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Panasonic DMR-E85H error U99
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uunowhoo
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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21. January 2007 @ 21:10 |
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I discovered this thread 2 years ago,lurking for other answers,and feeling exempt from the u99 error, as I had a new dmre-85h.But NOW I finally got it.U99 during divide operation-freeze. Now my unit won't get past >>self check>>/u99. I tried all mentioned button presses. Panny tech. says, "service unit/all data lost". Q: Is there any hope of getting my Hd data back? I know that once they have it, =no hope. I still believe the Hd is ok, but "communication error" as they put it, is outside of the Hd. -If so,can I mount this drive on a Pc?
-This thread appears to have had legs for over 2 years. And they still have no solution. It seems that these machines (which I love) are inevitably doomed with this curse.
Thanks in advance
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beckmen
Newbie
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22. January 2007 @ 09:12 |
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The TVGuide OS on my unit stopped working last week and hasn't fixed itself. I am going back to manual timer recordings now.
I am also pretty close to trashing this box and going HD-DVR from my local provider. Stupid thing only work half the time, but that 500 dollar price tag is a hard thing to take a bath on...
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katchoo
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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22. January 2007 @ 09:28 |
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I just thought you all should know that late last week I lost all my TVGos listings and it was that way through the weekend. Suddenly last night two days worth showed up and it was all still there this morning. I am hoping it was just a little TV Guide glitch. (knock on wood)
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beckmen
Newbie
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23. January 2007 @ 12:58 |
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Mine still doesn't work, sadly.
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cal401
Junior Member
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23. January 2007 @ 17:07 |
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Any time TVGO stops showing up, try a power off and unplug. That's always worked here. Others have reported sucess trying a different ZIP code; a good one to use is the ZIP for you local PBS station.
Cal
Cal 8571x
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RX7Fan
Member
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24. January 2007 @ 03:10 |
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UUNOWHOO,
Have you tried the firmware update,... from what I seen, the only time you get a U99 during a divide is with old firmware(Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure). The other suggestion, .... and this is for anyone wanting to send there E85 in for service, ask the service guys if they absolutely need you drive in the machine for service, personally I'd send it to the without the drive in there, then re-install the drive once it comes back. they should have spares around that they can use for testing and repair!! once it gets home, re-install the origional drive, if the drives good, no lost data, if the drives bad, they sounld be able to tell you the drive they put in worked just fine, then ask them to leave it in there, ... problem solved (Except for the lost data)
RX7 Fan
Rotary Power, ... it just makes sense!
The greatest car ever built!!! IMHO
hey, ... is this thing on? ..... anybody out there?
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xclratn
Newbie
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24. January 2007 @ 18:36 |
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I thought I remembered reading somewhere if you remove the HD and reinstall, the system auto formats it, thus, lost data.
Robert
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xclratn
Newbie
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24. January 2007 @ 19:50 |
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This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 24. January 2007 @ 19:50
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dinsdale2
Newbie
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28. January 2007 @ 08:36 |
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I have also lost at least some of the TVGuide listings as of a week
ago, implying that we're likely dealing with a problem from the source
of the listings rather than the unit itself
(as many of us experienced a year or more ago -- thanks to those
in this forum who ran it down BTW!). But I suppose
the other possibility is an incompatibility with new TVGuide
features and we require a firmware upgrade -- but that's
a fairly idle speculation.
I updated to a new firmware at that time (which was in the
midst of the original U99 issues). I wonder if there have
been any updated since then. I can't remember the numbers
from the old update (was there a "970" involved?).
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luvshisex
Junior Member
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30. January 2007 @ 12:06 |
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WOW! People still talking about the Panasonic DMR-E85H! I have had mine for a few years now. Got it as an "open box" return at Circuit City for a little over $300 (I thought it was steep but it was actually over $100 off).
I brought it home and almost immediately encountered the U99 error. And a lockup. I _think_ (been a while) I had the funky green tvgos error. I was mad, hadn't had this thing 24 hours. I searched the 'net (was like 2am and CC was closed so I couldn't return it) and found the website that talked about those probs and told us to download the Japanese firmware (umm. For people living in NA, it is NTSC). I did, burned it to cd, stuck it in my Panny, it did its thing...
