Cisco SA8300HD Failure (Ontario)

[tired8]

I have 2 SA8300HD that failed on the same day at roughly the same time. They both come up "FAIL" and then work properly for approx. 45 seconds before rebooting. That cylce repeats itself over and over. Anyone else have that issue? I find it odd that 2 boxes fail on the same day. Has Rogers changed anything?

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[Gdkitty]

Only think i could think of, would be a failed firmware push?  Not sure if anything was done or not though. (they dont play with the older firmware much anymore).

Other than that.. a electrical hit maybe which took out both boxes?

[tired8]

Both boxes were on quality power bars with surge protection so it is unlikely that they took a hit. Your suggestion of supporting older hardware makes better sense. Will Rogers admit that?

[Gdkitty]

You can try calling in, and find out IF they did a recent firmware push...

Though, thats information which is not always 'shared' around to the first level techs... so they may not even know if it was or not 😞

These rentals or purchased units?

[tired8]

Units are purchased with no warranty left. I should try to get a version number of the software from the box and call Rogers. I would hate to junk the boxes if they can be salvaged.

[OLDYELLR]

Does anyone even know if the SARA firmware for the 8300 has been updated in the last couple of years?

(For anyone who doesn't know, you can see 39 pages of systen information by tuning to any digital channel and pressing the Select button on the box itself, then pressing the Info button when the flashing envelope appears on the front panel. You page through the screens with the Volume buttons on the box. Press Exit on the box to exit.)

I have no idea what the firware number looks like, but on page 3 under SOFTWARE VERSIONS it says, PTV OS: Home Server Edition 1.12 and FLASH: DVR1.9.0_8300_MR.HR_F.p.5001. Then on page 17 under cComponent Information nothingis dated newer than 2012.

[jimboden]

OLDYELLR:

I haven't seen an update in a long time. I base this on the box not being reset to channel 1. Not sure how the guide updates work, though, as they should happen regularly.

Checked my diagnostic screen on my 8300HD PVR and saw the same things noted in your post. On page 17, regarding version numbers, this is what I found:

ROM Image 1.9.0.5001 11/19/12

OS 6.26.1606.1 11/01/12

SARA 1.93.16.1 11/18/12

The only time I saw FAIL on my box was when the hard drive was having issues, then eventually failed. After I replaced it several months ago, I've not had a single problem. One of the symptoms I had when getting the FAIL messages was scheduled recordings would stop working and I had to reboot the box to get them working again.

Did your FAIL eventually resolve itself or are you still without either box?

[OLDYELLR]

Looks like I do have the latest firmware, SARA 1.93.16.1 11/18/12. There's a thread on Digital Home about it and what the last update fixed or didn't.

I'm not the one reporting a "FAIL" in this thread, but I did momentarily see it yesterday. For some reason, after I checked the system information, I found the "#" button on my remote wasn't working and I could only change the picture with my TV remote and was getting screwed up pictures, mostly 4:3 with the edges cut off. First I tried rebooting to see if that would fix it and that's when I saw the "FAIL". Took a couple of tries and it even rebooted itself again when I pressed "Guide", but in the end the video was still messed up. I had to go through the HDTV Video Wizard again to get things back to normal. I really don't know what happened because later I brought up the system info screens to see if that cause it, but that wasn't it.

Here is the video setup if someone doesn't know. I didn't know this when I got my 8300HD.

http://www.rogershelp.com/DigitalCable-Ontario/article.php?id=YX-3B

[santana212]

8300HD PVR FAIL Message and Rebooting

I rebooted system now i have no channels

[OLDYELLR]

I have seen the FAIL message before, but it went away after some reboots. See my previous post.

If the hard drive has indeed bit the dust, the 8300 still works as a terminal and you can get all your channels, just not record or play recodings. How is your's? If you can't view TV, try rebooting again. If you need to replace the g=hard drive, there's lots of information on Digital Home here.