wbarnes, Oct, 2004, that's interesting. What is the 4th digit of your serial? Panny states h or higher has the new firmware. Joe
Mine is a "J". I don't have it right in front of me, but it was KS4J_______, or something. Does that jive with what Panasonic told you? From looking at a translated version of the Japanese Panasonic support web site referenced above, I got the impression that all of the units numbered "F" and later in the alphabet (G, H, etc.) would be OK. Maybe that's just in Japan, though - maybe it's a different sequence of serial numbers here. . . .
wbarnes, Panny said h and above was the new firmware. If you have a J and your tv guide screen has locked up they're incorrect. I can't find any of these above e. I think I'm going to hold off for a few weeks and see if a new model come out. How long have you had your? How often has it locked up? I could go about 4-5 days. I could tell it was getting ready to crap out, It would become unresponsive to scrolling the guide. Joe
Regarding the comments from K2SMN (3 March 2005 @ 18:03) about changing hard drives, and having the DMR list the previous drive's contents: I read elsewhere on the web a few months ago that the "file system" (i.e. the directory of shows) is stored in memory (flash?), and not on the disk, which would be consistent with K2SMN's observations. The report stated that when a lot of shortening of titles was done, the algorithms for handling the file system screwed up (basically, it got fragmented, and the user had to dump the contents to DVD-RAM, format the drive, and then reload the drive from DVD-RAM). My DMR-E85H has had a variety of problems: the TV Guide lock-up (green screen, etc.), U99, rebooting on its own and claiming that all shows were lost (a manual reset, holding the power button for ~5 seconds, brought the recorded shows back), etc. I'm trying to follow Roger Amidon's instructions for upgrading the firmware, but have run into a roadblock. Last night I put the unit into service mode so that I could see the firmware versions. That worked fine. But this morning the unit won't enter service mode. Sigh. I did the manual reset, no go; power-cycled it, no go. You'd think the unit sensed trouble on the way!
I thik it just did the "green screen" once, it may have "froze up" one other time - the Navigator wouldn't come on or something. Both times, I just powered down, and repowered up, and everything was fine. I have had the unit for two weeks. I was all set to do Roger's firmware update, although he has told me my firmware version (09050DL?) has the "U99" bug fixed. Nevertheless, as his is slightly newer, I was thinking of doing it anyway. But now, with the kinks mentioned, I just don't know.
jmsynge, where did you read about the file system of the E85H ? Was it my post on this forum, or elsewhere ?
I think it was elsewhere. I tried searching for it this morning, but didn't have much luck. I vaguely remember the posts as being from last spring (April rings a bell).
K2SMN, I downloaded the upgrade file, but nothing happened.When I unzip the fie, it is a WordPerfect document - is this correct? My firmware version is 0850DL, so I know I need it. I have gotten the U99 error 3 times, but mine all showed up while the unit was not in use. Now I can't access the TV Guide menu unless I unplug the machine and plug it back in. Any help is appreciated. Phil
It did that to me the first time, when I downloaded the file to my desktop, which runs Windows Me, and I have some CD program called Adaptec Easy CD Creator. On that machine, it also thought it was a WordPerfect file for reason, even though it's a .FRM file (firmware?). When I redownloaded the file on my laptop, running Windows XP (and I don't know what the CD burning software is (something drag-n-drop?), I popped it in the DVD recorder, and it worked like a charm. Don't know if this helps you - see if you can download it from an XP machine, maybe at work or something if you don't have one at home.
I did the download on my laptop running XP, but also running Adaptec Easy CD Creator. I then downloaded it on my desktop which I run Nero Burning Rom on, and it worked fine. All updated. Let's hope it helps! Thanks for the reply! Phil
Do you have to unzip and copy to cd or copy zipped folder? Will it work when copied as a zipped file?
After 6 weeks I finally got my 85H back from service (after U99 lockup). TV Guide never downloaded after a couple of days. Hadn't tried dividing anything yet ...downloaded the firmware that was posted (It loaded just as described - I actually had 0750DL for the previous main version and the drive firm was J117! How old could that be?) So now it's all "up to date". TV Guide still doesn't work - Not only is there no info, it locks up if you even press the guide button and most times have to power cycle. By the way - the TV Guide part worked very well before I took the unit in. Tried a divide - it worked, but too early to tell if it will continue. But now I'm ready to send it back to Panasonic because the Guide stopped working. Getting very tired of dealing with them!