No problems since except a while back tvgos lost its data and I had to re-edit a lot of my channels. Kind of a RPitA, you can page up/down in the guide of course with the channel buttons but you can't "drag" a channel while doing, ya' have to move one line at a time. Oh well, one problem in 3(?) years of HEAVY use - recording tv shows, editing out commercials, splitting shows when I got lazy and just did a quick set record for 3 one hour shows (hit record button until it says 3 hours), burning countless DVD-R, a few DVD-R to hard drive dubs of movies other people recorded - then took commercials out and re-burned to a different DVD-R.
I have seen cheaper dvd/hard-drive recorders since but I've not felt like I got ripped off. I was advised to turn off vbr and a couple other settings and the picture looks great to me (depending on source material, of course).
I have heard that if the ps ever goes flaky it will show u99. Have heard the same thing about if the mainboard goes flaky. Have heard if you get a u99 you need to send it in to Panny. So I wonder if everyone that has (ever) seen a u99 bothered to upgrade to the Japanese firmware? Doesn't affect menu language, btw - just the "operation" afaict. I _think_ it ended up making the thing "region-free" as well but that wasn't my purpose in upgrading.
Unit still seems as quick to respond as it ever did. Hasn't slowed down. Switched to digital cable a while back, lost tvgos. PitA. Thought about rigging an a/b cable switch to bypass the "box" at night. Finally managed to find the code that allowed the Panny to control the cable box through the ir blaster. Realized the guide was there, it just had to be able to change the channel.
Hmm. Had a few "reboots" from disc burning errors with crappy media (memorex, sony, maxell, "circuit city house brand" ("nextech" & "esa", may not be their brand but junk you only find at CC), & I think TDK). Then I learned about Verbatim & Tayo Yuden. No more problems (ever) on this Panny - or any other burner for that matter. TY impossible to find locally, have been using Verbatim for the last year or so, only about 275 discs so far but all good burns on the Panny set-top recorder & on my pc.
If I need to divide a title and then edit out commercials I always divide it first. May be why I have had no problems, I've read somewhere that some people did extensive editing (cuts) & divided and re-edited and had problems. Dunno.
I expect to go to satellite late this spring & I suppose I will lose tvgos. Hmm. I guess that will take some getting used to although there are a couple of channels that have never been in my guide & I've always had to do manual timers b/c I was too lazy to look up the vcr+ codes. Besides setting manual timers on this recorder is just about as easy as breathing - iow, you don't have to think to do it. I suppose the main reason I will miss tvgos when I lose it is that I find it convenient to search for a show by name in tvgos, hit the button to record it, hit the button again to tell it to record the show "regularly." I can manually setup a timer to record regularly but then it wouldn't automatically skip recording if the show is not on for some reason one night but keep recording the series in general. That's handy to a (somewhat) lazy person.
Hmm. Bitches? Well, the dvd menus aren't nearly as pretty as some of the (motion) backgrounds you can rig up on a computer. Can't add music to 'em either.
I can't remember if I've ever tried playing mp3/wma discs on it so I can't comment on whether it handles vbr or not... Everything else in the house handles them.
There's not much I can do without the remote so I worry sometimes that I will lose it or it will just wear out. When I get my satellite receiver & my "dish farm" put together I will probably buy a good learning/programmable remote.
Hmm. I am currently recording two "related" movies to dvd that I snagged off of HBO-on-Demand(?) a while back. In LP mode they missed fitting on a DVD-R by like 80meg... So I am of course forced to use FR recording mode b/c I didn't want to edit out the credits... I count this as a bitch b/c of course the Panny doesn't use the entire disc. Only 90-some-odd percent of it. Dunno why, I have read it is just how it is. Can always tell by looking at the disc, there is enough non-recorded space to actually see (iow, it's not just a couple of megs). I read when I bought the thing that another brand (Pioneer? Sony?) recorded 100% of the disc but all the reviews I read at the time said that the quality of the recordings were best on the Panny against all other recorders then available regardles of touted hardware specs. So I'm pretty happy.
