# My R15 died



## HockeyKat (Jul 5, 2006)

This makes me very sad since I actually REALLY liked the thing. I was watching recordings one day, deleted one, went onto the next one and BAM. Black screen. No response. After server resets I got a picture, but little to no response to anything. After about a day I ended up being able to watch one more recording, then it died again. When I hit the power button it takes a few minutes to come on, but then no real response to things.

*sigh* So, my question to the geniuses of this board - Since it's a safe bet that sending it back to be fixed/replaced will guarantee that I lose any recordings I have on it anyway, is it worth my while to do a re-format first? I first suspected that the recording I tried to watch when everything died was corrupted and caused the problems. But I THINK I deleted it and everything is still goofy, and maybe even worse. So I don't know anymore. Maybe the harddrive is just going altogether or somethign. I guess it's worth a shot, though? How do I go about that, anyway?


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

Either way your going to lose all your recording so I would try the reformat first. Then swap it out if that doesnt help.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

Does it boot up? If it does, try to reload the software first, but I'm not optimistic.

I'm sure D* won't repair your unit, if anything they'll send you a replacement.


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## mrb (Sep 14, 2006)

qwerty said:


> Does it boot up? If it does, try to reload the software first, but I'm not optimistic.
> 
> I'm sure D* won't repair your unit, if anything they'll send you a replacement.


The entire reformat will "fix" the problem for a few days, maybe a week at most (yes you will lose everything). DTV will send you another R15. Unfortunately that won't make any difference as it's the software that sucks, so a new machine running the same crappy software will eventually, and sooner rather than later, break down.

How do I know this?...I've had THREE R15s in seven months. Then 10 days ago my R10 from eBay arrived. Flawless performance. Yeah I wish I could see the picture when I'm in the menu screens, and miss the 90 minute live tv buffer. But that's a small price to pay as I can see all the shows that recorded on time as directed from start to finish. TiVo is superior. Get rid of your R15 and get an R10. If you're good DTV will give you a big enough bill credit to cover the $100 or so you'll pay for the used R10.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

mrb said:


> The entire reformat will "fix" the problem for a few days, maybe a week at most (yes you will lose everything). DTV will send you another R15. Unfortunately that won't make any difference as it's the software that sucks, so a new machine running the same crappy software will eventually, and sooner rather than later, break down.


There's no question that the R15 is flawed. However, many have reported weeks and months after doing the reformat their units have not exhibited the original severe problems that forced them to reformat. Of course there's no way to dispute that the problem will eventually return other than to wait forever. The reformat seems to work well to clear the severe problems for many (but not all).


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## HockeyKat (Jul 5, 2006)

I don't want to make this into yet another R15 vs Tivo pissing match. I LIKE my R15 and intend to get it fixed or replaced with another R15. I was just looking for advice on a course of action to try before calling DTV.

Thank you all for your ideas. I'll try the software download before reformatting the whole thing. And I'm picking up my HR20 today, so I'm not in a huge hurry.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

qwerty said:


> There's no question that the R15 is flawed. However, many have reported weeks and months after doing the reformat their units have not exhibited the original severe problems that forced them to reformat. Of course there's no way to dispute that the problem will eventually return other than to wait forever. The reformat seems to work well to clear the severe problems for many (but not all).


That the reformat procedure seems to clear the problems is just peachy. It STILL erases everything you've recorded. Or, you do as I am currently doing, and that is dumping down to DVD.

And that is something that we, as paying subscribers, should never have been put in the position of doing.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

HockeyKat said:


> I don't want to make this into yet another R15 vs Tivo pissing match. I LIKE my R15 and intend to get it fixed or replaced with another R15. I was just looking for advice on a course of action to try before calling DTV.
> 
> Thank you all for your ideas. I'll try the software download before reformatting the whole thing. And I'm picking up my HR20 today, so I'm not in a huge hurry.


I agree with you on that. I have never had a TIVO unit, this R15 is my first DVR. But based on what I have read here concerning the features and behaviour of a TIVO, I would prefer the R15. I like the buffer and seeing the video while in the menus.

Now if only it was reliable.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

sheridan1952 said:


> That the reformat procedure seems to clear the problems is just peachy. It STILL erases everything you've recorded. Or, you do as I am currently doing, and that is dumping down to DVD.
> 
> And that is something that we, as paying subscribers, should never have been put in the position of doing.


Maybe with all this they will give us free D* togo drives (when and if they come out for the R15) to use when we have to do DA/R and wipe the drives.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

cabanaboy1977 said:


> Maybe with all this they will give us free D* togo drives (when and if they come out for the R15) to use when we have to do DA/R and wipe the drives.


Would that not require enabling the USB port? And if it did, then they should also give us the ability to dump the recordings as files so it would be a whole lot faster.


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## HockeyKat (Jul 5, 2006)

Oh yeah - How do I do a reformat? That might be useful to know.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

sheridan1952 said:


> Would that not require enabling the USB port? And if it did, then they should also give us the ability to dump the recordings as files so it would be a whole lot faster.


