cisco 8742hdc dvr - cnf9 on screen

I have been working with this error all day.  At first, the DVR recording would not fast forward and then stopped all together.  I just froze.  I attempted to reboot the DVR by unplugging it, I left unplugged for about 5 minutes and then I returned the power to the unit.  I went through it's normal startup and then the TV went blank.  On the DVR display it just read cnf9 (or config as I have seen in other posts).  It has been like this for the past 3 hours and still has not returned.  Intermittently the white "Cisco" screen will show with the green progress buttons on the bottom (and they progress) and then back to the cnf9.  It just loops like that.  What could be wrong?