way to transfer your settings (season passes, wishlists, etc.) from your current ones to your new ones, huh? To me that would be the biggest pain (I don't have them hacked, except for added hard drives).

[stevel]

Oh, there might be. There is a "backup" module for TiVoWeb, but I haven't tried it. Interesting thought, as my wife has lots of SPs and wishlists.

[BlankMan]

I have considered it myself, the biggest drawbacks were losing the network connectivity and TiVoWeb. I rely on TiVoWeb a lot functionality wise so not having that is a show stopper. But you seem to indicate that networking is possible and so is TiVoWeb, is that true on HDVR2's? I never looked into it, having my three T60's accessible that way is sufficient. It is sort of giving in, won't help in getting them to fix it either if the ranks thin, but I can say I don't blame you.

Interesting that they said the "C" version would fix it since the "C" version is only available for Second Generation boxes that never had the problem to start with.

[stevel]

Yes, networking and TiVoWeb is available for HDVR2s (and DSR7000s and DVR40s). Discussed elsewhere. I too would consider loss of the network functionality a showstopper, but it is available, so I'm proceeding. Anyone want to buy a CacheCard and/or a TurboNet? (I have one of each.) Send me a PM if you're interested.

The statement given to me was that the "C" update "fixes lots of things". But we also know that the C update was intended for series 1 boxes as well, but wasn't deployed due to an unresolved problem. I remain skeptical that the fix for this really was to be in "C".

[bodosom]

Originally posted by stevel
Oh, there might be. There is a "backup" module for TiVoWeb, but I haven't tried it. Interesting thought, as my wife has lots of SPs and wishlists.
Based on my experiece moving from a S1SA to a S2SA backup is great. However there's a little glitch in the input parser so complicated AWL entries may have to be fixed up by hand and somewhat distressingly one entry caused tivoapp to exit. It took a couple of tries to determine that

1) it was just one entry and
2) that skipping that one was just the ticket.

I pity anyone with a long SP list that has to move it by hand.

[BrettStah]

Anyone know if it's possible to backup settings from a first-generation DirecTivo that does not have networking and TivoWeb installed? In other words, can you extract the same information by pulling the hard drive out and putting in a PC, and then restore to a newer model?

[cvarner]

Well, it happened to me again today, but this time it was slightly different:
I lost all the favorite channels EXCEPT the local channel I left it tuned to last night before going to bed. When I rebooted, it wiped that one out as well, and I got the usual: "This Channel List has not been set up..." message. In slightly less than three years, this is about the 7th or 8th time I lost the favorites.
I just replaced the failed 40 GB and noisy 80 GB hard drives in my T60 with a single 120 GB about 10 days ago. I don't think this is related, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
I'd consider upgrading to a Series 2 if it was free, but I really like the Sony remote compared to the "peanut", so I'm waffling.

[stevel]

Originally posted by BrettStah
Anyone know if it's possible to backup settings from a first-generation DirecTivo that does not have networking and TivoWeb installed? Looks tough. The TiVoWeb backup code requires the TiVo software to be running, and is quite complex.

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by stevel
[Edit - I knew I should have kept quiet. I jinxed it - lost the channels again sometime today.]

That has happened to me several times. Sometimes I think someone at DirecTV watches this thread and as soon as someone posts they haven't had it happen in a while, they press the magic button. :)


Originally posted by stevel
They initially offered to replace both my DSR6000s with "series 2" models (hey, that's what THEY called it!) for $49. After I griped some more and got transferred to a supervisor, they waived the fee.


A while back I said I gave up on waiting for this to be fixed and was going to switch to series 2 units. However, after buying one I found it much slower in several areas. First the now playing list takes a long time to come up and often it is unresponsive to the remote. I know it's not just my machine since I have read similar complaints about the series 2 units. The bottom line is that even though this problem is a PITA, my series 1 units seem to be much faster and responsive and thus I will live with the problem.

[Paul_D]

I had my SAT-T60 in the basement get hit last week, and then yesterday the DSR6000 got nailed. I came home to find it trying to record something off of ABCE (which I don't get). No favorites, all channels I receive checked.

What is the name of the bloody moron at DTV I need to start screaming at? I managed to shake them up pretty badly over their goof up on not giving me CBS-HD-W when I'd had the necessary waiver for over two months.

[stevel]

As if to taunt me, my primary TiVo lost all the favorites this time, and reset the "receive" list to the default. At least that behavior is merely annoying.

The new ones are arriving tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do!

[Joshv]

I got hit on 5/24/04. Took me 4 days to figure out nothing had been recording.

I just rebooted, but there is still nothing in my todo list. How long does it take for todo's to show up in the list again?

[stevel]

It takes a few hours for the list to fully repopulate.

[BlankMan]

Steve I thought I heard on NPR this morning on the way in the count was 805?

[dwynne]

A couple of notes:

I have been rebooting my "bad" series one box (upgraded with 160gb drive, 2 tuners, favorites selected) every Sunday and I have not had the problem for several weeks. This "solved" it once before, then I forgot to reboot a couple of weeks and I got zapped again :) I would SUGGEST to others that have the problem that you TRY this and post if this makes the problem stay away for you or not. Just do the restart on the menu is all I have been doing. Since this is the fix for the problem when it happens, I am hoping it will make it stay away.

My other series one box (upgraded with 120gb drive, 1 tuner in use, no favorites, never phones in) has NEVER had this problem and has not been rebooted since I upgraded the cooling fan several months back.

The series 2 box, of course, (upgraded drive, 2 tuners, favorites picked) has never had the problem.

All of mine run in the normal temp range, but I did upgrade the cooling fans in the series one boxes when a drive prematurely failed in one of them. All are running on UPS systems.

Dennis

[BrettStah]

Originally posted by BlankMan
Steve I thought I heard on NPR this morning on the way in the count was 805? And I thought the other value should be at least one, if it refers to WMD found... they recently found a warhead with sarin gas in it, didn't they?

[gregstud]

Originally posted by BrettStah
WMD found... they recently found a warhead with sarin gas in it, didn't they?

They found one with mustard gas too (make that 2 WMDs) but the liberal media hides that stuff on the back page.

[BlankMan]

FYI This post (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=1994973#post1994973) in another thread from a DirecTV CSR, un-officially of course, says that this issue is being worked on. Why they can't come out and state it officially is just beyond me, it would go so far in customers relations that I cannot understand why they don't see the benefit in doing so.

[BlankMan]

Oh boy. Looks like it's time that I shut up. Darn, and this was so helping my post count. :D

This is actually kind of humorous.

This is really bizarre. I got home right around six and did my usual thing, open the doors and windows, sift through the mail, read some. Mind you I had to walk from the back door through the kitchen through the dining room to the living room to the front door, sit on the couch and read the mail, pet the cat, etc. Then I decided to go down to my workshop to continue work on a trellis I'm making out of Cypress for my Clematis. So I walk back through the dining room through the kitchen and down the stairs and proceed to work on this project.

Well I spend an hour or so gluing on the cross braces and while the glue is setting I decide to make something to eat so I grab something out of the freezer. It's now around seven thirty. Back up the stairs to the kitchen, throw it in the nuker, walk through the dinning room.... Well almost walk through the dining room... When I stop dead in my tracks. I'm looking at a box. On the box it says DirecTV DVR. Is my brain really seeing what my eyes are showing it? I look closer. That box is sitting on two other boxes. They both say DirecTV DVR too. As in Hughes. HDVR2.

Now mind you, my dining room is not really well lit by natural lighting, and I mostly view it as an area that I have to pass through to get from food to TiVo, and they were sitting off to one side in front of my humidifier where I may not have an occasion to always look, soooo..... Yep, I sometimes have a firm grasp of the obvious.

So, I guess this is DirecTV's olive branch. Even though I will really miss the T60's and I'm not enamored with the prospect of dealing with the slower response when scrolling through the menus, DirecTV has definitely made this effort to satisfy their (overly loud, boisterous, arrogant, obnoxious, -- I'm filling in the blanks for all the people that have come after me regarding this) customer. I'll have to keep the T60's around a while, I'm not about to lose my 100+ episodes of New Yankee Workshop, and 50 or so Wood Works, but they will definitely be in You can only view programs from the now playing list mode. Well the bright side to that is all the recent storms we've been getting won't interrupt my viewing on them anymore.

Oh, if anyone's wondering how they got in my dinning room and weren't waiting for me on my porch, relatives stopped over, as they sometimes do to look in on my cat, and brought the boxes in, also as they sometimes do for me. They're used to doing that so they probably thought these were something I ordered. I usually tell them when I order something so they do stop so it doesn't get wet or disappear.

Well, I guess I have to hand it to DirecTV, my hats off to them, they took this step as a total surprise to me, to correct a problem a customer was having, and as far as I know at the moment, at no cost. But, I can't see them charging at this point, so...

I wonder if they want my T60's back? Hope not. That would pose a problem with NYW and WW recordings. I wonder how soon I have to activate them? Also, am I committed for another year? Oh well, that's future things to ponder, I'm hungry, time to go eat my nuked dinner. Guess I'll also have to email DirecTV and thank them. That'll sure as heck surprise them. :D

[stevel]

Did the HDVR2s come with access cards? My replacement DSR704s did not. One of them took the swapped card, but the other one had this bizarre symptom where, on anything but the DTV demo channels, I would get sound but no picture. They're sending me a new card (for free - the nerve of them at first asking me to pay $20!)

You should check the documents with the HDVR2 - my new units said that I had to return the old ones within seven days. But you may have gotten special treatment.

[BlankMan]

I haven't even opened one yet, I'll do that and get back to you. I hope I hope I do not have to return them, or I can negotiate that. I'll even agree to never never selling them, or at a minimum return them at that time. I would think that since I did not agree to receiving these that gives me an edge to keep my T60's. I also hope that they are reasonable once they understand just why I would like to keep them.

[BlankMan]

No packing list, no instructions, no return authorization anything. Just three brand spanken' new DVR40's, yes DVR40's, not HDVR2's, each with an access card. They look boxed for retail sale. I mistakenly assumed HDVR2's only because I looked at the picture on the box and it looks like an HDVR2. Like I said, I'm pretty dumbfounded at the moment. Even after opening one to check the contents I didn't notice it was a DVR40 until I was putting the box down and caught a glimpse of the label on the side of the box and then looked at the other two.

Oh there is a glimmering light at the end of this tunnel, if only I find that the scrolling response in going through the menus and Now Playing list is as responsive as my T60's I will be one very happy camper! I may just have to power one of these suckers up tonight yet!!!

[stevel]

Well, it does seem that persistence has paid off for you. Congratulations!

I did encounter some slutggishness of the remote when I first set up the DSR704s (which were refurbished, BTW, and included only a power cord and a remote - not even batteries!), but not after that.

[ByronTodd]

I had really stopped checking here because of the non-changing issue... But then last night, I noticed that my SAT-T60 had stopped dialing up DirecTV for two weeks. This happened even though I have had an external modem working with the T60 since last November. I checked out the modem and it worked just fine with my portable computer - which means that the serial controller in the T60 is now also dead - meaning that I NEED a new DVR.

I checked here and saw that there has been at least somewhat of an acknowledgement of the problem by DirecTV. I decided to take advantage of DirecTV's acknowledgment of the favorite channels problem... So I made the call. I first talked to a DirecTV rep who apologized for the problem that I was having but needed to transfer me to the DVR support. I then talked to Lashonda who said that for a replacement fee they would replace my T60 and I could pay either $79 for a replacement unit with no contract commitment or I could pay $49 for one with a 1 year contract commitment.

I decided to bluff. Now, I live in a fairly rural area where my choices of Internet are either dial-up or direct-way... The cable company doesn't even have a local office... They don't even offer digital cable out here! But I'm pretty sure that Lashonda didn't know that. So I told her that my cable company had offered me cable Internet and their version of a dvr for nothing but a 1 year commitment and why should I pay DirecTV for something that was an acknowledged problem??? At this point, Lashonda decided that the problem was an "unknown" problem and she had never heard of it. Furthermore, she couldn't waive any fees, but I could talk to her supervisor if I wished. I *wished*.

I gave the same story to the supervisor, and when I told him of the cable company's offer of free equipment for a 1 year commitment, I told him that the most I could do was a 1 year commitment for them to fix their known problem. BOOM! The guy started giving me a confirmation number for replacement before I was ready. He did tell me that it would probably be five days to a week before the replacement unit shipped - because they were shipping out an huge number of replacements... Hmm, I wonder why!

Anyway, my SATT60 was dying/dead anyway (with the complete modem and modem communication failure), but I've got a free replacement on the way. I'll report back as to which unit I get shipped, but I'm not expecting it for a week...