Yes it would.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

cabanaboy1977 said:


> Yes it would.


Now THAT would be good. You could dump down to an external drive, take it to your computer and edit and save/burn.

But would D* be inclined to do that?


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

sheridan1952 said:


> Now THAT would be good. You could dump down to an external drive, take it to your computer and edit and save/burn.
> 
> But would D* be inclined to do that?


I would say they would almost have to. If they every tell me that I need to a format to fix my R15 (and the D* togo was out) I'd have to say sure but first send me a D* togo so I can xfer my shows. Again this is if they ever do this for the R15. I know that Earl has said they they are working on the external Hd's for the HR20. We'll have to see down the road what happens but it would be nice if they would give it free to R15 owners.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

It would go a long way to help satisfy a lot of very angry subscribers.

Thanks for that tidbit. Now I have something to hope for. (Don't take it away, Earl)


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## HockeyKat (Jul 5, 2006)

So can someone tell me how to reformat? Please????


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## ericp (Oct 4, 2006)

Yeah, I just did this yesterday.

Do a red button restart on the box. When it changes from the blue screens to black, hold down the down arrow and record on the front of the box.


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## Halo (Jan 13, 2006)

HockeyKat said:


> This makes me very sad since I actually REALLY liked the thing. I was watching recordings one day, deleted one, went onto the next one and BAM. Black screen. No response. After server resets I got a picture, but little to no response to anything. After about a day I ended up being able to watch one more recording, then it died again. When I hit the power button it takes a few minutes to come on, but then no real response to things.
> 
> *sigh* So, my question to the geniuses of this board - Since it's a safe bet that sending it back to be fixed/replaced will guarantee that I lose any recordings I have on it anyway, is it worth my while to do a re-format first? I first suspected that the recording I tried to watch when everything died was corrupted and caused the problems. But I THINK I deleted it and everything is still goofy, and maybe even worse. So I don't know anymore. Maybe the harddrive is just going altogether or somethign. I guess it's worth a shot, though? How do I go about that, anyway?


If your drive has bad sectors then I don't think even a full reformat will fix it. 
My normally stable R15 was having all kinds of black screen problems which required resets. I pulled the drive, put it in my PC, then ran the Seatools utility which found and repaired two bad sectors on the drive. Not a single lock-up since and I didn't lose any recordings.

If you are fairly handy with this kind of thing (or know someone who is) then that's at least an option if you want to save your recordings.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

ericp said:


> Yeah, I just did this yesterday.
> 
> Do a red button restart on the box. When it changes from the blue screens to black, hold down the down arrow and record on the front of the box.


Hit the reset button when it's restarting the blue screen turns to black, press and hold the down arrow and the record button on the front of the R15 (not on the remote), and hold them for at least 5 seconds.

You might try the software download first. Hit the reset button when the screen turns from blue to black hit 02468 on the remote. Do that once and only once and don't hit any other buttons or it won't work.


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## HockeyKat (Jul 5, 2006)

Well here's a nice update! I was going to order a replacement when I activated my HR20 a while back, but the hold time was so long that evening I decided I would rather eat my dinner, so I hung up and didn't bother. After letting the R15 sit for a while unplugged, I plugged it back in about 2 weeks ago. Still nothing. It would turn on occasionally, but do nothing and still be useless. I was going to reformat it, but still never got around to that either and I never did get the forced software download (02468) thing to work.

So this morning I notice that the record light is on. hhmmm! So I turn it on and hey! It actually turns on! It looks like it FINALLY got the latest software this morning and is actually responsive again. Yaaay! Who knows what will happen when I try to actually play a recording, but it's a good start, anyway. I hate having to send stuff back to service or replacement, so this makes me happy.

But this means that we have to finally run that second cable upstairs to the bedroom. So maybe laziness doesn't entirely pay off in this case. :hurah:


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

HockeyKat said:


> I never did get the forced software download (02468) thing to work.


I suspect if you would have it would have fixed it as well. Sometimes it seems the software gets corrupted somehow, and even reinstalling the same version will fix it.


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## HockeyKat (Jul 5, 2006)

walters said:


> I suspect if you would have it would have fixed it as well. Sometimes it seems the software gets corrupted somehow, and even reinstalling the same version will fix it.


Yeah, more than likely. I tried several times and couldn't get it to work, though. Must be some special trick that I haven't mastered yet.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

walters said:


> Sometimes it seems the software gets corrupted somehow, and even reinstalling the same version will fix it.


I've suspected the same thing. That could explain why some have increased problems (of the locking up variety) they blame on a particular release. Of course, forcing a reload of the software doesn't seem to consistently fix it.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

qwerty said:


> I've suspected the same thing. That could explain why some have increased problems (of the locking up variety) they blame on a particular release. Of course, forcing a reload of the software doesn't seem to consistently fix it.


Seems allot of the time if a reload of the software doesn't fix it a reformat and reinstall does. Could be something like file system corruption or something along those lines in some cases.


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