# HR24's keep losing connections with Whole Home



## rrbhokies (May 10, 2004)

For the past 3 weeks our three Whole Home connected DVRs keep disconnecting from each other. I'll be watching a show on another DVR and get the message that it lost connection with the other DVR.

Sometimes, the other DVRs show back up on my playlist after a few minutes or hours. Sometimes, it takes a reboot to make it happen.

It's also not just one DVR that's losing connections. For example, in my office it loses the connection with the family room. In the Family Room, it loses the connection in my son's bedroom.

Again, it's been happening for about 3 weeks. All machines are still running 0x5d2 from 6/21/12.

Anyone else experiencing this? Could it be anything with either the receivers or the SWM?


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

rrbhokies said:


> For the past 3 weeks our three Whole Home connected DVRs keep disconnecting from each other. I'll be watching a show on another DVR and get the message that it lost connection with the other DVR.
> 
> Sometimes, the other DVRs show back up on my playlist after a few minutes or hours. Sometimes, it takes a reboot to make it happen.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I've been having that problem too. With several HRs. And different models. But only with 24s. My two 20-700s never drop off. Minor annoyance in my case, but if you've only got a couple HRs I could see it being a major annoyance. Perhaps *VOS* is lurking?

Rich


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## PHL (Jul 15, 2004)

I had a problem like that as well when I first got MRV. Turns out that my problem was easily fixed. The RJ45 from the DECA to the ethernet jack on the back of my HR23 was not fully seated. I simply had an intermittent connection.

Your problem might be completely different, but it might be worth a quick check to make sure that all the connections are good.


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## DrummerBoy523 (Jan 9, 2007)

rrbhokies said:


> For the past 3 weeks our three Whole Home connected DVRs keep disconnecting from each other. I'll be watching a show on another DVR and get the message that it lost connection with the other DVR.
> 
> Sometimes, the other DVRs show back up on my playlist after a few minutes or hours. Sometimes, it takes a reboot to make it happen.
> 
> ...


We just had this problem the other night. Our H24 upstairs lost connection with our HR24 downstairs. I rebooted and nothing changed. I had to physically unplug and wait 10 minutes and plug back in. That eventually worked. This has happened a few times since the last update on the box.

Something else that happens is that we will come downstairs in the morning and the receiver will be trying to reboot. You can hear the fan turn on, then off, then on, then off, etc. It requires me to unplug, wait 10, and then plug back in.


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## otaliema (Aug 9, 2012)

There is a current bug with MRV and HDDVR's losing the remote and local play lists on them. Resetting is the only known way to temp resolve the issue software download will be perm fix. I've heard a couple murmmers that setting IP address to stadic will help greatly, as the problem is due to routers reassigning IP addresses too frequently.


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## don s (Sep 4, 2011)

otaliema said:


> There is a current bug with MRV and HDDVR's losing the remote and local play lists on them. Resetting is the only known way to temp resolve the issue software download will be perm fix. I've heard a couple murmmers that setting IP address to stadic will help greatly, as the problem is due to routers reassigning IP addresses too frequently.


I have the issue with my HR34 and setting static IPs on all my DVRs did not help me, just FYI ...


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## rrbhokies (May 10, 2004)

It's almost a month later and the problems with each receiver dropping connections is getting worse! I've tried rebooting all machines, plug and unplugged the unit in the basement which I think is either the SWM or DECA. However, on an average night, all three receivers drop on and off from each other. Directv doesn't have an answer. Any thoughts?


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## PHL (Jul 15, 2004)

rrbhokies said:


> It's almost a month later and the problems with each receiver dropping connections is getting worse! I've tried rebooting all machines, plug and unplugged the unit in the basement which I think is either the SWM or DECA. However, on an average night, all three receivers drop on and off from each other. Directv doesn't have an answer. Any thoughts?


Just shooting in the dark here, but do you have the unsupported ethernet or are you networking over coax?

It kind of sounds like maybe you're getting a lot of network collisions that might be causing the HR24's to periodically lose sync with each other. Perhaps you've added something to your network that chews up a lot of bandwidth. The benefit of using coax, as I understand it, is that it isolates the D* traffic from the other traffic on your home network.

Maybe there's a neighbor that's using your wifi signal (if it's open).


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## rrbhokies (May 10, 2004)

PHL said:


> Just shooting in the dark here, but do you have the unsupported ethernet or are you networking over coax?
> 
> It kind of sounds like maybe you're getting a lot of network collisions that might be causing the HR24's to periodically lose sync with each other. Perhaps you've added something to your network that chews up a lot of bandwidth. The benefit of using coax, as I understand it, is that it isolates the D* traffic from the other traffic on your home network.
> 
> Maybe there's a neighbor that's using your wifi signal (if it's open).


