Dishplayer 7100 Didn't like Yellow card

[DBSJedi]

Dish sent me a couple yellow access cards for my receivers yesterday. My older 2700 receiver took the card and after registering the new cards to the receiver on the website, it immediately worked.

My Dishplayer 7100 is another story...

I keep getting the screen about card activation, so last night before bed, I left my Dishplayer off (but plugged in) hoping some 3am download magic would fix it. No deal.

I tried pulling the card, turning off, unplugging the reeiver 5 minutes - nothing works. I always get brought back to the card upgrade screen. I called Dish and repeated these things over the phone with the addition of holding the power button down for 5 seconds and letting the Dishplayer run a 5 minute reboot cycle. Still no go!

Ultimately Dish resorted to sending me out another yellow card to try in 7 days. They had me put the blue card back in and everything is fine again.

I hope they just sent me a bum yellow card and the replacement will work. I've had trouble with my Dishplayer for years with weird stuff happening, but I can always get it going with a little patience and trying different things (usually the 3am download fixes most). I don't have a landline, so there's no way to nuke and pave with a fresh download off the phone.

Has anyone else experienced yellow card upgrade problems with their 'original' Dishplayers (not talking about 501, 508 or 510 Dishplayers)?
Any tricks you may have used to get a yellow card to work with your Dishplayer? I'm not so sure that my yellow card is defective. I remember when I first bought my Dishplayer in 2000 or so (as a refurb).. Dish had alot of trouble getting the receiver on their network. I don't know what they did to get the programming to take to it.

I say "if it aint broke, don't fix it". So why does Dish want to break my perfectly-working-with-blue-card Dishplayer? Is there a possibility I could just keep the blue card in it indefinitely?

 

[Stargazer]

Maybe they will offer you an upgrade to a newer DVR for little or nothing.

 

[BobMurdoch]

No such luck. I have 5 receivers. The 921 and the 510 already had the new yellow cards. My 4900 and two Dishplayers had the blue cards. I got three yellow cards in the mail 3 weeks ago. The 4900 took the upgrade without a hitch. The 7200s choked on them. They both took the cards and tried to download new listings. 60% of the way through they froze and would go no further. After 3 days of fighting with them, they were able to get the channels activated, but with two major glitches. Personal TV no longer worked and would not take the activation code from E* after 3 attempts. In addition, changing channels was frustrating as it took 6-10 seconds for the picture to go from a black screen to the channel (bye bye channel surfing). I finally convinced them to reactivate my blue cards (about 5 days apart) and all was well and working splendidly again.

UNTIL (sigh), I got another yellow card in the mail which they wanted to swap in again. Same story. This time, after 2 hours, I still had the new smart card detected screen after 4 attempts at rehitting the receiver. E* says they will send me two reconditioned units. Since they both have 4 year old hard drives, I'm all for this idea (although I was hoping for a 501,508, or 510, but oh well) I left the receiver on and turned off the TV. I turned it on this morning. The Personal TV code DID take, but I still have the 6-10 second delay in channel changing. I expect the other yellow card to show up for my other Dishplayer any day now.

IF you still have the blue card in your Dishplayer and it is your primary receiver, plan on losing access to your channels for a few days until you get past this nightmare. You might want to look into buying a used 5xx receiver to dodge the nightmare entirely. Unfortunately, Dishplayer prices in the aftermarket have crashed 90% in the last year since E* figured out a way to smart bomb them and the hackers lost interest. You might want to look into trading one in on a new model. In my case, they are on light duty in my kids' rooms, so it is more of a nuisance than a hardship.

Just when I thought that my 921 would be the biggest strain on my Excedrin bottle, the Dishplayer strikes back to remind us that their flagship receivers have always had "issues".

 

[stone phillips420]

when i swapped a 7200 during the olympics for 1 hour i had it on and it said wrong smart card inserted, the csr told me that was okay to just leave it on and it'll fix itself and it did now it works great no problems with 7200 for me i own 3 only one swapped though
so leave it on and i guess after awhile it should correct itself, its a old beast but 1 of their better dvrs imho

 

[Stargazer]

The good thing about the dishplayers is that you can upgrade the hard drive in them and use it for webtv with the wireless keyboard.

 

[rsebolt]

The same thing happened to me with my 7200.
A month ago, they sent me a new yellow card.
After spending a day on the phone with Dish, they told me that I was not supposed to be upgraded yet and to reinstall the blue card so I did.

Last week I got another yellow card in the mail.
Put it in and still no go.
After a day on the phone, they are shipping me out a refurb 7200 with the new yellow card already in it activated.
Hope I don't have any problems with it.

I asked about upgrading to a new receiver for a discount and they said nope, nothing available. I would love to upgrade to the 942 and pay the extra $10/mo. but no go.

I find it hard to believe that Dish wouldn't upgrade a customer to make more money. Actually, let me retract that statement, we are talking about Dish.