Other gripes? Hmm. Uhh. Err... Have heard some people bellyache b/c the remote doesn't have an eject button. Hey, WTF? What, exactly, is the point of having an eject button on the REMOTE? If it had one would it open the door, fling the disc out (& into its case) and suck in the next disc, or would I still have to get my lazy *ss up and walk over to the recorder? 'Cause I'm thinking that if I've got to go over to it anyway I might as well hit the eject button on the recorder anyway... If for no other reason than the fact that it would look pretty stupid to open it over HERE & then walk over THERE... Or the fact that there are a couple of cats running around the house who don't seem lazy at all when things sort of move around over their heads; or the fact that one of them is long-haired and I don't want the fan in the Panny sucking any stray cat hair onto the lens; also the fact that I and others here smoke a lot and I can't see the point of having that cd-door open longer than it takes to actually insert/remove a disc.
Hmm. So no other gripes after all I guess. Now that I have a wireless Logitech keyboard it would be nice to be able to plug it in and do title naming & stuff but that's not something that was available on any of 'em when it was new.
BTW, people hearing drive activity at night when it is off, I'm told the drive defrags itself during periods of inactivity. Must be true, have never reformatted mine, always has at least 50-odd titles on it in various states of editing, waiting to be edited, waiting on more episodes or like content to be burned with... Never any trouble with "tangled data"...
Just wanted to post someone's POSITIVE experiences. Don't know how Panasonic's customer service is 'cause I've never needed to find out.
Later....
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vulcanusa
Member
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30. January 2007 @ 12:25 |
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luvshisex,
I haven't complained about it on this thread, but this is the only reason I'd appreciate a remote eject button.
Several DVD's I've rented at Blockbuster recently won't recognize the "Top Menu" button (i.e. you know, the function that's overloaded on the Navigator button while you're watching a DVD). The only way to get back to the Top of the DVD's menu is to eject the DVD and re-load it. Then you have to wait for all the copy protection messages to play again which the DVR prohibits scanning through or jumping to the next segment.
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luvshisex
Junior Member
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30. January 2007 @ 15:30 |
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I assume you've tried the sub menu button & it also didn't work. Well, I can't tell you how to eject from your remote, but I once got a free dvd with a pizza delivery that didn't have a top menu & I know what you mean. Try hitting the stop button twice & then the play or enter button. Hmm. Or hitting the hdd button and then the dvd button.
...
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cal401
Junior Member
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31. January 2007 @ 05:54 |
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Quote:
... a while back tvgos lost its data and I had to re-edit a lot of my channels. Kind of a RPitA, you can page up/down in the guide of course with the channel buttons but you can't "drag" a channel while doing...
The other day I discovered that you don't actually have to hit the blue (or is it green key) dozens of times to move a entry up to the top of the list. You can just enter a number when you are in move up/down mode and it will move the channel to that position in the list. For example: if you are 100 entries down and type 3, the channel will be moved to the third position from the top of the list. I leaves you where you were in the list, 100 entries down in the example, so you can continue moving entries up from there. In one trip down the list you can send all of your favorite channels to the top, then go to the top and put them in order with the green/blue buttons.
Cal
Cal 8571x
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dinsdale2
Newbie
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31. January 2007 @ 06:19 |
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By the way, the listings problem (at least in my geography)
appear to have cleared up and things are working great.
I think we had a one-week glitch
from TVGuide that there's no problem with the Panasonic itself.
I did check on firmware and there doesn't appear to be any
new updates, so my previous speculation was truly idle...
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TForce1
Junior Member
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31. January 2007 @ 06:28 |
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Originally posted by dinsdale2:
By the way, the listings problem (at least in my geography)
appear to have cleared up and things are working great.
I think we had a one-week glitch
from TVGuide that there's no problem with the Panasonic itself.
I did check on firmware and there doesn't appear to be any
new updates, so my previous speculation was truly idle...
My "one-week glitch" lasted months... ;)
But all is o.k. for me. For now...
