Ethernet problems with Direcway and 5000 series

[gadgeteer]

I've had the 5000 series (refurb) for several months. I also have a Direcway satellite modem which I just upgraded from the USB version to the ethernet version. I thought everything was great until my channel guide came up empty a couple weeks after installing the new satellite modem. Now whenever I force a net connect, it acts like everything is working just fine, until it disconnects, then it says there was a problem transferring data - try again later. I've tried several times a night for the past 3 nights. Same problem every time. I cleared my channel data using the 243 Zones menu, same problem. The only strange thing is, that I can set the Video inputs IN1 and IN2 to NOTHING and set the Ant/CATV to ANT and download the channel guide just fine. As soon as I add my Directv (samsung) back to IN2 and try downloading again, it gives me the same data transmit error or Network Receive error -AFTER- it has apparently set the time, and downloaded the guide. I even saw a Network Socket error flash by at least once.

i was on the phone with ReplayTV's tech support tonight. They had me power my Sat modem, 5 port switch, and Replay off (in that order) and power them back up. Same problem. They even told me to plug the modem directly into the Replay. Same problem.

Anyone have any ideas of what is wrong? I'm going nuts not being able to record my shows. At this point, I can't even manually record shows because my inputs are gone until I can do a successful download.

BTW: I've tried DHCP and manually settting the network settings. Same prob.

HELP!
Julie
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com

[Thunk]

I don't have any good suggestions, but having formerly been a DirecWay user, I can sympathize. I haven't had DirecWay for about a year (circumstances forced me from my wonderful rural home in the mountains into a more civilized setting with cable access), but RTV always worked fine over my network when I did have it.

So, grasping at straws...

Given that you say the download for the ANT input works, I would have to think that the DirecWay connection and networking is fine, unless it's timing out. You might try some choosing some other providers and even a distant zip code on input 1 and 2 to see if the problem is always associated with input 1 and 2 downloads or if it is associated the the data for your specific provider.

Thunk

[gadgeteer]

Maybe it is a time out issue, but it doesn't seem to be. After it finishes downloading the zones (which takes FOREVER!), it says it is getting addition data, and then it says there was a problem transferring data from the ReplayTV service, will try again later.

I've switched to using the dialup modem, and it's now working... But I want to go back to ethernet.

[kjac]

DirecWay does weird proxying all over the place if I'm not mistaken. This sounds like (because antenna works) and URL length bug with your full lineup.

-kjac

[gadgeteer]

What is strange is that the USB version of their modem worked fine for me all this time. I just upgraded to the ethernet version and that's when the problems started...

[antelope]

I have this same problem, but have been living with it for weeks. Same setup, same problem. I have resorted to connecting a phone line once a week to get guide data, but it takes almost an hour to download guide data and its not a free call for me. I have played around with zip codes, cat5 cable run lengths, hubs and switches, all to no avail.

The only thing that makes sense to me is the advice I have read in this forum about timeouts or url lengths. Unfortunately I am not skilled enough to fogure out how to do anything about them, and I am afraid to mess with the direcway settings for fear I'll lose my internet access.

[gadgeteer]

antelope:

Thank you so much for your post. Now I know I'm not alone, and my Replay isn't going belly up. I guess I'll have to do the same thing as you... leave the phone line plugged in.

I'm wondering though... Is the ethernet port still active, even with it's set to use the phone to dial out for the guide? I have goofed around with DVArchive in the past, and wonder if I can still use it....

Anyway, if someone has a solution to help us, please speak up.

Julie
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com

[antelope]

I leave the ethernet plugged in - it works fine for show sharing and the like. I switch connections just to do the guide update by phone and then switch it back to ethernet after the update - so as not make the phone call each day.

To make matters more confusing - once in a while it seems to work via the ethernet. I usually get a messgae from replay saying unable to connect, althought the messages seem to come every third day, but the guide is not updated. I thought the update happened every day.

I keep trolling this forum in case someone comes up with a solution that doesn't require Phd in computer science.