We have two HR24's with only a single Coax cable going into them. We also have an HR-20 I believe which has the dongle in the back that connects the Coax and the RJ-45 ethernet. All three receivers are connected to a box where the lines come into the house. Not sure if that's called the SWM or the DECA. But in any event, it's a powered splitter of sorts and all feeds into the house go through that box.

But again, the HR24's are not connected via ethernet, so I'm assuming then we are networking over coax, in which case nothing with our home internet router should be affecting anything right?

I do have the Media kit attached to my office HR-24 and that has a wireless connection to my home network for pay per view and VOD. Should I try disconnecting that and see if that helps?

I called Directv last night and they offered to sell me an HR34 Genie for $300 plus $200 for two C31 clients and $50 installation charge. I explained that I invested over $300 last May when we got the HR24's but she said they could not discount the new HR34's.

So, would the HR34 with 2 C31 clients work better than having 3 DVRs connected through whole home? I'd be giving up one recording line though. If so, should I talk with Retention about the $550 they want to charge me for the new setup given the investment I made just 8 months ago?


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## bcrd500 (Mar 14, 2014)

Here it is October 5, 2019 and the same problem continues to persist. I have had Whole Home for at least five years with a genie and 6 24 DVR's connected by cable and not using my internet router. Until early this year, I experienced the periodic dropping of a DVR but it was like a small headache rather than a daily problem. Since July, 2019, it has become a daily problem and has taken a slightly different look. The new look is three or four dropping at the same time and within the hour re-joining Whole Home with no action (re-booting) by me. 
In the past six weeks, the problem occurs 4-6 times a day and does require re-booting the DVR's. The odd thing is the genie rarely drops from Whole Home. Direct TV has no solutions via tech support, who state they know of the problem (not as severe as mine) but cannot explain why it happens. I do believe Direct TV is aware of the problem but have no solution for the problem.

Does anyone have a dropping DVR problems like me or have a solution?


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## raromr (Jun 24, 2010)

Having the same issue. HR54 periodically and frequently drops of the coax connected network. Had a tech come. All he did was force software updates.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

bcrd500 said:


> Here it is October 5, 2019 and the same problem continues to persist. I have had Whole Home for at least five years with a genie and 6 24 DVR's connected by cable and not using my internet router. Until early this year, I experienced the periodic dropping of a DVR but it was like a small headache rather than a daily problem. Since July, 2019, it has become a daily problem and has taken a slightly different look. The new look is three or four dropping at the same time and within the hour re-joining Whole Home with no action (re-booting) by me.
> In the past six weeks, the problem occurs 4-6 times a day and does require re-booting the DVR's. The odd thing is the genie rarely drops from Whole Home. Direct TV has no solutions via tech support, who state they know of the problem (not as severe as mine) but cannot explain why it happens. I do believe Direct TV is aware of the problem but have no solution for the problem.
> 
> Does anyone have a dropping DVR problems like me or have a solution?


How do you reboot the HRs? There is a proper way to do it.

Rich


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## Ned C (Mar 6, 2008)

Ok Rich, what is the proper way to do it. Yes we have the same issue with 5 HRs and 1 Genie. And yes this happens nightly, sometimes the Genie will be ok by the morning, and the HRs still record, but don't show up without a red button re-boot.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Ned C said:


> Ok Rich, what is the proper way to do it. Yes we have the same issue with 5 HRs and 1 Genie. And yes this happens nightly, sometimes the Genie will be ok by the morning, and the HRs still record, but don't show up without a red button re-boot.


Reboot the Genie, when that comes up with a picture reboot the next HR, when that comes up with a picture reboot the next HR and on and on until you have rebooted them all ...in sequence. This has always worked for me but it doesn't stop the HRs from falling off from time to time. When I was running 12 HRs I had to reboot the whole bunch weekly and I still couldn't keep them all on at the same time. MRV has always been problematic and the only thing I've ever found that worked is rebooting them all sequentially. I know it can be a PITA but for me it's part and parcel of the whole MRV thing. When I see one of my 5 active HRs drop off I know I have to reboot them sequentially. If you only reboot one of your HRs, probably the one that dropped off, you won't solve your problem.

BTW, I did not formulate this, I was taught to do it this way by folks here. Folks that, obviously, aren't here anymore or I would not be the only one saying this over and over. One more BTW: I would not use the Red Button on a 24 unless I had no other option. Again, not my idea, I learned that here. I came here knowing nothing about HRs, I learned everything I know about them here.


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## Athlon646464 (Feb 23, 2007)

Since I assigned static IP's to my three D* clients a month ago - none of them have dropped. I had been losing my HR24 about once a week before then.

Of course, I just jinxed myself for the good of this community...


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## HofstraJet (Mar 6, 2003)

This problem just started again after being stable for years - noticed 0xc25 downloaded Friday to my main 24/500. Coincidence?


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