OT: Motorola 6412 DVR Issue - "My DVR" not working!

[Thomas Rogers]

I am adding this as a public service announcement. It seems that this is happening to Motorola 6412 DVRs provided by several cable companies throughout the country.



If the viewer presses the "MyDVR" button, instead of being given a listing of their recorded programs they see a screen that has the following title and little else:



ìF$



I have done some online investigation in AV blogs and such, and the problem seems to be hitting several MSOs all over the country. It seems to be corrupt iguide data coming down to the settop, but given that I have myself tried two hard resets I'm skeptical of that.



The customer support folks at each of the MSOs are saying that they are aware of the problem and engineers are working on a fix.



There is a work-around, and that is:



1) Press the MyDVR button, get the funny blank page, and hit OK (out of sheer hope), and viola, the list of recorded programs shows up.



OR



2) Go through the Menu button, then the DVR selection, then the "DVR Recordings" selection to get to the list.





Read more here:

 

[A1cntrler]

Have not yet run intot his problem on my box. What is your cable company?? Cox here (At least until they finish my FIOS install... )

 

[Jeff Geist]

TJR - I'll assume you have the same cable company as me...Comcast. I ran into this problem the other day and got around it with the second method you described. What did I do without DVR...I'll never know. Can't wait for Verizon FiOS to get to my neighborhood so I can get rid of Comcast. I think it's time to call them and threaten to leave them if they don't give me a better rate. For anyone tired of paying those high prices...call and ask if there are any retention programs...or setup a time to turn in your cable box. Call frequently as you'll never get the same story on all the deals. Plus, they'll frequently have pay channel specials that can save you some money.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

I have Comcast, and it doesn't hit all boxes for whatever reason, even if you are one of those cable companies affected.



I work in this industry and am currently project managing a settop app for a Japanese company. Wow, these systems are mucho fragile.



TJR

 

[TomT]

Whatever you do, don't press the pause and menu button at the same time. Especially if you don't have home insurance.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

TomT, what are you referring to?



Or is that a joke?

 

[TomT]

It was a joke but I'll bet you were dying to press them and see what happened.

 

[TrainTrac]

I had the same problem yesterday with both my Motorola DVR receivers. I have Mediacom cable. I did a hard reset on both boxes, and completely lost all menu functions on both receivers. The problem fixed itself today sometime, because both receivers were back to normal when I got home this afternoon.



I want so badly to ditch the cable TV and go to Dish network, but my wife likes the bundled package (phone/internet/digital cable). She likes having it all on one bill. Not gonna convince her to change unless cable rates go up dramatically.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

TrainTrac,



A hard-reset clears all the guide "data" and it has to trickle back to the settop in data messages that come down from a data carousel in the cable companies headend. The actual time it takes to get back all the menus and all the program information can be several hours.



I will check if my button/menu is working right when I get home and report back.



TJR

 

[Marc Mulhern]

I will have to see what box I have as I haven't had any issues with the DVR the last few days or weeks. I also have Comcast for my cable.



hefhay, are you looking to leave becuase of the pricing/customer service or content? Just curious, as they are running the FIOS through my neighborhood now.



Marc

 

[TrainTrac]

TJR,



I've had this happen before, and it usually is back to normal within a couple of hours at the most. But both my boxes were OOC for for over 24 hours. It shouldn't take that long for the data to reset. I talked to Mediacom tech support both yesterday and today, and both times they attempted to send a reset signal to both my receivers, but neither box responded to the signal. So I'm attributing the problem to the widespread issue that you mentioned, and assume it's now corrected.

 

[WXMotorSports DecalsPartsAccs]

No problems here either. Maybe because when I picked up my new comcast box I took it home in the FJ and it just runs good... I dunno.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

SST,



Sending a signal to the box to fix this isn't going to fix the issue. I have never seen this particular issue before...and have had the DVR box for over 2 years.



I still have the issue with our box at home...but I don't want to hard reset it...I don't like losing the program data and portions of the menu for a couple of hours.



Maybe a hard reset before I go to bed tonight.



