I have been having considerable trouble with the 890. In looking back everything appeared to work out of the box then I did a firmware uupdate. Could this have caused the lack of RF signal to the WE. I find the IR signals seem to be OK but the RF repeater doesn't do the job. Also I have been in contact with tech support and they keep saying they are busy, but never call back. What is the problem..... had similar trouble with an MX 3000 which turned out to be highly unreliable. Any thouhts would be helpful.

Gate 5

did you upgrade the firmware in both and if you didnt do that if you did try to re-pair the to devices

Gate5: Call tech support. Insist that you won't wait for a callback. Your problem will be solved. If they try to set you up for a callback, it means the level 1 can't solve the problem. Demand to talk to a tier 2 agent right then.

I agree with DeTox6--
If this is an issue with the RF extender itself, Tech support (tier 1) cannot solve this
issue and you would be sent to tier 2- So when you call tell them you have been dealing with this issue and can no longer wait--they will transfer you if you insist on it.

H3er

When you say it all worked out of the box... How long have you had your 890? Has the RF extender EVER worked for you? Do you know that there's a spot in the setup menus to specify which devices are controlled by RF and which ones by IR? And you can even set which RF ports control which devices if you like. Have you set these up?

One last thing - are you aware that the latest firmware causes the remote to lockup if you use the favorites/Media buttons? Could it be that your remote is just locking up, rather than the RF not responding?

Oh I called tech support alright, and when the rep (who was very polite) started the whole wait for callback thing I insisted on it being handled now. He tried, but on his third attempt to put me on hold (the other two worked, for some 20 minutes) he HUNG UP ON ME instead. Grrrrr..... So I'm supposed to wait another hour to risk having it happen AGAIN?! No thanks.

I tried composing a detailed and lengthy reply via the PC setup software. The damned thing TIMED OUT ON ME and threw away all I had typed. WTF? Talk about aggravation. A web-based app with no back button or reload, one that throws away user input. Piece of sh*t setup software....

I've updated the firmware on both the remote and the extender. This didn't help. The extender just seems to 'lock up' after either a short period of time or a random number of keypresses from the remote. Power cycling the extender seems to reset it, but it will eventually (soon) lock back up again. When it's working it properly shows the lights blinking. When it's locked up it just shows the power light.

I'm hesitant to simply return this to Best Buy and get another one as what's to guarantee the next one won't be from the same batch? But at this point I don't really have much of a choice.

Suffice to say, DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE THINGS ONLINE. I almost seems like any money you might save buying it online will likely be more than offset by the aggravation of having ship the damned thing back again (and again) if/when it craps out. Better to just be able to drive back to a local store and drop the whole piece of crap back in their lap.

Yes, you could say I'm pissed off about. When explaining to one's spouse that a $400 remote was a 'good idea' only to have it fail to function, well, that's not a good thing...

Has anyone else had the extender lock up randomly? Was there any 'in the field fix' for it? Or did you have to replace the extender/remote/both?

Yes. Mine locked up very often. I was trying to set up XM radio on my Pioneer receiver, and it always locked up when trying to change channels.

I got Level 2 tech support to fix it for me. First they thought they fixed it, I tried it with them on the phone. I told them it almost worked but not quite, it locked up again. They said they would call me back in an hour after they looked into it. They did call me back and they fixed the problem. I looked under "Devices" in the software and he set up a device called "Radio Tuner".

As for the channel Favorites, I'm afraid to try it again, it always locks up and I know it because they need to update the software for that problem. All the problems that I've had I think are the fault of the RF receiver.

There's a known bug with Favorites. Latest word is that there will be a new firmware update on the 12th of this month. In the mean time, stop pressing the Favorites button (Media buttons) and see if you stop experiencing lockups.

I found out a problem when talking to the Tier 2 tech. The on screen steps say to plug in the WE then do an update and then plug in the remote and update. The tech said this is wrong. He stepped me through the process.... plug in the remote and follow the cues on the computer. Version 7.0.2 the first time out has you plug in the remote then update, plug in the WE then update and finally replugin the remote and do a final update. Ever since then everything has been working just fine. Just need to speed up the time on the Samsung 5065 DLP and I will be happy and so will my wife!

gate 5

Still waiting for tech support to call back or at least acknowledge the problem I submitted... so much for 'great' tech support. I pity the poor bastards who get one of these things for Christmas...

Just an update on Harmony 890 battery charger. The remote wouldn 't sit down in the cradle and make contact so it could charge. I just received and installed a new charger base from Harmony and it works fine. Seems there was a manufacturing problem with some units and the contacts couldn't make contact with the remote. All is well and the WE has been working perfectly for two weeks.....!!!!

Dick Foster

We have had nothing but problems with this remote. The first handful when it was first introduced - no problem.

Now for the last 3 months or so, the software locks up and we can't login, we get a blank white "Error please click next to continue" and it takes you to the same page.
Tech support takes 45 minutes to get ahold of someone, and half the time we are on the phone for hours trying to get the remote to work.

Has anyone else had troubles like this?