 

[DBSJedi]

I got my second yellow card yesterday, popped it in and the same thing! After half an hour on the phone the rep says they are sending me out a third card. Worth noting, they upped the expiration of my current blue card. I think the only way for me to win is to keep calling and keep having them send out yellow cards until I am deemed a nuisance. They wouldn't offer me any upgrade promo after 6 years of faithful service. DirecTV is looking way more lucrative. I need to blow through the dozen or so free PPV coupons I have from the Dishplayer class action suit settlement first though. If Dish is lucky they will get it right on the 3rd yellow card and retain me as a customer. Otherwise I think I may jump ship. I'll give me standalone TiVo something else to do OTA or something (currently working with my other Echostar receiver.. a 2700).

I used the analogy of me walking in the rep's home and breaking their oven and not replacing it. She wasn't amused.

 

[BobMurdoch]

If you are on the extended warranty plan, try to see if they can send you out a reconditioned unit with the yellow card installed and tested at their factory. You can also try to get a reconditioned 508 which they may or may not go for.

If you aren't on the plan, get on it, wait 30 days (and keep doing the blue card extensions, that should buy you a few weeks) and then try again.

This is kind of weird territory as the unit functions just fine with the blue cards and chokes on the yellow cards. I fear these yellow cards aren't all that reverse compatible with the DPs. Mine wouldn't take the Personal TV activation code at first, and then the second batch did take the codes, but then it took 10 seconds to change channels. Just be patient and keep trying.

 

[Wombat]

My 7200 has quit working - and I'm quitting Dish


I've been a customer since 1997 and I'm finally at the end of the rope. As so many others have reported, I inserted the lovely yellow card, activated via the internet and of course my 7200 is now a doorstop.

I could go on with a litany of my complaints, but they aren't any different than what you read on the rest of this site. It all seems to boil down to inadequate programming for the receivers and shoddy quality control.

Thanks to all the folks in these forums who've helped me out by posting work-arounds and suggestions that have kept me working, but I'm finally just too disheartened to keep going.

Sat. Guys, et. al. -- Keep up the good work.

 

[MikeD-C05]

R.I.P. 7100/7200 dishplayer

Maybe you might actually try an upgrade. I got rid of my old dishplayer in 2000 when I had to replace it 4 times and pay shipping and handeling of like 14.95 each. Try calling Dish and see what you are eligible for in way of upgrades. You could lease a 510 dvr which would be a step up from the dishplayer 7100/7200 series . It doesn't have name based recording , but Charlie has said we will get it on the 510 , some say by the Fall.

Don't give up , Upgrade.

 

[DBSJedi]

Guess what happened today! Dish disabled my blue card that they reactivated after we tried the second yellow card. "Out of the blue" they cut off my access on my Dishplayer today. I slipped the 2nd yellow card back in and am still getting nothing, but the dumb screen to activate. For the heck of it, I tried to activate the card on the website and it reported that the card was already activated. The third yellow card has yet to show up in the mail to try. I have no programming on my Dishplayer tonight.

I've tried the upgrade avenue before with Dish, but they would only offer me a lease deal. Since I paid outright for my Dishplayer 7100 I am very hesitant to part with it. The deal they offered me was a lease on a 510, but it would cost me $10/month more than I pay now. The rep explained to me there is a $5/month lease fee and $5/month DVR fee. Why should I give Dish an extra $120 in a year because they broke my receiver? My wife adamantly refuses that I give Dish any more money than we have to. After all.. everything was fine until they decided to switch everyone's damn cards.

When the Dishplayer is working, it works great. It records all the shows I tell it to.

So if I add the extended warranty to my account and suffer another 30 days, Dish will replace my Dishplayer with a working yellow-card-equiped Dishplayer?

 

[Wombat]

MikeD,

Thanks for the concern and the suggestions. It is goodhearted folks like yourself that have kept me in the fold for these many years. While I may be disappointed in DISH, the folks in the larger community have been great.

I'm sorry to say that I LIKED the 7200. I thought the GUI was nice, the NBR was good, and I paid the once-for-all lifetime fee for the DVR, and upgraded the harddrive to 120 GB. So having to downgrade to a 510 (in my opinion) wait on Charlie's word for NBR (anyone remember the promises on Dolby Digital sound on all the movie channels -- and years later we're still waiting), and though I'm told that I won't have the $5 DVR fee due to the fact that I had the Everything package, I'm not sure even that won't change in time.

I've lived on promises and workarounds since 1997. Too little, too late.

 

[DBSJedi]

So I slip the blue card in the other day and I get my programming back, but all my saved shows are GONE! Not only that I am unable to fast forward or rewind the shows I do record on it. I get that 'bong' sound when I press the up, down, left or right directional buttons on the remote during playback. I suspect the unit thinks I have a newer dish remote for the Dishplayer, as this happened once before. Worse though... when I turn off the unit and press 'option 6429', nothing happens at all. That is the code to reset the remote control to the original 'old style' Dishplayer remote. Now I am forced to watch commercials on previously recorded shows. This just gets worse and worse.

