I hope they can fix your problems for you soon. I remember when my area upgraded to the WeatherStar XL. It had numerous problems, and there was at least one product that was "unavailable" at all times. During the morning programming up until about 10:00 am or so, at least half of the products were "unavailable," though they started to reappear throughout the day.
I think this is why my cable company upgraded to Intellistar at the first opportunity - our WeatherStar XL was just a dud, and its high expense just made the cheaper, newer, and more reliable Intellistar seem like a more sensible solution.