721 Problem w/ L177 Software: Long Acquiring Satellite Data Times

[jdmcs]

My 721 receiver automatically took the L177 software download sometime late last week, I presume Friday night. Before that time, my receiver had been working fine and had not needed or been hard reset for several weeks.

Yesterday morning, the power went out. It was a very clean power outage, almost like a circuit breaker tripping, so I do not believe that the receiver has been damaged.

Once the power went out, I turned the surge protector for the 721 off so that I could power the receiver up once I was sure the power was back on and stable. After having power back for about an hour, I decided it was time for TV. I turned the surge protector back on and walked away from the TV.

After about 10 minutes, I came back to the TV and the 721 was still "acquiring data from satellite". Hmmm, I know that the 721 takes a few minutes to boot but this is a bit longer than I remember. I turned the receiver off with the power button, waited a few seconds, and back on. The acquiring satellite data reappeared for a few seconds and then the picture and sound appeared. I thought I was in the clear.

But I wasn't. I had about 2 hours worth of guide data for most channels, with some channels having what appeared to be full guide data. I turned the receiver back off for 20-30 minutes to make sure both tuners were available for guide data, despite knowing that one would suffice. Needless to say I still had about two hours of guide data for most channels.

I hard reset the receiver, waited for the long reboot, and everything appeared to be back to normal, including the full guide data for all channels.

Fast forward to this afternoon, back from church, ready to see if anything good is on TV. I immediately was presented with an acquiring satellite data screen. Great, I'm thinking, my receiver has decided to reboot itself. I waited several minutes and then turned the receiver off. I waited a few seconds and then turned it back on. The acquiring satellite data message appeared, then the pictured and sound appeared BEHIND the acquiring satellite data error (015)!

Before calling Dish, I ran a signal check (110 and 119 were 92; 105 was 70) and a check switch. Both were fine. When I went back to the TV, the signal and error were both there.

Oh well, I called Dish, got tech support, and got someone who was as convinced as I was that this was a software issue -- she filed an uncommon Trend Report per my request.

There's my story, here's my question: Has anyone else seen this with l177?

 

[ken]

I have had a slew of problems since the update (got it last night) and I am soooooooo pissed off at Dish. Every single time they do a software update my 721 turns into a POS. I have had the same problems as you plus now the 721 won't let me mark a program for recording. It will let me do a manual record but not a timer event. Before you ask, I am not even close to maxing the number of timers. When I try to reboot it takes about 15 minutes to come back on. To be fair the thing has been acting up for about a week (since they added programming) but not even close to this mess.

 

[ken]

I forgot to mention how stupid I think that new TV Guide logo is in the EPG. They must have been under some sort of contract to put that on screen but why on earth did they have to place it so it takes away room for program descriptions (something they are already short of). If anything they should have put it on top and to the right of the program name. At least it will only take away from space for the program name, something that you would already know because you have it highlighted on the EPG. And since I am already ranting, why can't they put the program info first before the cast names so we don't always have to press the info button to get all of the info (yes I know I could do a transparent guide but I don' care for that).

 

[jcrash]

I am sitting here as I type this staring at a Acquiring Data from satellite screen that has been up for 10 minutes.

I'm assuming there has been a software release recently, because all of a sudden we are having significant issues with our box.

Over the last few weeks, it has started behaving poorly when we attempt to rewind or fastforward the channel. This is the exact behavior we have seen for a couple years on one channel - HBO. Now, however it has begun occurring on every channel. Often, you will attempt to skip forward or back and it just locks up. THen it will reboot itself.

When it gets to the acquiring data from satellite screen, it can basically take forever. If you then reboot it manually, usually it will get past the acquiring data from satellite screen in a normal period of time.

Surely, we are not the only ones having these problems.

 

[LER]

I noted a long one on a new 721 that I bought from a member here. After a while it got all the data. I assume it was because it had been off the satellite for at least a week, and it needed to refresh the whole 9-day guide.

LER

 

[Kwillyp]

I have been having the same problems for a couple weeks now.
Long acquiring data screen, acquiring data screen popping on at odd times, fast forward buttons locking up. I also have been blessed with the guide button locking up.

When the acquiring data screen comes up and the buttons lock up I have found if I push the blue channel up button on my remote I get a screen (no matter what channel I am on at the time) that says channel not subscribed. (Something like that) Then it goes back to the original channel. After that the buttons work for awhile and the aquiring date screen goes away.

All the above bad stuff also happens while watching recorded programs, expecially while I am watching one and taping another. One time all we could watch was the program we were taping.

I called Dish. They were very helpful. We did it all together, checked the switch (ok), checked signal (119-02, 110-99, 105-63), front panel reboot, pulled plug reboot. After the front panel reboot we waited 10-15 minutes (luckily this guy was friendly and talkative) but I never got past the "acquiring satellite data" screen. We discussed the new software. He said was that he had NO reports of anything like this happening after the newest software update. He put me on hold at one point to OK getting a new receiver sent to me. After he got back on the phone he basically said that I should wait for the next software update before I try a new receiver. I would imagine that is because the new receiver would do this too. No idea when the update was due out though. HMMMM.
That is when we did the hard reboot. It did come back up after 5 minutes. The dish guy said great , everything fine, sorry about the problems, ect ect.

Yesterday, during the Browns game, it kept locking up and giving me a screen that said "acquiring satellite data" and then it would go blank. At times it would give me my picture but the picture was behind a dark transparent screen. After about an hour of this I did a front panel reboot again. At that point I lost channel 105.
I checked the dish and switch. NO 105. No switch at 105. Could not lock 105. I went outside, checked all the connection, washed the dish and checked all the wires for animal chewing. Everything ok.
I pulled the plug, rebooted, checked it again. NO 105. I did a soft reboot, got the switch back, 105 back, Browns were over. At least they won.

I sure hope they test the new software before they send it out this next time. I am going to wait another week and call customer service and ask for a credit on my bill.

 

[Kwillyp]

I should have also posted that it sure is nice to have a place like this where one can go to let off some steam, see if others are having problems of my sort, and hopefully find a solution. Thanks. (Off topic, I know)

 

[Brikp]

Hey all my 721 has been a POS since the 177SW 'upgrade'. hey took my info added it to some kind of trend report and gave me a 2 week credit on my bill. I told them if it wasn't fixed in 2 weeks I would ask for another credit, will try that one this PM or tomorrow.