If you have done the upgrade, and you have checked the version again (should show the 970 version) then try and do the "Factory Default" initialization. You will have to go through the setup again, but it might clear up the TV Guide problems. Sorry, but I don't use that feature. I have Satellite here, and it has a fine guide. I also have hdtv receivers, but the guide wouldn't help there either since it only shows local analog stations. I also shut off the TV Guide from always coming up when you turn the unit on. I never found it useful... Roger
After a week of looking I found another e85h at a local dept store. It was made in March of '04 as opposed to the may of '04 that I just returned. I brought it home and immediately upgraded the firmware. In the 1st week I had 4 tv guide lockups with green screen. I don't think the firmware has fixed the lockup problem and before my 30 days is up I will return this one too. Interestingly, Panasonic no longer lists the e85h on their website. Last week they did with it "out of stock" and "shipping April 19" this week it's gone.
has anyone had any luck with the TV Guide problems after installing the firmware upgrade? I am working my way down Panasonic help desk line before doing the firmware upgrade, but wondering if it is worth it. In response to jpoe - I picked mine up as a floor model leftover last month, and I had my choice of two units. It was looking like a new model is on it's way to market - possibly without all these glitches.
I've taken my E85H to a service center, and after a week they got around to looking at it, and decided it needed a new part, a REP3774G, which is a circuit board with a list price of around $480, so I assume this is essentially the guts of the machine. A couple of days later they told me the part was back-ordered. I called Panasonic's parts facility last night, who told me that the part is available and not back-ordered. I earlier talked to the Panasonic support line, where the claim was made that the unit doesn't have a history of the kinds of problems reported here and elsewhere on the web. I definitely feel like a Panasonic doesn't have a clue how to support a machine as complex as this (it is, after all, essentially a PC).
cat_01 I did the firmware upgrade and I still get the freeze-up. Actually, I turned the machine on tonight and it locked up. It looks like my wife turned it off with a dvd playing so I'm going to do that a few times and see if that might be the cause. I don't think the firmware is the fix for this problem. Mine has locked up at least 3 or 4 times since I upgraded it 10 days ago. jmsynge I don't think Panasonic is as clueless as they lead us to believe - I think it's more damage control than anything. I've had 3 of these and they all have been the same.
I never had the U99 error, as I do editing on the computer rather than the Panny, however I have experienced the TV guide lockup issue. My firmware version was 850 and after applying the upgrade am now 970. I discovered that the TV guide lockup problem happens at approximately the same time as the TV guide information is transmitted to the machine. If it doesn't download the information, say with the cable unplugged (or using satellite only), there is no lockup. This problem only started for me after a couple of months, so my theory is that perhaps the machine does a poor job of purging old TV guide information and eventually the "memory" becomes full and then locks up whenever it tries to put in new information. I also discovered that even if you tell it not to use the TV guide feature (by doing an auto channel select and manual clock) that the silly thing still downloads the information, it just doesn't display it to you. So I updated the firmware and then did a factory service mode to clear the machine. After which I told it that my TV Guide channel was not one of the listed channels (which oddly enough were different, but finally correct, after the firmware upgrade). I then proceeded to go into the TV guide setup and manually turn off all but the 10 channels that I am actually interested in. Even though I told it my channel wasn't listed it still correctly downloads the information and I have been lockup free for about a week now. I don't know if the firmware upgrade was the solution, or if I cleared out the TV guide "memory", or if my reduced channel selction is the key. All I know is so far so good. Time will tell, but at least I know how to clear the "memory" out and reset it.
I did the firmware upgrade on a OLD (March, 2004) machine I just purchased brand new at a local dept. store. I brought it home and installed the firmware upgrade. I've had occasional lock ups but it seems as though the new firmware writes the guide info to the hard drive as when I reset the machine when it locks up by holding the power button for 10 seconds, it reboots and after a minute or so the guide info is refreshed. The firmware seems to of helps the guide lock up considerable but it's not perfect. I have the full guide and have not deleted any stations. Also, There is a new "'05" model that will be available in stores the first week of April. This info comes directly from Panny. Hopefully all these bugs will be addressed. As my machine has been working quite well, I'm really digging this thing again. Joe
I got my unit back from the service center on Saturday, and it failed in the first 2 minutes! When I first turned it on I was immediately suspicious because it went into it's self-test, which it doesn't usually do unless something has gone wrong previously. The remote control buttons don't seem to be working correctly (i.e. the channel up button performed some other function, etc.). And after at most 2 minutes it suddenly said "BYE" on the front panel and completely shutdown. I spoke to the tech who'd worked on it, and naturally he hadn't seen anything of the sort. He did tell me that Panasonic told him that there are problems with the TV Guide data stream that are causing problems for the units, and that Panasonic isn't able to do anything about it (i.e. they were told not to service them for that kind of problem). James