Good luck to the rest

[BlankMan]

I saw the thread on the NASA channel moving from the 119 SAT to the 101 SAT earlier today, I just went and looked at all my DTiVo's, everyone of them was missing the NASA channel (376) from the Favorite Channels list, even the HDVR2. Another feature?

[stevel]

It won't show in Favorites unless it's checked in Receive. Go see if it is. NASA shows up fine on my DSR704.

[lgkahn]

in my book that is a feature of the favorites list.. if you use the favorites for your guide you don't keep getting the damn shopping shows back in your guide even though direct tv keeps turning them off and back on and they keep getting turned back on in your channels you receive they don't get turned back on in the favorites....

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by lgkahn
in my book that is a feature of the favorites list.. if you use the favorites for your guide you don't keep getting the damn shopping shows back in your guide even though direct tv keeps turning them off and back on and they keep getting turned back on in your channels you receive they don't get turned back on in the favorites.... That makes sense, I didn't think of that. And the fact that the channel had to be deleted from the Channels I Receive list and then added back in to foster the move would explain it disappearing from the Favorite Channels list. That I guess I can live with. As you point out I would not want it putting in every new channel especially the shopping channels. Too bad though, I would think it could be smart enough to know it was in there and put it back in in a case like this, but I guess that is not written into to the code.

Steve, I will do that when I get home tonight. I do suspect that it will be checked because I've never seen any channels not checked in the Channels I Receive list except for ones that I unchecked. I seen references to people having unchecked channels and they manually have to check them but never saw that myself. I don't know what is proper operation for that.

[Vesper]

Blankman-

Good news on your replacement units. I'm tempted to try for a free replacement, but haven't yet for a few reasons:

1) I'm really not looking forward to the pain and agony of phone support. With my luck I'll end up with an adamant CSR who makes me unplug my Tivo for 30 minutes, reboot, or clear & delete everything.

2) I'd really miss TivoWeb. It has saved me from accidental deletions countless times. Other than that one feature, I could probably live without it.

So for the moment, I'm still hoping for a fix. (haha.. yeah right.)

- Mike

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by Vesper
2) I'd really miss TivoWeb. It has saved me from accidental deletions countless times. Other than that one feature, I could probably live without it. That was my problem also, but Steve has pointed out that that is not the case, and he says it is quite painless to do. I do see one other drawback to it, but I like he can live with it. I think. I will find out. As soon as my two 160G Samsung drives arrive tomorrow I will be installing them in one of the units and we will see. After being used to 230 hours per unit I don't think I could go back to 35 hours. :( I'm anxious to see just how much more two 160G drives give verses a 120G and a 160G which is my current configuration.

[BrettStah]

It'll give you 40 more GB.


;)

[BlankMan]

Steve, NASA (376) was checked in all four DTiVo's in the Channels I Receive list just like I thought it would be. But after the earlier explaination I can see why it got removed from the Favorite Channels list, that I can live with.

[BlankMan]

I just noticed my Tivo3 was hit again, but in a slightly different way. This time all the channels in my Favorite Channels list were gone except for my locals. That's a new twist. I'm not complaining, just documenting the occurrence for future reference. I have the solution now once I bring them online, my worries should be over. (He says with fingers crossed.)

Maybe it's in process of losing them and that's why the locals are still there or maybe it has something to do with the satellite transponder shuffling that is going on, who knows. I'm going to leave it go for a while and see what happens before I reboot it.

[lgkahn]

be carefull the series 2's don't support 160 gig drives only 137 gig with the kernal if you don't shrink the drives with maxblast 3 or somethign similiar when the drives fill up you will get crashes

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by lgkahn
be carefull the series 2's don't support 160 gig drives only 137 gig with the kernal if you don't shrink the drives with maxblast 3 or somethign similiar when the drives fill up you will get crashes Does this differ from the Series 1 in some way? I know the usable space is limited to 137G, but I thought they would act just like the T60's and ignore the remaining. When the partition is set up it is set up for only 137G, do the Series 2 somehow ignore the partition table and go beyond that? I thank you for your post, if this is a real problem I was unaware if any such limitation like this.

[lgkahn]

well mfs tools 2.0 will partition the whole 160 gig because its kernel supports it... the tivo will happily say you are ok untill you fill up the space past that point then will repeatedly start crashing I don't know about samsung but on maxtors I used maxblast 3 software to reduce the cylinders to the drive was around 137 gig... If you can find 120 gig drives it is easier not worth the trouble for the few extra meg....

there are supposedly some people who have been able to manually replace the kernal with a different kernal that works with the larger size but I have not been able to do that in conjunction with monte...

[stevel]

I haven't seen that to be the case - I've run with 160GB drives for quite a while. They are treated as 137s, and mfs tools 2 reports them as 137 ("approximately 120 hours")

Oh, but are you referring to a particular CD as "mfs tools 2.0"? I could see the point there. I've just run mfs tools from a "standard" boot disc that doesn't have the LBA48 kernel.

[bgreen5]

Well, in the 3-ish years since I've owned a D-TiVo receiver, all of my units got hit with this bug for the first time last night (Favorite channels list got zapped).

When I began reading the OP, I saw the "May 23" date stamp on the thread. Combined with a 40+ page thread, I assumed everybody got zapped recently.

Then, I realized that the OP was dated 2003 (not 2004). Wow.

So, can someone please give me the skinny so that I don't have to read pages 2 thru 40 to find out what I need to do? Is this something I will have to "live with"? Do the Series-2 receiver versions "fix" the problem? Should I still contact TiVoOpsMgr with my 15-digit service number, or is that an archaic path to resolution?

[BlankMan]

Well I'll set the two 160G drives up then see what the patition table looks like before using them. If the partition table indeed shows it uses the entire drive I could modify the partition table and reduce the size to 137G, but are the MFS partitions like normal UNIX/Linux partitions/filesystems wherein reducing the partition after the filesystem is created screws up the filesystem? Mind you, I would do the reduction before ever booting the disks in the TiVo.

I know I could have went the 120G route but the 160G drives were under $100 so I figured I might as well squeeze out as many hours as I can.

[BlankMan]

bgreen there's really nothing you can do to prevent it, but do call DirecTV and report it regardless of how painful that is. And push on past the usual I've never heard of the problem response and get a Tivo Specialist and don't give up easy. The more reports DirecTV has of this showing how many customers are affected the more effort they might (I say might) put in to fixing it. All the people in love with DirecTV have consistently downplayed this problem saying DirecTV is not going to fix it because it only affects a very very tiny cross section of their customers, so the more people that report it the better.

On Series 1 units which are the only ones affected you have to live with it, Series 2 units do not exhibit the problem. Contacting TiVoOpsMgr may or may not get you anywhere, I don't know how he'd react, he probably gets a lot of email so I won't recommend adding to that, he has to do that. I noticed he has changed his signature probably because he was getting too much email. But, DirecTV has told TiVo not to comment on this problem in any official manner, that is why we no longer get any info on the problem in the thread. As far as DirecTV is concerned, hush is the word. I really don't like how they choose to do business that way, it's like a cover-up and it only serves to ruin their creditability.

[stevel]

bgreen5, there is no "fix" other than getting DirecTV to replace your receivers, which they are willing to do if you complain enough. It will do no good to contact TiVoOpsMgr - it isn't under TiVo's control.

Or you can live with it and wait to see if DirecTV releases an update to the software to fix this. They told me that it was in the works, but had no scheduled release date.

[bgreen5]

Thanks, BlankMan and Stevel.

I'm now debating whether I will actually call DirecTV or not. Their CSRs have been terrible in my past experience. They also have a ridiculous system for tracking which receivers are where (relying not on serial numbers, but on installed room locations... WTF is that all about??? My home appliances are always getting re-shuffled; the reciever locations are occasionally swapped. I try to give the CSR a serial number and they don't know what to do with me).

On the other hand, I want to report the problem so that they have one more datapoint logged. (I just don't want to have to go thru the pain of hours of voice menus and incompetent CSRs... anyone want to be my surrogate ombudsman? ;) :D )

Hmmm. Decisions....

[bgreen5]

Well... I did "the right thing" and reported the issue, wasting an hour of my life in the process.

The response was as-expected. Typical monkey CSRs working from scripts ("Go to Guided Setup...", reboot, blah blah blah). Got transferred 3 times, each time to an individual who walked thru the same script as before. :rolleyes:

Apparently, none of the individuals I spoke with had ever heard of such a thing as a "TiVo specialist".

Yada yada yada.

Oh well, I did my part.

[stevel]

I just give the CSR the last four digits of the access card, as I too shuffle units. They never have a problem with that. I also have not had an issue getting escalated to a TiVo specialist, though the first-level CSR is apparently required to go through their script.

I've actually been happy with the support I get from DirecTV's CSRs, on the whole. I do agree that their tracking system needs a lot of work.

[Paul_D]

Both my T60 and DSR6000 have gotten nuked (repeatedly on consecutive days) the last two days (I haven't checked today yet). I'm guessing with all the channel moving going on to get 7S operational, this is exacerbating the problem. (Interestingly, my T60, which I have set as just a single slot because it wasn't fully booting set as 101/119, still gets crammed by this.)

When it was just an occasional thing, it was annoying but livable. But now I have to check both units every day. That puts me into the "threshold of big pain" area.

[BlankMan]

But just remember, it's happening to so few of us DirecTV customers that DirecTV doesn't view it as a problem... :D

Can't wait to get home tonight to assess the damage once again... :rolleyes:

[dwynne]

Originally posted by bgreen5
So, can someone please give me the skinny so that I don't have to read pages 2 thru 40 to find out what I need to do? Is this something I will have to "live with"? Do the Series-2 receiver versions "fix" the problem?

I have posted in this thread a couple of times - when this happens the "fix" is to restart the Tivo, so I have been restarting mine every week on Sunday. So far (knock on wood) I have been several weeks w/o losing channels.

So in addition to calling in a complaint, you could TRY doing the restart once a week and see if that keeps the problem away until they craft a fix.

Dennis

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by dwynne
I have posted in this thread a couple of times - when this happens the "fix" is to restart the Tivo, so I have been restarting mine every week on Sunday. So far (knock on wood) I have been several weeks w/o losing channels.

So in addition to calling in a complaint, you could TRY doing the restart once a week and see if that keeps the problem away until they craft a fix.

Dennis People have done that and still been nailed, including myself, just consider yourself lucky.

[Phantom Gremlin]

Here's a hint about losing channels you receive.

The ONLY ONLY time this ever happened to me (3 x SAT-T60) over several years was the morning after I did a bunch of fiddling by manually adding and deleting channels I receive and also favorites.

I normally don't mess with either of those functions.

Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so.

So, here's the question and/or hint:

Does this happen to you more often and/or only the day after you fiddle with either of those functions (i.e. add/delete channels you receive or favorites)? If so, then LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE. Stop fiddling so often.

[BrettStah]

Phantom Gremlin, it does seem to happen a lot more frequently after "fiddling", but it does occasionally happen without fiddling too.

[stevel]

I never "fiddled" - except when DirecTV screwed up the settings and I had to fix them.

[BlankMan]

I don't fiddle either, at all. The only time I touch my Favorite Channels list is after this bug hits and I have to put my choices back in (after a reboot to get them back in the Channels I Receive list). Then I don't touch it until the next occurrence.

[Andrew_S]

I never touch my favorites and my Tivo forgets them once a month. And it's starting to happen like clockwork.

[BrettStah]

Originally posted by BlankMan
I don't fiddle either, at all. The only time I touch my Favorite Channels list is after this bug hits and I have to put my choices back in (after a reboot to get them back in the Channels I Receive list). That is the type of "fiddling" I thought was being referred to. I've personally noticed that I have far fewer occurrences of the bug discussed here when I don't add/remove anything to my Favorites list or Channels I Receive list, although it still does occur on occasion (maybe once every few months or so on one of my DirecTivos). When it hits, I just reboot and leave the lists alone.

[BrettStah]

By the way, I'm not trying to imply that it's anyone's fault if they make use of the Channels I Receive and Favorites lists as they were intended to be used.

[PJO1966]

I don't use the Channels I Receive or Favorite Channels and I still get hit.

[BrettStah]

Me too. Just not as frequently as when I have edited them.

[bstock]

I have to fiddle with the Channels You Receive list because DirecTV keeps checking channels I don't want. In particular, it adds Here, GEMS, and CSHP. I uncheck them. It checks them. Sometimes, I think longingly about a lawsuit against them for this intrusion. God knows I've complained enough.

If I were to leave them checked, they would be used in searching, which I don't want. Also, it makes me angry. I've been told that the reason they keep getting checked is because any "new" channel that DirecTV activates is automatically checked when it's "added" to the list. Certain old channels keep getting deactivated. Therefore, when they're reactivated, they're checked. The only question no one has been able to answer is WHY the channels get deactivated. Regardless of the reason, I blame DirecTV. Even if it's the channels' fault, DirecTV could put in some sort of mechanism so that it doesn't happen.