UPDATE: After reading the most latest posts to the forum I linked in the beginning of this thread it seems there isn't a FIX for this yet. Yes, reseting your box may bring back your MyDVR menu, temporarily (it did for me late last night for about 30 minutes), but then it may get corrupt again later (could be hours, maybe not at all) when the iGuide data refreshes your box.



If you are not seeing this, you are one of the lucky ones. If you are, use the work-around, and watch the forum for when the guys in the know say its really fixed:







Tom

 

[Shelby Crane]

THANK YOU! I have not been able to watch DVR for two days.



THANK YOU THANK YOU.

 

[Jeff Geist]

Marc, my reason for wanting to ditch Comcast is their stranglehold on the market in the Philadelphia area. Others will say, you can go to dish or direct TV but I can't get the Comcast Sportsnet (CSN) package that carries half the Flyers, Phillies and Sixers games. It also gives great local coverage of the Eagles. So...from a sports perspective, I just can't do it. Comcast has recently allowed (government got involved) Verizon to carry CSN. Problem is...I can't get the FiOS at my home and their are no plans to have it here in the next two years. Bummer. The other reason is Comcast has constantly raised their rates every year. They seem to do this and take away more from the customer. I used to be able to watch HBO on a non-digital box TV. That is no longer the case but they didn't reduce my payment.



Oh...and one more thing. I work for Verizon. The FiOS TV programming is equal to or even better than what Comcast offers. Plus, it's traveling over fiber so it's safer, more reliable and has greater capabilities. BTW - if any of you are interested in FiOS TV and its available in your area, let me know. I have some contacts that will get someone in touch with you right away. I made one phone call and my wife's girlfriend had a representative on the phone within a few hours and they had FiOS installed in less than a week. It doesn't have to be just for FiOS TV (DSL, One Bill, Business lines, Long Distance plans, etc.) It's good to know people at a company so you don't have to wait on hold for customer service. Just an option.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

My DVR is working normally this AM. Supposedly a fix was pushed out nation-wide between 2am and 3am EST. It may take some time to get to your box. If you get sick of waiting, unplug the box for 30 sec, then plug it back in. Don't be alarmed after it starts back up it may take an hour or two for all menus to become active.



TJR

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Ironbar...you are welcome!



Hefay...still waiting...we have Fios available, but not the TV service. Verizon isn't setting itself to be that cost competitive with Comcast, either (tell your superiors). Right now I *HATE* Comcast and pay a huge-ass bill each month, but I haven't YET been compelled to switch because the service isn't there yet, and when it is, the price isn't that much better.



Sure, the service should be better....but you mentioned Fios is "safer"....I really don't care if bits get injured for me to watch 24 in HD.



TJR

 

[Marc Mulhern]

hefhay, I hear on the content piece of Comcast and not broadcasting Flyers and the like. I'm guessing you don't have RCN in your area either....like others have said, there are choices, it's they don't suit what you need. I equate, the not sharing piece, similar to products a car may have, like OnStar. It is a product only they offer to attract and retain customers.



I believe most of Comcast's backbone is fiber as well but the run to the house is coax. I am curious to see if and when they will run fiber closer to the home to allow for more speeds.



As for the annual cost increases, a lot of that stems from content providers charging the company more as well, similar to utility bills going up. Their cost is more and like other companies, they pass it along to customers. Not saying it's right just what I've seen happen.



I live just outside of Philly....in Ardmore.

Marc

 

[Jeff Geist]

TJR - I priced out the new Verizon Fios and compared it to Comcast and you're right...there isn't a tremendous cost savings. I think I would save about $5 a month. Cost competitive is really just about being in the same ballpark. Less money would definitely entice me plus I think you'll be able to do more "a la carte" programming through Verizon. I have heard some horror stories from when this was first launched over a year ago but I rarely hear any negative news these days.



Marc - no RCN in our area. I'm very familiar with the Ardmore area (my parents grew up in Wynnewood and still have family down that way). I also did landscaping with my dad and we had 40-50 customers throughout Wynnewood, Narberth, Ardmore and Haverford. A very nice area...too main line'ish for me.

 

[Marc Mulhern]

hefhay, I hear you about the main line'ish you are talking about. I bought a house that should have been condemned and got it for pennies. Otherwise, this isn't a spot I would actively look for housing, plus it's too expensive for my blood.



marc