Cisco ISB 7500 rebooting- Anyone have known proven work arounds?

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Fingers crossed!  Hope that fixes things.

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mharris_1962 wrote:

AT&T service technician visted my house today...Although he has never heard of the reboot problem or frozen box issue... he admitted the newer boxes do a bit better connected to Cat5 Ethernet instead of coax.. If you think about AT&T takes the fiber connection, transfer it two copper wires, then to your Router/Modem, and converts it to Coax, using what ever existing house wire you have...

Fortunately, I had a Ethernet connection in the wall jack, that I wired, and have been using for streaming movies and updates for my Samsung TV and Blu-Ray player. I asked him any issue if I add a Ethernet Hub, he said no, it should work fine. So I have now connected my Samsung TV and Blu-Ray player, and DVR with Ethernet.... Next he noticed one of the pinouts on my HDMI, was bent and also agreed that I should replace that with the Component Cables, which again, I had on hand... So I am crossing my fingers and over the next 5 days, will let you know...If I get any more reboots, or frozen screens. Thank you all for your replies and advice so far.....Stay tuned ;-)

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[tiredoftry]

I have started keeping a log of the issues I am having.  While I do have some reboots when I am just watching the TV and not touching the remote, most of them are when I am using the Guide.  Here is typically what I do when I am using the guide...

Press the guide button and begin to type numbers (999 to get to the HD channels or 1800 to get to the start of the movie channels)

Use the Channel up/down keys as soon as the the listing is displayed

While this does not always start the reboot, 4 out of the last 6 were when using the guidle.  On one, I had just pressed Record on a show and then started switching channels.

[rgwiazdzinski]

i have the same problem with mine, it has rebooted 6 or 7 times in the last 2 months, usually around 8:30 to 9:30 on sunday nights.  tech support is sending some one out again to check it because they ran a test and say there is now a problem with the wiring inside my house.  needless to say my wife is not real happy about missing 4 to 5 minutes of a show she is recording and has informed me that we will be going back to directv if this is not fixed.

[jbdet313]

Just gonna throw this out into the mix ........

News recently that Cisco's STB business got a rebound after a previous year-to-year drop of 29%. This was on the heels of them dumping off their old Scientific Atlanta Juarez, Mexico set-top build plant to Foxconn. Heard that name in the news, anyone?

Allegations of poor working conditions have been made on a number of occasions.[43] News reports highlight the long working hours,[15][17] discrimination against mainland Chinese workers by their Taiwanese co-workers,[44] and lack of working relationships at the company.

In reaction to a spate of worker suicides where fourteen died in 2010,[40] a report by twenty Chinese universities described Foxconn factories as labour camps and detailed widespread worker abuse and illegal overtime.[49] In response to the suicides, Foxconn installed suicide-prevention netting at some facilities,[43] and it promised to offer substantially higher wages at its Shenzhen production bases.[50] Workers were also forced to sign a legally binding document guaranteeing that they and their descendants would not sue the company as a result of unexpected death, self-injury, or suicide.[51]

In January 2012, 150 workers in Wuhan threatened to commit mass suicide because of worsening work conditions.[52] The employees had asked for a raise but were told they could either quit with compensation or keep their jobs with no raise. The employees quit, but did not receive their compensation.

Why could this explain some things? Wellll ........ Cisco closed on the deal in around October 2011, but had it planned back in July 2011. Could worker unease about their future new employer, along with the slide in STB buying by cable/IPTV companies (obviously slowing down production needs) have played a role in poor builds? Not too hard to see how product quality can be harmed by poor employee morale. How long before those builds cycled into AT&T's grubby hands (when DID those 7500s start rolling out, anyways, hmmm?) and warehouses?

Anything's possible as an explanation at this point, right?

[rbeldin]

Hi...

I've had a persistent problem with the DVR with Uverse with PNA (cable) networking since I got it in November of 2011.  From the start, it would randomly reboot, either while watching tv, changing channels, recording, or otherwise just looking at it.   I've had several attempts to get it fixed by using online chat, since the phone queues are long.   I have had absolutely no problems with the quality or performance of the Internet or voice - just the DVR... 

