# How often to reset?



## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

Question for you experienced folks, having a good experience with the R15.

How often do you hit the red reset button?

Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly?

D* tells me to do it often, not sure how often.

Thanks,
s.


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## DonCorleone (Jan 29, 2006)

Not sure if it's the same as the HR20 in concept or not, but you should be resetting via the menus rather than the red button whenever possible.


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

I have only had to do it once - when downloading a newer software version, it froze up. If you are having issues that you have to call about that often, and they are telling you to RBR - something is wrong with your unit. Try posting the problems here before call DTV. Also search through the forums for similar problems and resolutions. If those do not work, then look into having DTV replace your unit.


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## texasbrit (Aug 9, 2006)

You should "never" have to reset the DVR. That is, any time you have to reset it means the DVR has encountered a problem it is not handling correctly. It might be a software bug, or a problem with hardware particularly with the quality of the signal. Just like a computer operating system, you may have your computer on all the time and then suddenly it starts slowing in response time, or locking up, so you have to reboot it. Similarly with the DVR, it is a sophisticated embedded computing system. The first response if you have a DVR problem you can't solve is to reset it. 
I don't have an R15 but I have two HR20s and an HR21 and I have only had to do two unexpected resets in total in the last 15 months, and one of these was a known problem with a CE (test) release.


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## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

The reason I am asking is because:

I am getting a replacement R15 (4th) new one this time. I want to make sure there is no question about how I operate the DVR.

I have been told by D* "push the reset button often, it's good for the DVR"

Thanks for the reply,
s.

EDIT: I am asking specifically about the R15. While I appreciate your experience with other models I am only interested in the operation of the R15, I wouldn't know a HR20/21 if I tripped over it.... Thanks


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

I think when you get your newest one, you should immediately do a reformat to wipe out any pre-existing problems on the hard drive. Thomas and Merg - if you could reply with better info on why and how? Maybe if the OP starts off with a clean slate, things will go much better!


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

scr said:


> The reason I am asking is because:
> 
> I am getting a replacement R15 (4th) new one this time. I want to make sure there is no question about how I operate the DVR.
> 
> ...


I think the video on 201 used to say something like that?

I used to do a "Maintenance Reboot" once a week before going to work. My theory was that most of the guide will have repopulated by that evening. Well, one day I got home to find that it was sitting in the set up routine waiting for a response from me. A couple others have posted that it's happened to them. So, now I always make sure it's booting back up.

I no longer do the "Maintenance Reboot" as it's become much more stable. I have found that when it starts getting sluggish, a lock up is usually imminent, and I'll do a reboot at that point.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

scr said:


> The reason I am asking is because:
> 
> I am getting a replacement R15 (4th) new one this time. I want to make sure there is no question about how I operate the DVR.
> 
> ...


Well here's the deal never do a RBR.Only if you can't do a Menu Reset.If you find your R15 is locking up,rebooting by itself.There is a thread in the R15 forum by Mr. Nerd the title is R15 Locking Up.This thread will tell you how to Reformat the R15.
Well that's about it.Good Luck!

I have the R15-500.


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

Supramom2000 said:


> I think when you get your newest one, you should immediately do a reformat to wipe out any pre-existing problems on the hard drive. Thomas and Merg - if you could reply with better info on why and how? Maybe if the OP starts off with a clean slate, things will go much better!


Of course!!

I did IT Support for a number of years. Once a month, I'd power down and reboot all of my servers (after business hours, of course). Why? Because I have learned that most computer operating systems slowly become corrupted due to bad applications, power glitches (even though all had UPS power), memory not being released as it should, and who knows what else. A lot of my peers laughed at me but many times when their servers locked up right in the middle of the business day for "no reason" I had the last laugh!!

The R15 is no exception. As it runs without a reboot, things seem to get corrupted. Finally, one day it won't turn on. Or the "double dash" delete deletes a lot more than you wanted. Or it suddenly won't respond to the remote. Or recordings start to abort before the end of the show. Strange little things that negatively affect your viewing pleasure.

As a result, I PULL THE PLUG on both of my R15's about once a month or more often if they start acting sluggish or do something out-of-the-ordinary. Why not do a "controlled" restart? Because that does not insure that the volatile memory is totally cleared. And it also does not insure that all of the hardware has been completely reset.

As for "damaging" something or "corrupting" a file, the R15 was designed for users to press that red button whenever a CSR tells them to. (And as you can see from prior posts in this thread they tell folks to do it a LOT) And it was also designed to have it's plug pulled anytime. This is even recommended in the manual if problems develop. The HDD has data corruption protection built in. When it sees the power being removed, it quickly terminates what it is doing and parks it's heads. (Amazing what you learn from the Maxtor/Seagate web site, isn't it?) The old days of hard disks having "head crashes" because of an abrupt power loss are gone. Do you remember there were even "head parking" programs way back then that you were supposed to run before turning a system off?? Not any more!

