I'm going to move on from this thread since my DMR-E85H is now functioning properly (seven days and counting). Before I do, I'd like to thank all the contributors to this thread. Before this latest series of U99s, I had my unit in the shop continuously for two months (under warranty) because I had a U99 problem: unit locked up completely and could not be "reset." When I got it back from service, it was functioning just fine. You can imagine my distress when the U99 started popping up each morning a few weeks ago, and my unit was no longer in warranty. I ran across this thread and, after reading many posts, became certain that it wasn't my unit at fault. Thanks again and good luck to anyone else whose unit is not yet functioning without the U99s.
Oh, no. Please, no flame wars. VideoBob: Thanks for all the info and for going point by point. Thanks also for supporting your comments (i.e., "I know what I'm talking about when I express things as certainties") with your history. This is NOT being "full of" oneself, IMHO. FYI, the last "phantom U99" I had was indeed on a day I had a program scheduled to record to a DVD-RAM. I will admit they seem to be related. However, I KNOW that I was recording to both DVD-RAM and the hard drive for almost a YEAR with no problems leaving a disc in the drive. So why now? There must be a "third factor" (factor X) that occurred in Aug-Sept that clashes with what should be "normal" operations of the unit. So what, I can easily record to ONLY the hard drive, but again, this work-around/preventative measure angers me as it takes away from the functionality of the unit, which was FINE before "factor X" appeared. As far as where TVGOS is saved, I suppose it's kind of a moot point. Interesting that my first U99 appeared within a day or two of a four hour power outage. I'm pretty sure I still had scheduled recordings when power returned, but don't remember about the listings. Unlikely but not impossible that the unit has a large capacitor/battery/programmable ROM to save select elements of memory during a power outage (but 4 hours?). By the way, ADS are the FIRST thing to go, even during a five second power interruption. Anyone have the schematic?
ups info. i purchased a tripp 1000 watt unit from a costco store for $99. one hour backup when power is out. still no u99, over a week now. all listings, ads and machine seems to be functioning as it was advertised and as it was before all this started. the time changed last night as it should to go off dst. keeping my fingers crossed!! comcast cable no box zip: 94111
I haven't had TV Guide listings for at least two weeks. But, I've had no U99 recently either. I'm in Missouri--63119
VideoBob, I tried your multilple power off-on. However, after the power cord pullout, the dvr tries to scan all the channels on the cable box (presumably foraging for programming data). SHould I let it finish (takes a LONG time) and only then power off and on again? thanks,
Not exactly, it would still crash the unit if it was on the HDD or not IMO given the current programming. The information that you were given from Panasonic, was it given by a engineer or by tech support personnel? The crash looks to me, takes place due to a corrupted download. On a different note, I believe that Panasonic is partially at fault here. One, they shouldn't of had the unit fail completely on such a simple error. Two, since they marketed it as a feature, they are responsible to make sure it works as described. As for TVGOS, they obvious rushed this product out the door without properly testing it so they could reep the advertising revenue. Looks like to me, it was programmed by a bunch of idiots, because it should ALSO have it's own error handling routines to prevent this. Redundancy only comes through properly testing the equipment and software. When I write software, I try to think of ways that could crash it no matter how bizarre it might be because you will never know WHO might be operating the equipment once purchased. Lastly, lets not get into a argument over this. Our main focus should be combined and focused on Panasonic and Gemstar until the problem is resolved. Can we all get along?
i agree with shaolin00. there is no need to attack another forumn member no matter what the attacker thinks. just sift, sort the info you want to pay attention to or not. i don't know what combination of all the elemnts involved (cable carrier/zip code/setup/ cable box or not, etc.), but i have had trouble free operation for over 10 days now. all listings for 8 days, ads, scheduled records through tvgos success, record to hard drive from tivo feed, much shortening of programs on the hard drive, dubbing, etc. i will still keep posting to let others know my experience. comcast cable no box zip: 94111
Placing blame does not get results. Addressing issues does and this forum has had a lot to do with getting things corrected, either by user error education or by work arounds (DVD in drive).(period) I also want to add that I have not had the U99 since October 23. This has only been 8 days but as often as I was getting them before something must have changed. As of today I have not reset TVGOS in any way. All I did was just turn the unit on and let it go through the "Self Check" and continue. From reading the list somthing at TV Guide must have been released accros the country. I do not want to ruin my luck but I was quick to write when I received a U99 I feel I should do the same when it is working like it is supposed to work.
From Alabama 36066, Knology cable, cable box, E85H: No problems for the past 11 days. I did get an email from a supervisor at TVGOS stating they were rolling back a software change and everything on their side should be "good." And, it has been here. The only problem I had was a short power outage causing a loss of some data, but have prevented further problems with that by buying a UPS. I really appreciate the detailed explanations from VideoBob and others. Knowing more how "things" work always helps.