[tke743]

I have the same problem. I am using a cable modem.

This started about a month and a half ago. I called and opened a case at replay but no response. They said that they had never heard of this issue. Did you all open cases with them too?

We need open the cases so they know it is a real problem.

[ReplayLyndon]

Ok, I was wondering how many of you guys there were. I had two complaints at one point. One went away on its own, but I have another customer having the same issue.

According to a higher level tech at the customer's ISP, the modem my customer was using had built in proxying, referred to as Turbo acceleration or web acceleration. This one customer had the DW6000, but I haven't been able to find a way to turn it off.

I've asked QA to look into it, but any more info you can provide me would be great.

Please include what hardware you are using, the lineup you're using, when the problem started, etc...

Lyndon

[gadgeteer]

ReplayLyndon:

I have the Direcway DW6000 and the ReplayTV 5040. It's running thru a Belkin 5 port switch (I've tried just plugging the DW6000 directly into the ReplayTV too... same problem).

I've tried manually configuring the IP info and using DHCP. No difference.

You are right, the DW6000 does some funky proxy things. As far as I understand, it turns off the proxy for HTTPS pages and turns it on for HTTP pages. Unfortunately, there aren't any user controls available to muck with settings.

I'm using the DirecTV - Indianapolis line up.

[tke743]

Just some background.

I'm using a 3com cable modem (I’ll get the model # later)

I have two 5040's both with the same issue.

I've plugged them directly into the modem, but this still happens.

At the behest of support I factory refreshed one of the replays, no help.

I've talked to my provider and they say that there have been no changes in the network. (I'm a network engineer so I really quizzed them.)

I'll put a sniffer on my home network to see what is happening tonight. I had assumed it was a replay issue.

[ReplayLyndon]

So, you're having trouble downloading your regular lineup, but you can download a shorter one? What's your zip and lineup? I'll try and download it to verify there isn't any problem with the data.

Lyndon

[gadgeteer]

ReplayLyndon:

If I change the ANT input to be ANT/CATV (or whatever it is), and just download info for my 47201 zip, it works fine using ethernet.

I can download the DirecTV - Indianapolis listings using a dialup modem fine too (although sloooooow).

Julie

[antelope]

Replay Lyndon:

I have Direcway 6000 modem with Linksys 8 port Switch feeding three Replay 50xx's. I am in zip 16127 and use Dish National on one Replay, and Directv National on the others. I can get program guide for antenna (16127) only, but when I add anything on input one or two, I eventually get "Network Send Error" or "Network Receive Error" after "...getting program guide information". If I force a connect I get "Replay had a problem ..." after getting Replay Zones data.

I can access program guide data by switching connection to modem, which i do once a week to get a guide. This takes about an hour and I have to pay for the call, so it is not a real long term option.

Interoperability between replays (sharing) works fine.

[antelope]

Replay Lyndon:

In my previous post I neglected to mention my WRT54g (Linksys) Router. The replays are not wirelessly connected, but obviously use the router to access the Internet.

I upgraded the routers firmware just to see if that was contributing - but got the same error.

Also in checking out some other sites I learned that the Direcway modems (may) have a smaller MTU setting than other modems. I don't know how to change the MTU settings on the DW6000. Some folks thought that it could be a problem.

[tke743]

ReplayLyndon:

Zip is 01604.

As to the downloads, I can recieve them by dial-up, but it is failing via the network. This is a bad work-around.

This kind of defeats the purpose of having a Replay not a Tivo.

[antelope]

For Replay Lyndon:

More hints as to the DW6000 connect problem.

ZIP 16153+Directv National = OK
ZIP 16153+Dish National=NG
ZIP 16127 alone + OK
Zip 16127+either=NG

Unfortunately 16127 is the only zip that carries my OTA lineup (I had someone at Replay fix it a year ago.

[Bryan Lyle]

Same deal..

DW6000.. using ethernet connection goes through the entire process until the very end.. and then says it fails...

