unsigned int cmd_debug_write_len;  //
        unsigned int cmd_debug_read_len;   //
 
-       int flag_ok;            // device in known good state
-       int flag_disconnected;  // flag_ok == 0 due to disconnect
-       int flag_init_ok;       // true if structure is fully initialized
-       int flag_streaming_enabled; // true if streaming should be on
-       int fw1_state;          // current situation with fw1
+       int flag_ok;            /* device in known good state */
+       int flag_disconnected;  /* flag_ok == 0 due to disconnect */
+       int flag_init_ok;       /* true if structure is fully initialized */
+       int flag_streaming_enabled; /* true if streaming should be on */
+       int fw1_state;          /* current situation with fw1 */
+       int flag_encoder_ok;    /* True if encoder is healthy */
 
        int flag_decoder_is_tuned;
 
 
           time we configure the encoder, then we'll fully configure it. */
        hdw->enc_cur_valid = 0;
 
+       hdw->flag_encoder_ok = 0;
+
        /* First prepare firmware loading */
        ret |= pvr2_write_register(hdw, 0x0048, 0xffffffff); /*interrupt mask*/
        ret |= pvr2_hdw_gpio_chg_dir(hdw,0xffffffff,0x00000088); /*gpio dir*/
                pvr2_trace(PVR2_TRACE_ERROR_LEGS,
                           "firmware2 upload post-proc failure");
        } else {
+               hdw->flag_encoder_ok = !0;
                hdw->subsys_enabled_mask |= (1<<PVR2_SUBSYS_B_ENC_FIRMWARE);
        }
        return ret;