DVR Freeze-ups when a Recording Starts

[LightShifter]

I've been having more and more problems with my DVR freezing up as the recording space starts to fill up (it's now over 90% full). Is it possible the hard drive in the DVR needs a defrag? If so, Is there anyway to run one?

As an example, last night we tried to watch a DVR recorded movie - 2001: A Space Odyssey" - on the primary DVR and I noticed that as soon as a red light came on indicating a recording had started, the DVR movie we were watching froze. I thought maybe we had too many recordings going so I disabled what was currently being recorded. We did NOT have too many devices going by the way, We were simply watching the recorded movie (in SD), recording 1 show (in SD), and another SD channel (FX) was being watched on another TV.  

After rebooting the DVR it seemed to work ok but as soon as the red record light went on to record another SD show at 9:00pm, the 2001 movie we were watching froze again. I double checked again and found we still had only 3 things in progress and they were all SD. The DVR doesn't seem to be able to now handle watching a DVR recording and recording one at the same time.

Any ideas as to how to resolve this? I thought about trading the DVR in for a new one but then we'd have to sacrifice whatever we have recorded on the DVR

We have 3 DVR receivers on a 3801HGV. Here's the "status" info:

System Information

Manufacturer	2Wire, Inc.
Model	3801HGV
Serial Number	921119019633
Hardware Version	000778-004
Software Version	6.3.7.50-enh.tm
Key Code	52HP-2374-2262-22AT-F2BQ
First Use Date	May 19, 2011
Current Date & Time	Friday, April 27, 2012
	4:19:03 AM
Time Since Last Boot	8 days 8:12:10
DSL Modem	8.1.8
System Password	Default Password

System Software Components

att-lightspeed	160090
att-lightspeed-fw-1_ippolicy	160088
att-lightspeed_en	160089
att-lightspeed_providerconf	159687
att-unified-lightspeed_config	160087
base_voice	159614
common_en	159613
common_ui	159612
system	159611
Firewall Rules	1000
Application List	1001

Thanks,

Dan -  Danbury, CT

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Can you download and install SomeJoe's tool at the link below?

http://www.uverserealtime.com/

Once you install the tool, please post screenshots of the following tabs: IP/Profile, Error Table, Bitloading, & Coax/HPNA.

We can take a look at the screenshots to see if there appears that you might be an issue with your system.

[LightShifter]

Thanx Tex. I have XP so I had to load all kinds of stuff to get it to work. I was afraid I was going to run out of space on my C: drive.  

Now, because I am not using the 2Wire for a router (I am using my Belkin), it can't connect to the 2Wire Router to do its thing. Can I just remove the plug going into my Belkin and plug it directly into my computer? Probably not I suppose because of address changes etc. huh?

Dan

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

To see the appropriate action when there is a router in between the computer and the 2Wire RG, read page 5 of the UVRT-Main_doc.PDF file found in C:/Program Files/UV Realtime/Documentation.

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek]

---

texasguy37 wrote:

To see the appropriate action when there is a router in between the computer and the 2Wire RG, read page 5 of the UVRT-Main_doc.PDF file found in C:/Program Files/UV Realtime/Documentation.

---

Or Start Menu -> All Programs -> UV Realtime -> Main Documentation.  

[texasguy37 ACE - Champion]

Yes!  Many roads lead to Rome.  

[LightShifter]

Thanx for your response Tex. Unfortunately, many roads lead to a very hot and firy place  too. LOL!

I tried putting the address of  the Defaualt Gatway and other addresses I found below in the "2wire Address Field" but it always comes back with "Unable To Connect with 2Wire Router".  What's up with that? Any ideas?

Wow. The text analyzer didn't like the the abbreviated form of "Cummulative" so I had to change it to "CUUM."  See sentence 2.