[lgkahn]

do this to avoid that problem... (doesn't avoid the getting clobbered problem but avoids the having to fiddle with the channel lists all the time due to the damn shopping channels)

uncheck them in channels you recieve and
then goto favorites and check all. (this should be only all the channels you receive checked).. now goto the guide and change you guide preferences to be your favorites... now no matter how many times thay add and remove the damn shopping channels they will not show up in the guide again...
should no longer require any more fiddling unless you specifically want to add new channels

[stevel]

No, that doesn't really help. You may not have realized it from the title here, but the REAL problem is that the "Channels You Receive" list periodically gets wiped out - as in, all channels unchecked and the local channels disappear entirely. This causes the TiVo to believe that it doesn't receive those channels anymore and doesn't record programs which would be on those channels.

[lgkahn]

read my message.. I didn't state it gets rid of the problem of getting cloberred I specifically stated that... I have two series 1 boxes and they get affected also .. I was responding about helping him so he doesn't have to fiddle with the channel settings....

[stevel]

But you miss the point. You HAVE to "fiddle with the channel settings" when the list gets clobbered. But even using the favorites list to avoid seeing channels you don't want isn't foolproof, because that too gets wiped out on occasion.

[cvarner]

Originally posted by lgkahn
do this to avoid that problem...
uncheck them in channels you recieve and then goto favorites and check all. (this should be only all the channels you receive checked).. now goto the guide and change you guide preferences to be your favorites... now no matter how many times thay add and remove the damn shopping channels they will not show up in the guide again...
should no longer require any more fiddling unless you specifically want to add new channels

I think that what lgkahn means here is that the unwanted channels won't show up in the favorites list using the above procedure. But the problem is that they continue to appear again in the channels you receive list, which means they're used in searching for wish list and season pass programs, which is what bstock is complaining about. This definitely is a PITA.

[lgkahn]

Yes but the point was that fiddling with it regularly brings on the clobbering of the list which I think may somewhat be true.. because my box also hasn't had it happen in a long time... but it may just be coincidence in any case setting up the lists like I outlined reduced the amount of time you have to fiddle with it... the only time you have to touch it is AFTER the box gets clobbered to add the channels back in....


and usually when it gets clobbered a simple reboot is enough and all lists are back there without any intervention in my experience...

but you are right sometimes you need to re-set them up...

[cvarner]

BTW, just for the record, my favorites got nailed again at some point in the last 36 hours. I never "fiddle" with the favorites list after the initial setup process, or after getting nailed by the "bug". Which seems to be more frequent than usual of late. It doesn't seem to matter how many or what type of hard drive you have. I replaced a 40+80 setup in my T60 about 6 weeks ago with a single 120 from Weaknees, and the problem still occurs.

[BrettStah]

A reboot has always restored the Channels I Receive list for me (it takes some time, but I've never had all/most channels on that list unchecked for very long after a reboot.

[lgkahn]

yep you are right they will show up with season passes and searching but I got too tired of continually removing such things as shopping channels etc. anyway..

[cvarner]

In my experience, the channels you receive list gets restored after a reboot, but not as I had configured it prior. Also, once my favorites disappears, it has NEVER come back on its own after a reboot. It gets completely wiped out every time.

FWIW, I don't think there's a relationship between "fiddling" and losing the favorites. But you never know.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by BrettStah
That is the type of "fiddling" I thought was being referred to. I've personally noticed that I have far fewer occurrences of the bug discussed here when I don't add/remove anything to my Favorites list or Channels I Receive list, although it still does occur on occasion (maybe once every few months or so on one of my DirecTivos). When it hits, I just reboot and leave the lists alone. Well if you don't fiddle with the Favorite Channels list after one of these occurrences wipes it out that would seem to me to say you don't use it. If you don't do the initial set up there would be no channels in it so in my mind it be pretty hard to use it that way.

Fiddling to me means you periodically go in there and add or remove channels on a daily or weekly basis and does not include setting it up the initial time.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by stevel
No, that doesn't really help. You may not have realized it from the title here, but the REAL problem is that the "Channels You Receive" list periodically gets wiped out - as in, all channels unchecked and the local channels disappear entirely. This causes the TiVo to believe that it doesn't receive those channels anymore and doesn't record programs which would be on those channels. Steve, when I get nailed the channels aren't just unchecked in the Channels I Receive list, they are totally gone, as in *poof gone*. Then when I reboot of course they come back and they're all checked. I haven't been unchecking any in the Channels I Receive list, I pretty much exclusively use the Favorite Channels list.

[EDiT]

Just to add my $0.02, I just had this occur for about the 5th time, and caught it while it was happening. I got home and had the "cannot acquire data from satellite" error for about 45 minutes. Then after watching a recorded show it came back and was missing favorites.

I called DirecTV and they told me it is a known issue with the 3 big series 1 receivers (T60, dsr6000, gxcebotd) and there was no ETA on a fix.

I'm debating if I should try for a replacement. I didnt see any feedback in the past few pages, has anyone had to send their old one back? If not, are they able to subscribe it again? It wouldn't be too bad to use the current one as a second room unit where I wouldn't care about the favorites.

[BlankMan]

They have not asked that I send my T60's back, but I have not activated any of the DVR40's yet, when I call they may try. I think Stevel had to send his back.

I've watched it happen twice now, but neither time did I see the cannot acquire data from satellite message while it was happening, the channels just slowly disappeared from the Favorite Channels list and I got more and more Channels that said Channel not Available.

Since you were told it is a known problem by front line CSR's I wonder if DirecTV has finally made them aware of it and have told them to acknowledge it as a known problem? That would be a step in the right direction at least. If that's the case, it only took over a year. Who says big corporate wheels turn slowly? :D We'll see if this starts to be the norm or is an isolated incident.

[BrettStah]

OK, fiddle-free and got hit tonight on one of our first-generation DirecTivos. First time during prime-time for us, and first time in probably 2 months. I missed the beginning of the basketball game, which wasn't cool. Luckily I happened to notice early, because normally I wouldn't have even switched over to the game until about an hour or so into it.. I called, spoke to a CSR who has never heard of the problem, I explained the situation as briefly as possible, and the final result is they want to try new access cards. I decided not to fight them on it, even though BlankMan already reported new cards didn't resolve it for him. Maybe it resolves it for some people... we'll see if I'm lucky or not.

I'm not looking forward to getting replacement Tivos as a solution, since the hassle of hard drive upgrades and configuration information transfer would be a, well, hassle. But if the access cards don't fix it, that's what I'll probably wind up having to do.

I was wondering if we would be hit due to all of the channel changes that have been happening in the background in my area... the New Orleans channels switched from one satellite to another, and to a different transponder. Lots of behind-the-scenes stuff was probably done, and I figured it may trigger the bug. Maybe just a coincidence though.

[Rik]

I got hit tonight as well. Just after 8:00 PM EST. First time in a long time. I had thought that I was "left alone" because I had not made any adjustments to the channels I receive or favorites lists. But tonight it happened regardless.

[BrettStah]

Originally posted by Rik
I got hit tonight as well. Just after 8:00 PM EST. I'm not sure of the exact time, but the Recording History shows that a show that was supposed to record at 7pm (Central, so that's 8 Eastern) did not due to "Internal error: 4". The only "important" thing I had set to record on that Tivo tonight is the basketball game, and I noticed it wasn't recording due to the "Channel Not Available" bug a few minutes after the game started, which I guess is about an hour after this error. The recordings prior to this error occurred at 6pm Central, and lasted 30 minutes. So sometime between 6:30-7pm is when I guess the Tivo was "hit".

[stevel]

Yes, I had to send back my old boxes. What I received were refurbished S2 boxes with remote, power cord and nothing else. One of the new S2 boxes was defective so I returned that and got another which I have not set up yet. DirecTV pays for return shipping. They tried to get me to pay $49 for the replacements, but I said no and they waived the charge.

[EDiT]

Yeah, they wanted $50 here too, and since I have 150+hours of recordings on it, I had to turn down the opportunity to send my current one back.

I didn't know about the $99 deal though, and just got in on that. Now I'll get another free multiswitch, and I'll put this dtivo in the bedroom.

[sulli2p]

Hit again, on 06/09/04, absolutley nothing out of the ordinary from my end prior to the hit. Deleted favorites and "all channels I receive" except for a couple of PPV stations. Missed all season pass recordings too of course. Restart fixed it and set favorites back to none. Looks like I made it exactly six months since the last time.

I don't mind losing my favorites nearly as much as I mind losing my season pass recordings during the channel outage period. Does anyone know if "all channels I receive" eventually come back without manual intervention with a restart, so that my season passes will continue to record? If this happens early in our vacation, and we miss two weeks worth of recordings, I will be very, very unhappy.

BTW, I remain mystified as to why its been over a year since my series one has had a software update. It looks like the series one systems have been deliberately "obsoleted" by DTV. Very discouraging.

Originally posted by sulli2p
Thanks for a hugely informative thread. My guess is that the next software upgrade will fix this one.

Just happened to me for the first time yesterday, 01/10/2004, after two years. DSR6000R01 (Series 1). Favorites deleted and "Channels You Receive" set back to default (all). I sent off a note to Stephen Mack, Director of Service Operations at TiVo, but clearly the issue and fix are known, it's just a matter of DTV becoming "willing" to get this into their next rev.

RM has a lot riding on DTV, I suspect that "stupid" issues like this one will get fixed a whole lot quicker in the future.

[dwynne]

Originally posted by sulli2p
Hit again, on 06/09/04, absolutley nothing out of the ordinary from my end prior to the hit. Deleted favorites and "all channels I receive" except for a couple of PPV stations. Missed all season pass recordings too of course. Restart fixed it and set favorites back to none. Looks like I made it exactly six months since the last time.

That is what makes me think it could be an "ECM" from D* - or they removed/added channels to everyone. It SEEMS like a good number for the folks have the problem about the same time. One person reports, then others all around the same time. IIRC most of the times it was on a Wednesday or Thursday.

When was the last time you rebooted your box before this?

I have been booting mine every Sunday for several weeks and I have (so far) not had a repeat while doing this - knock on wood.

Dennis

[sulli2p]

I don't remember when I last rebooted, I'm sure it has been at least a month or two. If I recall, Stephen Mack, Director of Service Operations at TiVo, is on record, earlier in this thread, as having said that TiVo has had a fix for this issue for at least six months, if not longer. But for whatever reason, DTV has been unwilling or unable to implement it.

Sorry to say, many people have thought they had a home grown fix for this issue, only to be tricked by its sporatic nature. It's kind of like the baseball batter going through all his girations before he swings at the ball, because at some point in the past he thinks they may have helped him get a hit.

Good Luck Though.

Kevin

Originally posted by dwynne
That is what makes me think it could be an "ECM" from D* - or they removed/added channels to everyone. It SEEMS like a good number for the folks have the problem about the same time. One person reports, then others all around the same time. IIRC most of the times it was on a Wednesday or Thursday.

When was the last time you rebooted your box before this?

I have been booting mine every Sunday for several weeks and I have (so far) not had a repeat while doing this - knock on wood.

Dennis

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by sulli2p
If I recall, Stephen Mack, Director of Service Operations at TiVo, is on record, earlier in this thread, as having said that TiVo has had a fix for this issue for at least six months, if not longer. But for whatever reason, DTV has been unwilling or unable to implement it.
Early on they thought they did have a fix but the bug turned out to me more elusive then they thought, the units they had running with the fix got hit too. But before that information could be conveyed to us here in this Thread DirecTV told TiVo not to say anything on this subject anymore, hence we did not get that information when it was discovered. I'm pretty sure that at this point they still do not have a permanent fix.

Don't ask me how I know.

[dwynne]

Originally posted by sulli2p
Sorry to say, many people have thought they had a home grown fix for this issue, only to be tricked by its sporatic nature.

Pooh pooh rebooting if you want :)

I was getting regular occurrences of the problem - and when I checked in here I noticed others had them at about the same time. Since I started rebooting once a week I have not had a single problem and lots of folks are getting hit. The only time I did have a problem is the one week I forgot to reboot.

It does not take much time or effort, so I do it every Sunday. If the problem has stayed away due to luck or reboot I can't say for sure, but in either case as long as it stays away then :up:

Dennis

[lgkahn]

I haven't rebooted in months and haven't been hit before I was hit regularly... I don't think rebooting has anything to do with it

[BlankMan]

Rebooting -- Hashed hashed and rehashed. Some seem to thing it helps, some seem to think it doesn't. I personally think it doesn't. When I tried the regime it didn't help they still got hit. IMO I think the ones that are not getting hit are just lucky and it has nothing to do with rebooting. If it was a sure fix I'm pretty sure I would have heard that as a possible workaround.

