Building a Troubleshooting Checklist - Page 3

I believe patch is only for winNT which win98 isn't. Win98 is FAT16 (32?) I can't see a reason why it wouldn't work, but I've never tried.

The old hard drive tests fine with the Maxtor utility. I did the LLF just so I had a clean slate, then got the system to recognize the drive as "D" but am wondering how I install the replay files. Have I gone too far by partitioning the drive in order to get the system to assign a drive letter?

Am taking this one slow, methodical step at a time. That way I'll learn something and avoid screwing something up.

Steve, sorry for the delay, you should have searched around.

Partitions in windows boxes are for windows machines. The replay drive uses a different structure. The drive won't ever be seen by windows as a mountable drive, so don't try. Nothing bad by doing it, it's just not needed.

RTV_Patch will fix the drive so it can be used by the replayTV.

You need to have the image (you should have made a back up before your LLF) if you need to download an image look on the faq page there's an area on the right side with links to images. Get the image and unzip that to a .rtv file. Use this file in rtv_patch to restore a system. Then patch the drive with the patch button. Icecow has an excellent video on this site you can use to understand how to do what you need to do.

Chlamydia,
I am having the same problem.
I am also getting the "Video not found" error every time a program ends.
I have to go back into setup and re-select the video input.

The thing forgets the input and records hours of blank video. Very frustrating.

I love my ReplayTV, but in the 2 months I have had it, it appears buggy as all get out. I had great luck with it for the first 3 weeks. Since then it has been a strugle.

Folks - Are these things stable?

What is the video input? If it's a cable or satellite box, you'll have to make sure that that isn't the problem. Do you have a VCR that you can hook up to another set of outputs from the converter box?

If that's not it, you might want to try a new hard drive. If it worked fine for a few weeks and then got worse, that sounds like the HD. But if you bought it from DNNA, you would invalidate the warranty by opening it. If you bought it on eBay, you might not be covered by the warranty and your best shot might be a new HD.

FWIW, I've had mine for 10 and 7 months, respectively, and other than occasional reboots when my wireless network hangs, I've had zero problems with the hardware and software. (Most of my problems stem from crappy guide data from DNNA.)

Thanks Max H.

I have a digital cable box.

I simplified the input by reducing it to the coax cable only.

In the past I was using Svideo input, but when the problems started I tried to make things as simple to troubleshoot as possible.

I did check the inputs to assure I had the connections correct.
I rechecked the setup options.

I purchased the unit new, so it is still under warrantee. This might be the ticket.

The Replay TV unit is crashing after being on for a few hours. It locks up with a dark blue background.

Works correctly after a hard reboot for a few hours and crashes again.

Every once in a while I get a greatly magnified screen ( I can only see a portion of the logo).

I also get a green screen with vertical lines every once in a while.

I will try the Replay support line tomorrow........ not looking forward to that.

What is the groups experience with the "Return to factory defaults" option?

.

.

OK, here's a really wierd problem I'm having with one of my 5040s after almost 2 years of use. My wake-up call in the morning is essentially my wife turning on the bedroom TV/RTV to 'Good Morning America'. One morning she says the replay remote's not working... it won't change channels (but it turned on the TV and RTV). Thats all it will do is turn on/off the TV and RTV, no channels, no guides, no menus etc. The first thing I do is put in new batteries and it does the same thing so I pull the plug on the replay for 10 min and reboot. I turn on the replay, then the TV and everything works (or so I think). Later that evening I check it again and its ok.

The next morning my wife says its not working again so I repeat the process and fix the problem. Morning 3, the same problem. Now I ask my wife what in the heck is she doing. When I use it it seems to work fine. When she uses it, it breaks.

Here's whats happening. Using the replay remote, if you turn the TV on first, then the replay, the replay won't respond to the remote. You then need to reboot to get out of this. If you turn on the replay first, then the TV, everything seems to work fine. I can't imagine what affect the TV can be having on the RTV when powered on first, it doesn't make sense.

Another symptom that I see with this problem is that when its in the 'doesn't respond to the remote' state, it still will attempt to record shows that have been previously programmed but it can't change channels. You end up recording the channel its stuck on during that timeslot. Anyway, I just thought I'd throw this up here and let some of you scratch your heads on it.