Granted, it IS kind of annoying not to have the full program guide available for awhile, but I usually do it just before bed so by morning most of it is back. And it's a lot less stressful than having a favorite show terminate early. Or a double dash delete one of your favorite shows by accident. Or who knows what??


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## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

My "new" R15 300C-R arrived Saturday. I'll say one thing about D* they're fast, called Friday new DVR delivered Saturday. 

I will probably set it up tomorrow, still watching as much of the recorded stuff as we can before changing over.

I will reset the R15 once a in a while just to be on the safe side and give the plug a yank form time to time.

Sorry for being so "DUH" about all this but I sure want this new one to be ok. The last thing I want is for a problem to be caused by something I am doing or not doing.

Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to help me out with their suggestions and replies. I most sincerely appreciate your time and effort.
s.
Supramom: In as much as this is a "NEW" R15 should I still do the reformat as you suggested?

Thomas: I do remember the "Head Parking" programs. My first home computer was an 8088. Sure miss that blazing speed of 3.77mHz and my 40MB hard drive that I just couldn't seem to fill up.


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

scr said:


> My "new" R15 300C-R arrived Saturday. I'll say one thing about D* they're fast, called Friday new DVR delivered Saturday.
> 
> I will probably set it up tomorrow, still watching as much of the recorded stuff as we can before changing over.
> 
> ...


I would do the reformat before you start to set it up. It is the perfect time as you have no recordings and Series Links yet to lose. That way, if it is really a refurb or even a new one that was used for some sort of testing, you start with the clean slate!! Sorry I don't remember where to find the reformat directions. There are many here who can direct you or try the search function. You could also PM one of the more experienced users or moderators. They are all extremely helpful.

Best of luck!!


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## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

Supramom,

Thanks for your reply and information.

I am familar with the format proceedure.

s.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

I think someone is playing my song.Reformat!.


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## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

I know the words to that song. 

However, they are not fit to print in this forum.


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

scr said:


> Thomas: I do remember the "Head Parking" programs. My first home computer was an 8088. Sure miss that blazing speed of 3.77mHz and my 40MB hard drive that I just couldn't seem to fill up.


My first one was a genuine IBM PC....with 2 floppy disk drives and NO HDD!! Guess what? I still have it. Maybe I can sell it to a museum someday along with my original Hughes DirecTV box (which also still works!)

And now.... :backtotop


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

scr said:


> I know the words to that song.
> 
> However, they are not fit to print in this forum.


Sure they are!!

Bye bye favorite recordings...

Bye bye favorite lists...

Bye bye custom settings....

So long, farewell old friends!!!

Or maybe:

The weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful

And if we've no place to go

REPROGRAM REPROGRAM REPROGRAM our R15!!


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

I have to agree with Texasbrit, a reset should only be done if the machine becomes non responsive. My R15-500 is over two years old and I had to reset it only once, and it get used alot.


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

Jhon69 said:


> I think someone is playing my song.Reformat!.


What took you so long to join us? :lol: I thought you would have said before me!!


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

davring said:


> I have to agree with Texasbrit, a reset should only be done if the machine becomes non responsive. My R15-500 is over two years old and I had to reset it only once, and it get used alot.


Really? It never gets software upgrades? Guess what...a new national software release RESETS your R15 in the middle of the night even though you didn't do it.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

Supramom2000 said:


> What took you so long to join us? :lol: I thought you would have said before me!!


I would have but I was busy reformatting!.


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## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

ThomasM said:


> My first one was a genuine IBM PC....with 2 floppy disk drives and NO HDD!! Guess what? I still have it. Maybe I can sell it to a museum someday along with my original Hughes DirecTV box (which also still works!)
> 
> And now.... :backtotop


Thomas, That was the first computer I had in my office. You know it worked pretty well. At the time is was the CE of Desktop computers.

On to a new question. I didn't get the NEW R15 as promised by retention, it's a "factory reconditioned" unit. Oh Well if it works I'm happy.

Can the R)) bug be avoided by just recording individual programs the old VCR way, one at a time? Or will this still cause the R)) bug to come out of it's hole?

By this I mean that every day I will go through and select each program that I want. One time recordings no "series" recordings.

Thanks,
Stan


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

scr said:


> Thomas, That was the first computer I had in my office. You know it worked pretty well. At the time is was the CE of Desktop computers.
> 
> On to a new question. I didn't get the NEW R15 as promised by retention, it's a "factory reconditioned" unit. Oh Well if it works I'm happy.
> 
> ...


That's what I do.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

scr said:


> Thomas, That was the first computer I had in my office. You know it worked pretty well. At the time is was the CE of Desktop computers.
> 
> On to a new question. I didn't get the NEW R15 as promised by retention, it's a "factory reconditioned" unit. Oh Well if it works I'm happy.
> 
> ...


