I bought my HXD860 Dec 2006 and it worked brilliantly until a couple of weeks ago. I tried to set a new Series Timer event and the machine locked up. The only way to restart it was to plull out the plug and then power up again.

However, the machine then attempts to power up with the 'Welcome' sign and after a few seconds powers down. Every minute there-after it goes through the same startup/shutdown sequence and so the device is unusable and completely useless.

Having bought the product from Amazon, they shipped me a new product immediately, but to my surprise, as soon as I tried to programme another Series Timer event, the same fault occurred and the new device is unusable too!

Amazon have since notified me they have been made aware this is a widespread problem, and will not ship another product (as it is likely to have the same problem).

I presume the fault is a recent fault introduced by a recent firmware download as the original product used to handle the Series Timer events withou problem.

Has anyone else come across this problem or know of any remedy?

You've got me scared now!

Mine works perfectly (apart from the odd missed recording due to series timer data) and I was planning on downloading the new firmware tomorrow night.

One Q:

Have you tried switching the machine on and then resetting it by holding the power button in for 30 seconds?

Thanks for the warning.
What channels was you using the series link on, BBC or More4?

I originally tried setting the Series Timer on E4, and on the replacement machine I tried it on Channel 4 and on both the machine locked up and crashed.

Either way, there is absolutely no way to get the machine to power up properly.

I pulled the plug out and left it off for a few days, and when you turn it back on it does not get past the 'Welcome' sign - it simply powers itself off after a few seconds, before attempting to restart/shutdown every minute.

I tried a 'soft' reset by holding the power button down for 15-30 seconds but this does not boot up past the 'Welcome' sign either.

Scary!

Thing is it can't be the new firmware as you said you had the problem a few weeks back and the new firmware started broadcasting for the first time on Monday AM this week.

So I wonder what's causing this? I've had mine since Dec, well, first the HDD died so I swapped for a new one in Jan. Always got the latest firmwares and I've set series timers on CH4 too. Very odd.

I suppose if you rebooted and held the HDD button in it would do the HDD re-format and be Ok again (seeing as it would wipe oput whatever corruption the series timer had wrought) but it's scary to think that there's a bug this big in the machine. WTF is going on?

When your box is in its “Welcome” stage, have you tried continually pressing the DVD button on the front of the box or even pressing the eject button for the DVD tray?

I assume that your machine always starts with the HDD button illuminated / selected which may be the problem.

I take it you can hear the cooling fan working during start up?

Tried pressing the HDD, DVD, and eject buttons during the 'Welcome' startup but nothing doing. Shame really - I'll probably end up sending it back to Amazon and getting a different machine - any suggestions for a better recorder?

You've got to hold the HDD button in for a long while, not just press it.

To be sure:

Unplug the machine, plug it back in, press and hold the hdd button in for a minute. Should skip the boot up and just start reformatting the HDD, fixing whatever issue is causing your crash.

Still not seen this on mine, thank goodness.

Hard pressed to recommend another manufactures equivalent box with on board Freeview tuner.

This may be stupid question, but have you contacted Sony’s technical support with this problem? After all this box is under a Sony guarantee and they should offer advice on how to fix it..

Some links that may or may not be useful.

http://support.sony-europe.com/hav/d...h&m=RDR-HXD860

http://support.sony-europe.com/conta...n&tp=cic&cn=UK

I've just had exactly the same problem with my unit, trying to set a series timer for Big Brother on Channel 4. The player locked up, and then wouldn't power up again, it was just displaying the "Welcome" message, whirring away for a few minutes and then restarting, over and over. I tried holding the HDD button in and restarting, etc, but it wouldn't recover itself.

The machine was also bought from Amazon, who promptly dispatched a new player before the faulty one was even collected

So I haven't tried the same series timer again! Series timer works fine for The Apprentice, The Apprentice: You're Fired, Deal or No Deal, The F Word, To Buy or Not To Buy, and Homes Under the Hammer - it's used by all the family!

Just thought I'd share this, all in all I'm very pleased with the machine but it's a bit scary that certian series timer events may cause it to suddenly die!

Tom

I have exactly this same problem purchased my RDR HXD860 in october, although the menus are very slow, and boot up is also slow, everything has appears to be fin until last night, I also used the series timer option on Big Brother, I used the machine briefly this morning to watch about 15 mins of last nights show, then turned it off and went to work, I can only assume it has been taping something today as when I come to use it all I get is the welcome screen, then I can hear the internal cooling fan speed up briefly then the unit turns off. The whole cylce starts again and carries on like this. I have tried using the soft reset option by pressing the power button for 30 secs, I have also left the unit un plugged for some time, this has not worked either.

I think there must be some major problems in the design of this unit!

See my previous posting about this unit -> http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=507448

Just a quick update to advise that I have taken the unit back to the retailer who has agreed to a full refund, any ideas which model I should choose now? I was thinking about the 710 which seem to have good reviews?

My RDR-HXD560 started doing this last week. After lots of searching on t'net I couldn't find anything to help.

I'd tried holding the power buttong down, and holding HDD at startup, all with no success. I rang Sony and they said take it to my nearest repairer, but that's 30 miles away in a city I try to avoid...

I'd bought the unit as new/old stock on eBay so a return to the seller was out of the question, and I didn't want to pay for a repair, or buy another one.

By messing about with it my self, I've found out how to access the "Service Mode Menu".

Press and hold the power button (about ten seconds to force a restart) whilst at the same time holding Eject and Play.

When the unit restarts, "Welcome" displayed, release the power button but keep holding Eject and Play until a "S" is displayed on the front panel display, and the "Service Mode Menu" is displayed on the TV.

Now you have the options available to re-format etc...

Good Luck!

Does this work on other models? Somebody going to try?

If so, does this allow people to put in bigger HDD's, like 500GB in and get it to work without buying the £40 Service Remote or similar.

pzboyz

Thanks for the useful post arlurt my box locked up last week after having to retune due to a chanel change at the transmitter, it locked up whilst programming a series timer but had been getting slow and forgetful up to this point.

After much frustation with the machine starting up and shutting down but not allowing me to do anying I tried going into the service menu for me this was entered by pressing the play button whilst the machine powered up and indicated by 'S' in the display.

I tried most of the menus and checked out the serviceability of the components first then I started to reset things, I first reset the error log then carried out the least worrying 'DTT Factory reset' after switching off the machine the box booted up again like it was new but still with the series timer software loaded, had to reprogram the channel and favorites but everything else was still there.

So thanks again for pointing me in the right direction as the box is now about six months out of guarentee.