From where you wonder? Once again don't ask.

[dwynne]

Hey, I will stick Voo Doo pins in my stuffed Tivos dolls if it will keep the channels from going away :)

My HD Tivo will be here on Tuesday, but I am THINKING I will probably still keep this "problem box" as well. I already have 3 DTivos (1 series 2, 1 series 1 w/o a problem, and the problem child) - but it will be only an extra $5 a month to keep it going. With new ones going for $99 everywhere, my 2 year old box (with 160gb drive) would not bring much anyway. I am thinking I will use the HD box just for HD stuff and the SD box for the rest.

I guess I need to start watching for sales on 250gb drives now....

Dennis

[macgyver]

Okay, I have some free time, but not enough to read through the last 40 pages of this thread.

So, I have this bug (often) on my series 1.
I do not have it on my series 2.

Is this bug really a year old?
Is there any fix?
Whose butt at DTV do I have to put my foot into to get the problem fixed, or a free upgrade to a series 2?

Thanks,

- k

[stevel]

The bug is more than a year old.
There is no fix.
You can complain at 800-DIRECTV. Some of us have gotten free replacement receivers. However, you will likely have to go through several levels at DirecTV to get this far, and along the way you are sure to be told "we've never heard of this before".

[sigloxx]

I've had this issue with the sony sat t60 for ages. I've been a DTV customer for 5 years and emailed them. Aaron called back today, he's above customer retention, and knows of the issue (I didn't take the time to read but the first page of threads). DTV knows there's a problem. You have to contact the right person to get this resolved, way above customer retention. They will offer you three choices (or should). One, replace your unit with a new DTV DVR, $99 version, free. Only problem is you lose your lifetime membership should have one, like me. Programming through DTV for these units is $5 a month, versus Tivo's now $12 a month. Second option, stick with what you have and they'll give you a movie channel free for 6 months. Big deal, but it's free, and maybe they'll fix this issue, though as Aaron explained, it's like working on DOS when you can work on WinXP, so their priority isn't exactly there, for lots of reasons, mainly that not all that many units are affected in the grand scheme of things. Third option, they'll credit you $99 of your own purchase of an upgraded unit (pick whatever you want). They probably won't do this for just any customer, but long term ones. Now I'll continue to read some more posts. Sorry if this is repeat information.

[Budget_HT]

Originally posted by sigloxx
... Only problem is you lose your lifetime membership should have one, like me. Programming through DTV for these units is $5 a month, versus Tivo's now $12 a month. ...
Are you sure about this? Since the DirecTiVo accounts moved from TiVo to DirecTV, the lifetime membership is attached to your DirecTV account, not any specific DirecTiVo box.

The Sony SAT-T60 DirecTiVo that I purchased first with lifetime service (from TiVo, before DirecTV took over), failed about 6 months ago and was replaced with a brand new HDVR2 unit. There was no issue with keeping the lifetime service for the replacement unit and for my other SAT-T60, which did not (yet) have the same hard drive failure.

Now that SAT-T60 is a victim of the lost channels at times. I am on record with DirecTV for a free replacement unit if the SAT-T60 loses channels again.

I should mention that I have the DirecTV Protection Plan, and that may affect how I am being handled in this scenario.

But, I would still be surprised if a replacement DirecTiVo on the same DirecTV account would not automatically keep its lifetime service, regardless of how the replacement was acquired.

But, I have been surprised before.

[sigloxx]

Dave, good information, though I don't have DTV the protection plan. I assume that covers you. It was indicated that the new unit would come with a $5 charge per month. I mentioned it twice to Aaron. It's a decent offer, takes care of the issue, but I hate to fork out more money after paying for the lifetime service on the the T60 (not that it'll last forever). The other downside, as mentioned by others, is losing all your preferences and ratings. Four of five years of that is worth a lot (my T60 lost its hard drive just before the initial 90 day warranty).

I'll probably call them again and ask if they can lifetime the new unit since that's what I have (keep it with the account). I'd go with it if they'd offer me a lifetime unit/service. I don't see how that hurts them all that much and for long time customers I feel it's fair. If not, I'll probably wait till this unit actually dies. I'd go with the HD unit, but they're expensive and prices will come down over time, probably cut in half within a year or two. Aside from that there's not all that much programming available and HD DVD recorders aren't exactly in range yet. :)

[stevel]

If you have lifetime service now, you do NOT lose it, no matter what. It is tied to the account - period.

[sigloxx]

Super, Steve, I'll call them up. Very informative, thanks again. On to the next tivo box (hopefully).

Follow up: I did call and asked about the lifetime on the account. The lady I spoke with said that would not change and I wouldn't be charged for monthly access. The setup would be the exact same as what I have now, with a different unit, and a different access card. If I see an extra on my bill I'll correct them later.

I'd get one of three units, the Hughes HDVR2, Philips DSR7000 or Samsung SIR300.

Does anyone know if either of these units can be 'upgraded' with the $99 Tivo Home media option?

Thanks again to everyone, this forum rules.

[dgstivo]

Originally posted by sigloxx
Does anyone know if either of these units can be 'upgraded' with the $99 Tivo Home media option?DirecTV does not offer HMO for any receiver powered by TiVo. See the "Organize an HMO Request" sticky thread on this forum for more details. (And FYI, HMO is now free for Series 2 Standalone (non-DirecTV) TiVo units)

[sigloxx]

Hmmm, any way to hook up a wireless adapter to them via USB? Not sure it'd do any good other than streaming. I guess I'll read the instructions once I get the unit.

[stevel]

These boxes do not currently support use of the USB ports for anything - they are disabled. There are hacks to enable them (and in fact I have one of my DSR704s connected to a Linksys USB200M - wireless is also available), but the techniques to do so are not allowed to be discussed in this forum.

[ByronTodd]

Just wanted to reply that I did have to send back my SATT60 when they sent me a replacment DVR40. Of course, I didn't really mind cause the modem and modem controller in my SATT60 was dead - neither the internal modem nor the external modem (that had been working for 5 months) would work anymore.

But DirecTV did send me a *bill* for the unit. I'm waiting to see if my bill has a corresponding credit for the unit. If not, I'm really going to get ticked. And from past experiences, the poor ear at DirecTV that gets me in that mood will not go home happy.

PS. My DVR40 seems to be BLAZINGLY fast in comparison to the SATT60! I was used to waiting at least 30 seconds or so when trying to record a show in progres. Now, the wait is only a few seconds.

[cvarner]

My T60 is was fast when it was new (empty), but it always seems to get slower as data and other programming (Season Passes and Wish lists, etc.) are added and the full 14 days of programming data has been downloaded.

[sigloxx]

Darn, can't do anything for trying. I know the T60's are hackable as well, so I figure the newer ones would be, but I'll probably just live with it, maybe pop the T60 hard drive in it, once i figure out how to do so from other sites. I may also sell the T60 outright, without the access card (I have 4 or 5 of them but haven't been 'blanked' yet, which I'd need to do). Ah well, I'll see how the series 2 units compare to series 1. Resetting everything is going to be a drag, but not much more so than the Tivo 1 receiver issues.

I've noted that my T60 has slowed down quite a bit lately with menu commands. I don't reboot it often, which is probably why and the unit probably needs a good hard reset every now and then. They didn't say anything about sending my unit in or giving it to the 'installer'. As far as they were concerned I could put it in a closet somewhere. The T60 used to be a lot faster though. I wonder if that's just a new thing with reboots, EPROM or RAM of the units being 'fresh'.

[BrettStah]

Originally posted by stevel
These boxes do not currently support use of the USB ports for anything - they are disabled. There are hacks to enable them (and in fact I have one of my DSR704s connected to a Linksys USB200M - wireless is also available), but the techniques to do so are not allowed to be discussed in this forum. Steve, did you attempt to copy your configuration settings (season passes, etc.) from your old Tivo to your new one?

[ByronTodd]

My T60 was never as fast as this DVR40 is... And I had already added back the season passes that I had on my T60.

Of course, I could just be so happy with the new unit that it's affecting my judgement... :D

[BlankMan]

Well last night I noticed my TiVo1 and TiVo2 units were hit again in the previous couple of days so the saga continues...

[dwynne]

I think if you went back and look, these hits seem to happen on Wednesdays most of the time.

My once a week rebooted bad box is still going strong - knock on wood :)

Dennis

[BrettStah]

Originally posted by BlankMan
Well last night I noticed my TiVo1 and TiVo2 units were hit again in the previous couple of days so the saga continues... I thought you got replacements, didn't you?

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by BrettStah
I thought you got replacements, didn't you? Yeah. And your point is? :D

I'm still going to record occurrences here for tracking purposes.

I haven't set them up yet, I'm waiting for my HR10-250 to arrive for one thing among others, then I'll do it all in one swoop.

Like I've been saying all along, I like the T60's better than the HDVR2/DVR40's so I'm in no hurry, I just can't bitch about it to DirecTV anymore because they did do something to correct the problem for me.

[BrettStah]

No real point, just making sure I didn't miss anything like you sending the new ones back for any reason, etc. I figured you had sent the old ones back by now...

[PJO1966]

When I first read BlankMan's post I thought it was his replacement TiVo's that got hit. I was very disturbed by that.

Thanks for the clarification.

[BlankMan]

I'm not sending the old ones back, I'm going to fight that tooth and nail, I never agreed to send them back so that will not happen. I'm hoping someday this will be fixed and I can go back to using the T60's.

Moving the entertainment center to get at the wiring is a bitch, so I don't want to do that twice in short order.

The new DVR40's will become TiVo5, TiVo6 and TiVo7, TiVo1, TiVo2 and Tivo3 are the T60's, TiVo4 is the HDVR2. I even have stickers on them and on the remotes, even though I use an MX-700, I just did that in case to keep everything straight.

[BlankMan]

dwynne's post got me to thinking that this might once again have something to do with the channel/transponder shuffling going on to bring on new locals. If it happens a lot on Wednesday's and they're bringing locals online on Thursday's, it kind of fits.

June 17th brought on locals, June 16th was a Wednesday, June 10th brought on local, June 9th was a Wednesday, I don't recall was June 3rd or 4th the first one? I also see June 24th is slated to bring on locals and June 23rd is a Wednesday once again.

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by dwynne
I think if you went back and look, these hits seem to happen on Wednesdays most of the time.


FWIW, mine almost always get hit on a Sat or Sun night.

[TV addict]

From late December until mid Feburary my 4 DTiVos got hit quite often. One would get hit about once per week. Rebooting did not prevent it from happening again. One unit got hit one day, and I rebooted it to get it working. The same unit got hit the next day.

From mid Feburary until early June I only got hit two times.

But in the last 2 weeks I got hit 3 times. The 3 times were on 3 different units. The last 2 times were last Saturday and Wednesday.

[Brad H]

I've had a Phillips DTivo for several years and I've never experienced the problem of my fav channels being erased...until now. I guess it made me feel a little better that I saw that this subject was the first thread when I logged on to the forum.

For the record, this happened to me overnight last Wednesday and I first noticed it Thursday morning. Can someone bring me up to date as to any current info regarding this issue (so I don't have to go back and read all the pages of posts)?

[stevel]

I suppose it would be good if the initial post had an "executive summary" edited in.

- There is no fix available
- DirecTV has no clue if or when a fix would be made avaiable - they are now, at least, sometimes acknowledging that they know about the problem
- If you complain enough, they'll likely offer to replace your S1 boxes with S2 boxes that don't have this problem. They will ask for a $49 fee, but sometimes they'll waive it.

[Brad H]

Interesting. Two questions:

1. Any idea why I've never had this issue arise for the years I've had my S1 box until now?

2. Will the S2 box elimintate the problem?

[cvarner]

Answers:
1) Nobody has been able to determine specifically what causes the issue, and there is no way to predict when or if it will happen; it seems to be random, but your case is somewhat strange in that it has never happened until now. Unfortunately, it will probably happen to you again at some point, but there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the occurrences.
2) Yes.

[stevel]

I think that the cause was identified a long time ago, but it has never been revealed to us. Some at DirecTV have told me that a fix for this was intended to be in a 3.0.1C software update that also fixes the cosmetic bug of the "acquiring guide data" message. The C update was rolled out to S2 boxes, but they found a problem with S1 bixes that stalled the release, and there it sits. I do not, however, take the notion that they were about to roll out a fix for this without a healthy dose of skepticism.

