Motorola DCT6200 Channel Change issues via firewire

[mangriotis]

Ok - I have had this set up over firewire for years (per the enormous thread), and have been using it successfully to change channels for a long time. Recently, however, the Sage server PC is losing the hardware in the device manager.

A reboot of the computer does not bring it back. I have to actually uninstall, then re-install the firestb drivers. This will bring it back temporarily. After an undetermined amount of time (or some event I cannot pinpoint), the device disappears from the machine, and it will no longer send channel change commands.

Background info: Vista 32-bit, latest Sage and Timmmore's MyTray (with the exeplugin)

Anyone heard of this before?

[mechling-burgh]

I have had mine setup for years also and about two months ago it started having problems changing channels I tried rebooting the computer no luck. When I reboot the dct6200 that solved all my problems. Have you tried unplugging the tuner and turning it back on. I know that sounds simple but it solved my problems.

[mangriotis]

I believe I did that when I reinstalled the drivers... it was ok for a while then lost it again.

If I have to reboot the STB often, this will become a problem for me.

I should also note that I have a 7 month old daughter that occasionally gets hold of the remote, and may be causing this issue.

I will check this out tonight.

[mangriotis]

Resetting the box (by unplugging and re-plugging) brings it right back. It connects to windows and everything works as normal...

However, it seems to lose connection now almost each night. I am wondering if the software on the STB was updated to some kind of power save mode that shuts off external connections if they're not used in a certain time period or something.

Is anyone else seeing this? Should I try to get another box from Comcast?

[BobPhoenix]

I've noticed lately that my cable company is resetting the STB's I have every night at 4:00 am. Could that be your problem?

[mangriotis]

I think if that were the case, I'd think I'd be in good shape. Resetting the box is what brings the device back to visible in my server machine (device manager)...

I heard it disappear from the system the other night at 9:11pm, for no apparent reason. No event in event viewer, no messages on the server, nothing. Very weird.

[mangriotis]

I am writing again to bump this... it seems that others are seeing similar behavior. Since the new season of TV has started, this is becoming more annoying as I can't get the box to stay in the device manager for any longer than ~24hrs. It'll disappear, and require me to unplug and reboot the STB to get it to show up again.

I think my next step is to go back to Comcast and request a new box to see if that corrects the issue.

[mangriotis]

Well, I got a new box (DCH3200). I updated the drivers to the newer version that supports this box. After changing the command to "channelw -f", the changing works fine.

The issue with the STB disappearing from Device Manager still exists however...

Is there some kind of time out or something I am not thinking of? Any way to troubleshoot this?

If I reset the box, or even pull the firewire cable and plug it back in, it comes back and works great for a while before disappearing again. I am out of ideas how to troubleshoot this.

[bmh]

mangriotis, did you ever come up with a solution for this? I'm having the same problem with my DCT6200.

[nemo129]

I'm not a SageTV user (BTV) but this is more of a hardware issue than the PVR software. I am having this same issue with my Motorola DCH3200 STB as well. I currently use the Tim Moore drivers to change channles on my STB for use wth a HDPVR. It works fine for days or weeks on end, then all of the sudden I notice that I have recorded the wrong thing. A quick check in the Windows XP device manager shows the entries under Imaging Devices for my firewire connected STB are gone. A reboot of the system will bring them back. Power cycling the STB does not bring them back. After reading a little about firewire devices, I now suspect, as other in this thread mentioned, that the cable co. (Comcast here!) is resetting the box for some reason. I started writing a PERL script to do WMI calls every hour or less to see if the devices have disappeared from the system. I would then check the BTV scheduler and reboot if there was a time window. I never finished that...so I am resigned to the fact that I will need to buy a USB-UIRT. The IR blaster on my HDPVR never worked from day one.

[mangriotis]

Sorry, bmh... must have missed your post.

No, I never solved this. I have since changed my setup, and am using a WHS server that is nowhere near the STB. I no longer use that, and only record SDTV cable with internal tuners, and HD QAM using my HDHR.

I would love to find a way to get out of Comcast though, as I have been having signal level issues for ~6 months now.