The last tech I spoke to said that there is a new software update that will magically fix the rebooting.... Is this just a fantasy or is this being worked?   By now, I believe that all the attempts to isolate the problem have just been throwing parts at the problem... 

The sordid history is below...

- first was with online chat to have me reset to factory settings.  That lasted about a week before the first failure. (Nov 19)

- the second chat initiated a tech visit  (late Dec)

- the tech replaced the gateway (Jan 2 or 3)

- the DVR rebooted within 10 days

- called the tech.  He never followed through. (Jan 9 or 10)

- emailed the tech's manager.  (Jan 20)

- meanwhile contacted tech support again.

- they sent a new DVR. (Feb 2 - 4)

- this new one would not record or pause, 30 min to diagnose and then it apparently blew up.  Gear on screen, no response.

- so I packaged it back up and sent it back to ATT

- the tech who got the old 'working' one reprovisioned said that the rebooting problem was a 'known' problem and

  a software fix was 'coming soon'.

Rick

[post merged]

[rbeldin]

Let me add to my config - only one TV, hdmi setup. HomePNA doesn't show errors at the gw. Nothing that I can determine will affect the frequency.

[jbdet313]

Hope you can see by this 7-page thread, Rbeldin, that the promises of a "software miracle patch" are pretty much baseless, and just a way to get customers to pipe down. Sorry.

[Ones]

The Cisco ISB 7005 were announced March 10, 2011 Cisco Wireless STB announcement

The Broadcom announcement is here Broadcom and Mediaroom

Yes, CNN interview

jbdet313, If you still have your box check the date of manufacture. Because chipset manufacturers sell prototyping boards it's probably easier get a new STB design out really fast if the SOC/chipset is software compatible.

[jbdet313]

Let me be clear ...... I am in Moto territory, and have the VIP1225 with the 250GB harddrive in it. And, have no problems with it -- as should be the case.

Now before anyone wants to bash me about because of not having either the Moto or Cisco 500GB DVRs, over my posting regarding these, it's all in the principle of the situations being described. I'll tell ya, if I *did* have one of these and had the problems that have been described, especially after repeated trade-outs ... wait for it ... I WOULDN'T BE HERE POSTING AT ALL, or be paying AT&T a dime more. One trade-out, OK fine. Two? On the edge. Third one? Come pick up all of the equipment, Comcast's already skedded to be here.

The problem, IMHO, comes from this penchant to just keep issuing box after box after box. If there's no audit trails of all of these duds, that's just plain incompetent. And then, to top it all off, have the techs tell customers, "Well, there are problems, and they're supposed to be working on them. But ..... here's another of the same box. Hope ya feel lucky" ----- that's plain lunacy. Almost like telling a gunshot victim, "It'll be alright, just walk it off." Huh?

When is someone going to actually DO something? When they have to rent storage lockers to pile all of the reject boxes in, and then that just gets called one of the regular "business expenses" until a bean-counter asks, "Why are we paying this additional amount per month?" -- and THEN some supervisor scratches their head and says, "Uhhhh... think we gotta problem here, I guess"????

Does it take something like this before someone finally takes notice? Sure seems that way, with the approach AT&T is taking with these problems.

[silversport]

mine only freezes with the HDMI connection and not with the RGB conneciton...interesting...I am thinking that possibly too much information is being passed along the HDMI and causing the freeze and reboot but that is what it seems like with my Cisco 7500...

Bill

[Ones]

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silversport wrote:

mine only freezes with the HDMI connection and not with the RGB conneciton...interesting...I am thinking that possibly too much information is being passed along the HDMI and causing the freeze and reboot but that is what it seems like with my Cisco 7500...

Bill

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Does anybody have an active HDMI cable they can try use with these devices?

[tiredoftry]

Mine is connected with an HDMI cable and reboots.  I have not changed it over to RGB connections yet to see if it stops the rebooting, but will let you know when I do and find the results.

[silversport]

I don't have enough time on my new connection with another HDMI cable but mine has not rebooted this week...I have been busy at work and only get a couple hours a day total on the TV but then new HDMI (Monoprice instaead of my Bluejeans Cable I had)...perhaps my other HDMI was bad???

