Pioneer DVR-57H Freezes/Reboots after upgrade

[Droid420]

I tried upgrading my 120gb hdd with a 300gb hdd. I used the tutorial from the weaknees site and all went well until I tried the restore function. It gave me an error at 56%. My unit initially did boot up so I did the clear everything option. Now when I boot it up it gets about 1/3 through the set up before it either freezes or reboots. I have already tried the ptvupgrade site but they do not sell a cd for my model. Any suggestions?

[megazone]

Try emailing PTVUpgrade - I'd thought they finally added an Instant Cake CD for the Pioneers.

If not, they do offer an imaging service - send them a hard drive and for $75 they image it and send it back to you.

[Droid420]

Try emailing PTVUpgrade - I'd thought they finally added an Instant Cake CD for the Pioneers.

If not, they do offer an imaging service - send them a hard drive and for $75 they image it and send it back to you.
I took your advice and emailed them. I hope I can get a cd from them. As for the hard drive option, that's quite a bit to pay, not to mention I would still like to have a backup image in case I have issues like this again in the future. I was just hoping that by coming here someone could guide me on where to go to get an image.

[jlac839]

I believe that megazone is correct. PTVupgrade do sell a version of InstantCake for the Pioneer DVR-57H. For some reason, it's not listed on their InstantCake page but it does appear in their downloadable product list.

http://downloads.ptvupgrade.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PLST

You can order a CD or download an iso image to burn to a CD yourself.

[Droid420]

Thanks for the link! You're a lifesaver! I ordered it and it worked great! It did cost 20 bucks but it was well worth it. I paid via paypal and immediately received an email with a download link. The interface was really user friendly and now I have a dvr with up to 394hrs of recording time and a backup cd in case I run into issues with my hard drive again. Thanks to everyone that helped me get through this.

[megazone]

Glad it worked for you. I've used Instant Cake in the past too and it is a nice product.

[tivo275]

Right after the latest system software upgrade (7.3.1) my Pioneer 57h DVR started having the same problems:

Freezing during playback
Blank screen

The only solution has been to unplug the machine and wait for the reboot. Since I see that others are having the same problem, I am wondering if TiVo will address this issue soon.

[c3nav1]

I have not performed the hard drive upgrade, but I was thinking about it until I saw the problems with the software upgrade. Currently, my Pioneer DVR-57H has software version 7.3.1-tak-01-2-275

Is this what the ptv upgrade "Instacake2 for Series2 Standalone Units with DVD Burners" (ICAKE2-S2SA-DVD) will upgrade to, or is it the same as just 7.3.1? :confused:

Could you please post your complete software version? I would just like to compare and contrast. Thanks! :)

[megazone]

You have the latest, 7.3.1 - same version my 810H has. InstantCake is likely to install something older, but it'll just update as soon as it calls home again.

[MMG]

Right after the latest system software upgrade (7.3.1) my Pioneer 57h DVR started having the same problems:

Freezing during playback
Blank screen

The only solution has been to unplug the machine and wait for the reboot. Since I see that others are having the same problem, I am wondering if TiVo will address this issue soon.

My DVR-57h froze during playback last night. I just replaced my hard-drive last month because of the same thing that rolled into a Green Screen of Death. It seems the more shows that I store on the hard drive, the slower and quirkier it gets... Also, if I sort the shows alphabetically, it gets really slow too.

I hope that TiVo has the patch out soon... these hard drives don't grow on trees.

[megazone]

I haven't seen any troubles like these on my 810H.

[MMG]

I haven't seen any troubles like these on my 810H.

How full is your machine? How do you sort your Now Playing shows?

[megazone]

Well, I have Suggestions on, so it is always 'full'. It recently was completely full of requested recordings, until I deleted some - I record on 'High'.

I usually have grouping on, sorted by date.

[MMG]

Try sorting alphabetically... curious as to whether it slows way down or freezes after a few hours.

[J2w218]

My DVR-57h froze during playback last night. I just replaced my hard-drive last month because of the same thing that rolled into a Green Screen of Death. It seems the more shows that I store on the hard drive, the slower and quirkier it gets... Also, if I sort the shows alphabetically, it gets really slow too.

I hope that TiVo has the patch out soon... these hard drives don't grow on trees.


I recently bought mine as a demo unit that had never been plugged in. Only cost me $135 HOWEVER, now that I am at 7.3.1, it hangs EVERYDAY. I have it connected with component cables and get a mix of picture and green background. I was ready to try replacing the drive but, I may wait and see if the software gets fixed? No one near me will work on these and Pioneer wants $200 to fix it plus I have to ship to CA and that is if there is nothing mechanically wrong with it? What does that mean, its broke. I guess they just mean $200 to replace the HD and if anything else is wrong, more $$$?

[MMG]

Rumor has it that there's a patch coming around Thanksgiving.. Forget about the 200 + shipping to Pioneer... If you're in a hurry, get a 160 GB drive from weaknees.com with the TiVo image on it. It'll update to 7.3.1 when it first calls in. Hopefully, it won't hose while you wait for 7.3.2. (that's what I'm hoping for myself, at least!)

[J2w218]

I think that is what I will end up doing. Right now, I'm basically worried about the current drive dying from the power downs everyday. I think I may try to hold on to this drive until it dies or they release new software. The one thing I don't want to happen is, to buy a new drive, and have it die from the frequent power downs if this is software related... It could be the drive but, I will upgrade to a bigger drive once this problem is figured out. Until then, I have to rely on my Comcast Moto boxes that give new meaning to the word 's l o w'. They hang on certain button pushes, meanwhile cacheing all the button pushes you make while its hund, and then speedily executes all those commands. STUPID design, probably not Comcast's fault being a Moto box and all.

[megazone]

You can always pick up an InstantCake CD from PTVUpgrade.com for $20 and supply your own drive. Much cheaper than one of the pre-imaged drives.