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luvshisex
Junior Member
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1. February 2007 @ 14:17 |
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Quote:
The other day I discovered that you don't actually have to hit the blue (or is it green key) dozens of times to move a entry up to the top of the list. You can just enter a number when you are in move up/down mode and it will move the channel to that position in the list. For example: if you are 100 entries down and type 3, the channel will be moved to the third position from the top of the list. I leaves you where you were in the list, 100 entries down in the example, so you can continue moving entries up from there. In one trip down the list you can send all of your favorite channels to the top, then go to the top and put them in order with the green/blue buttons.
Cal
Hey thanks for that info. Had this thing for several years now and I still don't know all of its tricks. I will remember that if it ever happens again.
- * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - *
I thought about updating the firmware to what is on Panasonics site (US) but I think it said mainly just fixes "compatibility with newer media" which I don't understand. I use Verbatim 8X DVD-Rs and a few HP Lightscribe 16x DVD-R's (when I want to fancy up a label or can't find my Sharpie) without any trouble. Don't know who makes the HPs, haven't tried to read an id yet, but they write fine in the Panny.
Methinks that it really just has the bugfixes that the Japanese firmware had a few years ago. Probably doesn't have the region free part though. So I guess if I changed fw now it would be considered a downgrade. But I dunno. I know of NO way to go back to an earlier fw so I am not going to change just to find out.
Anyone tried using the currently specced (on their website) firmware? Can anyone actually tell me what the changes are? I haven't found a changelog for it and don't expect to, it seems that consumer electronics (non-"computer" stuff) never really have a changelog when new fw is published.
Later,
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REPAIRMAN
Junior Member
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6. February 2007 @ 08:16 |
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Originally posted by uunowhoo:
I discovered this thread 2 years ago,lurking for other answers,and feeling exempt from the u99 error, as I had a new dmre-85h.But NOW I finally got it.U99 during divide operation-freeze. Now my unit won't get past >>self check>>/u99. I tried all mentioned button presses. Panny tech. says, "service unit/all data lost". Q: Is there any hope of getting my Hd data back? I know that once they have it, =no hope. I still believe the Hd is ok, but "communication error" as they put it, is outside of the Hd. -If so,can I mount this drive on a Pc?
-This thread appears to have had legs for over 2 years. And they still have no solution. It seems that these machines (which I love) are inevitably doomed with this curse.
Thanks in advance
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REPAIRMAN
Junior Member
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6. February 2007 @ 08:30 |
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Quote:
Originally posted by uunowhoo:
I discovered this thread 2 years ago,lurking for other answers,and feeling exempt from the u99 error, as I had a new dmre-85h.But NOW I finally got it.U99 during divide operation-freeze. Now my unit won't get past >>self check>>/u99. I tried all mentioned button presses. Panny tech. says, "service unit/all data lost". Q: Is there any hope of getting my Hd data back? I know that once they have it, =no hope. I still believe the Hd is ok, but "communication error" as they put it, is outside of the Hd. -If so,can I mount this drive on a Pc?
-This thread appears to have had legs for over 2 years. And they still have no solution. It seems that these machines (which I love) are inevitably doomed with this curse.
Thanks in advance
Sorry about the previous Quote (tired out after a long day pi----g about with pana recorders) If you get u99 and self check come up on an 85 your data will not be gone if someone doesn`t try to fit a new hd. A power supply repair will cure all u99 errors without messing with the hard drive. A common mistake is made when these units are in for repair when some twit hooks up a new drive and lets the machine format it--still doesn`t cure u99 but as the new drive has been formatted, the data on the old perfectly good drive is lost forever. When a drive is connected up to a panny unit the disk drive and some boot code from the digital pcb has to be written to the hard drive.If the old drive is tried afterwards then the firmware writes the same code onto the drive and formatts it--bingo your data is lost. Hope this clears up the hard drive problem
Repairman
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dksmall
Junior Member
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6. February 2007 @ 08:49 |
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Quote:
A power supply repair will cure all u99 errors without messing with the hard drive.