Bill

[zifn4b]

Greetings U-Verse Community and AT&T Support Representatives,

I am having an issue with my VIP-2250 STB locking up and rebooting after about 5 minutes. It is happening several times a day and I have almost given up on attempting to watch TV. I have attempted to troubleshoot this issue with AT&T Technical Support team and they have not been able to resolve this issue. The first troubleshooting step was to replace the DVR. Last week I received a new VIP-2250, swapped it out with the old one and sent it back. That did not fix the issue, the new STB is continuing the same behavior. I spoke with Technical Support again, thinking this time I needed to have a tech come out to diagnose the issue. It was explained to me by a technical support representative that there is a systemic problem that has existed for several months that is affecting the VIP 2250 STB as well as some other newer models. Based on what I was told, there is an incompatibility with the Motorola firmware, the software (Windows Media Center?) that runs on the box and the AT&T service (protocol?) itself? Just to be sure, I spoke with a supervisor and they also confirmed this to be the issue. I haven't seen any posts on the forums about this but is there anyone here who can confirm whether this is the issue and if so when it will be fixed? If this is not the issue, can anyone (maybe David?) provide a path to resolution since the AT&T Technical Support team has completely failed to address the issue which leaves me feeling like my only choice may be to choose a different service provider.

Thank you in advance for your help and assistance.

Cheers, Jon

[zifn4b]

Aha, it runs Win CE. Additional info: was not able to find any useful errors with UV Realtime or in the interface for the Gateway but I'm new to this platform so I might have missed something. If anyone would like diagnostic data, I would be happy to provide. Also, I did not have this problem with the VIP-1225 I used to have before it was replaced with this. Thanks for reading. Any information is much appreciated!

Also, I don't know if this is related but it feels like the HD video streams have been more pixelated than usual for the past few weeks.  Very noticeable during the super bowl.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Is the DVR feed by coax or cat5 cable?  Also, how is the DVR connected to your TV?

[AHILL007NY]

I'M HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM WITH THE ISB 7500 DVR MINE IS THROUGH CAT5

[zifn4b]

Connected via CAT5e and HDMI to the TV.  Is it possible that switching to coax would be a workaround?  Tech Support said there was no workaround to the issue.  Or do you think it's an HDMI handshaking issue and switching to component would fix the issue?  If that's the case, why did it work with the VIP-1225 with no problems with the same TV?  My TV is a Samsung LN52B750.  The firmware on the TV is up-to-date.  Also, I have a PS3 hooked via HDMI.  No trouble watching blu-ray movies or other HD content via it.

Thanks in advance!

[1webuser]

First off thanks for any and all who can help, I know this forum is held together by some diehards. My quick background> Been a subscriber since 05/2011 and got a Cisco 1225 with my install. In Jan 2012 after being fedup with the sound studdering issue I found this forum and learned a newer box would fix the issue. Tech support came out and replaced my box with a Cisco 7500 and a new RG. This did infact fix my problem with the sound yea... but after nearly a week of use on this box it started randomly freezing (most often while in the guide). I started doing some more research and ran some tests. The first thing I did was check the COAX line used (RG is 25 feet away in another room and I only have 1 STB) The tech ran all new COAX from the RG to the STB except where he spliced in to my old wall drop in the attic (used a 2-way splitter and left 1 side open to bleed tsk tsk) hoping this was my issue I ran all new Cat5e from the RG to the STB (why the tech didn't do this I'll never know he ran all new line anyway up to the wall drop).

This new setup worked good for a day (noticed slightly better looking picture in some instances) but then froze again. Mind you the freezing was less often it seems but it still froze. I call tech support last night and thier sending out a tech today to replace my box but I'm thinking that's not gonna cut it based on what I'm seeing from other peoples posts here. So I decided to run SomeJoe's tool to check the line quality and post it here as I really don't know what I'm looking at in here. From what I see things look pretty decent but again I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking at other than a few key area's I'm familiar with.

One other side note of interest when my box was swapped out from the 1225 to the 7500 the tech or someone changed my service level from 1SD/3HD egress to 1SD/2HD. This posed a problem the first night on the new box as there are times when 2 hd's are recording and we're watching 1. I called tech support and explained this to them and they changed my account back to 1SD/3HD. She kept asking me over and over on the phone am I sure the box is working when she made this change as if it could be overloading it or something. I wouldn't think this could cause to much trouble as this box has much more ram (not DVR space I know) compared to the last one and my line seems pretty clean.

