Multi-Room Viewing stops working every few days

I Have the exact same problem DirecTV less than a month same HD/HDDVR receivers. Called 5 times and am fed up there is really no solution to the problem am hoping technician will not take a month to come out. I am thinking that it has to do with the receivers receiving information from directv to shut down it seems to mostly happen in the evening to me. I may have to go back to COX cable this is not what I signed up for.

Is the H24 installed correctly? Make sure there is no DECA unit. The 24 has them built in. You should also make the that the band stop filter was removed when you upgraded the receiver. It's the small red box that was behind the standard reciever. There should only be the coax line into the receiver.

H24 is installed correctly.  No DECA unit, no band-stop filter.  Just coax from the splitter straight to the H24. 

A few updates:

- I was incorrect about the splitter.  A few weeks after the iniitial install I had a service call and the installer replaced the 4-way splitter with an 8-way splitter while troubleshooting a reception issue.  4 outputs are in-use, and 4 are not.

- Last evening I tried a complete system shut-down and restart.  I powered down everything, including the SWM power inserter and DECA attached to the router.  Then I restarted in the following order, waiting for each item to completely start powering up before moving on to the next:  SWM power inserter, DECA attached to the router, first HR21, second HR21, and last the H24.  Everything was great...until this morning.  Now I have this behavior

   HR21 #1 can see HR21 #2

   HR21 #2 does not see HR21 #1

   H24 can see HR21 #2, but not HR21 #1

...perhaps I have a bad DECA attached to HR21 #1?

I wouldn't disconnect the Internet connection just yet. Open router setup from your computer and assure that it's set for DHCP auto configuration. If it is not that could cause your problem. Set it to DHCP then redo the power down reset you previously did, in the same order. DHCP will assign an IP address to each box and assure there are no conflicts. Be sure the DECA has green lights before you power up the receivers.

The reason that "leave the system disconnected from the Internet ?"may work is because the three boxes will be assigned an IP address by the DECA units.  But, if you do it this way, then when you attempt to connect the Internet DECA later, you'll almost surely get IP conflicts.

My router is set-up as a DHCP server and there are no IP address conflicts.  Infact, I have established reserved IP addresses for the 3 receivers on the router.  But I still leave the receivers in "default" network mode (i.e. I don't use Advanced Setup) and the reserved IP addresses were already in-place on the router before I did the entire system restart last evening.  Incase it matters I have a Netgear Wireless G Router, model WGR614v9.

Another update.  After I noticed issues with HR21 #1 this morning (i.e. it can see everyone but no one can see it) I disconnected the Ethernet cable from the DECA attached to that HR21.  Then after about 1-2 seconds I reconnected it.  I also confirmed that the Coax connections on both sides of the DECA were securely attached (they were).  That brought the system back to fully functional and it's been stable since (about 6 hours now).

I'm trying to isolate the issue here...I'm leaning towards a faulty DECA behind HR21 #1 or perhaps an issue with HR21 #1 itself.  I'll continue to post details -- seems like a lot of folks are having the same issue as me.

Reserving IP addresses should not be necessary, in fact how would you know which IP's the boxes are most comfortable with?  I'd let the DHCP system manage your network.  I have an extensive network with 11 devices connected and I reserve no addresses and especially don't use MAC reservations.  Suit yourself of course, but the the purpose of DHCP is to get automatic configuration.  Go ahead and disconnect your DECA unit and do another power off reset.  The receivers will configure themselves, the router won't be involved.  If the Whole Home works well after that then you know it's your router/settings causing the problem.

Disconnecting and reconnecting the router connection will likely have little if any good effects.  With reserved IP addresses a reset of your router or modem would not do any good because you cannot get fresh assignments.

Update....last night before I had a chance to do any more troubleshooting I had more trouble but this time with HR21 #2.  I got a message on HR21 #1 telling me that HR21 #2 was no longer connected to my network.  The only thing that would get things working again was a power-down reset.

So this morning I reset EVERYTHING again.  However before I started I removed the IP address reservations from my router.  (As a computer engineer I really have to question the effectiveness of this, but I'm willing to try anything.)

- Removed IP address reservations from router, AND power-down reset my router.

- Powered down EVERYTHING, and restarted in this order: SWM power inserter, DECA attached to router, HR21 #1, HR21 #2, and H24.

- I waited until each device was completely powered up before moving on to the next.