TiVoPony told me at the con that he had had his "wrist slapped" for making any sort of comments that suggest a particular DTiVo bug is a software problem, as that puts a burden on DirecTV. So he very carefully is non-committal about such things nowadays. I understand entirely, I've encountered this in my own work world.

[Brad H]

Is there some method for obtaining a replacement S2 for no charge, and will this require that I send back the original S1 before they send the new one (I can't live without my TIVO!!!)?

That would be cool if I could get a S2 for free!

[ByronTodd]

Originally posted by Brad H
Is there some method for obtaining a replacement S2 for no charge, and will this require that I send back the original S1 before they send the new one (I can't live without my TIVO!!!)?

That would be cool if I could get a S2 for free!

I got mine free... You have to call DirecTV and talk to a Tivo specialist who may or may not *know* of this problem. But make sure that you tell them that it IS a known problem - and don't back down. Then tell them that your local cable company is offering you a DVR for the cable service for free if you switch away from DirecTV. This, of course, could be NOT true (hey, if they can be obtuse about not knowing of this problem, then I can be obtuse about what my local cable company may or may not do!)

You might have to offer that you would commit to one year's of service. When I made that committment, I was given a replacment order # before I was ready.

That should do it. If done this way, you might have to send back your unit after the replacement is installed - I did have to send my SATT60 back - though BlankMan was not asked for his back SATT60s back.

HTH!

[stevel]

I didn't have to talk about cable companies - but the fact that I had been calling about this problem for many months helped. You will be required to send back your old receivers if they make you this offer. You will get a refurbished box of a random brand. BlankMan seems to have lucked into a different situation where they just sent him three new, retail-packaged boxes without asking. He had really worked hard trying to get DirecTV to own up to the problem, so I'd say he earned it.

[Brad H]

Thanks for the info guys. Refurbished, huh ... I wouldn't be happy unless it's brand new. Oh well..

[Boogety]

Joined this forum just because of this problem. Have been politely beeyatching and carping to DTV CS folks for six-seven months now, and having followed this thread for the last few months, I finally decided to see what I could accomplish on my end. Armed with the knowledge gleaned from all you good people, instead of going through the normal CS channels (800-DIRECTV) I called the Customer Retention Line (800-600-8977) and spoke to a very nice young lady, who heard my complaints (losing channels/favorites, losing program choices, happening over and over, have you heard about this, some of your customers have had boxes swapped out...) and she offered the following without prompting:

-DTV is "no longer swapping out T60s for S2 boxes" as of two weeks ago. (!?!)

-She had me check out the software version of my box (3.1.0b-02-1-011) and as soon as I got to the "0b" part she said "that's the problem. There is a new software version, 3.1.1, coming from TiVo which will solve the problem."

-When I asked "when" she said "soon, no guarantees, but soon." I asked how long they had known of this problem, and she said "the new software is being downloaded by TiVo since February 2004, and they will get to all the boxes "soon." She was quite adamant that it was NOT DTV, but TiVo that was the problem.

I already have five DTV boxes (1 TiVo, 1 HD, three normal boxes) and a one-year commitment (seven months to go) due to another, satisfactorily resolved, issue I had with DTV. When I demanded some sort of accommodation for my lack of full service from my box, she immediately offered six months of Showtime. I told her I would accept it only if this problem was addressed within a reasonable (unspecified by me) period of time. She said that was the best she could do, but actually had the brass to ask me for my email address, with the promise that if anything changed or she received more information, she would call or email me with a more favorable response (I'm turning blue holding my breath ;) ...but at least she was nice enough to try to get me to believe her). I took the 6 months, better than nothing, but still... just thought I'd let you all know my experience. :mad:

[stevel]

Re: refurbished - doesn't bother me. Refurbished boxes are less likely to suffer infant mortality

Re: 3.1.1 - the rep was confused. That's a S2 version. There WAS a 3.1.0c version planned, but it got shelved for undislosed reasons. It's unclear to me if it will ever be released, nor if it actually fixes this problem.

No longer swapping, eh?

[Barmat]

Well add me to the list. I lost my favorite list for the first time on my Philips some time saturday or early sunday. I don't think I'll beg Directv for a replacement though. What I realy want is HMO for my S2. Oh well, a guy can dream can't he.

[LBCABob]

My 2nd DSR6000 has started having this problem just recently. The first time or two, I just reset the list and went on. It did it again this week and the Guide Data was corrupted bad enough not to record some SP's.

My original DSR6000 is unaffected (yet?).

Called DirecTV, got to Amber in Tech Support who acknowledged they know about the problem, put notes on my account and offered me zilch for my trouble.

The unit has an extended Circuit City warranty and they tell me send it to Philips for repair, pay for it myself, fax them the bill and they'll reimburse me. Philips wants $250 to swap it with another DSR6000 or send it in and pay $80 basic repair fee (no disk replacement). Of course, they'll likely either (a) say there's nothing wrong with it and send it back or (b) send me another unit that easily could have the same problem.

So, I either have to suffer through this hoping it will be fixed someday or just pay $99 for a new Series II. I'm leaning toward the latter.

[stevel]

Swapping it for another DSR6000 won't help - it's a software problem and DirecTV knows it. Don't waste your time with Philips.

[Paul_D]

Here is a snippet from the HDTiVo thread on an issue with HDNet audio dropouts. Hopefully I don't get this guy in trouble, but perhaps we try this route??

I finally got annoyed by loosing audio 20 min into Odyssey 5 I rang D* to complain. I got put through to 2 level support. The tech gave the same "first I've heard about" line everyone else has reported. I said this was quite improbable given the number of people who claim to be ringing in about it.

I offered to point him towards this thread. He said he'd have to use his supervisors computer to get to TCF. After a look through here he seemed to be convinced there was a problem. He explained the system needed 5 different complaints before its escalated. At least 5 people here claimed to have reported this issue.

I asked him if he were willing to give his name and extension, and I'd see if I could russle up 5 people with the issue. He described the system there that makes it very difficult to actually get through to a particular person. (There are 3 call centres and you don't know which you're getting and they can't transfer between centres.)

If you're having audio dropouts, you could try calling Jeremy on 800 695 9251 x 23657, you should find him in the Idaho call center M-F 2-11pm mountain time. Be nice to him, he seems to be convinced there's a problem and wants to escalate it. The more calls that can be concentrated in one place, the more weight he should be able to put behind the problem.

[GuidoTKP]

the number he gave you is called his aspect number and there are only a few and I mean a few who know how to transfer between aspect numbers,and judging by the number he is really new so you can try if you want but....on the other hand there is now a download going out that is supposed to help with this prob, it started yesterday just make sure your units are calling out and you should get if you don't get it soon then reset and you should get it within 24 hrs, I don't remember what version number it will show when you get the download but it is supposed to help

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by GuidoTKP
the number he gave you is called his aspect number and there are only a few and I mean a few who know how to transfer between aspect numbers,and judging by the number he is really new so you can try if you want but....on the other hand there is now a download going out that is supposed to help with this prob, it started yesterday just make sure your units are calling out and you should get if you don't get it soon then reset and you should get it within 24 hrs, I don't remember what version number it will show when you get the download but it is supposed to help Guido Thanks! Really?? A new version is finally downloading for S1 DTiVo's??? WooHa!

[cvarner]

I'll believe it when I see it.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by stevel
I suppose it would be good if the initial post had an "executive summary" edited in.

- There is no fix available
- DirecTV has no clue if or when a fix would be made avaiable - they are now, at least, sometimes acknowledging that they know about the problem
- If you complain enough, they'll likely offer to replace your S1 boxes with S2 boxes that don't have this problem. They will ask for a $49 fee, but sometimes they'll waive it. Done. Been Vac'n it at Milwaukee's Summerfest (http://www.summerfest.com) so I wasn't checking in until today.

[GuidoTKP]

Originally posted by cvarner
I'll believe it when I see it.
Dont care if you beleive it or not, just letting blankman know,I probably should have just pm'd him

[GuidoTKP]

Originally posted by BlankMan
Guido Thanks! Really?? A new version is finally downloading for S1 DTiVo's??? WooHa!
Your welcme Blankman,Hope it helps out.

[PJO1966]

Originally posted by GuidoTKP
Dont care if you beleive it or not, just letting blankman know,I probably should have just pm'd him

Thanks for the update Guido...

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by GuidoTKP
Your welcme Blankman,Hope it helps out. Forced calls don't help, as usual. Darn. I knew that... But....

[GuidoTKP]

just be patient...:)

[PJO1966]

Originally posted by BlankMan
Forced calls don't help, as usual. Darn. I knew that... But....

I think D*TV has a little note that states BlankMan will be the ABSOLUTE LAST PERSON to receive this update. ;) Although he deserves to be the first with all the hours he committed to this problem.

[Markman07]

His picture is in the Employee's break room! :-)

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by PJO1966
I think D*TV has a little note that states BlankMan will be the ABSOLUTE LAST PERSON to receive this update. ;) Although he deserves to be the first with all the hours he committed to this problem. LOL Originally posted by Markman07
His picture is in the Employee's break room! :-) Dartboard I bet... I been getting these sharp pains in my head....

[cvarner]

Originally posted by GuidoTKP
Dont care if you beleive it or not, just letting blankman know,I probably should have just pm'd him

My comment wasn't directed at you, Guido.
I'm pessimistic, because we've heard from several people in the past that new software was on the way to fix this, but so far it hasn't been the case.

[PJO1966]

I'm prone to believe Guido... He is a tech for D*TV

[BlankMan]

Yeah, after a rocky start, Guido has been doing what he can to get information on this issue so I have no reason to doubt him.

[Budget_HT]

Originally posted by GuidoTKP
the number he gave you is called his aspect number and there are only a few and I mean a few who know how to transfer between aspect numbers,and judging by the number he is really new so you can try if you want but....on the other hand there is now a download going out that is supposed to help with this prob, it started yesterday just make sure your units are calling out and you should get if you don't get it soon then reset and you should get it within 24 hrs, I don't remember what version number it will show when you get the download but it is supposed to help

Thanks for the good news!

I'll be watching my series 1 SAT-T60 for the update.

[BJBBJB]

I had almost given up on this.....

I looked at the thread but could not find the answer. Does anyone know, definitively, which software version is supposed to fix this? I refuse to setup my favorites yet again without knowing for sure what version I am looking for.
Is it the "C" version that was held up?

Thanks,
BJBBJB

[TiVoStephen]

Hi folks,

First off, apologies again to anyone who has been inconvenienced by this issue. DIRECTV is definitely aware of the issue and has been working with TiVo to try to understand the issue better and to release a fix.

Starting today, version 3.1.0c is being released for Series1 units. It will take several weeks before all Series1 units receive the latest release. While we are all hopeful that the issue is fixed with version 3.1.0c, we would like to pay close attention and be sure that this issue does not recur.

The problem with the losing favorites issue has been that the issue occurs infrequently, and is hard to reproduce in our labs. So, after studying the problem for a while, we now need some more help from you. We would like to create a group of units that have had this issue occur more frequently that we can authorize to download specialized software which includes additional logging to help us track this problem down.

We're looking for people who've experienced the issue more than once to assist us with coming up with potential solutions. If you are selected to participate we will be inviting you to participate in the Favorites "Beta" Program. This will enable us to collect data from you and your DVRs on this issue in an efficient manner. If you have had this issue occur to you more than once or twice, and you think it will happen to you again, can you please click on the link and fill out the survey:
http://beta.tivo.com/favsignup.htm

FYI, if you join the monitoring group, we'll be receiving your logs for the duration of the development. However, there is no personal viewing information stored in these logs -- only diagnostic information. At no point is your viewing information anything other than anonymous. That's our policy in general as well; the only thing that changes if you join the monitoring group is that we'll automatically make sure to collect your diagnostic logs every time your unit connects to the TiVo Service, whereas normally diagnostic logs are only sampled.

Best regards,
Stephen
On behalf of TiVo and DIRECTV

P.S. BlankMan, it'd be great if you point to this post from the beginning of the thread. Thanks!

[BlankMan]

I'm signed up.

Go figure, eh?

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by TiVoOpsMgr
P.S. BlankMan, it'd be great if you point to this post from the beginning of the thread. Thanks! Done. And I placed it at the top of the OP so there should be less chance of it being missed.

[stevel]

I assume that everyone is aware that losing "Favorites" is the least part of the problem - it's the loss of "Channels You Receive" that is the killer...

[BrettStah]

TiVoOpsMgr, stevel brings up a good point... hopefully the problem that you guys are addressing will not only prevent the loss of the Favorites list (pretty minor issue), but also the issue where most/all of the Channels I Receive list is wiped out, requiring a reboot to restore. Until a reboot occurs, recordings on the lost channels don't happen, which is obviously a lot more serious than just losing a list of favorite channels.