Glad to hear some people are having a positive experience with TVGOS lately. My unit has been working flawlessly since I reset it nearly 2 weeks ago. (Knock on wood.) I have had the full program guide (8 days) for over a week now. Each night it just downloads the eighth day. I've also kept the ads this whole time. I think something must have changed because up until that time I had been getting several U99's a day. I just hope that it lasts. Once I went for about 16 days without getting a U99 so we'll see if I can do better this time. Wapakoneta, OH TSC Cable
Been ok here for the past week or so - maybe it's been fixed ? Some sort of official communication from TVGoS would go down well, this thread could then be retired (till next time ?). Tim
The primary point of contact at TV Guide, I beleive, is on vacation for another week. Hopefully, others have been working on it in the duration. I had that one U99 last week. I guess it was a fluke. When I got them before, it was an all day thing: i.e. I would cycle the power, get it going and within 2-60 minutes it would be back again. Here's hoping it's gone!
Apparently someone besides Cheryl IS informed about it...named Kwan. See the post from 10-27-05 on avsforum: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=581845
I had suspected for a while that the cause of my U99s with my E85H were a combination of the TV Guide data stream (including the new ads) and power interruption or power surges. So I bought an Ultra/ULT31502/1000 VA 600 Watt UPS from Tiger Direct. On Mon evening, I plugged the UPS in for an hour to make certain it was fully charged (it actually came fully charged). Then in a very quick maneuver (about 2 to 5 seconds) I unplugged the E85H from the wall and plugged it in to the UPS. I right away got a please wait on the E85H screen then it powered up and I noticed that I had lost the ads but the program listings were still there. I decided to put it back in standby and wait to see if this power interruption would cause a U99. That night instead of going to the two channels it is supposed to go to for TV Guide data (4 local CBS and 53 MSNBC), it went to Ch 2 (local PBS) and other channels for data. Sure enough in the morning I had a U99. Thus for me, power interruptions do cause U99s. I then did the Ch-up Ch-down then unplug for 30 seconds. Today I now have 12 ads back and listings for 2 days and hopefully with my new UPS there will be no more U99s. So as I look back I am now certain that the problems I had in mid Sept to the first week in October were caused by a power outage that took all of the data needed to download new information from memory and put me in a constant U99 error mode (had approximately 3 a day for 3 weeks). Thanks to help from this forum, my fix was just the Ch-up Ch-down and then 30 seconds unplugged. Now with my new UPS I am certain I will be free of U99 problems. Otherwise I indeed feel that the E85H is one of the best units on the market. It seems to have some kind of filter that records clearer than the original cable broadcasts and SP recordings to DVD are extremely clear. I use it mostly for movies and now have over 300 movies on DVD. And the FR recording is terrific because many movies are just over 2 hours and the FR recordings in the 2 to 2.5 hour range are just about as clear as the SP DVD recordings. Again thanks for all of you help and now I have a fully functional E85H. Thanks Bonus2
FYI, Cheryl's note to me before her vacation said that she would be back tomorrow. I just dropped her a note to welcome her back and see if she has any updates to share.
Maybe I am lucky, because my TVGOS started to work fine last Saturday. I even didn't do any channel up/down reset after previous U99 errors (during the last week). First, I had an option to choose between two lineups, then I have listings for SAT. And I have a lot of promotions. Later on, I had lisitngs for SAT, SUN and next SAT. And today, I have lisitngs for WED, THU and SAT, SUN, MON & TUE. I have SC-HT1500 for 4 weeks, and it is the first time I can finally use timer recordings with TVGOS feature. It was really crazy to woke up every morning to U99. I have only one problem - not all channel are listed - such as ch. 354 - Boomerang. I keep my fingers crossed to last it. ZIP 89145 - Las Vegas, NV, Cox Communications with digital cable box.
Bonus2. i too believe you and others are right about the combination of the loss of power and loss of listings and ads. i do not believe (or frankly remember) though that before aug/sept, that that was the case. something to do with the new software and loss of power seems to wipe out data (not hard drive) and requires a new download to get ads and a reset to get rid of u99s. i do not believe this is the way it should be. i do not have that kind of problem with tivo units when they lose power. with tivo i get a wait screen when it is powered up, i guess resets itself, but i do not lose any programming data. granted they are two different animals. the tivo unit receives it's listings through a phone line. cheryl does not get back to work until tomorrow (the 4th) according to her out of office e-mail reply.
