9 day epg won't download

[Dee_Ann]

Ok, I have a VIP211k with a 2tb disk on it.

Everything works fine I suppose.

But, I set the MANDATORY - upgrade/guide download/system - check time for 5am.

The whole routine takes 40 to 45 minutes, every single time. Whatever......


5am is the time that is the least disruptive to my schedule. It's a 50/50 chance I'll be awake at that time but I've just made it routine to switch over to my FTA system and watch C-band.
So while I'm on C-band the tuner can do it's thing then later I'll switch back over to Dish.


The problem is, during this time slot, it's not downloading the 9 day guide. It can't retrieve it, all it can find and download is a 48 hour guide!

This has been going on since I changed it to the 5am routine.

For weeks now I would look at the guide and wonder why it only had two days of guide info.. When I would try to look past two days it would ask me if I wanted to abort a recording and download the guide. I would tell it no because I didn't want it getting into a 45 minute download during MY primetime.

So yesterday I went ahead and told it yes, download a new guide. It did, it only took about 5 minutes and I had 9 days of guide. I figured that was all good now.

Today when I got up and checked, the 9 day guide was gone and it only had two days of info, again. REALLY??????? :

So it appears to me that this morning at 5am it couldn't find a 9 day guide to download so it just downloaded a two day guide and ERASED the 9 day guide I had just downloaded yesterday evening!

Are you kidding me????? WHY???????

PLUS, it had scheduled recordings according to the 9day guide. It then deleted those scheduled recordings! I time shift and I also record 5 minutes over the end time since most networks run over 2-3 minutes.
So I can't record back to back shows. I can record like, episode 44 at 8:00pm - 8:35pm but I can't record episode 45 at 8:30pm. I have to try and catch it on the 11:30pm repeat then record that from 11:30pm to 12:05am.
And sometimes, there are several shows on the same night that I want to record so I have to be able to look ahead days or even a week ahead to try and record the ones I have to miss. And if they won't repeat then I have to make a decision as to which one I really, really want and which ones to write off.

What can I do about this? It appears that I have no choice but to reschedule the stupid thing to do all this stuff at a different time. NOT COOL.......

It defaults to 3am. NOT CONVENIENT ! There is a 99% probability that I'll be awake and wanting to watch TV at 3am and there's a very good chance that I may have something scheduled to record at that time.

Seriously, this is totally stupid beyond stupid. Why can it not download a 9 day guide in the 45 minutes between 5am and 6am?



So I guess the real question is, what are the confirmed time frames that the 9 day guide is available for download?
I know for 100% certain that it is not there from 5am to 6am CST.

Thanks..

 

[manteca]

--- for the 5 minutes that conflicts with your next recording, you'll need a duo tuner receiver, i'll use the second tuner to record the other program that conflicts with the 5 minutes - for the guide the receiver uses the HDD to save it in the duo tuners, don't know about the 211, are you sure that the HDD is working when the guide is downloaded? ---

 

[Mr Tony]

So I guess the real question is, what are the confirmed time frames that the 9 day guide is available for download?

the 9 day guide is on satellite 119 & 72.7 so as long as there is a hard drive installed it will download the 9 day guide...well it usually is a 7 1/2 day guide but up to 9 days
It might have to do with the 2TB drive. While its "supported" it sounds like there is an issue with the guide and the hard drive. I use to have a 320GB drive, then a 500GB and a 1TB drive on it and it did the 9 day guide all the time. I dont know how long it took to do its update as I was in bed at 3AM

Have you tried a different or smaller drive (even a 1.5TB drive) to see if that helps?

sidenote...its interesting how when History channel left free to air you were against getting any pay provider...then it was "well I'll get Welcome Pack for History" but it seems like you are always using it now and have a much larger programming package when you signed up.

 

[Mr Tony]

--- for the 5 minutes that conflicts with your next recording, you'll need a duo tuner receiver, i'll use the second tuner to record the other program that conflicts with the 5 minutes - for the guide the receiver uses the HDD to save it in the duo tuners, don't know about the 211, are you sure that the HDD is working when the guide is downloaded? ---

The 211 is a single tuner receiver (1OTA, 1 sat)

 

[Dee_Ann]

The disk works fine, I record stuff every day on it and play things back with no issues.

As for the guide, it goes away when it tries to download it at 5am and it's replaced with a 2 day guide.

Later in the day when I wake up I try to look ahead and there are only two days of info there. It will then tell me the guide is outdated and asks if I want to download a new one.
I tell it yes. It downloads a guide which only takes about 5 minutes and I've got a full 9 days of stuff for all the channels. All is well at this point.

Until 5am. Then BOOM! Right back to a 2 day guide.

It's obvious that it won't download at 5am. So I have no choice but to change the mandatory update time from 5am to something else.

What I'm wondering is are there known times that the guide is and is not available so I can try to work around this problem?

