Aug/Sep 2022 - DVR + 3x remote boxes Most mornings over the last six weeks or so, we awake to find "boot" on the DVR and no TVs come on. Only th "b" in boot is lit. the letters "oot" are dim. When this happens, SmartHelp and manual online reboot will not work. If you keep unplugging and plugging in the DVR and the remotes, at some point things work. This is usually after an hour or two. Cox support is zero help. They had me take two of the remote boxes in for swap. One because that TV (remote) is the first one we try, so they said swap that. The second remote was swapped because it was an older model. One of the two swapped boxes was DOA, so another trip back to Cox. The system worked for a day, then the exact same failure. Cox wanted to send a tech out, but I decided to take the DVR and move it to one of the remote TV sets. That was to see if the problem followed the DVR. After two days, same failure. Is anyone else seeing anything like this?

cloud is not a solution since what is currently on the hard drive is lost. cox offers no mechanism to export a list of what is on the dvr. cox offers no mechanism to export what is scheduled to record. your suggestions are all me doing manual stuff [watch quickly, determine what is available on demand or for re-record, write down what is scheduled to record] which entails a lot of effort, high possibility of being incomplete or inaccurate. guaranteed to raise blood pressure and dislike for cox's concept of 'solution' i was hoping maybe someone knew of a way to actually grab information from the dvr [if it ever reboots] * recordings * list of recordings * list of scheduled recordings e.g. swap and/or copy the hard drive whether to new dvr hard drive or some other media. cloud translates to streaming. if i want to stream, why bother with contour? no - none of what you've mentioned can be called a solution

Morning Boot Issue | Cox Community

82 Replies

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rlgrot
New Contributor III
3 years ago
Had s@me issue…constant rebooting every day. So went and got new DVR. Newer box and software. Had to connect to Cox cloud so would not lose previously recorded programs. Have not had the reboot issue since new box….about 2 months now.
tonyr
New Contributor III
3 years ago
Same started for me a couple of days ago. When lucky, one cold boot of modem/router/dvr eventually [minimum 30 minutes, but often more] completes the ~5 minute daily update. Last 2 days i haven't been lucky needing AT LEAST 5 iterations [well, today 5 and counting]

Cox has offered ZERO solution that will allow retention of recorded shows [disc ~90% full]

I can get new box, but lose recordings.

I can go to cloud based, but lose recordings.

retaining box that only sometimes behaves in order to eventually seen what has been recorded - while obtaining new one for future recordings. That isn't done.

Copying contents of diseased box to new box - that isn't done.

"Is there anything else we can help you with?"

Seriously? You have been no help.

Does ANYONE know of a workaround that allows recovery of recordings before trading in for a new unit??
- CurtB
  Honored Contributor
  3 years ago
  Identify programs available On-Demand and make note of them for viewing later. Of the remaining programs, determine the most important to you and watch them until you replace the box. Accept that you will not be able to view everything.
  - tonyr
    New Contributor III
    3 years ago
    of course, there are things I can do - but nothing that cox can do including, but not limited to providing a means for exporting a list of what is currently on the dvr [or recording schedules]
    
    since i am now into hour #6 of trying to get the box to reboot - i doubt if even yourkluge will help. likelihood of being able to reduce number of unwatched shows from 90% to something even remotely acceptable before having to abandon the titles very close to zero.
- tonyr
  New Contributor III
  3 years ago
  unit never did reboot today, so new question [holler if i should open up new post]
  
  Tech that was here yesterday thought one problem might be with the outside wires. He said he would schedule different tech to look at that but never did. I finally called and arranged for one -- but not until 5-7 pm tomorrow. But i digress
  
  I wonder if a stop gap can be implemented whereby i retain the almost full dvr but do something to allow access to tv until [hopefully] the outside problem is resolved. The local store was no help - i could turn in the old box but lose everything.
  
  IS IT POSSIBLE - to temporarily hook up different contour box [hard drive or cloud] to access new stuff for the next few days THEN if outside turns out to be the problem, remove the temporary kluge, hook up the old dvr and continue with all recordings and schedules preserved?
- lwporter45
  New Contributor
  3 years ago
  The original DVR boxes had a slot for an SD card. I asked a friend, who was an employee of Cox, if I could use it. He told me I could not because of copyright infringement laws. I’ve since confirmed this. So it’s actually not Cox.
  I do know someone that still had an old VCR, and he used it to tape a few shows he didn’t want to lose when he moved to another state.
  Btw, when you ask strangers for help/suggestions, it’s kind of a DH move to get snotty with them because the answer they give isn’t to your liking. When in doubt, be nice!
  - Bruce
    Honored Contributor III
    3 years ago
    The original DVR boxes had a slot for an SD card
    
    Cable-box are usually equipped with various ports (USB, RJ45, SD); however, when Cox orders these boxes from the manufacturer, Cox requests the ports to be disabled.
    
