Phantom DVR, not available?

[keith111]

After 17 years with Comcast, I'm new to FIOS and love it!!  I have a small issue and need some guidance on how to fix it.

On installation day, the tech installed 1 DVR, however it failed repeatedly during the setup procedure.  He believed it may have been a bad box, so he installed a replacement DVR, and the installation was successful. Via the web, on the MyDVR control page (Manage Button), I immediately get an error.

"We are having trouble communicating to your Set Top Box.
We've encountered a problem connecting to your Set Top Box.
Please try again in a few minutes."

Keep in mind, I have 1 single DVR in my home.  But when I close the error box, and it defaults to an unknown device name which appears to be a MAC address.  I'm assuming this could be the original box that failed during the installation procedure. 

When I click on it, a pull down menu appears and I select "Living Room" box, then everything works fine.  I can't seem to locate where I can delete the device with the MAC address name which appears to be causing the error, it's a phantom device.

So far, I've reset the router, then reset the DVR box.  I also ran through a bunch of help screens, and through the Verizon Help software trouble shooting process. I've got to be missing something simple.How do I delete the phantom DVR?

[PJL]

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@Keith111 wrote:

After 17 years with Comcast, I'm new to FIOS and love it!!  I have a small issue and need some guidance on how to fix it.

On installation day, the tech installed 1 DVR, however it failed repeatedly during the setup procedure.  He believed it may have been a bad box, so he installed a replacement DVR, and the installation was successful. Via the web, on the MyDVR control page (Manage Button), I immediately get an error.

"We are having trouble communicating to your Set Top Box.
We've encountered a problem connecting to your Set Top Box.
Please try again in a few minutes."

Keep in mind, I have 1 single DVR in my home.  But when I close the error box, and it defaults to an unknown device name which appears to be a MAC address.  I'm assuming this could be the original box that failed during the installation procedure. 

When I click on it, a pull down menu appears and I select "Living Room" box, then everything works fine.  I can't seem to locate where I can delete the device with the MAC address name which appears to be causing the error, it's a phantom device.

So far, I've reset the router, then reset the DVR box.  I also ran through a bunch of help screens, and through the Verizon Help software trouble shooting process. I've got to be missing something simple.How do I delete the phantom DVR?

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The other STB will take awhile to fall off the list.  Verizon's inventory control system is, unfortunately, not very quick to reflect hardware changes, and you essentially had a box swap when the tech had to use a different STB.

[keith111]

The problem has persisted, but I'm hopeful for a fix soon. Basically to recap, I have only 1 DVR. Using a browser to access Manage my DVR, it defaults to the non-existent DVR, and throws up an error window indicating it cannot communicate with the device.  Once I close that error window, I use the pull down menu and physically select my Living Room DVR, it works fine until the next time I log in to manage my DVR.

Tech support shows I only have 1 DVR.  Customer service shows I only have 1 DVR.  Today an operator I spoke with opened an internal ticket to research the problem.  She did indicate the records show my original defective DVR was returned and is on the shelf, so we can't figure out why it's still showing up via browser.  Perhaps it is a batch transaction still to be executed, but usually batch is done nightly, not weekly or monthly. 

[keith111]

In our last episode, VZ support opened an internal ticket to research my problem, basically the website sees 2 DVR's when in fact I only have 1.  The extra DVR throws an error when I try to use the website for remote scheduling.

As a result of the latest ticket work, there is no longer ANY equipment listed. So the real DVR (the one physically located under my TV), and the "phantom" non-existent DVR are both gone from the website (My Account, DVR view).

During a conversation today with a tech, I did a complete 60 second reset and he ran a diagnostic on my DVR.  According to the tech, he sees the issue and will proceed to get it corrected in the next 48 hours.  Stay tuned.

[PJL]

Have you tried re-enabling remote DVR from the STB menu itself?  This might then add the STB back in.

[keith111]

Yes. I've reset from the box (menu), from the In Home Agent, from the voice response system on the toll free line, full reset then power up, nothing has worked.  The issue appears to be sourced on VZ's side, and the provisioning tools are not able to resolve the problem.  According to the last tech I spoke with, they have to change something on their end, and I should see a resolution in about 48 hours. 

[EJRW]

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@PJL wrote:

Have you tried re-enabling remote DVR from the STB menu itself?  This might then add the STB back in.

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@Keith111, this is not the same as a reset. There's a specific menu to enable the DVR. I don't thnk the DVR is "seen" on the web until it is enabled, at least that was my experience. 

There are also several options in the menu to "auto-fix" problems. 

Menu -> Customer Support -> Fix FiOS TV Issues.

This will bring up a menu to troubleshoot the boxes. Might be worth a try, but I suspect it's more likely a glitch referenced by PJL in his first post, in that the change is not being detected on Verizon's end, and thus the phantom box is not being deleted from the database. 

[keith111]

I'm starting to get a little angry after nearly 6 weeks. It's become ridiculous. In my entire 16 years with Comcast, I never encountered such a poor level of customer service.  This was one of the most important things existing Verizon customers warned me about, the company falls well short of the intended mark. They were right, and I fully understand their comments now. 

