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DavePi99
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5 Messages

Sun, Oct 3, 2021 7:15 PM

Legacy DCX3400/3500 constantly rebooting - FIXED

I have had 2 of these now-legacy DCX3400/3500 series DVR’s for close to a decade. One of them started rebooting nonstop on 9/2/21. I figured I would resolve it with a replacement. Not so much. 

Short story: after 4 replacement DVR’s and a tech visit to resolve “signal quality in the home” (no changes to our wiring in 10+ years) - all DVR’s continued to exhibit the SAME PROBLEM: after working normally for 2-4 days,

constant reboots (88:88) immediately after starting to update/download (sync activity indicator) and reset to the current time - BOOM - reboot.

I have lost every recording on each of these DVR’s and not had use of my media room’s DVR in over a MONTH! While a 2nd DVR in a different room kept humming normally, as did our Extreme Internet service, and a digital receiver at the same location reported good signal strength (even on a splitter!)


I’m told that I have a level 4 support ticket that has elevated priority - but no call in a week, with a stated 24-48 hour callback window.

I hope to save others some pain by sharing  this link to the DVR CLEAR procedure that I used to finally STOP the reboots (stability day 6). 

While I am grateful to be able to keep using this legacy DVR equipment (past bad experience with IPTV), something has to change with the quality of the updates - or tell customers that you are no longer supporting the old DVR’s so we can make the decision to find another option for stable service. 


Thanks for reading. 

DavePi99

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15 h ago

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XfinityArmand

Official Employee

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250 Messages

2 m ago

Hi there @DavePi99!  Thanks so much for taking the time to reach out to Xfinity here on our Community Forum!  We are so glad to hear from you and ready to assist with this in any way that we can.  Generally when the legacy devices are being phased out of rotation, customers are notified months in advance.  There are materials enclosed along with billing statements along with emails as well.  Now that you have replaced that device, are you still having issues?

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DavePi99

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@XfinityArmand thanks for responding and letting me me that these legacy DVR’s are still supported. I will be watching for any notices warning of their retirement. 

As I mentioned in my post, replacing the DVR 3 times did NOT resolve the problem: 88:88 reboots continued to occur within 2-4 days of the DVR being replaced, with the symptoms noted in my post. 

I still have NOT received a call on my “priority” level 4 ticket, even though it is well past the stated callback window. Now that I know that the DVR’s are still supported and that CLEAR-ing the DVR fixes the problem - at the cost of losing all recordings -  I would like to have the level 4 tech explain WHY this is happening and if there is a way to prevent it in the first place. 

In the meantime, I hope to save others some pain by sharing  this link to the DVR CLEAR procedure that I used to finally STOP the reboots (stability day: 8). 

Thanks for reading. 

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2 m ago

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XfinityAnna

Official Employee

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374 Messages

@DavePi99, thank you for the wonderful information! I am sure others will appreciate your insight. If you would like us to check on the status of that ticket, we would be happy to do so. I will need to gather some personal information. Can you send us a private message with your full name, name of account holder (if different) and service address? To send a private message, please click the chat icon next to the bell in the upper right corner. Click the “notepad and pen” button. Send the full message to our shared support handle “Xfinity Support”. We look forward to hearing from you! 

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2 m ago

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SammyFL

Contributor

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36 Messages

@DavePi99 There was a firmware update on my DCX3400 and 3200 boxes two months ago from A28 to A32. I'm wondering if that's what killed your box. You should check your firmware/software and see what it says.

Here was my post:

https://forums.xfinity.com/conversations/nonx1-service/new-a32-software-on-older-legacy-boxes-dcx/612725560df05649b3de09e8

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2 m ago

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Keloms

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4 Messages

4 d ago

@DavePi99 Any resolution from tier 4? Been experiencing the same for 4 months now with the only solution each time being a box wipe.

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XfinityBiancaB

Official Employee

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205 Messages

Hi, @Keloms! I'm happy to look into this for you. Can you please click the Direct Messaging icon at the top right of the page, click on the pen and pad icon and enter Xfinity Support in the "To" section of the chat and provide us with your first and last name so we may further assist you.

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

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2 d ago

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DavePi99

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2 d ago

Thanks @SammyFL and @Keloms for responding. Glad to know that I am not alone with this rebooting/stability issue.

Sorry for the late response, I JUST received notification for responses. Forum notifications are one more thing that’s broken, I guess.

On DVR#5 now. After the Advance Team sent multiple codes, the DVR  was stable for almost 1 month - crapping out 3 days before Thanksgiving ( that’s 3 holidays where my media room’s DVR was dead, for those keeping score). 

Then it happened again. Both of my DVR’s had lost the list of their recordings. My bedroom DVR rebooted fine and the list of recordings was restored. Media room DVR started its continuous reboots. Again.  

I had requested that these codes to fix these DVR’s we’re added to my resolved 10/29 ticket. Apparently, this was not done, as no-one I’ve talked to in support has indicated they show anything in the notes. 

Still waiting for the advance team to respond to ticket #4. I am trying to keep the recordings this time, so not running CLEAR or swapping out for the new DVR (#6) sitting on my porch. 

Does anyone have a way to get a hold of the advance team directly ? Sitting and waiting forever is unacceptable.

(edited)

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DavePi99

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5 Messages

2 d ago

@SammyFL Good catch on new firmware. I had suspected firmware from the get-go.


Do you know which option has firmware on the diagnostics menu? (Power off DVR, Ok)

I have limited time between DVR reboots, so appreciate where to look. 

(edited)

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Keloms

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4 Messages

1 d ago

@DavePi99 Thanks for the update!

Unfortunately it doesn't appear that the SW version is in the diagnostic menu from my checking.

For comparison, my box is on the A32.2103.r-2 version.

After the latest box wipe, I recorded a quick 5 minute clip and did a manual power reset to test if it happened again right from scratch. This time the box powered back on fine without a reboot loop so it appears that the error isn't automatic but rather that there's something that happens over time that causes a reboot loop following a crash / power reset.

(edited)

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DavePi99

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5 Messages

15 h ago

@Keloms thanks for reporting your firmware version. I’ll try to check the rebooting DVR for a match. 

I was seeing the same thing with DVR stability changing over time, which still seems to me is either firmware changes or corrupted code elsewhere (guide).

Every time the update indicator flashes, I brace for more reboots. Crazy that this was distro’d for a “supported” box.  

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