FWIW, My Tivos don't like the DW6000 either.

[cpumechanic]

I have the same issue, ZIP 18066, Dish National lineup only, DHCP enabled or disabled same results. Turned on network meter.. and it goes fairly quickly through with reasonable connect speeds up and down until it hits the ZONES update.. they take forever.. finally complete.. and then I get the routine connection error will try again later.

Ran same router with direcway oneway for about a year, only issue was needed to hard code the IP addresses and set up PC for ICS. But replay conected and downloaded just fine.

As soon as I upgraded to the DS6000 2 way modem.. poof, no more updates. Tried force connects.. clearing guide, called "help" phone number.

So.. I am now back to using modem to get updated guide.

Sigh.

Hopefully replay lyndon will see this pattern.. and they can make some adjustments to allow for the high latency of Sattellite interenet connects.

[jimpduke]

Looks like I'm in the same boat.

Everything worked fine while I had the old satellite modems, as soon as I upgraded to DW600 ethernet stopped working with same symptoms as everyone else.

(Zip code 78654) Tried Dish, Austin, and Dish National, no go.

Interestingly enough, Ive just got a second replay, and accidently selected Direct TV national, and it worked.

Jim

[dlmorgan]

ReplayLyndon,

I too am using a DW6000. I just got Direcway set up about one week ago. I have two 4500s - one for local channels and one for Dish Network. The local guide downloads with no problems but the Dish Network guide fails with the same errors listed by others. Previously I had been using ISDN and ICS to share the connection and both guides were downloading with no problems. If there is any other information I can provide don't hesitate to ask.

-- Dave

[Bryan Lyle]

Same here. Please do not hesitate to ask for further details. I'm more than willing to help troubleshoot this!

[dedward2]

ReplayLyndon: I hope you are still looking into this problem because I just encountered it trying to update my guide to include the new local listings offered by Directv. Zip = 87031 Replay = 5040 Direcway = DW6000. Have spent many hours on phone with Replay Support (on my nickel) to no avail. They're saying I need to replace my unit. (case no. 709845) They say they will call me back and never do. I'm trying to change my guide from Directv, National to Directv, Albuquerque and the download always gives a network receive error at 92% of the channel guide. Can you or anyone help? This problem has been ongoing since 6/5/04.

[captainfish]

I have the Dway 4000 USB model. I have been considering upgrading to the DW6000 version, but reading your posts I am thinking otherwise.

May I ask how you now connect your replays to your network? Do you directly connect to the modem via a hub, or do you come off of the Main computer via ICS (and then hub or whatever)?

I have this... DW4000 modem going to host computer. I then use my host computer as the ICS and output to a WRT54G configured as a HUB. From there I go out to my other computers and the 2 45XX replay units. My units are manually configured with the ISP of 192.168.1.X.

My computers do need to be configured to operate with the HTTP Proxy. And from what it sounds like, the DW6000 modem has built in Proxy configuration. My replays operate ok without the proxy config but slow. Would be curious to see how they would act with a proxy server config in their menu screens.

If your computers are operating just fine connected to the DW6000 modems, I too am having difficulty understanding why the replays are having difficulties. MTU's and URL lenght are not that big of a deal. rom what I understand, MTU's only give you bits of speed tweaks. URL length?? Well, I know we all have experienced some really long URLs in our travels along the internet.

Who here has used a router between the modem and the computers/replays so that the router is negotiating the network pathways?

[donwylie]

I dropped the direcway service 3 months ago as I was mad as h*ll about having to pay to upgrade the hardware to what should have been offered originally. I never would have signed up in the first place had I know the problems I would have to endure for over a year. Fortunately for me I now have wireless which connects to my router and all of my computers share the connection without any problems. I am so glad I don't have to put up with the lousy hardware from dway any more.

Oh by the way I have a dish and related equipment for sale if anyone is interested. It's the old usb connected tx/rx modems.

don

[dedward2]

I have a router and other than the replay downloads have had no problem networking my 2 computers and the replay. Just now attempted to download the local Albuquerque channel listing file for the umpteenth time....and it worked! Don't know why. So I'm happy for now that we can record local channels.

