I am having the same issue and I saw that others on AVSForum are as well. Anyone figure out what the fix is??

Matt might be amused to read this:

75% of 6 is four and a half. Was there a half failure? Which half, the first half or the second half?

Moving on....


Does one perhaps have to create a separate network, with no internet access, to make these guys work together?


Now, consider the same AVR where you've driven forty miles to the client. Eighty extra miles because update doesn't work? count the lost time, too.

edit:

I was so busy laughing at myself about calling him Mark that I didn't notice the second half of that sentence.

I had problems with a Denon iPod dock and he said to do a firmware update that I should expect to take about 45 minutes before using the dock. I was so bewildered at the idea that a $120 product would require $90 of my labor time before I could think about using it that I forgot he only said this about the dock.

Matt, I'm not bagging on Denon here, I swear. This is just what I've run into. And hey, I don't do Denon too often!

I think all FW updates are best done in the shop, FWIW.

This then requires us to take open box units to the client's home. If they ask why, we tell them we had to bla bla bla, which sounds to the client like "repair" or some other term in the area of "defective." Their unit, which they're not sure is new, needed work before it could be given to them.

I do agree, however, that the shop is the best place for this. The network is known and you can do it without the time constraints of the installation itself. If you have a customer who is sensitive about how much time you work at his house, you can't charge for the time it takes to do the update, either.

Ernie,
Every proposal I give has a line item for shop testing.
As you mentioned earlier I do not want to drive to any clients house only to find out I'm coming back. We do as much as we can in house and keep the time spent at the clients house as short as possible. This is where system design plays a big role.
When Im asked about this I tell the client that we are dealing with multiple manufacturers and equipment we love and trust but we can not control weather or not one of their employees decided it was a good idea to show up to work hung over on a Thursday morning. We prefer to know the equipment is in perfect working order before showing up on the project and disrupting their lives only to inform them we need to come back and do it again. It's percieved far better to reschedule an appt. due to problems in the shop than it is to reschedule an appt. once your already on site and the clients day is based on our job.
You'll find that 90% of your on site problems revolve around remote control issues and things move much faster because you can perform multiple jobs in house while still answering the phone and supporting the guys in the field.
Shop time is a win win win situation.

All the major components that I install are shop tested if at all possible....


How would you feel if you made a 4 hour trip only to find that the DLP projo, you hadn't had time to test, had a bad color wheel and you would then need to reschedule the install, drive 4 hours back to the shop, order a replacement projo, and make that 8 hour round trip once again (at no additional cost to the client of course).



Only need to do that once.....

Try that from California to Chicago!

Freds favorite supplier is one of my favorite suppliers after their quick response to a scenario much like the one above.

I also have to give Vutec credit for their overnight response to a bad screen in South Carolina.

Those were both instances where product was drop shipped so they were a little extreme but bad product happens every day. I'd rather discover it in the shop.

Burn it in, charge for it, and tape it back up if you're really worried.

Denon is now trying to make your life good again!

Here is the answer for what is causing your updates to crash.

We have found that if your AVR is connected to a control system via RS-232 or IP, the AVR will go into timeout during the update procedure. The "temporary" fix is to disconnect the control system during the update.

I would still recommend turning off the update and upgrade notification in the AVR menu.

As promised, I will continue questioning the engineering team to get an answer on why this issue is happening and what the permanent fix is.

To those that have helped by offering information, thank you for assisting behind the scenes.

Hi Matt,

I have another problem with a Denon AVR-3311C that apparently lost they MAC Address, once I set all the network, audio, video and Audyssey settings all works fine for a day or two and then we can’t access the web interface anymore and when we go to see the network settings there is no MAC Address displayed. After a while I do a microprocessor reset and all came back to work for a day or two and then, no MAC Address again. Do you think that the control cable for the iPod dock ASD-51N can be a problem as is in the firmware update?
We have no problem with the firmware update the first time we start up the systems.

Regards,
Sebastian.

Sebastian,

The dock really should't have much to do with the problem you are experiencing.

For the dock, I would remove the dock control cable and use it as a standalone device with an emitter on the front.

For the AVR, I would hold arrow up and down while powering the AVR On. If the MAC address is not recovered it would need to be pulled for service or exchange.

I have not seen this problem, on any of the units we have recently installed.

We have RS232 control attached on every job. I think the issue is setting a static IP first and making sure there is not some existing problem with the network, I know that if your bandwidth gets sucked up by some  wonky device in the chain or there is a conflict the update can stall potentially causing issues. Games like Wii are notorious for this when they go to sleep. Also check that there is not some AC problem where a brown out is experienced during the update as this can be trouble, My experience has been that Denon receivers hate brown outs. And yes please take a gun and shoot the update notification feature, I dont care what kind of product it is this should not even exsist.

I have used the other receivers and they have their pluses, but hands down Denon in my opinion is the most feature rich and useful of the bunch.

Thanks for the reply Matt,
I already try that and nothing, when I do a microprocessor reset I see the MAC address for a while and then lost. Two guys on another forum have to take back to service center for an HDMI board change and after that all works fine, so I suppose that must start looking for one server center.

Matt,

I have a 3311 in a system that has the same failure. Everything works ok except no USB/Network connection. Checked the MAC address and it does not come up. Tried to do a reset and still no MAC address. Was told that I would have to remove from rack and send to service center which will be a real PIA and a lot of time lost which I can not bill to the customer.

I was told that it was with the ethernet card. Any chance that Denon could make an ethernet card that could be sent out and swapped in the field?

Dave T.

I have had a couple of NIC card issues. I've had one in for a month and was told it's going to be another month due to a backordered card. I asked the lady at our repair place about Denon vs. any other brand. She said they all have their issues and they see an equal amount of repairs from all the major brands. I've had a few Denon repairs in the last month and it gets kinda old. The problem is the more crap they pack into these things the more issues we are going to have. Then throw HDMI on top of that and it's a recipe for a really bad headache.