You should be OK doing that. The R)) bug is related to SL's.


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## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

When I set multiple single records for individual episodes in a series, the R15 converts it to a series link --- or at least it used to do this when I last tried about 8 months ago. Does it still do this?


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## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

Jhon, qwerty

Thanks for the reply and confirmation.

Hopefully I won't hear the dreaded, "it didn't record, again" from the TV controller. 

I don't mean the remote.  

Stan


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## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

Upstream said:


> When I set multiple single records for individual episodes in a series, the R15 converts it to a series link --- or at least it used to do this when I last tried about 8 months ago. Does it still do this?


Upstream,

It didn't convert the few I have put in there, yet.

I put the nightly news in for 3 days and it didn't change it.

However, I still have software version 0x10C1 of 7/18. I activated this unit yesterday and it has yet to update. Maybe it will change after an update. I sure hope not.

Stan


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

scr said:


> Jhon, qwerty
> 
> Thanks for the reply and confirmation.
> 
> ...


Don't be shy!.When there's a problem,there's a problem.I can tell you that DirecTV is working on it.Don't know if the Writer's Strike had anything to do with it(Lack of Information).But I do believe the SL problem was happening before.Until they solve the problem I have found the VCR way to be very reliable.


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## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

Stan -- If it didn't convert to a series link yet, it won't convert. When that happened to me, it was immediate -- all the (R) icons immediately converted to (R))) icons. As I said, this was about 8 months ago, so they probably fixed this in one of the software updates since I last tried.


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## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

Whew !! Good news, as I said if the TV controller misses one more of her programs.... well, let's just say it won't be a pretty sight.

Thanks,
Stan


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## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

Wife Acceptance Factor is a major issue with my R15 (and as a result, DirecTV).


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## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

UPDATE:

At 7 episodes in 10 days at the same time it converted to a SL. However it did not convert those at a different time on the same channel.

Tried another series recording one at a time and it went to SL after 6.

Ya got me.

Stan


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## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

I only hit the red button on the rare occasion it stops responding to the remote


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## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

scr said:


> Thomas, That was the first computer I had in my office. You know it worked pretty well. At the time is was the CE of Desktop computers.
> 
> On to a new question. I didn't get the NEW R15 as promised by retention, it's a "factory reconditioned" unit. Oh Well if it works I'm happy.
> 
> ...


As for your "reconditioned" R15, I have two R15's. One is "reconditioned" and was one of the first ones built in 2005. It has it's original Maxtor HDD in it. My other unit was BRAND NEW when I got it. Guess which one works better? Uh-huh, the old reconditioned one!! Of course, being "pre used" by some other customer, one never knows what kind of experience it had to suffer through!

As for the "R)))" bug it actually is twofold. Series Links often fail to put shows that meet the criteria in the TO DO list, but they ALWAYS seem to put the R))) icon in the guide and episodes list. This has been around for a LONG time but in earlier software releases the icon only appeared in the guide/episodes list if the show was actually going to record cluing the user in so he/she could fix missing episodes. Part two involves shows scheduled via Series Link or just a "single episode" record (the plain "R" icon letter). If you schedule a show manually, it might just disappear from the TO DO list prior to it's being recorded as do some shows that a Series Link placed in the TO DO list. It will still be tagged with the icon in the guide, and if you SELECT it in the guide and choose "RECORD" the next screen will fool you and tell you it's scheduled to record.

The easiest way of not missing any shows is to just ALWAYS CHECK THE TO DO LIST. If the show appears there, it WILL be recorded. I check mine every day. And I have a form I created that I fill out with shows in the TO DO list. That makes it easy to see the shows that magically disappear and allows time to put them back before their scheduled record date.

Considering the CONSTANT complaining about this issue, I am sure the software engineers are working on fixing it and hopefully it will not be around much longer.


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## scr (Feb 5, 2008)

Thomas,

Thank you for the explanation.

So it seems there is no way to insure a recording with out going through the To Do list as you describe. This is not good as it means my old VCR was more reliable, sure wish I had kept that thing. What a step backwards. I don't care if the unit is new or not only that it works.

I sure hope the engineers get this together soon. If nothing else they should be able to fix the disappearing manually single recorded selections. The current status of the R15 is not what I thought it would be when I signed up for an "upgraded" D* DVR. I don't recall having the issue of the R)) bug at first. Plenty of other problems but not that specifically. 

I am trying to keep a positive attitude but it isn't easy.


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## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

scr said:


> This is not good as it means my old VCR was more reliable


That's why I use my DVD recorder as a backup for the shows I consider too important to miss. Since the R15, doesn't have autotune, I make sure that it is turned to the channel I want to watch, and set the timed record on my DVD recorder as a backup to the R15.


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