Dish Smart Card Swap

[tdillon]

I got 2 cards in the mail yesterday. They had the serial number of the DVR that they were for printed above the card. I went in to system settings, found the matching numbers and put the cards in the appropriate boxes. I updated a 622 and a 625. Both boxes rebooted and were watching TV again within 5 minutes. No problems on either DVR.

 

[tdillon]

What would happen if I now take the card out? Will the box cease to function? Does it repair itself when I put the card back in again? Is there a limit to how many times I can do this? Could I punish my children by removing this card in order to prevent them from watching TV? Can my children punish each other by hiding this card? 5 years with satellite TV, and never had a card before.

 

[Smith P.]

Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes.

 

[Yes616]

I suppose you could do all of that. I once went to a friends place of business and he didn't even realize that there was a smart card in that receiver.

He owed me some money so I yanked the card. He then promptly paid me and I put the card back in. He had his signal back a minute later.

 

[peano]

It seems the new cards are pre-married to the intended receivers and also somehow have the correct programming tiers already on them. It is odd that no phone call or online activation is required.

 

[Smith P.]

It was odd before - finally Dish did it right, for us customers.

 

[kstuart]

Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes,Yes.

Actually, the answer is "NO" to all his questions, not yes.

If you remove the card before the Official Changeover Date, and do a power button reset, it will work on the internal card.

 

[Smith P.]

oH, nO, nO, nO, nO, nO, nO !

 

[dendavis]

Like the hypochondriac's tombstone: I told you so

Been having a problem with one of my two 622's constantly rebooting since installing the new Smart Card, as noted earlier in this thread. I e-mailed DISH and explained the problem, was told it was just the program guide info downloading to the hard drive. But it was doing a complete reboot, with satellite acquisition, the whole nine yards, each time. Have not lost any programs, nor had it failed to record something. But Tuesday night, 10/21, the program guide went south, everything for nine days out was listed as "no information available." So I called DISH Tech. Support, they had me do a power recycle at the box, still no change. I will be receiving a new 622 by Thursday, 10/23 via UPS. Pretty impressive, since I called DISH around 5:30 PM PDT. Hope this is the generation that has the fixed HDMI port

 

[Tyralak]

Been having a problem with one of my two 622's constantly rebooting since installing the new Smart Card, as noted earlier in this thread. I e-mailed DISH and explained the problem, was told it was just the program guide info downloading to the hard drive. But it was doing a complete reboot, with satellite acquisition, the whole nine yards, each time. Have not lost any programs, nor had it failed to record something. But Tuesday night, 10/21, the program guide went south, everything for nine days out was listed as "no information available." So I called DISH Tech. Support, they had me do a power recycle at the box, still no change. I will be receiving a new 622 by Thursday, 10/23 via UPS. Pretty impressive, since I called DISH around 5:30 PM PDT. Hope this is the generation that has the fixed HDMI port

I've seen this more than once too. In fact, I went to a job where Dish mailed out a replacement receiver to the customer, and I was there to install it for them. It was a 722 with a smart card added. The damn thing would not work. The card reader was malfunctioning, so I ended up replacing the replacement with one off my van. THAT really inspired confidence in the customer.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Received my 2 cards today for my 622 and 211. Had zero problems with them and both receivers came back up in 5 minutes (or less). A very painless process. Good job Dish!

 

[Islandguy43]

Received my 2 cards today for my 622 and 211. Had zero problems with them and both receivers came back up in 5 minutes (or less). A very painless process. Good job Dish!

I got mine on Friday for my 722 and 211. Install went fine except, it seems the card was a little outdated. It still had me subbing to MultiSport instead of Showtime. I called Tech Support, they sent a hit to both of my receivers and everything was up and running in minutes like it should be.

If you have issues, just make sure you call the toll free number that comes with new cards. No hold time and you are put right through a u.s. rep.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Checked the guides on both receivers today. Everything I'm supposed to have is there.

 

[ncted]

Er...how much longer do we have? I still have not received mine. My 622 is probably new enough that it has the new card, but my 722 is over a year old.

Thanks,
Ted

 

[gdarwin]

Sent cards for all but the 722. No problems here

 

[Hermitman]

I had an interesting card swapout for my 301. I've had this receiver for years and had done a previous card swapout without problems. Several days ago, I received the new card and went through the swapout procedures without problems. Then 8 hours later, the screen went blank and a message popped up saying to "Insert Smart Card". I went through the normal procedures of removing and re-inserting the card, soft boot, hard boot, unplug - replug and still had the problem. I then call the tech support folks and together we ran through the troubleshooting procedures. Still no help, the receiver had a blank screen with the error message. The tech person said the receiver was bad because it won't accept the new card. I asked why it took 8 hours for it to fail. She said that's the way the system works on some receivers. She then went on to try to sell me a new receiver or the warranty service. I told her I had another 301 receiver I bought at a garage sale. It had a zero balance and asked her if I could just swap out the receiver and then do a de-activate, re-activate and have my programming back. She asked the supervisor and said it was ok. She said to call back when the new receiver was up and running to update my account. Before I changed receivers, I put the old card back in the "bad" receiver and all my programming was still there, coming in strong. I swapped out the receivers without problems and called back tech support to activate the new receiver. I immediately got back my programming and was pleased. I then asked if Dish was going to send me a new card for this newly installed receiver (which has an old style card). She said no, that the receiver automatically will tell the main computer if it needs a new card. I said ok as long as I keep receiving my programming. I did notice that the new receiver has the "Select" icon on the Weather Channel and other programs. The old receiver never had the icon. Maybe the old receiver did die or maybe older 301 receivers can't accept the new cards. Either way, a little something to make life interesting.

 

[digiblur]

Er...how much longer do we have? I still have not received mine. My 622 is probably new enough that it has the new card, but my 722 is over a year old.

Thanks,
Ted

Check your system info on the 722 and see what card you have. I figured mine didn't have one since I got it before the card swap process started but to my surprise it had the new one built inside.

 

[Derwin0]

Er...how much longer do we have? I still have not received mine. My 622 is probably new enough that it has the new card, but my 722 is over a year old.

I haven't gotten new cards either, and both my 622 and 722 are the old DNA revs.

 

[Hall]

Er...how much longer do we have?

Didn't someone say they're doing this over the next six months ?

 

[Smith P.]

No, someone say it will be done in Nov.