[cpumechanic]

Ok.. this post has been active for several months with more than a few of us complaining. I have also sent this link to Replay help desk in email. No response.

Come on Replay Lyndon.. the direcway service is goofy.. but.. it downloads web pages, and any other content (including your non Dish network guides) just fine.. can't one of your programmers come over to my house, drink a beer and fix the #&$&$&$& problem with guide downloads?

I bet us Replay and direcway customers with DS6000 Modems must represent at least .00001% of your customer base.

So.. whats the problem?

No priority for us?

:)

Oh well.. maybe this rant will work.

CPU
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Favorite bumpersticker observed prominantly displayed on CUBE of IT helpdesk associate.

-------------------------------------------
Intel "Inside" Idiot "Outside".
-------------------------------------------

[ReplayLyndon]

Ok, I'd have someone looking into this, and I'm sorry it's been so slow.
He got a callback from Hughes yesterday, it's taken a while, and they said the URL limit on the DW6000 was about 750 characters, which is way too small. He did say that while the user can't turn off turbo page acceleration himself, that they could. So, I'm going to have the person that originally contacted me have it turned off and see how much of a hit their websurfing takes.

[Bryan Lyle]

750 characters?!? Good lord.

If it works and doesn't affect web traffic too much, I'd like to try this "fix" as well!!

[mezzmor]

One of my customers kept telling me he couldn't make a VPN connection from his house and the culprit was his diectway internet connection.

I have some suspiscions about where the problem really lies with you guys as well. Can anyone do this for me:

Go to www.whatismyip.com and get your IP address.
The compare it to the WAN side IP address of your Linksys Router

If direcway is providing NAT and proxy and then you provide NAT again with a wireless gateway, things tend to get all messed up, which was the case for my customer. When he complained, they set him up with a "static" ip address (translation-a real routeable IP address). His problems all went away.

[gadgeteer]

Hi Guys,

I hope the ethernet issue is fixed ASAP since I found out tonight that a storm or something fried the modem in my ReplayTV. It keeps trying to initialize the modem and comes back with a "...problems transferring data, will try again later..." message. If I pick up the phone will it's trying to init, I don't hear it trying to dial or anything. I've tried reseting, clearing channel data, etc. It's dead Jim. :(

I know it's the modem because my old Replay can dial out just fine. Unfortunately, it's just hooked up to an antenna (network channels) and not my directv.

ReplayLondon: Please Please Please allow me to be a tester for any solutions you may be looking into for the ethernet problem.

Julie
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com

[gadgeteer]

Well, I had to solve the problem on my own. I did some googling and found a program called WiRNS. This program turns a PC into a server that your ReplayTV can connect to for the guide data. It also requires you to get an account (free) with Zap2it.com I set it up this past weekend and my 5040 is now working again! :D The solution isn't perfect though. Repeat tags are missing and Zone info doesn't exist. But, I'll live with those problems as I don't have a choice...

Julie
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com

[ReplayLyndon]

Ok, so one user did have his turbopage disabled.
That did fix the connection problems for his ReplayTV, but his internet connection slowed down dramatically. We've asked that the URL limit that's set on the DW6000 modem be increased. I'll post a followup message once that's been done.


Lyndon

[antelope]

Direcway is offering a "Professional" service that claims to "download larger files due to increased download capacity".

Does anyone know if this will address the url-length issue described in the above posts?

[antelope]

Anything new on this topic? Maybe ReplayLyndon can at least tell us there is no hope for Direcway/RTV users.

[ReplayLyndon]

Ok, Direcway can turn off the turbopage function on the DW6000 modem if you ask, but it slows down your web browsing dramatically. It does fix the problem.

We've submitted to the the domain information for replaytv.net as well as the length of the URLs used to see if they can make a change on their end to either accomodate the URL length, or the not cache the replaytv.net domain.