[BlankMan]

I think the problem is one in the same, the channels get removed from the Favorites List because they disappear from the CHannels I Receive list, that is the precursor.

[GuidoTKP]

Originally posted by PJO1966
I'm prone to believe Guido... He is a tech for D*TV
Actually I just moved over to the installation support department but I'm still a tech at heart :) The download is being done by time zone and should be totally rolled out by July 7th, Don't know why they did it by time zone sounds kind stupid to me but hey you cant have everything :)

[GuidoTKP]

Originally posted by BlankMan
LOL Dartboard I bet... I been getting these sharp pains in my head.... Yup we have your pic in all 3 break rooms and the cafeteria even have a wanted dead or alive poster :)

[PJO1966]

Can anyone confirm that they have received the update? I'm basically just curious at this point. I don't even use my Series 1 to record anymore. I'm just slowly making my way through the recordings that have been on there for 2 or 3 years so it can go on eBay.

[jDot]

When I got home last night my Series 1 was "Pending restart". I went ahead and restarted it and lo and behold - I had the 'C' update. I haven't noticed any differences other than the bogus "Acquiring data..." message is gone. I've only lost my CIR on 2 occasions, the last time about 4-5 months ago, so this unit is a bad one to test with^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h with which to test. I hope those who see the problem more frequently get the update soon and that it finally solves the problem.

[stevel]

Originally posted by BlankMan
I think the problem is one in the same, the channels get removed from the Favorites List because they disappear from the CHannels I Receive list, that is the precursor. My experience says otherwise - I have seen the Favorites list disappear without the Receive list being touched.

[TiVoStephen]

Originally posted by BrettStah
hopefully the problem that you guys are addressing will not only prevent the loss of the Favorites list (pretty minor issue), but also the issue where most/all of the Channels I Receive list is wiped out, requiring a reboot to restore. Absolutely! My understanding is that both symptoms are believed to be caused by the same root issue.

[BlankMan]

Originally posted by stevel
My experience says otherwise - I have seen the Favorites list disappear without the Receive list being touched. Usually when my Favorites are gone I looked in the Channels I Receive list and they were gone from there too. Sometimes when I didn't catch it right away (i.e. same or next day) I would look at the Channels I Receive list and it looked fine. I've even caught it twice in progress and watched the channels disappear from the Favorites list right before my eyes. So a couple times I didn't reboot and did not setup the Favorites list and later when I checked the Channels I Receive list it once again looked fine so my theory is that it gets rebuilt and thus looks like it didn't get hit, but only because I didn't catch it in the time window before it got rebuilt. But, that is only my theory, next time it happens I'll try it again to be sure, see if the channel is missing from the Channels I Receive list and then see if it comes back on it's own and see if I can pin down a time frame in which this rebuild occurs.

[Paul_D]

Originally posted by stevel
My experience says otherwise - I have seen the Favorites list disappear without the Receive list being touched.

Actually, all of my events have been that the Favorites list gets wiped out and ALL the channels in the Receive list are checked. Annoying when you have WishLists that then try to record something off of the east coast feed channels...

BTW, both of my units (DSR6000r and SAT T-60) got the C rev last night. Seems like new logos came with the update. And yes, given that I get hit pretty regularly (I've had to create a "cheat sheet" for what to set in CIR and Favorites), I signed up for the monitoring software beta.

[stevel]

Originally posted by Paul_D
Actually, all of my events have been that the Favorites list gets wiped out and ALL the channels in the Receive list are checked.. That's what I recall happening as well, though I also had the Receive list niuked.

DirecTV replaced my receivers, so I'm following this thread just because I'm still interested - guess I got in at the tail end of that offer and they finally got the C update out the door. Let's hope it works.

[stivovance]

Same deal with me. when my favorites are gone so are my channel I receive, wouldn't be so bad if it was only the favorites as I can program them fairly easy, it's trying to remember what channels that I actually care to watch and actually do receive. If only there were a way for them to pull off the subscription information from the access card to auto-fill the receive channels.

[BJBBJB]

To clarify my experience.
I can verify that each of the times each of my TIVO series one units lost their favorites, ALL channels were selected in channels I receive after the favorites went away. So I do not think I lost any programming. Of course until I corrected it, it did list channels that I knew I did not receive as being received. However, it did not delete channels from the list that I had setup to record from. Did my unit reboot *without my knowledge* between the time that my favorites went away and I checked? I do not know.

I do know that at the end of the day, when I notice it, all favorites gone, all channels received checked.


BJBBJB

[Rebounder]

Well, the problem happened to me yet again tonight. I called DirecTV, and was encouraged that their CSR was very aware of the situation and said they were working on trying to find a solution. When I inquired about the 3.1.0c update, he explained that the Sony T-60 boxes are scheduled to receive the update the morning of July 5th, so I guess I have no choice but to reset the receiver, once again plug in my wishlist, season pass and channel information and hope that it doesn't happen again.

When I called, I did ask DirecTV to replace my Series 1 box since it was a software issue on their end that they've been unable to resolve, and not the fault of my own equipment. They declined to do so, indicating that a software fix was coming soon. I'm taking that to mean the 3.1.0c update, so I'll be patient just a little while longer. Gotta confess though, if this update doesn't fix the problem, and DirecTV refuses to replace my equipment, then I'm seriously giving thought to initiating some kind of class action litigation against DirecTV. I have NO desire to go to this extent, but given that I'm locked into a service agreement with DirecTV (as a result of taking advantage of the "movers" program) and can't just cancel the service, I'm at wits end. I know the DirecTV & Tivo techies are working faithfully on finding a fix, but if this fix doesn't work and DirecTV continues their refusal to replace my Series 1 box, then I see class action litigation as a last resort.

[BrettStah]

Rebounder, just restart it, don't wipe everything out.

[dwynne]

My "bad box" was hit again yesterday - again on a Wednesday. It happened before 1pm (CDT) since it didn't record anything after that time.

I can't remember if I rebooted on Sunday or not, I was so busy I wonder if I forgot? Anyway, all faves were gone and about all I had under channels I receive was a bunch of "DTV" entries. A quick reboot fixed it as always, then the hassle of un-check on the cr*p I don't like or don't get, then re-picking the faves.

I do not have the new "c" software yet and the box is a Philips series 1.

Dennis

[Mark Lopez]

Wow, I'm glad I popped back in here. One of my units just lost everything again last Friday. This is definitely good news.

[richieZ]

a memo from work.

Some dvr's that were experiencing guide problems are getting a download. the first time zone to get the download is mountain time. it will be around 2am, june 28. the new version will be 3.1.0c (as opposed to the newer models that get upgraded to 3.1.1c)

download is for hns gxcebot gxcebotd, philips dsr6000r, and sony sat-t60. this will fix the "acquiring program guide....full data in 1-2 days" and the loss of the guide.

if in mountain time, process occurs jun 28 (pre-dawn hours)
if in other time zones, process occurs jul 5 (pre-dawn hours)

if upgrade is not complete by jul 7, reset. upgrade should occur within next 24 hours.

see.... if all goes well, and it won't, which is why i have my job, heh, this problem will be going away soon.

[mrsparkle]

This firmware update is certainly good news, and I hope it solves the myriad problems I've experienced with this otherwise INDISPENSIBLE product. My Hughes Series I box has the erroneous "gathering data from the satellite" message, along with three distinctly different manifestations of the problem being discussed in this thread.

1. I've had all the favorites unchecked, with all the channels I receive checked. A minor annoyance, as most of you have stated.

2. I've had all the favorites unchecked, AND all the channnels I receive unchecked. This is more than a minor annoyance.

3. The worst manifestation, though, is where most of the channels I receive actually disappear from the channels I receive list. Never mind check marks, there are only four or five channels available to check! This requires a reboot and then a waiting period until the To-Do list rebuilds itself. Shows will be missed during this time period and I must manually force the machine to record items that air within the following several hours.

This has happened to me about 9 or 10 times over the past year-and-a-half or so, and I have gladly volunteered my prime-candidate-of-a-unit to beta test anything TiVo or DTV wants.

[stevel]

Yes, all of the symptoms you describe are supposedly fixed by the new update.

[BlankMan]

My TiVo1 unit got hit over the 4th of July weekend again, and I think TiVo2 was hit last week. I'm not tracking it as closely lately, too busy lately.

But I also noticed my TiVo3 rebooted itself on the 5th but no new code. And for some reason TiVoWeb won't bring up the Phone page on any of the three. Not sure why.

[PJO1966]

I forced a call yesterday and got my update. The nagging screen about acquiring data is gone. I won't know if it blows away channels anymore as I don't record on the SD TiVo anymore. I called a friend to check to see if he got the update. His TiVo had called in earlier that day, but he did not have the pending restart message. He forced the call and pending restart popped up. It's strange that it didn't pick up the update on the regular call.

[BlankMan]

Here we go I guess, just saw this in the logs on TiVo1:

Jul 7 10:14:33 (none) comm[121]: NewSoftware: software is not active, new software will be installed at 02:00.

Also am seeing this which is the current time:

Jul 7 18:32:16 (none) WatchdogAction[120]: WatchdogAction::Trigger: callActive for 29700 interval-secs

Probably explains why the TiVoWeb Phone interface is not working. Off to check the logs on the other two...

So, since I was dead last on the upgrade list everyone else has it by now, right? :D

[sulli2p]

Thanks PJO. The forced call just worked for me too. The download was quick, a restart loaded the software and my "acquiring data" nag screen is gone too. Let's hope our "delete all channels" issue is also fixed, only time will tell.

Originally posted by PJO1966
I forced a call yesterday and got my update. The nagging screen about acquiring data is gone. I won't know if it blows away channels anymore as I don't record on the SD TiVo anymore. I called a friend to check to see if he got the update. His TiVo had called in earlier that day, but he did not have the pending restart message. He forced the call and pending restart popped up. It's strange that it didn't pick up the update on the regular call.

[BlankMan]

Yep. Sure enough eh there one time, TiVo2 is reporting this:

Jul 7 11:57:00 (none) comm[120]: NewSoftware: software is not active, new software will be installed at 02:00.

Along with this as the current time:

Jul 7 18:41:05 (none) WatchdogAction[119]: WatchdogAction::Trigger: callActive for 24300 interval-secs

And TiVo3 not wanting to be left out I guess is reporting this:

Jul 7 16:12:04 (none) comm[120]: NewSoftware: software is not active, new software will be installed at 02:00.

Also along with this as the current time

Jul 7 18:38:04 (none) WatchdogAction[119]: WatchdogAction::Trigger: callActive for 9000 interval-secs

So it looks like for what ever the reason it's keeping the connection open which is probably giving the TiVoWeb Phone interface fits.

Now to see what the Phone Screen on the TV looks like.

[BlankMan]

Yep TiVo1 is reporting Pending Restart so I guess when I get home tonight I'll do a reboot on one or all.

Time to pull the disks again. Anyone know if there are any gotcha's with "C" and Ethernet, ftp, telent, TiVoWeb, etc.?

[dwynne]

I forced a call on my bad box last night and nothing new for me. If it is not pending restart when I get home I will force another call.

Reading richieZ's message I got the impression that they would be sending this down from space (which would be new, wouldn't it?) or forcing the affected boxes to call him. D* now has mine call in just every few days so I didn't understand how the date when the update would be sent could be known.

Dennis

[dougwx12]

Forgive me for only wading through the first 15 pages of this thread to see if this information is redundant, but I had the opportunity to watch this bug happen last week (it's happened to me at least a dozen times so far, but this was the first time I was watching _live_ TV when it occurred.)

The Tivo interrupted live TV with an error message of the form " ... must reacquire satellite ...". It then went away for about 10 minutes, came back, and gave an error about not being able to reacquire the satellites, and asked me if I wanted it to retry. Multiple retry attempts failed. Satellite signal strengths were whacked, to say the least. Many sub-50, many 0. The Tivo was unusable for live TV during this whole time, though the guide still had data. I left it alone for awhile (a few hours, but I wasn't monitoring it), and when I came back, the guide data was in its usual empty state.

As usual, restarting cleared it right up, and brought my signal strength numbers back into their normal 80-90 range. I'd worry about my cable run having gotten messed up, but it seems an odd coincidence that I get the exact same symptoms listed in this thread this summer, and I've never had an issue before...

[dwynne]

Originally posted by dougwx12
The Tivo interrupted live TV with an error message of the form " ... must reacquire satellite ...". It then went away for about 10 minutes, came back, and gave an error about not being able to reacquire the satellites, and asked me if I wanted it to retry. Multiple retry attempts failed. Satellite signal strengths were whacked, to say the least. Many sub-50, many 0. The Tivo was unusable for live TV during this whole time, though the guide still had data.

