HD-PVR occassionally gets stuck recording

[andyvr4]

Hi,

Over the last couple of weeks I've been randomly having problems where sage will display errors messages about my recordings having halts in them (that are coming from the hd-pvr, the hvr-2250 recordings work great) and the recording red led and the blue top led will stay on (until I push the power button on the unit).

Most of the time this happens during actual recordings, however a few times I've had it happen during live tv and usually right before sage gets the halt in recording errors I'll notice that the screen will start flickering (usually around once every second or two for around 15-20 seconds until the recording stops and the hd-pvr seems stuck.

My HD-PVR is revision f1. Up until this point in time everything seems to have been working fine (for around a year). I have not updated anything in the past month (windows, java, etc...).

Sagetv version 7.19
java 1.6 update 26

Thanks,
Andy

[egeller]

Check the threads for HDPVR power supply comments. Apparently some of them fail and might cause the same symptoms you're seeing.

[andyvr4]

I think that this problem is hopefully fixed (even though it was intermittent before so I can't be certain).

I emailed Hauppauge Sunday night about the problem and Monday morning they sent me a new driver/firmware update (version 1.6.29333) and ever since installing this update I haven't experienced a single problem out of the HD-PVR.

I have no idea why this upgrade was required because I haven't changed anything on my setup within a couple of weeks of starting to have the problems, but at least this update seems to have taken care of the problems for now!

[egeller]

Interesting. Just checked their web site. Their posted beta is 1.6.29353.

[gabrielcab]

I'm about to give up and get back the WinPVR 2250. I've been using the HD-PVR for a couple of months and it won't work by itself, i have to constantly go to my server "very hard to access" to reset it and tweek it for it to work again. I think the HD-PVR is ok for people with easy access but for me is just a pain, lost too many shows because of it.

[simonen]

Man, these things seem to be hit or miss. I think I have version C1 HD PVR and never had a day of trouble, even using the SPDIF for audio.

[andyvr4]

Yeah, mine worked great for around a year and then I started having these problems, but after the firmware upgrade it's been rock solid for the last week and a half again!

I'm not quite sure why they seem to do weird things every now and then!

[wayner]

If it acts up again try a new power supply. I have had two HD-PVRs running for years without problems then one of them went wonky a few months back. I bought a new HD-PVR immediately but before I received it I saw the thread on the power supplies. I used the new power supply on the old HD-PVR and it works perfectly again. Over Christmas the second HD-PVR started to misbehave - I replaced the power supply on it and all is well once again. Email Hauppauge support and tell them you are having problems and they should send you a new one.

By the way the problem with the power supplies is capacitor plague and is explained very well in this blog: http://valkyriemt.wordpress.com/2011...-fail-for-all/

I sent the first bad PS back to Hauppauge but I cut the second one open with a Dremel and the capacitors are bulging.

[andyvr4]

This problem resurfaced again a couple of weeks ago and I'm at the loss for what's causing it, however I have figured out that it will consistently get these halts in the recording errors message and stick the hd-pvr on during the recording when I turn on the hd300. Right now this is the only thing that will trigure the error messages.

Within the past week I've tried the following things to figure out where the problem is.

1.) I contacted hauppuage and they sent me a brand new power adapter
2.) I rebuilt the server (win7 64-bit) and installed a clean copy of sagetv 7.1.9 (I'm also using a brand new wiz.bin and sagetv.properties file).
3.) I'm running the latest beta firmware on my hd300.

I'm really at a loss for why I'd only experience problems when I turn on my hd300, if I connect from a sagetv client install the hd-pvr will continue recording without any problems!

I'd really appreciate any help that you guys could give me!
Andy

[mangriotis]

This has happened to me occasionally for as long as I have owned an HD-PVR as well (rev. f1). It is so infrequent that I live with it (fixing it by cycling the power button on the HD-PVR itself).

I am afraid to change drivers, because aside from this, it works great (with spdif as well).

It happened this Tuesday morning. I get instant email when it occurs via SageAlert plugin, so I know when it's happening, therefore I don't usually miss much (provided someone's at home to push the button).

It is annoying however, so I am interested in hearing about any solutions that could be found.

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by mangriotis

This has happened to me occasionally for as long as I have owned an HD-PVR as well (rev. f1). It is so infrequent that I live with it (fixing it by cycling the power button on the HD-PVR itself).

I am afraid to change drivers, because aside from this, it works great (with spdif as well).

It happened this Tuesday morning. I get instant email when it occurs via SageAlert plugin, so I know when it's happening, therefore I don't usually miss much (provided someone's at home to push the button).

It is annoying however, so I am interested in hearing about any solutions that could be found.

I have an earlier model of the Web Power Switch that I have used for a couple years.
Via web/local intranet access I can reset my HD-PVR's, and STB's (and room for more) from anywhere, be it my computer room via my main machine, laptop in the living room, or even my phone from anywhere I have mobile access.
Now when I go on vacation I just log into the web switch and cycle the HD-PVR's and STB's every couple days when I'm out of town.

Were I industrious, I could even write up a script/batch file to do it and make it even easier, however I am extremely lazy.

[mangriotis]

You got me searching a bit for devices like that, and the most economical one I found is this:

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Single-O.../dp/B004L7NDVQ

which has a serious flaw in that if the PC which the USB is plugged into loses power (reboot, power outage or other), the outlet flips into "OFF" state and does not come back without intervention (through the software).

If I didn't want to spend $130 (for the web switch referenced above), anyone know of more inexpensive choices that might work?

[waynedunham]

Originally Posted by mangriotis

You got me searching a bit for devices like that, and the most economical one I found is this:

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Single-O.../dp/B004L7NDVQ

which has a serious flaw in that if the PC which the USB is plugged into loses power (reboot, power outage or other), the outlet flips into "OFF" state and does not come back without intervention (through the software).

If I didn't want to spend $130 (for the web switch referenced above), anyone know of more inexpensive choices that might work?

I did quite a bit of looking around before I bought the Web Switch because I also did not want to spend that much money.
The "serious flaw" of the unit you posted is not an issue with the Web Switch, you can set up how you want the unit to react on a power loss. You can set it so all outlets are off, all on, or have each outlet return to the state they had before the power outage.
If you only have the HD-PVR and/or STB then I can understand the reluctance to get something with 8 controllable outlets (plus 2 always on outlets on the Web Switch).

Even now I just don't see anything out there that even remotely (no pun intended) compares for less $$.
I hated spending that much. The first time I was logged into Sage from over 350 miles away to find HD-PVR 1 locked up and I was able to clear it by cycling the power on that unit I was glad I did.
I was out of town for over a week and would have lost a LOT of recordings, and naturally it locked up on the first night I was away.

I know I sound like a sales rep for them, but I am just so pleased with the Web Switch since I bought it in December of 2010.

I use it all the time, even when I'm not away from home. Whenever I think of it I'll cycle the 2 HD-PVR's and 2 STB's before each evenings recordings start. In my setup it is usually HD-PVR 1 that will lock up. That is my original unit. Well, actually it was replaced under warranty shortly after I bought it due to the major problems with the first units locking up almost constantly. I forget which rev that unit is, but it's the 2nd or 3rd gen.