Repairman
A rather mis-leading statement. You CAN receive U99 errors that have nothing to do with the power supply. The U99 error is also the result of communication problems, be it marginal supplies, hard drive errors, or downloading the guide data. I've received a number of U99's after losing the guide data, and waiting for the download to sync up. Once it gets going, I won't see a U99 for months.
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howie14w
Junior Member
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6. February 2007 @ 12:19 |
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My U99s have always been guide related, as far as I can tell.
None in about six months now [knock wood][/knock wood].
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REPAIRMAN
Junior Member
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7. February 2007 @ 11:31 |
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Quote:
[quote]A power supply repair will cure all u99 errors without messing with the hard drive.
Repairman
A rather mis-leading statement. You CAN receive U99 errors that have nothing to do with the power supply. The U99 error is also the result of communication problems, be it marginal supplies, hard drive errors, or downloading the guide data. I've received a number of U99's after losing the guide data, and waiting for the download to sync up. Once it gets going, I won't see a U99 for months.[/quote]
This is not a misleading statement as I repair these things for a living--day in day out. U99 is a comms error between disk drive,av decoder board and the hdd--usually caused by one of the lt rails between all three boards falling. These rails are +3.3v . +1.2v. +1.3v and most important is the +2v reference source that the 1.3 and 1.2volt regulators need to stabilise these rails. When this reference source fails or falls the 1.2 or the 1.3 volt rails cease and then the micro on the av board stops sending data back on one of the bus rails and the famous U99 appears. All the above is proveable with a simple digital meter and the required extention cables. Its so common now that I rarely use my meter to prove this fault, just fit the kit of parts I have assembled and the customer goes away happy and I never get a comeback
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Scan10
Newbie
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7. February 2007 @ 19:45 |
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So - can I buy a kit and do the work myself?
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dksmall
Junior Member
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8. February 2007 @ 06:27 |
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Quote:
This is not a misleading statement as I repair these things for a living--day in day out. U99 is a comms error between disk drive,av decoder board and the hdd--usually caused by one of the lt rails between all three boards falling. These rails are +3.3v . +1.2v. +1.3v and most important is the +2v reference source that the 1.3 and 1.2volt regulators need to stabilise these rails. When this reference source fails or falls the 1.2 or the 1.3 volt rails cease and then the micro on the av board stops sending data back on one of the bus rails and the famous U99 appears. All the above is proveable with a simple digital meter and the required extention cables. Its so common now that I rarely use my meter to prove this fault, just fit the kit of parts I have assembled and the customer goes away happy and I never get a comeback
Then why do I only get a U99 after a guide data crash/resync? If I had a marginal supply I would get U99's all the time, not when the guide data is downloading. I'm sure a marginal power supply will cause U99's, but if you placed your power supply upgrade in my system it would still get U99's after a guide data crash/resync. The 2 failures simply aren't related.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. February 2007 @ 07:21
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psujmatt
Newbie
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8. February 2007 @ 06:50 |
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It is misleading to claim that replacing the power supply will cure all u99 errors. Many pages ago in this thread, lots of people were receiving u99 errors that were exclusively related to the TVGuide updates. When GemStar figured out how to correct these errors, the problem went away. I had a u99 error problem that was cured by the bios update, until the GemStar problem was created. Once that was fixed, I have not seen a u99 in nearly 2 years--knock on wood. I still have the original power supply.
Perhaps the majority of u99 errors are now caused by a faulty power supply because everyone unfortunate enough to have bought a dmr-e85h has fixed the other causes(pure speculation on my part), but still it is not correct to imply that if one gets a u99, replacing the power supply will fix the problem all the time.
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xclratn
Newbie
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8. February 2007 @ 16:59 |
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Well.....came home to my 2nd U99. I powered it all the way off. Uplugged for a minute. Turned it on....got the hash marks for about a half minute. The display changes, but still have the hash marks. Machine never comes on totally.
I power it off completely again and unplug for five minutes. Powered back on again with hash marks for half minute again. I am thinking at this point the thing is DEAD. Well, it finally came back on after about another minute.
Looks like an update from Gemstar. I know this as I lock the video window on the guide screen. Everytime they send a program update (not program listings) it unlocks.
Location: Brentwood, TN - 37027
Robert
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