I have a RTV5504 set up to work with WiRNS 1.2.6. Back when I was using WiRNS 1.1.2, my nightly net connect would take roughly 5 minutes to finish; now it takes over 15 minutes. My RTV would go through checking activation, setting clock, transferring data, and etc. at its normal speed, but it would take more than 10 minutes on the last 15% of Combine Data. I tried unplugging the ReplayTV for over 30 minutes and disconnecting the RTV from the router. Nothing seems to be working. I am not sure what I did to cause this slow down. Everything else with my RTV seems to be running fine. I would like to get back my 5-minute nightly updates. Please help. Thank you.

In addition to the other "channel 6" issues, You can add a software update to the latest software as a solution.

If you get the Quick Setup screen after a reboot or a crash, you can likely recover your shows Do the following:[list=1][*]Do a 382-zone (the numbers do not appear on the screen, but you'll know if you did it right.[*]When presetnted with the factory reset option select exit.[*]This should take you to the choice of modem or ethernet connection to download data.[*]Select exit once again[/list=1]

For me, this got me back into the menu. Others have gotten the three choices screen (Replay Guide, Channel Guide, etc). Anyway, all my shows were intact but any category that I created was gone (not the shows, just the category). For credit's sake, j.m. pointed me to a thread that was written by JeffD, but I was unclear on who wrote the original directions.

bump to save from archive

Weird- after reading this thread through, I left my Replay 5040 unplugged overnight- I had a power outage and afterwards, I would get a "service activation" screen up that I couldn't get rid of- it wouldn't connect to the server, wouldn't download anything properly.

After leaving unplugged overnight and booting the unit with the Ethernet unplugged, it seems to work fine now. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the thread.

Hi,

I haven't been in this forum in a while, but here is a problem I experienced a while back. We had inadvertently let the Replay 5060 with a 120 GB drive fill up. I could not get it to delete any shows. However, I was able to access the Replay unit through DVArchive. After deleting a few shows, I was again able to clean out some files straight through the Replay again.

Hope this helps if anybody else gets stuck like that.

Cheers,
Cogito

I had the Please Wait... reboot loop issue mentioned by jleavens. I'm writing in the hope that I help somebody out.

I just spent the last two weeks getting familiar with my 5040 innards, rtv_patch, and hard drive upgrades. After much effort and buying a new Maxtor 120GB drive, I believe the answer to my original problem with the 2.5-year-old stock Maxtor 40GB setup was the grounding screws on either the motherboard or power supply.

The original symptom was a show hanging (video freeze with audio in a short loop). After reboot, continued to work normally. One morning after the same issue, unit got into a reboot loop at the Please Wait... screen.

Called ReplayTV folks and they told me for $80 + shipping they would fix it. Ha!

I read up on rtv_patch, ripped the sticker, opened it up and stuck the drive in my computer. With rtv_patch, did a backup, restore and patch to the same drive (lost my shows, but wasn't concerned about it). Put it back in the unit and it booted up and ran fine for a week (good for me, saved $80+) before doing something a little different than before (bad for me, not working again).

This time when it would boot up, it would go from the Please Wait... screen to the Quick Setup screen and then turn off. When I turned it on, it was at the Quick Setup screen prompting me to hit Select to continue. However, the unit would not respond to the remote at all, so I was essentially stuck.

I decided to buy a new drive to see if it was a drive problem. I plugged both the old drive and the new drive into my computer and used rtv_patch to copy the partitions to the new drive. I booted up the new drive and got the same Quick Setup dead end.

I did a restore to the new drive using my backup from 2 weeks prior. Put the unit back together and it booted up! Just for good measure, I did a factory reset and went through the setup flawlessly. Back in business or so I thought.

After checking the Channel Guide to see that things were working, I clicked on System Information in Setup. It hung there for 5 minutes before I manually rebooted. It came back up. 411-Zones indicated that I had September 2003 version. Using 243-Zones, I did a Net Connect. Everything worked fine...it downloaded the new software. When it rebooted however it got stuck in the Please Wait... reboot loop. AAAGH! Back to where I started.

So at that point I had a new hard drive that's essentially been wiped by a factory reset and it still doesn't work. I think it must be the latest software version, since it seemed to work with the 09/03 software. I figure I'm toast.