Summary Status

Internet		Connected
DSL Link		Connected

Internet Details

Broadband Link Type	Built in modem - VDSL
Connection Type	Direct IP (DHCP or Static)
Current Internet Connection
IP Address	75.24.112.88
Subnet Mask	255.255.252.0
Default Gateway	75.24.112.1
Primary DNS	68.94.156.1
Secondary DNS	68.94.157.1
Host Name
Domain
MAC Address	98:2c:be:4e:b0:78
MTU	1500

DSL DetailsDown Up

Modem Type	Built in modem - VDSL
Connection Type
DSL Line	COAX
User Rate	25308 kbs	2036 kbs
Max User Rate	33789 kbs	Not Available
Noise Margin	12.3 dB	Not Available
Attenuation	23.9 dB	Not Available
Output Power	14.0 dBm	7.1 dBm
Protocol	G.993.2
Channel	Interleaved
DSLAM Vendor Information	Country {65461} Vendor {CXSY} Specific {12291 }
Rate Cap	25312 kbs
Attenuation @ 300kHz	13.7 dB
Uncanceled Echo	0.0 dB	Ok
VCXO Frequency Offset	0.0 ppm	Ok
Final Receive Gain	6.0 dB	Ok
Excessive Impulse Noise	0	Ok

Traffic StatisticsBytes Packets Errors %

IP Traffic
Transmit	5257197037	15806377	0	0
Receive	287439660748	220159765	0	0

DSL Link Errors

Collected for 10Days5:11:20

Reset 24-hr int. 15-min int. Last Event

	Since	Current	Current	Time Since
DSL
Link Retrains	0	0	0	0:00:00
DSL Training Errors	0	0	0	0:00:00
Training Timeouts	0	0	0	0:00:00
Loss of Framing Failures	0	0	0	0:00:00
Loss of Signal Failures	0	0	0	0:00:00
Loss of Power Failures	0	0	0	0:00:00
Loss of Margin Failures	0	0	0	0:00:00
Cuum. Seconds w/Errors	9	0	0	7:45:05
Cuum. Sec. w/Severe Errors	0	0	0	0:00:00
Corrected Blocks	428278	85087	2898	0:00:03
Uncorrectable Blocks	9	0	0	7:45:05
DSL Unavailable Seconds	31	0	0	10Days5:10:47

[LightShifter]

Never mind. I finally reallized I had to put my belkins address in and it's gathering stats now. Here they are:

Detailed Wireless AP Statistics

Packets transmitted:	0
Packets received:	0
Bytes transmitted:	0
Bytes received:	0
Error packets transmitted:	0
Error packets received:	0
Discards transmitted:	0
Discards received:	0

HomePNA Network (Coax)

Firmware Version:	D-UCv1-9-4-20110222-ATT.bin
Firmware Signature:	939ae1f12acece941137d942a21b7a38
HPNA Physical Link:	UP
Network Mode:	SYNCHRONOUS

NodeID MTU Mac Address

1	0	98:2c:be:4e:b0:79
2	8192	00:1c:11:b9:38:ee
3	8192	00:25:f1:64:99:79

HPNA Network Performance Management Data

Data Collection Time: 2012/04/29 02:08:14 EDT

HPNA Network Current Multicast Rate (Mbps): 0

Station to Station HPNA Performance	PHY Rate (Mbps)	SNR (dB)	Rx Power Level - dB	Packet Error
1 > 2	98:2c:be:4e:b0:79	00:1c:11:b9:38:ee	112	41.9	-15.1	0
1 > 3	98:2c:be:4e:b0:79	00:25:f1:64:99:79	112	41.9	-13.7	0
2 > 1	00:1c:11:b9:38:ee	98:2c:be:4e:b0:79	128	40.6	-12.4	0
2 > 3	00:1c:11:b9:38:ee	00:25:f1:64:99:79	112	41.9	-8.2	0
3 > 1	00:25:f1:64:99:79	98:2c:be:4e:b0:79	128	40.9	-11.2	0
3 > 2	00:25:f1:64:99:79	00:1c:11:b9:38:ee	112	41.9	-8.3	0

HPNA Statistics

Mac Address HPNA Firmware (C=coax, T=TP) HPNA Version Master   Interval from 01:43 to 01:58 Short Tx Pkt Short Rx Pkt CRC Errors Rx Dropped Tx Dropped Rx Tx Error % Rx Error % Frames Tx Frames Rx Bytes Tx Bytes Rx Unicast Tx Unicast Rx Multicast Tx Multicast Rx Local Ctrl Requests Local Ctrl Replies Remote Ctrl Requests Remote Ctrl Replies   Interval from 01:27 to 01:43 Short Tx Pkt Short Rx Pkt CRC Errors Rx Dropped Tx Dropped Rx Tx Error % Rx Error % Frames Tx Frames Rx Bytes Tx Bytes Rx Unicast Tx Unicast Rx Multicast Tx Multicast Rx Local Ctrl Requests Local Ctrl Replies Remote Ctrl Requests Remote Ctrl Replies