Well here are my screen shots, thanks again.

[zifn4b]

UPDATE: Spoke with a customer service representative today who spoke with Yolanda in tier 2.  It was her feeling that this was not software issue related to the VIP 2250 STB.  She feels it is a line issue so they are dispatching a technician to diagnose the issue.  She said specifically that what I was told last night from the tech support number was incorrect.

I find it a bit odd that my internet service has not been interrupted and works at the same time the TV service is interrupted but I guess I have to take you tier 2 guys' word for it.  Hopefully the tech will be able to resolve the problem.  They said as a last resort they could replace the vip 2250 with a different box to see if that fixes the issue though.

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek]

Your screenshots look good, I don't see anything wrong. You are likely running into a firmware bug with the 7500 that causes periodic reboots. Supposedly this issue will be fixed in the next firmware update for those boxes.

[tiredoftry]

I 'enjoyed' losing a 5 minute chunk of two programs that were recording last night during my reboot.

In my own trouble shooting, it looks like it has more to do with the signal to the box.  If I am using my internet connection heavily (downloading a large file) and recording, going to the guide and paging through channels will typically reboot the box.  As stated, my internet is not affected.

This does not explain the times when I am simply watching TV and do not have any heavy traffic, but that is a much rarer case of rebooting (about 3 of the last 12 reboots).

[1webuser]

Thanks for the assurnce my line looks OK. Is there page somewhere with a Somejoe's tool decoder ring? I'd be more curious what I'm looking at here.

[spd2demun ACE - Master]

Look at Main Documentation that is included with the install.

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1webuser wrote:

Thanks for the assurnce my line looks OK. Is there page somewhere with a Somejoe's tool decoder ring? I'd be more curious what I'm looking at here.

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[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

It seems that there is a new firmware update (2.1.2344.20) being rolled out for the Motorola VIP 2250, and I would also assume for the Cisco ISB 7500.  I notice that I have new version here in Dallas.

Hopefully, this will eliminate the freezing and rebooting issues that have been reported.  One by product of the update seems to be that the blue HD light will always be on even when the DVR and TV are turned off.  To check your firmware version:  MENU --> Options --> System Options --> System information --> System info (TV2 client version).

[zifn4b]

I got my issue resolved by getting my box replaced with a VIP-1225.  That's fine for me.  It's a little less responsive than the VIP 2250 and has a smaller HD but I'm cool with that.

From what I understand Microsoft rolled out an update (Windows CE?) and that was what precipitated this compatability issue.  Being a software developer myself, I completely understand the frustration!  There is apparently a hotfix or something that is being tested in certain areas.  Maybe you are one of the fortunate people that it has been pushed to.  You could probably verify by comparing your version to others that have the issue.

I decided I'd rather get a working box now because since the issue has been lingering for a couple months.  Hopefully the new patch resolves it.  If not, then I think most people would be able to obtain one of the older boxes VIP-1216, VIP-1225, etc.  It is my understanding there are quite a few available some even brand new.

So for those having the issue, you can switch to an older model box or if you like the new box better with the 500 gb hd, hopefully the patch will come out soon.  If you want an older model box, don't contact the tech support number because they can't mail you a specific model box, you have to have a technician come out.

Cheers

[Ish Kabibble]

I got the new firmware update yesterday also and yes the blue light is always on. Hopefully this will end the problems. I was going to post this yesterday but I was waiting to see if anyone else would notice.

[Ones]

Yes, I got the update, 20 hours ago. I'll swap and begin testing tomorrow.

[tiredoftry]

Well, pretty sure I have the update and it is much worse. Now when it would normally reboot, it just drops the picture and will not come back until the power cord us removed and plugged back in. Holding down the power button to cycle it did nothing.

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

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tiredoftry wrote:

Well, pretty sure I have the update and it is much worse. Now when it would normally reboot, it just drops the picture and will not come back until the power cord us removed and plugged back in. Holding down the power button to cycle it did nothing.

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What is your TV2 client version?