    old VCR
    
    A VCR could still record, you'd just need active component jacks (RCA plugs) on a cable-box. Those are long gone.
Evaluator
New Contributor II
3 years ago
Replacing the DVR fixed this. Cox had me trying everything else. It was the DVR, just like I said.
CurtB
Honored Contributor
3 years ago
How do you turn off the DVR and TV at night? If you're using the TV's sleep timer to turn off the TV, try turning off the DVR and TV with the cable remote. Or, use the DVR's sleep timer (if it's available for your type of receiver).
Jean_Baker
New Contributor
3 years ago
Yes. This happened several months ago. It was okay for a while … then the last several mornings we have the b showing on the contour cable box. After a half hour, at best, of unplugging plugs and rebooting, it works. From what I’ve read on other web sites, it’s tied in with Cox’s daily system updates. If you hit Contour on your remote and scroll left to settings you see the updates usually take place between 2:00 & 4:00 a.m. Kevin Wood at Xtrium has an excellent post on “How to Fix Cox Contour Box No Signal? Complete Guide.
- dish184
  New Contributor
  3 years ago
  Any luck finding a fix? My parents have the same problem
  - dish184
    New Contributor
    3 years ago
    Just saw the “Kevin Wood at Xtrium has an excellent post on “How to Fix Cox Contour Box No Signal? Complete Guide.” Thanks will look into
- CuriousJ
  Contributor
  3 years ago
  Can’t find this, can you please post a link?
SAA
New Contributor
3 years ago
Same issue here…
MasterMyDomain
Contributor II
3 years ago
Mine has been doing this for about a year. I unplug it, wait 10 seconds (gathering the strength to stand back up) then plug it back in. If it hasn't fixed it in 30 minutes I unplug it again. Very infrequently does it have to be done more than twice. It only happens overnight so about 6 months ago I turned Power Saver Off (Device Preferences - Power Preferences - Power Saver Off). That seemed to work for a few weeks but then the problem returned. It happens most mornings but the last 2 or 3 days it started normally and that happens from time-to-time. I never called Cox because I knew they would suggest replacing the box but I did not want to lose all my recordings and the fact it only happens overnight indicated Cox was doing something (I saw another post that said they do system updates overnight).
- MasterMyDomain
  Contributor II
  3 years ago
  This only happens on the DVR.. The 3 mini-boxes work even when the DVR doesn't.l.
- Bruce
  Honored Contributor III
  3 years ago
  Good lord...you should upgrade to a VCR.
- MasterMyDomain
  Contributor II
  3 years ago
  My mini-boxes are connected to VCRs. Life was much simpler, and affordable, when that was our only choice. For $13 a month you could connect as many TVs as you wanted to cable at no extra charge. I also have an antenna and can record to a hard disk but there is no good TV guide to schedule from so for now it's only used when all the cable devices aren't working.
  - Darkatt
    Honored Contributor
    3 years ago
    Actually, there is. "TV Guide", is a great resource.
hammerva
New Contributor
3 years ago
Well another day and another time that the cable box won't reboot. Although unlike most other days they are telling us that there is a service problem in my area that won't be fixed until around 10. That's a first. Not sure if that is the reason my cable box won't start up like usual or what.
CuriousJ
Contributor
3 years ago
Same issue, just not every morning
- MasterMyDomain
  Contributor II
  3 years ago
  Mine only does this overnight. If it did it during the day I would suspect that the DVR was failing. To try and determine when it is rebooting I set it up to record something every hour from 1:00 am to 7:00 am then each day deleted the latest scheduled recording, 7:00 am, then 6:00 am, etc. The system never rebooted for over 1 week. Yesterday, a Sunday, was the first morning where nothing was set to record overnight and it was not rebooting in the morning. This morning, a Monday, and the first business day with no overnight recordings, the DVR WAS booting and I had to unplug it and plug it back in to fix it. This coming week I'm going to work backwards, with one scheduled recording at 7:00 am, tomorrow 2 recordings at 6:00 & 7:00 the next day, and so on and so forth. I'll keep you posted.
- MasterMyDomain
  Contributor II
  3 years ago
  About a year ago when this started I tried the power button which didn't fix it. Neither did resetting from the Cox website. And it's only the DVR. The TVs connected to mini-boxes still work even when the DVR is booting.
  - Bruce
    Honored Contributor III
    3 years ago
    Was this meant for me? I didn't think it'd work but worth a shot. How long did you hold the power button?
Bruce
Honored Contributor III
3 years ago
I don't have a recorder, but some hardware is programmed to manually abort a failed boot. If these recorders have a power button on its chassis, you could test by pressing and holding for up to 20 seconds.

I bought a very cheap tablet for a call-blocker and sometimes when it's in hibernate, it tries to reboot but stalls on the splash screen of its BIOS (get what you pay for), but the only way to terminate is to hold its power button.
- MasterMyDomain
  Contributor II
  3 years ago
  For some reason unplugging the DVR isn't working today so I pressed the power button and held it for 44 seconds and nothing happened...it didn't even reboot the reboot. So I've unplugged it again.
  - Bruce
    Honored Contributor III
    3 years ago
    Yeah...this was just a stab in the dark. From my experience, the press-and-hold only forces the device to shutdown...not initiate another boot. 44 seconds is a good test.