This does not match with what happens to my DTivo. I was watching it once when it happened and it said something like "You do not receive this channel" on a black screen. I could tune around and some would be still working and some would be gone. Checking the "channels I receive" setup showed them missing from there - they could not be checked as they were just gone. When it gets really bad, when you check there all I have is a bunch of "DTV" channels. Those DO come in if I tune to them.

When this first happened to me I figured I had rain fade or the wind had mis-aligned the dish so I check sat strength. It was just fine - no problems. The reboot fixed it, but I never "lost the sats".

Sounds like you have another problem.

FYI, I did not have the "c" update last night when I got home so I forced a daily call and now I have it. We will see if it fixes the problem or not.

Dennis

[GuidoTKP]

Originally posted by BlankMan
Here we go I guess, just saw this in the logs on TiVo1:

Jul 7 10:14:33 (none) comm[121]: NewSoftware: software is not active, new software will be installed at 02:00.

Also am seeing this which is the current time:

Jul 7 18:32:16 (none) WatchdogAction[120]: WatchdogAction::Trigger: callActive for 29700 interval-secs

Probably explains why the TiVoWeb Phone interface is not working. Off to check the logs on the other two...

So, since I was dead last on the upgrade list everyone else has it by now, right? :D
You know it :)

[skellum]

this post has been redirected to the appropriate forum.

thanks,

- skellum

[BrettStah]

Check the underground forum, skellum.

[dwynne]

I have the "c" software upgrade, but I wonder if I got hit again yesterday on my bad box - but with different symptoms?

I flipped over to where it was supposed to be recording a show last night and the picture/video was out of sync, then frozen. Weird stuff. So I went into now playing and checked the recordings from earlier in the day. A show that started at 1pm (CDT) for an hour only had 48 minutes recorded (based on the green bar on the screen - but didn't say partial). The next show (2pm CDT) had no video. When I played that show I had the audio, but the screen showed the Tivo backdrop (now playing, but without overlays). When I hit fast forward it moved about 10x the normal speed - never any video. I checked to later recordings and had the same thing - the only difference was the show that was recording at that time had about 2-3 minutes of video on the end. I deleted all the hosed stuff and restarted and recorded 2-3 more shows w/o a problem.

Before the channels would go away and recording would stop ("not available") - now it is recording the audio only once it hoses.

Anyone else have anything similar - or is this year another new problem?

Dennis

[PJO1966]

There is a thread in here about this problem. I think you basically need to unplug your TiVo then plug it back in. This won't help what's already been recorded but apparently it prevents the problem from happening again.

[bgreen5]

Originally posted by TiVoOpsMgr

...

Starting today, version 3.1.0c is being released for Series1 units. It will take several weeks before all Series1 units receive the latest release. While we are all hopeful that the issue is fixed with version 3.1.0c, we would like to pay close attention and be sure that this issue does not recur.

...

P.S. BlankMan, it'd be great if you point to this post from the beginning of the thread. Thanks!



Originally posted by BlankMan
Done. And I placed it at the top of the OP so there should be less chance of it being missed.

Too bad we can't plaster it all over every single page of this thread! :D (I just came back to the last page to check status, couldn't make much sense of it, went back 7 or 8 pages and started reading from there... only to find out that I should have simply gone back to page 1 and read the OP!!!) :(

Anyways, glad to finally see some action on the part of DirecTV/TiVo.

2 of my DirecTiVo units which are currently powered display the 'c' software revision.

Series I Philips (black): 3.1.0c...
Series I Hughes (silver): 3.1.1c...

Does this sound right? (why the difference between the Philips and the Hughes?) I never checked the previous software versions, but it seems they've both been upgraded since the last time I checked in and reported that the bug had hit me for the first time.

Interestingly, neither upgrade resulted in any kind of message under TiVoCentral (or DVRCentral now, I guess) that an upgrade had occurred. Guess they wanted to keep this one quiet? ;) :D

[BrettStah]

Some people are reporting some weird recording issues and suspect it's related to this upgrade:
http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=184013

[Fofer]

Can anyone confirm whether or not the "channels I receive" and "favorite channels" settings are now reliable with 3.1.0c / 3.1.0c2?

It takes quite a while to set those lists up and I don't want to bother if this old bug (where they get reset) remains.

[dwynne]

Originally posted by Fofer
Can anyone confirm whether or not the "channels I receive" and "favorite channels" settings are now reliable with 3.1.0c / 3.1.0c2?

It takes quite a while to set those lists up and I don't want to bother if this old bug (where they get reset) remains.

I have had 0 problems with that since the "c" upgrade. I have had ONE of occurrence of the known bug in "c" since then. The problem in "c" appears to happen only during certain conditions - a weak signal while recording - so to me the odds are better with "c" than the older software. D* has acknowledged the "c" bug and is working on a fix. The one time it happened to me we had some heavy rain storms during a time when I had a recording going - which matches what others have reported. If the rain fade makes you totally lose the signal, then it seems to recover. It has to be enough to impair it w/o dropping it completely. That coupled with it has to be recording at the time, really seems to make the odds slim of having many repeats.

Dennis

[BrettStah]

My wife reported a re-occurrence of the "Channel Not Available" bug, whereby no channels are, well, available, and thus no recordings will take place. A reboot cleared it up, as usual.

[kenr]

Originally posted by BrettStah
My wife reported a re-occurrence of the "Channel Not Available" bug, whereby no channels are, well, available, and thus no recordings will take place. A reboot cleared it up, as usual. 3.1.0c or 3.1.0c2?

[stevel]

I have not seen the channels list problem with 3.1.1C, but then it was never supposed to be a problem with 3.1.1 (S2 DTiVo).

[BrettStah]

Originally posted by kenr
3.1.0c or 3.1.0c2?
3.1.0c (assuming software updates still require a phone call to activate/install... mine aren't left hooked up to a phone line).

[TiVoStephen]

BrettStah, sorry to hear that your wife's unit experienced this problem with 3.1.0c. Can you please e-mail me her 15-digit TiVo Service Number along with the date/time that the problem occurred? (estephen@tivo.com)

Best regards,
Stephen

[BrettStah]

Done... email on its way.

[BrettStah]

It happened again this evening... same DirecTivo that I emailed you the Service Number for, Stephen. Previously when this problem would crop up it would tend to affect this DirecTivo more often than the other first-generation DirecTivo.

[MauriAnne]

I just lost *some* of my favorites --- only the local channels, the other ones are okay. Anyone know if this is related, or a different problem? The previous times I had a problem like this, I lost everything.

3.1.0c

[ibbryn]

dwynne,
I have exactly the same problem you stated, along with the "channels missing from guide problem" also cited here.
It's easily fixed by upgrading your software.

[BlankMan]

MauriAnne, it is related I do believe, sometimes all of the channels will disappear for the Favorites List, sometimes only some. When they disappear from the Favorites List they are usually also gone from the Channels I Receive list if the unit has not been rebooted. Although I have seen channels disappear from the Favorites List but were still in the Channels I Receive list by the time I caught it and looked. Not sure if the unit rebooted itself or if the Channels I Receive list just repopulated itself in those cases.

[MauriAnne]

Originally posted by BlankMan
MauriAnne, it is related I do believe, sometimes all of the channels will disappear for the Favorites List, sometimes only some. When they disappear from the Favorites List they are usually also gone from the Channels I Receive list if the unit has not been rebooted. Although I have seen channels disappear from the Favorites List but were still in the Channels I Receive list by the time I caught it and looked. Not sure if the unit rebooted itself or if the Channels I Receive list just repopulated itself in those cases.

In my case, they just disappeared from Fav List -- they remained on the Receive list & since I didn't have to reset the Sort on the Playing list, I don't think there was a reboot.

<sigh> I was hoping it was really fixed. When the entire list goes away, it's just plain PAINFUL.

[jib2]

Originally posted by Fofer
Can anyone confirm whether or not the "channels I receive" and "favorite channels" settings are now reliable with 3.1.0c / 3.1.0c2?

It takes quite a while to set those lists up and I don't want to bother if this old bug (where they get reset) remains.

Well, I hope that it is an isolated instance, but one of my 3 series 1 DTivos just lost most (but not quite all) of the channels I receive. It is running 3.1.0c2, and even has a new access card in it. (I received a new card a few weeks ago because of an unrelated problem with PPV ordering.)

All the channels I receive below 173 were gone. 173 and a few random channels above that (less than a dozen) remained. The missing channels could not be viewing in live TV either (message was "channel not available") and since they weren't in the list, I couldn't readd them. Rebooting fixed the problem for now, but I did have to reset the Channels I Receive list and the Favorites list.

I was hoping that the problem was fixed...

[BlankMan]

Sounds like it's still there then, I was starting to wonder myself. I take it they got wacked from your Favorites List when they disappeared from the Channels I Receive list?

[jib2]

Originally posted by BlankMan
Sounds like it's still there then, I was starting to wonder myself. I take it they got wacked from your Favorites List when they disappeared from the Channels I Receive list?

Yes. It only took five minutes (plus reboot) to restore them, but my favorites list is most of my channels received. It could easily take some people much longer...

[Jeff Lackey]

FWIW, I've recently had this problem with my Series 2 Samsung receiver - Season Pass shows no upcoming episodes, trying to set a season pass on a program on a certain channel results in the note "this channel is no longer on your list of received channels", etc. As a new user of DirecTivo this is pretty discouraging.

[BrettStah]

Jeff, what show did you have this problem with, and what was the channel it was on? My wife recently told me she had to recreate a season pass for "Monk" on USA network, because the existing one wasn't working any more. I'm assuming that some behind-the-scenes data relating to Monk and/or USA was changed. I think that's our only season pass for a show on USA so I can't really tell for sure what the problem is.

[Jeff Lackey]

I've had it a couple of times in the past week or so (we've only had the system for two weeks) but I don't recall the specific channels or shows. The problem a couple of days ago was indeed with the USA channel (and I read the thread below) but also BBC America - the specific show was What Not To Wear. When I added the channel back everything was fine again.

I don't use the Favorites option, and I have all channels set up to be received. As I said, I've had this happen occasionally in the past and thought it was just some odd quirk until I read this thread.

[bboerner]

Hi, my Series 1 activated 3.0.1c2 on 8/11.

I didn't noticed until tonight (8/18) that some recordings since
Friday (8/13) (including Monk on USA) didn't record. The 1st
available didn't record due to "Show is no longer in the program
guide.". The repeats didn't record due to the 28d rule (argh! It
didn't record so the 28d rule shouldn't apply! :-( )

First symptom I saw was that I had only about 12 or so channels
available in the guide. Did a reboot, had my channels. Then noticed
that my entire ToDo list had "None scheduled". Program Guide data
was up to 8/29.

Forced a phone call, it did the Loading Data... thing. Waited an
hour, program guide data is up to 8/30. ToDo list is mostly
populated. Had to recreate Monk SP as it thought it was for a
channel which was not in Channels I Receive.

This happened once about 2 or 3 months ago and hit the FX channel that time.

Appears that the c2 patch didn't fix this.

[stevel]

The Monk problem is separate - DirecTV screwed up the lineup info for USA effectively creating a new channel with a different name. This obsoleted the season passes you had. The solution is to recreate the SPs for USA.

[bboerner]

stevel, thanks for the clarification re: USA network, that'll save some head scratching. Regards.

[BigScreen]

One of my two Series 1 DTiVo's got bit by this bug again this morning.

Earlier today (8am), everything was working fine. At 11:30am, I turned on the TV to see the "This channel is not available" message on the screen. Both tuners were tuned to Ch 36, which is a channel I do receive and was watching this morning.

As expected, the Channels I Receive were reset to only those channels between 358-828.

A reboot fixed the problem, but then one of the most painful parts of owning a DTiVo rears its ugly head; having to manually set the Channels I Receive.

(rant mode on)
This has got to be one of the dumbest omissions in the TiVo's feature set, and it's inexcusable that auto-scanning for Channels I Receive hasn't been included in the numerous software updates this box has received. My original Sony SAT-A2 box could do this, and that was what, 8-10 years ago?

The only thing that makes this omission even tolerable is the fact that it should only have to be done once. However, since this bug rears itself every couple of months, I get the joy of single-stepping through every freakin' channel DTV provides, just to tell a computer what it should be able to figure out on its own.
(rant mode off)

[Fofer]

Originally posted by BigScreen
(rant mode on)
This has got to be one of the dumbest omissions in the TiVo's feature set, and it's inexcusable that auto-scanning for Channels I Receive hasn't been included in the numerous software updates this box has received. My original Sony SAT-A2 box could do this, and that was what, 8-10 years ago?