- Also, once each device was completely powered up I also went into the Network settings and did a "Restore Defaults" just to make sure everything was in an "out-of-the-box" state.

So far so good, but then again it usually works well for at least 8-10 hours before I start having trouble again.

If this doesn't work, my next step is to disconnect the DECA attached to the router and take that out of the equation.  If/When I do that do I only unplug the network cable attached to that DECA and leave it powered on?  Or do I completely disconnect that DECA from the main splitter?

I like what you did, except that doing the "restore network defaults" possibly defeated the purpose of the exercise.  If you wish to do that, you might better have done so before you did the power down, thus allowing DHCP to do it's thing without any fresh resets.

You may well have a faulty DECA module, maybe on HR21 #1.  If I were going to disconnect anything, it would be to take one DVR at a time out of the system.

OK I reset everything this time and it is working for 24 hours now. Under System settings I choose reset and then reset everything on my h24 and hr24. I also found a .jpg of set up showing all scenarios. When I reset I lost all my recordings and schedule recordings. I am guessing that since the Ethernet port in the h24 and hr24 has been accessed it needed to be completely reset to clear the deca shut off/on that disabled MRV in the first place. My on demand is more difficult to navigate now, after I pick movies to download they are not added to Que list.

Well DCD it has come to my attention that no one at Directv has a clue about the h/24-hr/24 receivers. In fact many people are having the same problem. I am guessing that the engineer that built this system is still working out the kinks in any event regardless what you say it has been more solid for me now than it was before and I could place money on it that this problem has more to do with the built in deca needing to be reset since it had the Ethernet cable plugged into the receiver at one time which is originally what disconnected the MRV in the first place. Normally people with similar problems tend to try other solutions in post and obviously you can't solve this persons problem.

That's fine, but good manners and good troubleshooting protocol still would suggest a fresh post.  Sorry this upset you.

(Back to original issue...)

Update, 36 hours and so far so good.  All three receivers still have connectivity and can still all see each other as appropriate. 

One less severe issue that I'm noticing now is that the H24's playlist will get stale -- like hours stale.  The two HR21s always have up-to-the-second playlist display showing recordings from both devices.   As a work-around, on the H24 when looking at the playlist, I click Options (YELLOW), then select Change Order of Playlist, and select something different.  This causes the playlist to refresh from both HR21s and everything is bliss.  If that's the only issue I have then I suppose I can live with it, though I don't think I should have to.

I don't think so either.  I'm not sure where you and I stand on this boot up sequence and IP address issue, but I thought I'd give you a bit of clarification.  The field training manual updates tell us that Directv has found a direct correlation between the start up sequence and problems with communication between the boxes.  When these boxes are setting themselves up, they assign themselves IP addresses.  If a router is present, they co operate with the router to do so.  Those addresses are vital to the communication process.  By allowing the system to do the assigning, the receivers are able to stream programming from one box to the other without involving the router.  By tampering with addresses, I think it's possible to force the flow through the router thus creating nagging problems.  You may already be configured properly, but wanted to offer this for your use.  Here is a cut and paste from the manual.

"Whole-Home installation with Internet access (DECA installed at customer’s router/modem)

 • First install and power on the DECA BB or receiver DECA plus Power Supply at the customer’s router

 • Next, install the HD DVR receiver(s) (Non HR24 requires DECA)

 • Third, install any HD receivers (Non H24 requires a DECA)

• Finally, install any standard receivers (with BSF installed)

Note: The recommended installation order of receivers helps to ensure that MRV is initialized with the full network settings and HD DVR playlists available as additional receivers are added. This will help eliminate receivers "missing" from the network, and minimize the troubleshooting required after activation of the service."

I am new to this and am having the same problem Someone answered my previous post to disconect everything and boot up everything seperately I don't know if i did this correctly as my whole home is not working agin . Can someone guide me step by step ( please describe everything i need to unplug because i have know idea what everything is) i have a brand new system. 1 hd dvr and 2 hs recievers  i have a wireless router that has some kind of direct tv box connected to it ( blue cable to a ?deca box ???) it seems when this is connected to router whole home goes down as well as my internet on my computer. the 2 hd recievers have these white boxes attetched to them with 3 green lights) i'm sorry if i sound stupid but  i have had direct tv to my home 5 times and no one has been able to install it correctly. thank you

Heather