Lyndon

[chadjones99]

ok, i have been having the same problem too.
does any know if wirns will fix this problem.. i have tryied wirns with no luck, does the same, downloads all and at the end it errors out..... i have dropped my phone service because i went with cell only and direcway. now i am screwed ?
i love my replay, and dont want to go to another company, also if we only download local i am hearing that it works some times ? i have dish net and have the same problem with wirns, but if i (try this)uncheck all the channels but the one i want on zap2it or what ever its called , do you thank the shorter guide would help, also i have not been able to get the replay to see the wirns, the computer with wirns see's and controls the replay fine, but the replay does not see wirns in the network list of providers, but when i do a network test with replay it ack like all is good ???
also if i undo my direcway turbopage will this fix it or not ?
So if anyone knows how to make wirns work with direcway, please help here is a link to some other question i have had with the same problem. i am at the point were i am think if some one can fix this i will paypal them a few bucks
thanks
chad jones
chadjones99@direcway for now
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5979474#post5979474
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=565324
and heres one from another web site
http://www.planetreplay.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10241
i have to go move nuclear fuel now, will check back later
thanks

[chadjones99]

theye said they have not heard of this problem read my chat below with them
.................
Please wait ...
http://www.direcway.com
ronnie has arrived to help you!
ronnie says, "Hello , thank you for contacting DIRECWAY Technical Support. This is Ronnie.
Please give me a moment while I pull up your account information. "
You say, "is every body there ronnie, or i just getting lucky"
ronnie says, "This time the chat got disconnected at your end "
You say, "i lost all my chat screen a min ago"
You say, "ya i min screen, and when i inlarged it it was clear"
You say, "i am using direcway, so i dont know whats up"
You say, "so anyway , have you heard of the replaytv problem before, because from what i here anyone with replay and direcway is have problems"
ronnie says, "ok, please could you please provide me more information on the issue "
You say, "when replay downloads it guide info it does so, but at the end of the download it has a network error???"
You say, "so it dumps all downloaded info and wants to start over but, guess what problem still there"
You say, "look at this tread on this web site and you will see what i mean"
ronnie says, "So it is related to DVR correct "
You say, "http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=393943"
You say, "yes, but access to the internet"
ronnie says, "ok , please give me a minute more "
You say, "ok"
ronnie says, "thank you."
You say, "hey listen this is a big problem out there, but i have worked all night (night shift) and i have to goto bed, so please look into it and email me at chadjones99@direcway.com"
ronnie says, "I am working on the issue it may take 2 to 3 minutes more , please wait "
You say, "check that web site and you will see lot of people with this problem"
You say, "ok"
ronnie says, "thanks"
You say, "i will wait a min more"
ronnie says, "ok"
You say, "...thanks for looking into it"
ronnie says, "please bear with me , still working on it "
You say, "ok"
ronnie says, "I apologize for the delay."
ronnie says, "I was going through the whole thing "
You say, "just so you know the replay worked fine on dial up. and when i put it on the direcway is when it stopped. i can access the replay on my network through my pc"
ronnie says, "This could be because of the latency factor "
ronnie says, "As it is a satellite broad band so there is a latency in data transfer so is not working "
You say, "maybe..someone said somthing about it does work on the direcway4000 system ...and it has some thing to do when replay web requiest is too long..other 750 limit on the 6000 system ?"
You say, "well it down load fine till the end"
ronnie says, "ok, on direcway 6000 we have a firmware instead of software "
You say, "? what does that mean......how is the 4000 diff"
ronnie says, "You have connected your direcway 6000 directly to the replaytv"
You say, "is there a way to make it take longer web site names.. if that is what they ment?"
You say, "yes"
You say, "the time i use my router, but have tried both ways"
ronnie says, "Firmware is the in software with is in built in direcway 6000 modem box where as in direcway 4000 you have software which we need to install on the computer "
You say, "oh"
ronnie says, "So may be the firmware is clashing with it "
You say, "well there is lag time with both units so it has to be something else"
ronnie says, "correct "
ronnie says, "Firmware could be the issue "
ronnie says, "and as it is in built it can not be changed "
You say, "if there a way i could hook the modem in the replay, not the lan to the direcway it might work, but no dial tone,etc...."
ronnie says, "you may try "
You say, "so has no one else contacted direcway about this ?"
ronnie says, "No not to my knowledge , this is for the first time we have faced such issue "
You say, "well please email if you find out more, i do need to get to bed"
You say, "well as you can see on that web site i am not alnoe"
ronnie says, "It would not be possible for us , however if you will mail us , we will surely reply "
ronnie says, "sorry for the inconvenience "
You say, "what would not be possible"
ronnie says, "please send us an email and we reply to it "
ronnie says, "as we can not directly send an email to the customer "
You say, "just tell you boss about this and that i want to be emailed when you all find out more"
You say, "that is what this chat it for"
ronnie says, "sure , we will "
ronnie says, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
You say, "no right now"
ronnie says, "Thanks for contacting DIRECWAY Technical Support.
Have a nice time."