The only thing that makes this omission even tolerable is the fact that it should only have to be done once. However, since this bug rears itself every couple of months, I get the joy of single-stepping through every freakin' channel DTV provides, just to tell a computer what it should be able to figure out on its own.
(rant mode off)

I'll accept that rant and raise you one quibble: how hard would it have been to label the channels properly (with full names) in the "Channels I Receive" screen? I often have a hard time deciphering some of the 4 character labels. The only way to determine if I receive the channel is to try and tune into it. And the interface for doing this is terribly slow.

Auto-scan would be great.

It would also be even nicer if DTV could auto-configure my DTiVo receiver for the channels I receive, perhaps by downloading the prefs; they should know better than me what channels I'm supposed to receive!

[BigScreen]

It would also be even nicer if DTV could auto-configure my DTiVo receiver for the channels I receive, perhaps by downloading the prefs; they should know better than me what channels I'm supposed to receive!

I hadn't thought of that, but it makes perfect sense. It would be easier if the box were connected via ethernet, but it could get this information during a daily phone call and save it to the drive for later use. That's a better idea than mine of at least saving the last "Channels I Receive" set and make it able to be retrieved upon command.

After all, doesn't the box already know what channels I'm capable of receiving? Otherwise, how would it know not to tune in some channel I don't get?

Someone should create a list of features like this that will likely never see the light of day...

[stevel]

The information is already available in the satellite bitstream - non-TiVo DirecTV receivers know it. It baffles me that DTiVos don't.

[sulli2p]

My first hit with 3.1.0c2, and it was a classic. As indicated by a stopped recording, it happened on 09/01/04 at 1:49pm CDT. All channels deleted except for a couple PPVs. A restart returned all my channels but favorite list was gone. This is EXACTLY the same symptoms I had prior to any "c" updates.

[cth1770]

Running 3.1.1c on two Hughes boxes, all of my ESPN season passes are zapped. Instead of an SP appearing in the SP manager as, say, "9) Pardon the Interruption (206 ESPN)", they are now appearing as "9) Pardon the Interruption (ESPN)", with no channel number, as if the channel no longer exists.

This happened on both boxes, but ESPN still appears in my Favorites list. I had to go back and program new SPs on the "new" channel.

[rsempsey]

Well....I wish I would have read this thread yesterday afternoon. Only had DTivo for 2 weeks and it hit me. Just thought it was a fluke.....but guess not. Called DTV, and tried all their stuff.....still haven't gotten local channels back. They are sending a technician out to me....Whoopie! Not sure what he is gonna be able to do......Don't understand why the reboot or the Delete all didn't bring back the missing channels???

[Degauss]

My turn. Sonofabit... DVR40, 3.1.1c, virginal and hackless

The weird part is I don't know when or where it started. Until it skipped a recording event I wouldn't have noticed. When I had my WHATINHELL?! moment I surfed the guide and there were tons of channels missing from I Receive, ergo not even selectable for Favorites... but channels that I never cared about anyway and wouldn't have noticed.

I'm with whoever said it was D* doing it intentionally. So much of their revenue is probably from PPV movies and sporting events that for those of us that filter them all out won't ever just flip past one or see it in the guide and do an impulse buy, so they screw up our lists for fun. YEEH BOUIE

I guess I don't need to add my anger. almost 1000 replies and 50k views? Yep angry is covered.

[bllreed]

Just to let everyone know, it's Not a TIVO problem. I've had the same thing
happen on a Sony SAT-50A (if I remember the model correctly) which is just
a receiver, no TIVO. Take some solace in that, I guess....

[Tutman]

No, it's not a TIVO problem. It is a DirecTV problem. Unfortunately, TIVO writes the software for the machines, and apparently this problem IS caused by a software malfunction. If your hardware does not use TIVO software, then the software has the same type of problem. However, hardware would have been replaced long ago if it was the cause.

[Tutman]

So, is this problem back in 3.1.0c2? Sulli2p seems to think it is. Anyone else have this problem?

I've been on 3.1.0c (original c version) since it came out. I have had absolutely NO favorite channel list problems since. I have had the audio/no-video problem a couple times during storms though. I figured I'd wait until both problems were fixed before plugging the phone line back in.

[Fofer]

Originally posted by Tutman
So, is this problem back in 3.1.0c2? Sulli2p seems to think it is. Anyone else have this problem?

I've been on 3.1.0c (original c version) since it came out. I have had absolutely NO favorite channel list problems since. I have had the audio/no-video problem a couple times during storms though. I figured I'd wait until both problems were fixed before plugging the phone line back in.

Personally I'd rather lose my "Favorite Channels" occasionally than worry about which recordings would be watchable or not when I got home.

I don't even bother setting my Fav Channels anymore, it's too much of a hassle for not much gain, and its annoying when that work is lost.

[dcluck]

Well, this evening makes for the 5th time our Sony T-60 has been hit with this bug in the past year. Running 3.1.0c2. Guess they still haven't nailed down the issue. My wife noticed that the unit wasn't recording when it should have been so she checked and all of our channels I recieve were missing except for a few in the 600s. All SPs are hosed and will have to be setup again. Great timing with the new season starting.

~Dave

[Tutman]

Originally posted by Fofer
Personally I'd rather lose my "Favorite Channels" occasionally than worry about which recordings would be watchable or not when I got home.

I don't even bother setting my Fav Channels anymore, it's too much of a hassle for not much gain, and its annoying when that work is lost.

To each his own. Since I rarely have rain fade, that I know when a storm is in the area, and that I may miss that recording because of a lost signal anyway, I'll take my chances with this one rather than being hit by the lost channels bug.

Losing favorite channels is a pain, but when it happens I typically lose all of my scheduled recordings (since locals are lost too). When this happens is unpredictable. Weather, on the other hand, is predictable.

I have 2 dsr6000's and I have not gone without losing favorite channels for this long in a really long time. It seems to me that 3.1.0c fixed the favorite channels bug, but introduced the audio/no-video bug. When they rolled out 3.1.0c2 it appears that all that was done was they "un-did" the code change, which is why our friend is back. It also explains why c2 came out so quick.

Choose which bug hurts you the least. I'm sticking with 3.1.0c until I'm comfortable that they fixed both problems without introducing new ones.

[Tutman]

Originally posted by dcluck
Well, this evening makes for the 5th time our Sony T-60 has been hit with this bug in the past year. Running 3.1.0c2. Guess they still haven't nailed down the issue. My wife noticed that the unit wasn't recording when it should have been so she checked and all of our channels I recieve were missing except for a few in the 600s. All SPs are hosed and will have to be setup again. Great timing with the new season starting.

~Dave

Dave, no need to redo the season passes. You should be able to reboot, and wait awhile. Season passes tend to come back about an hour after reboot.

[Cosmic]

Looks like I've been hit with this on one of my 3 DTiVos. Five hours after unplugging and restarting, and I still don't have channels 709 and 710 (NFL Sunday Ticket) although I can manually tune to these channels and I don't get "Channel not available". Do I have to call DirecTV and have them "hit" the machine?

Cos

[Tutman]

Cos,

When you reboot, you should get your season passes back. Your channels are there, they've just been erased from your favorite channel list. I assume that your guide is set to display favorites. You can change which channel list gets displayed in the guide to "All", "All you receive", or "Favorites". You can then go setup your favorite channels again. This time write them down, so that every time this hits you it only wastes 10 minutes of your time.

No need to bother the really helpful people at DirecTV, unless you want them to note your account about this problem.

[Cosmic]

Thanks Tutman,

Those 2 channels had been un-checked on the "Channels I Receive" list.

Go figure.

Cos

[cherrystreet10]

I am new to this thread so pardon me if I repeat something that has already been posted. I had the dreaded channel delete several times in the past few years on my 600 series DirectTIVO especially when I was away on vacation for a few days or more. Since we lose power frequently here in the country and must rely on a generator backup, I began powering my TIVO with a UPS power supply for the past six months (to eliminate any power interruptions) and have had no further problems with dropped channel lists - maybe I have just been lucky, but so far it is working just fine.

[Dirac]

My Philips got hit sometime over the last 5 weeks I was out of town. It is the only S1 machine I'm still using. It's running c2. So apparently, the problem is not fixed.

[Fofer]

Originally posted by Dirac
My Philips got hit sometime over the last 5 weeks I was out of town. It is the only S1 machine I'm still using. It's running c2. So apparently, the problem is not fixed.

I'm curious, has DTV/TiVo ever come out and specifically mentioned this "bug"... and that c or c2 was supposed to fix it?

I don't think I've ever seen an official mention of it, or release notes for the "updates" for that matter. The only thing we're going on is circumstantial reports from folks who "haven't been bitten by the bug in a while." Of course, that doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.

[Vesper]

I got hit with this 2 times in the past week. Looks like our favorite problem is back. Last Wednesday and this Wednesday. I turned the TV on and had "Channel not available" everywhere. I almost missed Lost because of it, too.

It sure makes me glad I switched to DirecTV. :(

[Tutman]

I am still running on the old 3.1.0c (not 3.1.0c2) on 2 systems and neither one has lost favorites since upgrading to 3.1.0c. This problem used to hit me at least every 6 weeks, and it has now been a few months. Obviously they fixed the problem in 3.1.0c but that broke something else, so they backed out the fix in 3.1.0c2.

I hope that they have a new fix (for both losing favorite channels, as well as video freezing) and they have just been testing this fix a little more thoroughly.

I haven't had video freeze up since the last hurricane system came through. I'll keep 3.1.0c until I get word that they got the favorites bug fixed without breaking something else.

Blankman, if you still monitor this thread after getting new S2 machines, how are the new ones working out?

[grant33]

Grrrrr. This happened to my SAT T60 while I was out of town, which meant I came back to find that quite a few things hadn't been recorded. Luckily, I have a 2nd Tivo in the bedroom that got most things. What is the latest on this issue?

[dwynne]

Originally posted by grant33
Grrrrr. This happened to my SAT T60 while I was out of town, which meant I came back to find that quite a few things hadn't been recorded. Luckily, I have a 2nd Tivo in the bedroom that got most things. What is the latest on this issue?

The new software fixed it for most everyone. Is your T60 still on the old load?

Dennis

[grant33]

Originally posted by dwynne
The new software fixed it for most everyone. Is your T60 still on the old load?

Dennis

I'll have to look when I get home. What is the latest (fixed) software version. My Tivo is always plugged into a phone line, so I see no reason why it wouldn't have been updated. I haven't seen any nag screens saying it hasn't dialed up.

[Agatha Mystery]

Originally posted by Tutman
I am still running on the old 3.1.0c (not 3.1.0c2) on 2 systems and neither one has lost favorites since upgrading to 3.1.0c. This problem used to hit me at least every 6 weeks, and it has now been a few months. Obviously they fixed the problem in 3.1.0c but that broke something else, so they backed out the fix in 3.1.0c2.

I hope that they have a new fix (for both losing favorite channels, as well as video freezing) and they have just been testing this fix a little more thoroughly.

I haven't had video freeze up since the last hurricane system came through. I'll keep 3.1.0c until I get word that they got the favorites bug fixed without breaking something else.

Blankman, if you still monitor this thread after getting new S2 machines, how are the new ones working out?
I went for probably 4-6 months without a reset, and I had this happen to me again today(last night?). Turns out, I know have 3.1.0c2.

I know this is a software issue. I just got off the phone with their higher level tech support. Their response? Do a 3-4 hour reset (using the remote) and clear ALL data (i.e. according to him, it will reset season passes, remove all recordings, etc). Basically, I have to do a reformat of the hard drive to see if it will work. Obviously, this is a software bug and not a hardware bug, but they no longer seem to be writing software that will work with the older hardware. After the 3-4 hour reset doesn't work (and I'm pretty sure it won't), then they will just replace my receiver. I basically pushed him into admitting that. I know that many of us have had this problem, so I wanted to know what they were going to do when the long reset doesn't work (because through the experience of this forum, I know it doesn't), at which point he said they would replace it. I asked him if I could just give his name as the one who said they would replace my receiver, and he told me that he was logging it into my account info so I wouldn't have to.

[BrettStah]

Long reset does not work. Just a waste of time... if you complain enough, you can apparently get replacement Series2 DirecTivos for little or nothing. I haven't yet done so, but I probably will the next time it happens.

[Fofer]

What a pain. They actually suggest doing a long reset, which erases all of your SP's, WL's, thumb ratings *and* recordings... and it still doesn't help?

Sheesh. :rolleyes: I'd be super-peeved if I didn't know about this forum and did what they suggested, losing all of my recordings... only to find out I'm no better off than I was before. :down:

[Budget_HT]

We did the "long reset" several months ago on one of our series 1 DirecTiVos and it actually did solve the problem. We have had no problems with that particular DirecTiVo since.

I suspect that there are so many variables here that it is not safe to predict outcomes.

As always, YMMV.