I start rummaging through this forum this afternoon and come across a thread talking about a grounding problem with the motherboard and power supply due to loose screws. I figure it's worth a shot so I open up the unit one more time and give a little tweak to each one. I plug the unit back in and PRESTO! it comes back to life on the first try. It's been running fine all evening...assuming it continues to work, I end up with 3 times the storage and a great amount of knowledge.

I'm a real newbie re use of this Forum, so hope I'm posting this in the right place!

I have a Replay 4000 that when I got up this a.m. had the power light blinking red. Nothing I can do will cause it to turn on. Does this mean it's for sure dead? Or is there some other way to try a reboot? (It's very hard to get to the plug -- requires moving lots of heavy furniture. So the obvious thing to do - unplug it and see it it would reset isn't easy).

We had a momentary power glitch last p.m. I noticed the unit reset itself, and it seemed to be okay (except the record light came on momentarily -- which seemed odd). So maybe something was damaged by the power surge.
Anyway, any opinion you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Ray Eve

First off - I have 2 x 5040 in each room connected by ethernet on a switch (no wireless). Each unit has a 250GB HD upgrade.

I had both units set to DHCP with a set address to be assigned to each. This got my room to room working, and it worked perfect for about a month. Now the replay guide will not populate?? I have no problem seening both units in the upper right hand corner to switch between, but no programs come up? I have 250GB drives in each, so I allowed plenty of time for the list to come across, but still nothing.

Does anyone have any ideas? Could it be a new software update that caused this? Or perhaps I have too many shows on the units, which has only increased over time??

>>> I had both units set to DHCP with a set address to be assigned to each.

Do you mean that the RpTV units were using DHCP, but your DHCP server has the MAC addresses for the two RpTV units in a reserved address table so that they always get the same address, even though your network is a DHCP environment?

If not, I suggest that you do it the way I descrbed. For whatever, reason, if you set a static IP address in the RpTV unit, it sometimes still tries to request an IP assignment if it sees a DHCP server on the network. Granted, that makes no sense, but trust me, it's a quirk of the OS that the RpTV units run.

I have three 5040s with 200gb drives in two of them. My networks is wired. My setup is as I described. I have no trouble. If your setup is like mine, first double check your DHCP server to make sure it still has reserved addresses for the two RpTVs. Next, do a hard reboot on everything.

Hello All- I have a 5040 Replay with a Maxtor Quickview 7200RPM drive that I replaced. It seems to work most of the time but every 4 months or so I'll go to turn on my Replay and it's stuck in the "Please Wait" screen. I've read this thread but have not really been able to pinpoint why this is happening. It really sucks because after a manual reboot I have to walk through the installation wizard and all of my previously saved shows do not show up. I'm forced to reformat the drive in order to get it working again.

Could this be due to heat? Should I go out a get a 5400 RPM drive?

Thanks in advance,
phiphika

I've had a somewhat similar problem with one of my RTV's. I have static IPs set on both of my RTVs. For some reason, one of them bound to ip .3 even though i had it set to .100. The "Network and Input" section still said it was set to .100. So on that screen with the network settings, I clicked on "Continue". As soon as I did that, the RTV bound again to the IP that I had specified for it. That was this morning, and i just had to do that again now. Is this also a "quirk of the OS"? I haven't had this happen to me in the 3+years I've had my RTV.

Very interesting, I'm on DHCP and it's bound to .3! Wow. So what you are suggesting is that I static IP it and change the IP?

I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just stating my problems. The fact that your unit binds to ip .3 as well supports the fact that this is some "quirk of the OS." Although, I do find it weird that it just started all of a sudden after over 3+ years of having the units.

Thanks for this thread. I had forgotten how network issues could lock up a Replay. (it happened to me before)
I had someone request a show and when I tried to send it, the Replay said it couldn't contact the other unit. I thought maybe his was on the fritz. It turned out to be mine. It wouldn't contact ReplayTV. DVArchive couldn't find it. The power button didn't work. (except for soft reboot) The remote didn't work.
After verifying the IR board issues, I found the 3 choices menu (after please wait... screen) lockup was an indication of searching for a network. (although I did find a cold solder for one leg of the power light, all other solder joints looked pretty good)
1. Unplug network cable.
2. Reboot Replay.
3. Select modem connection. (save settings)
4. Select network connection. (save settings)
5. Works fine again. (show now being sent)

Thanks guys!

