Hi Everyone. I'm stuck on a problem that i've spent hours trying to resolve and i'm now considering throwing in the towell and sending my lovely new RC9800i back (shame as I actually quite like it)

Purchased this 2 weeks ago and have upgraded to latest firmware but what ever I try it will NOT download the EPG information. I only get the message 'LOST CONNECTION TO EPG SERVICE'

-I have latest firmware 2.0b80b
-Device connects to my network (WEP)
-Device streams music from my NAS drive
-Device displays correct time using internet
-I have activated my account sucessfuly and created line-ups (all synchronised)
-I have switched off all my firewalls, WEP - still won't download.
-I'm not using a proxy
-restarted unit several times & reconnected wireless
-If I disconnect the wireless it simply displays 'EPG SERVICE UNAVAILABLE'. When I reconnect I get the message above so it must be trying to connect??

I am now at a loss. Can anyone offer any wise advise or has anyone experienced any similar problems. Any suggestions appreciated

Many thanks

Andy

Dear Andy,
I have the exact same problem and have spent almost 2 weeks trying to resolve it without success. I have been in contact with Philips support; they have tried to help but still no success.
If anybody out there has the solution, I would greatly appreciate it. So would Andy.
Scalpel

Hi Scalpel, well if you ever find a solution please let me know. I have also been on the phone to Philips and that was the biggest waste of time & money I have ever experienced. I think this is the last Philips product I ever buy, terrible support!

Andy

I Have also the same trouble, I´m very disapointed with this remote.


Javi.

With my first Router (Linksys) i have the same problem, but after i switched from DHCP to fixed IP-Adress everything goes right.
Now i use the FRITZ!BOX 7170 with DHCP and its already work fine.
Just try it.

Stefan

Hi Stefan, thank you for your suggestion but tried using a fixed IP address but still getting same old message 'Lost connection to EPG service'

I have the same problem.... I've had it working since April, but on December 29th 2006 it performed it's last successful download of the program guide.

NTP stuff stopped working too. It is on my network and I can ping it. It just plain refuses to work....

I've now given up with this remote. Its going back. Philips should be ashamed. Poor product, disgusting after sales service, unhappy customer, never buying Philips again.......lesson learnt the hard way!

Good luck everyone

When I bought my RC9800i in December 2006, it worked just fine. Now it fails to connect to activation server and time server as well. The difference between back then and now is that I used to have Planet ADW4300 broadband router, but now I have Thompson SpeedTouch 780. And also not long after broadband router upgrade, my ever curious and non-English speaking dad happened to "accidentally" erase all configuration from it. Now I am not sure which is it that caused the error - router upgrade or the "erase all" function.
I tried WireShark to monitor network traffic, but there doesn't seem to be any that would indicate that the remote is trying to connect anything. Although there are some broadcast packets moving around and RC9800i responds to ping.

I too have the same problem.

At first I thought it might just be the slowness of Philips' website, which is awful - took me hours upon hours to download the latest firmware - which is over a year old by the way (but that's a different story). Anyways, it doesn't even look like the remote is trying to connect for activation. I see no wireless traffic being generated when I attempt to activate my EPG subscription, but just like someone who posted earlier, continuous pings to the remote are succeeding. Very strange. I am really disappointed in this product. The real shame is that it's only a minor upgrade away from being an amazing remote for the cost. If Philips would just provide a firmware upgrade to fix these problems... Oh who am I kidding, if Phillips planned on supporting this thing at all they would have some firmware newer than december 2005. What a shame.

Hi all,

I'am new at this forum, and read about the EPG download problems. I own the remote for 3 days and must say i'am very happy with it. On the first day i also tried to dowload the EPG but it fails several times. Next i checked the EPG webpage, and personalized the lineup details, and update the whole thing, be sure you have a activation key from the mail you've got. Next put the network settings on your device to auto-IP, check the date/time settings and set the EPG download on "each day", type in your activation key and "activate" the program guide, download the EPG and ready. For me it works, and it looks great also you can select a program from the EPG and switch to that program from there.

I hope this will help you guys.

Hello all,
I had the same issue and fixed it by
doing the following (this applies only to people that have already registered for the EPG service, if you have not done so then go to [Link: homecontrol.philips.com] and do it first).

1. I assigned my router to always assign the same IP (Static IP) to the Rc9800i
2. On the remote interface I went to "Settings" and then "Rc9800i settings" then "Network"
3. I selected the "No I do not wish to use the Rc98001i with wireless network" radio button then "Next"
4. Follow the wizard all the way until the remote is not configured to wireless.
5. follow step 2 again until you get to the network Wizard again.
6. This time select the "Yes, I would like to use the Rc98001i with a wireless network"
7. reconfigure everything again by selecting your SSID network, entering your encription key (if any) and make sure to select the "Obtain IP automatically" as well (this is very important).
8. follow the rest of the wizard and you should then be able to then connect to the EPG service.
The problem is that for some reason once in a while on its own (or due to hardwarer change) the remote goes crazy and unassigns the SSID, IP,etc to something that the wireless network cannot recognize. you'll still be able to ping it ,etc. but won't be able to connect to the EPG site to download.
I hope this helps you all.
Enjoy the remote.

Seb
PS. if you run into the issue again just repeat the steps above.

I had the same issue.
When I did the following it fixed it

1. Select <-
2. Select "Settings"
3. Select "Erase All"
4. Redo network settings.

Essentially whatever that was giving my remote problems, by erasing whatever settings it had before allowed me to finally get both wireless and activating the EPG to work.
Before wireless would work but activation would not.

I had the same issue, and even sent in my remote for exchange with Philips before finding a reliable fix.

Firmware 2.0b80b appears to be solely to blame. Once I updated my remote from 2.0.78, EPG would no longer update. If I reinstalled 2.0.78, it worked fine again. I verified this by trying the update three times.

Maybe we'll see another firmware released that will fix the problem, but it's starting to seem like Philips has abandoned further development on the RC9800i.