I took a few days off to let those who have personal problems with me relax and chill out. I'm only interested in finding solutions--or at least reliable work-arounds--to these problems. I really don't care whether anyone accepts my input or not--it's freely given and can be just as freely ignored. On Sunday (daylight savings time change day) the two TVGOS sytems at my other house either came back on or didn't turn off after a scheduled manual record with auto-off. I returned Wednesday to find them both on and three days' listings missing. The scheduled programing that used timers were recorded and the days that had already been filled in also recorded Guide+ Scheduled recordings. When it ran out of listings after three days (I was still recovering from leaving a DVD-RAM in overnight), it greyed out the listings and would not have recorded them, if I hadn't caught it just in time. The clocks were a couple of minutes off on the Panny, and the RCA thought it was still Sunday the 31st until I Hard reset it. I noticed that the front panel of the Panny was three minutes faster than the time listed by TVGOS in the Guide+ window (and the front panel was correct). This persisted after two power cycles, but corrected itself after a soft reset/unplug. This leads me to believe that I might have found the problem as to why (or at least the mechanism by which) some recordings fail after U99 recovery when you don't unplug the unit: the clocks lose synchronization, so the Panny looks for a program to record, but TVGOS still shows the last couple of minutes of the prior program (which has actually ended), so the record is aborted. To confirm this, the next time someone misses a recording, check the front panel time against the TVGOS time (upper left in the Guide+ Listings screen). Both units are on a UPS, so I'll continue to attribute Sunday's glitch to some kind of time change/download mismatch unless I have reason to look elsewhere. Anyone else have timer or auto shut off problems on Sunday? [bold]faure:[/bold] Newbie I really don't Know. I wasn't aware that it searched *anything* when it was fully powered up. How can it? If you are watching a show, it *shouldn't* change channels. If, as I suspect, it only powers up into stand-by before searcing for data, then by all means, power it fully on (which I would think would stop the channel search) and then back off again. If you use timer recordings, the red clock should show in the control display. [bold]Re: Hard Drive or RAM?[/bold] And I do believe they use something like battery-backed up CMOS RAM for persistant data. In the absence of actual data, either claim has merits and each could be wrong. We are simply following what we beileve based upon our own personal assesments. Yes, they would--and mine do. I believe that the loss is not due to the lack of power, but the lack of proper power-loss/shutdwn routines (or sufficient backup power to complete them). I have *properly* shut the machine down (Soft reset *without* plugging it back in) and then moved it across town to my other house. It was off for half a day and when I plugged it back on, the clock was correct *before* I hooked up any input OR powered it up. That indicates a long-term battery to keep the clock running. The current time was *certainly* not kept on the hard disk. When I did power it up, all of my listings were still there, and for the three days before I hooked up the cable, they simply didn't load any new data. Most CMOS memory require less power in stand-by than a running clock *IF* they are set to stanby and all write control lines disabled *BEFORE* VCC (main power) is removed. I once used a tantalum capacitor as a "battery" to hold data in CMOS memory for 48 hours in the event of power loss in one design, so I know it can be done. Actually, if you read it again, you will see that I was referring to persstance through *crashes*--not through normal removal of power. To lose data on the hard drive, you have to be in WRITE mode at the microsecond of the crash. For the last few decades, almost every drive ever made has an automatic shut-down feature that removes write current *immediately* upon any glitch in main drive power--and long before normal logical functions shut down. This is why drives are *usually* reliable trhough power losses. On the other hand, unless the Panny engineers included a *hardware* safety triggered by low power, they would rely on the processor to set up and administer going into stand-by mode--which is *not* a reliable way to handle the process (but *IS* the cheaper way). A guess: This is most likely what Panny did--and why the CMOS RAM fails to maintain persistance *sometimes*. It would also explain why different units in different configurations have different results IN THIS AREA--but *NO ONE* has reported loss of saved titles except those who unplug the drive. [bold]shaolin00:[/bold] Crash, perhaps, but if it were o the drive, it *should* still be recoverable *AND* the crash should not destroy more than a single sector (or at most cluster) of date. This is another reason why I think none (or very little) of the *system* data is on the drive. It was on the phone, months ago, after I had been passed around a bit, so I really can't say for sure. It *was* someone fairly well up the food chain. I think that is one thing we can all agree on: *MANY* of the crashes (I personally do not believe all of them) are triggered by corrupted , conflicting, or otherwise incompatible downloads. bob
No problems here with the time change on Sunday other than taking a glitch in the listings (next Monday, which was "day 8", didn't download, so it should tonight when it's "day 3"). I didn't record on Sunday after 10PM. Next Thursday is also missing, which should fill in by Tuesday. Odd that I'm seeing these glitches in the listings; my channels are pared down and the unit is in standby from 11PM until 9AM every day. I can live with these "8th day" timeouts or non-downloads as they're corrected when they become "day 3." Interesting about the time-synch observation, VideoBob.