Today I received 2 automated calls telling me the service ticket was closed and press 1 if the problem was resolved, press 2 if the problem continued.  I pressed 2, and I had to explain my problem for the 10th time in 6 weeks.

So I still can't program my DVR via the web interface, which now shows I don't own a DVR at all.  Unbelievable.

[ElizabethS]

Hi Keith111

Your issue has been escalated to a Verizon agent. Please go to your profile page for the forum, and look in the middle, right at the top where you will find an area titled "My Support Cases".
There you will find a link to the private board where you and the agent may exchange information. This should be checked on a frequent basis as the agent may be waiting for information from you before they can proceed with any actions.

[Verizon_Support]

We're glad updating your browser helped resolve your issue.

Don't forget, you can supply some feedback on this issue to our developer team via our Idea Exchange.

As always, feel free to create a new post if you have any further questions or concerns.

Thanks,

Ali Adam

[keith111]

Thank you Elizabeth, I'm sorry it's become such a very aggravating issue now. It's something a level 3 tech could probably figure out in minutes.

In the next call I make, I will ask for a duty manager or sev 1 resource because it needs to be looked at by someone with deeper skills than front line personnel.

[Techone1]

I also have a DVR that has been recently replaced. As a result i also have a phantom DVR listed within my ipad/iPhone/web verizon interface.

Granted my replacement box arrived yesterday, I'm hoping this phantom DVR listing does not stay n my account for the next six + weeks. Looking forward to reading that your issue has been resolved.

[keith111]

As other folks here have indicated, the missing DVR may disappear from your account at some point.  In my case, it did not. 

Early on, I called Support and at one point an internal service ticket was generated to address it.  However, when this step was completed, I had no equipment showing at all. This whole thing was just odd.

The resulting follow on issue, where I'd still get a popup error window loading up the My DVR Page, and no equipment at all showing was even more frustrating.   For some crazy reason, I switched by browser from Firefox to Chrome or Microsoft Internet Explorer yesterday, and the My DVR webpage worked as designed. My equipment appeared, my recordings, scheduling, etc. 

When I switched back to Firefox, pop up error, no equipment showing, nada.  So somewhere along the line, or perhaps from the beginning (?), Firefox was an issue for me. Even more perplexing, I clear my history, cache and cookies every time I close Firefox.  I also use a cache and cookie cleaner every other day or so.  I'm just glad to have the My DVR webpage access working now so I can schedule a recording from anywhere.  I posted my results in this thread, top of page 2.

[Justin46]

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@Keith111 wrote:

.....

When I switched back to Firefox, pop up error, no equipment showing, nada.  So somewhere along the line, or perhaps from the beginning (?), Firefox was an issue for me. Even more perplexing, I clear my history, cache and cookies every time I close Firefox.  I also use a cache and cookie cleaner every other day or so.  I'm just glad to have the My DVR webpage access working now so I can schedule a recording from anywhere.  I posted my results in this thread, top of page 2.

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I use Firefox (20.0) pretty much exclusively and have no problem accessing my DVR, just verified that it still works. I wonder if perhaps you have a Firefox Add-on installed that is causing the problem? It is easy to check whether this is the problem, just start Firefox without any add-ons ( Help ==> Restart with add-ons disabled.....) and then see if you have the same problem. I know for a fact that some people have had problems with various MyVerizon functions with some add-ons (I don't know which ones however); if you determine that it is an add-on problem, then the fun begins, trying to figure out which one....

By the way, the only thing I clear in Firefox when I shut down is the Cache, I keep all Verizon cookies so the two-week login works, and I don't think I have ever cleared the history. I don't think cookies, cache, etc. have any effect on this.

Good luck!

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, 25/25 Internet, and Digital Voice user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9.1
Keller, TX 76248 (VHO 1)

[keith111 · Accepted solution]

I've inadvertently unraveled a part of the mystery.  I use Firefox, the latest is v20.0.1.  Tonight, I loaded up Chrome Version 27.0.1453.65 beta-m and I can see everything, no errors, and I have no idea why.

Using Firefox 20.0.1 is somehow the problem. Loading the My DVR page gives me a pop up window "There was an error with the request to the server."  Once I clear that popup error message, my equipment is not there, nor is my DVR.  Here are 2 print screens, first the Popup error, then you'll see no DVR, and no equipment after I've clicked on My Equipment.  The Add DVR button takes me to an order process, which would kick off another billable DVR to my account.

I've tried to add 2 screen shots for reference, but apparently can't due to a post size restriction.

When using Chrome 27.0.1453.65 beta-m, as well as IE v9.0.8112.16421 everything works as designed.  I log in with the same userID and PW, click on My DVR page, no error, and all my equipment is listed. 

On my Android device, this is a similar situation althought I'm not sure what the browser is, I'm not using Chrome on the Android device, but I will more than likely download it now.