I have not seen any symptoms like this posted... or a similar solution so FWIW

5040 Input 1 connected by RCA cables from a Scientific Atlanta Digital Cable Box..
The Replay is over 3 years old and has run continuously (as a point of reference). Purchased new from Replay it has many of the hiccups mentioned in this Forum but nothing that was not previously posted... until now.

Set up: RCA component out from Cable box to Input 1 on Replay. Output 1 RCA component out to TV.

Symptom: Stuttering sound, black video on channel select, able to access Replay menus and to replay recorded shows.

Analysis: Checked cable connections, checked power, etc..., bypass video from Cable box and from replay working OK.

First hypothesis, Disk going bad in sectors being used for live TV recording.
Second hypothesis: Replay tuner going bad

Action: All other disk functions including reboot working fine. Since there was nothing I could do to verify the disk hypothesis I lowered the priority and
Reset/Reboot all components one at a time.

When I rebooted the Digital Cable box, the Cable Box logo was displayed on the TV... this eliminated the Replay tuner as the problem as the video signal went through the Replay.

Solution: Rebooting the Digital cable box and letting it "reload" whatever reloads corrected both the video and audio problems... neither the disk nor the tuner was the problem. I did not have to reboot the Replay after the Cable Box reboot. (This is similar to the remove the remove and restore the coax cable and reboot solution, but removing the RCA video in to the Replay and rebooting did not solve the problem)

and thanks to everyone on this forum for taking the time to post issues and solutions... the guidance here was a great help in eliminating options and getting to the solution... GREAT JOB...



NH

I have a 5080 whose symptoms lately have been multiple zero-minute and one-minute recordings, video freeze with stuttering & looping audio, and finally, continuous rebooting with loss of all functions.

I pulled the unit out of the entertainment stand, (which has no doors and is well-ventilated.) The vent on the left side of the 5080 and the opening over the power supply fan were coated with a thick layer of dust/dirt.

I have two cats, (one long-hair), and a smoker in the house. We have ceiling fans constantly running, and I have to regularly clean the ceiling fan blades and motor housing vents. I also open all the PCs in the house and blow them out with an air compressor to keep them from overheating.

I simply forgot that the 5080 is also a computer and needs the same regular cleaning to prevent overheating. After cleaning the exterior, I plugged it in and the symptoms went away, for now. Of course, it could've been that unplugging everything for a while solved the problem, but it doesn't hurt to make sure your ReplayTV unit can breathe. Keep those vents clean & clear.

I bought the unit new 3-1/2 years ago, so it's well out of warranty. I'll probably break the seal and blow the innards clean with the air compressor, just to be sure.

As the 5040 reboot loop has also visited upon me today out of the blue, I hope this turns out to be my problem as well. The screws in question are nicely illustrated here.

My 5080 has been running fine since I did that routine exterior cleaning last August.
Over Thanksgiving, I cleaned the unit again as I moved it from under the old TV to the stereo closet.

Even more information on power supply problems, including the nice picture of the screws is given here...

Henry

Just finished installing WD3200JB in a 55XX Replay unit and there was an issue that prolonged the install. I was using the RTVPatch program installing a single drive and followed the directions exactly. The problem occurred when I first started the Replay unit, it would cycle the please wait screen continually. The fix was to move the jumper from Master, like it said in the instructions, to Cable Select.

I discovered this after I had googled the symptoms and followed some of the advice that existed. I spent 2hrs 40 minutes performing a low-level diagnostics to see if I had some bad sectors(none found). Also I removed all the inputs to see if that would fix the issue. Only after looking at my old drive did I realize that Cable select was jumpered. Once I changed it, all was good.

I learned not to put the Replay back together until I was sure the unit could get past the Please wait screen and I could see the basic functionality was there. This is dangerous because the power supply is exposed. I have a spot in my entertainment center that I can close a door to keep out fingers and pets. If this bothers you put the cover on without the screws after you have placed the unplugged unit where you are to test it.

The RTVPatch process was the quickest part of the process. If you do not want to copy your existing shows and you know how to connect a harddrive then you can get this done in 30 minutes easily. It took me longer to move the furniture and note all the connections than to patch the replay unit( excluding the low-level format which did not need to be done)