Station ID 1 Local (Coax) 98:2c:be:4e:b0:79 C 1.9.4 Cv1-9-4-20110222 √     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1320 1518 241259 409669 174 0 342 620 605 605 0 0     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1539 1504 955811 409521 172 0 340 622 286 286 0 0

Station ID 2 Remote 00:1c:11:b9:38:ee C 1.9.4   Apr 04, 2011       0 0 0 0 0 0 0 432 901 189922 337931 0 174 310 652 0 0 24 24     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 584 1171 201665 708587 0 172 311 651 0 0 24 24

Station ID 3 Remote 00:25:f1:64:99:79 C 1.9.4   Apr 04, 2011       0 0 0 0 0 0 0 433 902 169109 358932 0 174 310 652 0 0 24 24     0 0 0 0 0 0 0 586 1168 180916 727127 0 172 311 651 0 0 24 24

[LightShifter]

Ok guys. I provided the data you requested but haven't heard anything back. Is there something else you need?

Dan

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek]

I don't see much of anything wrong in any of those stats. You're a little far from the VRAD, but it's not causing any errors or problems.

Since this is the case, and since your problems seem centered around the DVR and it's recording functions, I'm betting you actually have a bad DVR unit. I would call tech support and have it replaced. You should attempt to watch as many of your recordings as possible before doing so, since replacing the DVR involves losing all recordings.

[LightShifter]

OK. Thanks for your help. I have no idea how to read these stats. I beleive their is a "rebuild" procedure that can be performed on the DVR that I heard mention of somewhere here before. Hold in the "down" button and "Power" buttons at same time or something? Should I try that first and if so, do you or TEX know what specific buttons are needed to invoke it?

Thanx,

Dan

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek · Accepted solution]

Yes, there is a disaster recovery procedure that you might try. This will likely erase all of your recordings, so don't do it unless you're OK with that. You must do this on the front panel of the DVR itself, not on the remote:

1. Press and hold down the power button.
2. Within 1 second, also press and hold down the OK and down arrow buttons.
3. All 3 front panel lights (red, green, blue will come on). At this point, release the power button, but continue holding down OK and down arrow.
4. When you see a gear appear on the screen, release OK and down arrow.

The system will reload the factory software from the network. This will take 20-30 minutes, and then the system will reboot.

After that the system should come up and it will be restored to the factory state. See if your problems persist after this, and if so, then it is likely a hardware problem with the unit and you'll need a new one.

[LightShifter]

OK. Thanx for the info. When I can get to a point where there's nothing left we need on the DVR I'll try that and if that doesn't work I'll get another DVR.

Thanks again for all your help.

Dan

[LightShifter]

Just one other brief question.  Is there any way to just do a "defrag" on the DVR?  They do have a hard drive don't they? Or do they have solid state drives?

Dan

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek · Accepted solution]

Yes, the DVR does have a hard drive, but it is not really necessary to perform a defrag operation on it. The file system used on the DVR is exFAT, which actively minimizes file fragmentation using a free space bitmap, similar to NTFS. In addition, the DVR generally contains very few but large files, since they're video files, which aren't nearly as prone to fragmentation as when you have a file system consisting of many mid-sized files, a mix of small and large files, or files that are frequently appended to or modified.

[LightShifter]

Thanks for the explanation. I suppose fragmentation can occur when there have been many DVR interruptions while in progress. Perhaps that is why mine has become progressively worse specific to DVR over time. It would be interesting to try a defrag if  AT&T had one just to see if it cleared up the problem. Since the huge power outage we had last October, it seemed to have gotten worse. Of course, this may have also caused power surges that screwed the box up but I do have a high quality surge protector hooked up to the box.

Thanks for all your insight and guidance, Very helpful.

Neo: "Why do my eyes hurt?"

Morpheus: "You've never used them."

...Dan