I did the ServiceMode thing for Cheryl, and did not lose listings. BUT, I did lose the promotions (ads). I just checked again, and all my listings are still there.
Thanks. So any of us running the current firmware should be able to answer her question immediately upon receiving her request. I wonder if she (they) are trying to weed through the trouble tickets to spot those of us with old firmware?
I guess we're all getting this email. I just got it also. I have the E95 and my host version is 0630DR. I also lost the ads when I came out of service mode but luckily I didn't lose the listings.
I read thru this thread after hearing about it on another forum. I have a Sony which also has problems with the TV Guide info. (Periodically all TV Guide info will get wiped out, as well as all information regarding shows scheduled to program, even if programed without the TV Guide interface). I just thought I'd make a couple points in response to some of the comments above. First, as I already noted, this is not a problem with one particular company or model--many recorders are having similar problems interfacing with the TV Guide. Secondly, this problem did not start in September. I had this happen back around January for the first time. It has been worse recently, happening twice in the last couple of weeks so it is possible that something Gemstar did may have made an existing problem worse.
On my E500 the Host version is 0900DU I also found when I got home that the Guide had decided to use channel 77 as its "Host Channel" - It's not even part of my lineup. I still have 3 or 4 days out there, so I'm not going to reset for a couple more days and see what happens.
If Cheryl has been helpful could someone give me her email address? Perhaps comparing notes with the problems on my Sony as compared to the Panasonic will reveal more as to where the problem is. With my office hours it is hard for me to phone her during the day, so email would be much easier. If you don't want to post her email in a public forum, send it as a private message.
All good things come to an end. Overnight sometime, the U99 appeared. It had been over 4 days since the last one. I still have the listings I had yesterday, but NO ads (as happened yesterday after the ServiceMode entry). Although I don't see how, the ServiceMode "entrance" might haved caused it. Did anyone else have a U99 appear after getting the Host version number from ServiceMode? Not sure whether I'll do a hard reset or just let it ride and wait for another U99. Cheryl is working hard on the problem, so I'm optimistic this will be fixed "soon."
I got my recorder back last night with the newest revision of the digital board installed. I will report how it goes soon. @
Thanks for Cheryl's info sfstan. I just contacted her and gave her my information and I will provide whatever she needs regarding the firmware in my machine, etc. Interestingly, a friend of mine in the same neighborhood has the same model DVD-R (E85H) and I am not aware of him having this problem (u99s) so it appears it is not universal to all owners of this particular Panasonic model DVD-R.
I had a U99 at 3:30am. Background since last report: I checked the next DL times over the weekend but, because of my heavy use schedule, I missed all of the windows; the machine was never put in standby over the weekend. I did note that the 'ads' that had DL'd had disappeared too (figured they had expired). So as of Mon. 8am, no ads and all 'No listing' (which I expected). I left the machine in standby between 11am and 1pm Mon. morning and went out. When I checked at 3pm, I had 3 days of listings!!! - Mon. through Wed (and no ads) At 11:08pm Mon. I checked the 'next DL' -- it said 11pm (I've adjusted all times to local time). Even though it was after the 'next DL' start time, I put the machine in standby and it appeared normal. At 3:30am I noted I had a U99. I did a 'soft reset'/poweroff30sec. and put the machine back on standby. At 6:30am I checked 'next DL' - I reads "N/A". I now have ads (and the original listings through Wed. have not been lost).
I had another U99 this morning, so as usual I pushed the power switch once to clear it and the clock re-appeared. Further as usual the record indicator did not show even though I have regular recording sets. Interestingly I did the same action yesterday morning after another U99 and sometime later the panny restored itself and recorded the program it was set to do. TV guide was still intact but no ads. I'll see if it works again later today. Bottom line - if the U99's keep on appearing and a simple power cycle clears them without corrupting the guide or record timings then I live with that for the time being at least.
this morning i wrote to cheryl... morning cheryl, as mentioned below, after the service check yesterday afternoon, i lost all the ads but still had listings and schedule. sometime between 10pm and 1am last night i got the u99 again for the first time in about 4 days (after the service check if that means anything at all). just did a power on when that u99 appeared. machine acted slightly differently than before when u99's occurred. went into a constant reboot and showed the time instead of giving me the "please wait" and then "self check". hit power button again and it powered up normally. then i powered down it down. as of 6:45am this morning i still had no ads and listings only through wednesdday. i will leave it powered down and let you know if any more u99's appear. from what i am reading and hearing the u99 problems really got a lot worse sometime between late august and mid september. really seems related to the ads. what changes did gemstar do to their downloads during that period? this whole thing really makes me love my tivo units even more. thanks for your coninuing help and let me know if you need any more info. we would love to get this resolved with your help. then she e-mailed me back saying... Hi Stan, I did find out that going into ServiceMode will lose Ads because they are not currently stored in flash. I am also hearing from others that after going into ServiceMode, they received another U99 even though it hadn't been seen for a number of days prior. I am going to pass this scenario on to the engineers as well. I understand that this problem is very frustrating and both TV Guide and Panasonic would like it resolved soon. I will let you know if there are any new developments in our investigations. Thank you for your help and patience. Cheryl
Went 9 days without a U99; was getting 7 or 8 adds and TV Guide fully populated 5 or 6 days. At request of Cheryl I went into the service mode to check my firmware version. It turned out to be 0970DL which I should of known because I had updated to this in Jan 2005. After the exit from the Service Mode I lost my adds but still had listings and did not loose my set to records. I then powered down to stanby mode and the E85H started changing channels 2 local PBS, CH 3 Comcast, 4 CBS (where Cheryl said I should be getting most of my data), then 5 ABC, 6 Local NECN, 7 NBC, 8, 9 and 10 all Local. It would stay on each channel for 2 to 4 minutes. Then it switched to 11 WENH (New Hampshire PBS) and after 2 minutes I got my first U99 in 9 days. According to Cheryl I should be getting the bulk of my TV Guide data from ch 4 (Local in Boston CBS). But can get some data from 11 WENH (New Hampshire PBS) and also can get some data from Ch 53 MSNBC. It looks like for me the NH PBS is the problem. My E85H had for the 9 days been going to only ch 4 and ch 53 MSNBC for data when in standby. Now after going into service mode it found ch 11 WENH which my be corrupting or conflicting with the Ch 4 local CBS data? Is ther any way to just turn off the ch 11 WENH PBS channel so the Guide when E85H is in standby cannot find WENH? Also to get the adds back do I have to do a soft reset (holding power button until E85H resets)? or will the adds come back over time with no reset? Any ideas? Bonus2
After over 4 good days, with almost full listings, I had NO ads either after the ServiceMode yesterday. This morning there was a U99, but a recording I had set at 11am this morning (now it is 11:04) is currently recording OK. I had checked for ads just awhile ago, and still none. At noon, I plan to do a hard reset to hopefully get the E85H back into a stable condition. I'm assuming since I don't have ads, I'll be getting another U99 when a DL starts. Right now, the DL times on the diagnostic pages show NA.
To Video Bob or anyone else with the information: You mentioned a diagnostic screen identifying where your download information is coming from, could you please post how to get to that screen? Thanks.