 

[TNGTony]

My Dish 7200 just recently rejected the yellow card as well. I was expecting another yellow card, but when I talked to the rep at the special number, he sighed and said something to the effect of: "Are you familiar with the problems the Web TV systems have with the yellow card?"

They tried several things over the phone in several phone calls over 24 hours.

Call 1: Automated call to activate the yellow cards on my two remaining receivers with the yellow cards. Within 10 minutes, my 1000 receiver had programming back. The 7200 had nothing.

Call 2: 2 hours later...called 800-333-DISH to report a problem. They told me to call a different phone number. Which I did.

Call 3: called the special number and routed through the voice prompts to speak to a human (probably in India - internet call). The woman tells me she is going to rehit the receiver and to wait 15-20 minutes.

Call 4: two hours later I call the same special number. I navigate the voice prompts to talk to some one at a domestic location. (obviously not a VOIP phone call and the accent was mid-western) He was the one who informed me about the systemic problem with webTV receivers. He then tells me to call 800-333-DISH and navigate to "technical assistance"

Call 5: called technical help. "local". She tells me that she is going to "reauthorize the receiver". She assured me that this was different than "hitting" the receiver. I didn't really believe her, but what the hey...

The next day, I can get channel 101, 500 and NASA TV but nothing else. So I guess the reauthorize helped, but still no joy....

Call 6: (24 hours from the call 1) Called tech support again. This time I rolled box cars and got some one willing to help with the problem and stay on the line until something was resolved. This guy was great! As soon as he confirmed my account info, the asked "are you still having problems with your receiver?" No prompting on my part. Great! We tried several things and took over 30 minutes going through several diagnostics. For those that don't know, a 7100/7200 receiver takes 3-4 minutes just to turn off and back on.

Anyway, the rub is that they are sending me a new receiver. It could be a Dishplayer (WebTV), 501 or 508. The guy was thinking it would probably be a 501. I asked him if it could be a bad card. He said no and explained that several things we did proved the card was working. He also confirmed that many of the WebTV receivers (as he called them) just don't work with the new yellow card. He also told me there was no way to tell which ones will and which ones wont until you stick the new card in.

So on Wednesday, I get a "new" receiver. More to come when I get it.

See ya
Tony

 

[DBSJedi]

Well I am back to a useable 7100. My suspicions on the remote going to the later Dishplayer remote were confirmed. I downloaded a JP1 code for the newer dish remote and loaded it in my All For One URC8810W remote (hacked a year ago to allow remote config downloads over parallel port on my pc). The navigation keys were inert, but the fast forward and rewind buttons worked (as in the newer style Dishplayer 7200 remotes). Long story short I was able to use my All For One and put in the options code to revert back to the old sytle remote (which I prefer since both the screen navigation and PVR playback navigation are handled by the same keys).

Still no sign of yellow card #3. I guess I need to set myself at least an 8-hour block of free time and run through the items TNGTony ran through with Dish Network to get them to send me a new/refurbed receiver. TNGTony: did you happen to catch the name of that last rep you spoke with? I hate playing rep roulette, but it is the only way to get what you want with Dish Network for the most part.

 

[TNGTony]

Jedi, Unfortunately I did not get that reps name. He was awesome. I'll let you all know what comes of this. I'm supposed to get the "new" receiver Wednesday.

See ya
Tony

 

[TNGTony]

Okay, I got my replacement receiver today. It is a 501 and works great except for one problem....wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr it's kind of hard to discribe....................wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......................but something ....................wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.................isn't wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...............quite............wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...........right..............wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

The interesting thing is that I have this receiver in a room with two computers. One has 4 hard drives and 3 fans, the other has three hard drives and one fan. The 501 is louder than the two computers put together!

See ya
Tony

 

[LER]

FYI: From my E* Insider, the 7x00's (7100/7200) are getting software 1.26 starting today (5/5/2005) to fix the yellow card issues.

 

[DBSJedi]

I received my third yellow card last week and finally had a free moment from TV this evening to try it out. This particular card was shipped UPS and not the United States Postal Service as the first 2 had.

So this time I decided to do the process a little differently..
Turn off Dishplayer
Replace blue card with new yellow card
Call Dish Network card activation service (in the past I used the website) -> Activate new card via phone
Turn on Dishplayer -> got the smart card replacement screen -> Call Dish and get on hold.
Turn off Dishplayer via remote -> turn on Dishplayer via remote -> same screen
Turn off Dishplayer via remote -> turn on Dishplayer via remote -> same screen
Turn off off via console.. hold power button 5 seconds and let go
Turn on Dishplayer with remote while waiting on hold for Dishnetwork rep.

Just as I finally got off hold my Dishplayer booted and I had programming. I hope the rep doesn't decide to touch anything as it is finally working after over a month of this fun card replacement.

Just thought I would share my exact sequence that finally allowed my Dishplayer to use the yellow card. I don't know if shipping the card to me UPS was the fix or the sequence of events above. Just g;ad it seems to be working right now.

 

[LER]

It may have also been upgraded software. See my previous post.

LER