[chadjones99]

[QUOTE=ReplayLyndon]Ok, so one user did have his turbopage disabled.
That did fix the connection problems for his ReplayTV, but his internet connection slowed down dramatically. We've asked that the URL limit that's set on the DW6000 modem be increased. I'll post a followup message once that's been done.


Lyndon[/QUOTE]


does the turbopage slow down all the computer internet on the network or just one, and if fixs problem ? so no need for wirns software ? and if it fix's problem when turbo if off can you just download guide then turn turbo page back on ?
that would not be so bad if all i have to do is turn it off once a week...
and i wounder why the turbo page has anything to do with it ?
thanks for info will try it when i get home.. i have a email in with driecway asking them how i turn it off.

[chadjones99]

[QUOTE=ReplayLyndon]Ok, so one user did have his turbopage disabled.
That did fix the connection problems for his ReplayTV, but his internet connection slowed down dramatically. We've asked that the URL limit that's set on the DW6000 modem be increased. I'll post a followup message once that's been done.


Lyndon[/QUOTE]

did he turn off the turbo page or did direcway do it for him,, and if he did it how did he do it, i would like to try this to see if it works
thanks
chad

[ReplayLyndon]

DirecWay turned off turbopage for him, but he said that slowed down his internet connetion, severely. At one point, Direcway had claimed they were working on a beta software release to fix the problem, but most recently, we haven't been able to find anyone working on it.

The problem is the size of the URLs the ReplayTV uses. The Best solution would be if Direcway would configure your account or setup a rule where they don't cache any requests to the replayTV.net domain.

You can test this easily by selecting a shorter lineup like just Antenna or a cable lineup. Those will download, but the longer lineups fail. The longer a lineup, the longer the URL requested.

Lyndon

[chadjones99]

ok well i spoke with direcway advance tech support today, and they told me that they do not support turning off turbo page. and i then basically told them that i wanted it off and they said NO ! ...i don't know why they are so dead set to me having it off but they would not help. and the guy i spoke with basically has not heard of the problem.. i offered to give him this link, to show him how many people have this problem. but het do not really sound like he cared

[rbolen70]

ReplayLyndon, correct me if I'm wrong, but the long url's are only the ones requesting guide data, right? If that's correct, then WiRNS will help as those URLs are kept locally between replay & wirns. I believe that gadgeteer said that she got it working with WiRNS, so in the meantime, this should work until they figure it out at DirecWay.

Ryan

[chadjones99]

i also have mine up and running do to wirns... but i have heard a lot of the TiVO guys are having the same issue that we are...with direcway !
and the word i got from direcway is it not there problem..they told me to talk with replay,etc to fix it that it is a third party issue
IF i ever get a chance to get reguar broadband i am so gone !!!!!!!!! :mad:

[5150]

Direcway's service and support are literally the worst in the industry. I wouldn't expect much.