Thanks..

 

[manteca]

The 211 is a single tuner receiver (1OTA, 1 sat)

--- i know, that's why i suggested a duo tuner for the 5 minutes conflicts - what i didn't know was how the guide is saved in the 211 when a HDD is attached ---

The disk works fine, I record stuff every day on it and play things back with no issues.

As for the guide, it goes away when it tries to download it at 5am and it's replaced with a 2 day guide.

Later in the day when I wake up I try to look ahead and there are only two days of info there. It will then tell me the guide is outdated and asks if I want to download a new one.
I tell it yes. It downloads a guide which only takes about 5 minutes and I've got a full 9 days of stuff for all the channels. All is well at this point.

Until 5am. Then BOOM! Right back to a 2 day guide.

It's obvious that it won't download at 5am. So I have no choice but to change the mandatory update time from 5am to something else.

What I'm wondering is are there known times that the guide is and is not available so I can try to work around this problem?

Thanks..

--- this is the worst suggestion , but you can change the timer to upload to match when you'll be around, cancel the download when it starts and force the 9 days trick you already found ---

 

[KAB]

It might have to do with the 2TB drive. While its "supported" it sounds like there is an issue with the guide and the hard drive.

According to Dish website and the latest post I could find from Matt of Dirt (late Jan, '12) 1T is the largest officially supported.

 

[Mr Tony]

there was a software upgraded that allowed 2TB drives on the 211K before that. Edit found them
ViP 211 - L563
SRS Volume Leveling, TV Ratings Changes, HDMI Autodetect, Pop-up Rework, Live Sports Themes, PPV Rental Indicator, 2TB Limit for EHD.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-forum/269006-external-hd-recommendations-211k.html#post2665718
http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-forum/267834-211k-activated-dvr-1-5tb-hd.html#post2653638

A post from February contradicts that
Officially, we only support up to a 1TB EHD for the 411/211/211k receivers, but I know members have reported that 2TB have worked for them.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-forum/278290-subscription-question-about-hd.html#post2785394

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Just for reference: My daughter's 211K has a 1TB drive attached and she has always noticed a full EPG in the year she has had it...

 

[Dee_Ann]

People aren't getting what I wrote several times.


The 9 day guide will not download when it's scheduled to do so at 5am.
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It WILL download a full 9 day guide LATER IN THE DAY.
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When it attempts to download the 9 day guide at 5am and fails, it instead replaces the previously downloaded 9 day guide with a two day guide.
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I am then left with only two days of guide info and I then have to manually download another 9 day guide, each day, manually.

 

[eurosport]

The same guide info is transmitted continuously. I don't understand why it won't work properly at any time of day or night.

Sent from my DROIDX using SatelliteGuys

 

[garys]

It does not matter that you hooked an EHD to the 211, you are looking at 44 hours only. Only DVR receivers (not 211 with EHD) get a 9 day guide.

 

[empiretc]

Dish does not officially support drives larger than 1tb on the 211k. As ice said, they contradicted themselves. They clearly state upto 1tb on all support docs now.

Hook up a smaller drive and see how it behaves. Even a little flash drive is sufficient to test.

 

[KAB]

It does not matter that you hooked an EHD to the 211, you are looking at 44 hours only. Only DVR receivers (not 211 with EHD) get a 9 day guide.

Incorrect. 211 w/EHD gets a 9 day guide.

 

[TheKrell]

I have another suggestion; set your update to 5:01, just in case Dish is resetting their data stream exactly at 5AM. If that doesn't work, increment minutes until it does!

 

[KAB]

I have another suggestion; set your update to 5:01, just in case Dish is resetting their data stream exactly at 5AM. If that doesn't work, increment minutes until it does!

Not a bad theory. Though I would delay at least 10 min. just to be safe

 

[WALLYWOMBAT]

Have you tried manually downloading the guide at 5:00 AM?

 

[TheKrell]

Not a bad theory. Though I would delay at least 10 min. just to be safe

The fly in this ointment is that Dee Ann has already stated her reboot takes 45 minutes, mostly doing fsck on a 2TB disk TWICE. I claim the guide download comes last, after all that disk checking, since the 9-day guide is stored on-disk. So I'm now suspicious that the Dish data stream reset (if it happens at all) is happening sometime after 5:45 and before the guide download can complete.

How about setting the 211 to reboot at 5:15?

 

[garys]

Incorrect. 211 w/EHD gets a 9 day guide.

Friend of mine has this setup, he doesn't get a 9 day guide either. I will check this as well. If I am wrong, I stand corrected. Thank you.

 

[KAB]

Friend of mine has this setup, he doesn't get a 9 day guide either. I will check this as well. If I am wrong, I stand corrected. Thank you.

Start at the beginning here, Gary. She gets it...just not WHEN she wants it.