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.