Question about ViP 211 and 211k Support for Vacation Home

[Foxbat]

I have a question for the experts. My Sister and Brother-in-Law arrived at our northern vacation home and my B-i-L was able to log in an activate the account online. The one ViP 211k came up in minutes, but the older ViP 211 is still showing Unauthorized. He has power-plug reset several time, I have logged into the Vacation account and verified that both receivers are "On", I have sent five "Wake-up" requests from the Equipment page, but the 211 still won't authenticate.

I had him go through the unplug the satellite cable, run the Check Switch, save it, restart, plug the cable back in, run the Check Switch, and save it. Then restart again. I then sent yet another "Wake-up". Still nothing. I'm wondering if the ViP 211 is too old or something.

I see I can pick up a refurbed 211k for $90 from a reputable source, but I thought before that I would check with the SatelliteGuys to see if anyone else has some better troubleshooting suggestions.

 

[tjboston5676]

Someth

I have a question for the experts. My Sister and Brother-in-Law arrived at our northern vacation home and my B-i-L was able to log in an activate the account online. The one ViP 211k came up in minutes, but the older ViP 211 is still showing Unauthorized. He has power-plug reset several time, I have logged into the Vacation account and verified that both receivers are "On", I have sent five "Wake-up" requests from the Equipment page, but the 211 still won't authenticate.

I had him go through the unplug the satellite cable, run the Check Switch, save it, restart, plug the cable back in, run the Check Switch, and save it. Then restart again. I then sent yet another "Wake-up". Still nothing. I'm wondering if the ViP 211 is too old or something.

I see I can pick up a refurbed 211k for $90 from a reputable source, but I thought before that I would check with the SatelliteGuys to see if anyone else has some better troubleshooting suggestions.

Sometimes it takes 10+ resets for it to get programming. Just keep resetting. Let it go all the way through the guide download then check for channels, if not there reset again. Repeat over and over until they come in. Can also try putting it in standby and letting it sit for 15 minutes and see if it needs a software download, if it's been off more than a couple years.

 

[Foxbat]

This pair of receivers has been used every year since they went up a decade or so ago. I did get ahold of a Online Dish CSR and they suggested the one thing I hadn't had my Brother-in-Law do is pull the SmartCard, reinstall it, and then do a Power Down for 15-30 seconds and power it back up. So, thank you, Dish! My B-i-L just reported all the channels in the Guide and the Locals are available, too.

 

[scoob83]

The re-auth requests on the dish website NEVER work for me, I’m convinced they literally do nothing. I always have to call or chat. Depending on the chat rep, it could take 2 minutes or 20 minutes before they will send a signal to authorize it.


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[Foxbat]

Well, it looks like we’re back to Plan B (as in Buy). The question I will put forth now is Wally or 211k? With the 211k I know we’ll have a familiar system that will slide right in, no doubt. Once on the account, it will be able to use the same external HD for DVR functionality we’re use to.

One the other hand, the Wally would offer Netflix through the Wally (no SmartTV) as well as Prime Video. But, we would lose local OTA TV signals. Also, I’m pretty sure the DVR functionality is not compatible with the 211/211k EHD, so we would lose those programs. That isn’t necessarily a deal breaker, but is the EHD fee that we already paid going to work on the Wally?

Switch-wise, we should be okay, as it’s a DPP EA dual LNB. Two lines run into the cabin through the twin ground block, then one to the bedroom and one to the great room where the 211 is.

 

[scoob83]

Well, it looks like we’re back to Plan B (as in Buy). The question I will put forth now is Wally or 211k? With the 211k I know we’ll have a familiar system that will slide right in, no doubt. Once on the account, it will be able to use the same external HD for DVR functionality we’re use to.

One the other hand, the Wally would offer Netflix through the Wally (no SmartTV) as well as Prime Video. But, we would lose local OTA TV signals. Also, I’m pretty sure the DVR functionality is not compatible with the 211/211k EHD, so we would lose those programs. That isn’t necessarily a deal breaker, but is the EHD fee that we already paid going to work on the Wally?

Switch-wise, we should be okay, as it’s a DPP EA dual LNB. Two lines run into the cabin through the twin ground block, then one to the bedroom and one to the great room where the 211 is.

What happened, did it stop working again?


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[Foxbat]

What happened, did it stop working again?

Yeah, I kinda dropped the ball on that part of the story. I had thought that once it took the activation hit that it would be good, but a text from my Brother-in-Law a few hours later said the screen had gone black and it wouldn’t reset. The rest of the story can be found in the SatelliteGuys archive from a decade back (history of this ViP 211). It’s when we picked up the 211k.

After I had replaced the dodgy capacitor (see posts #30 & 31 of the referenced thread), the 211 had lived a pretty long life afterwards. But, it’s possible that something else has failed or become flakey in this receiver. It was recently exposed to a lightning event a few years back that took out our Onkyo AVR, so it may have finally exceeded its nine lives.

 

[dfergie]

I only use my 211 hunting with a tail gator, thus have to go thru the re-hit several times.
Last season I had my Starlink with us and never set the 211 up, used firestick and the Directv app for sports and the antenna on the camper for network.
I do need to set it up while I'm recovering from surgery and see if it still works.

 

[Foxbat]

Well, after checking with my Brother-in-Law about the status of the ViP 211, I guess we're pronouncing it an "RiP 211"

The ViP 211k replacement has been ordered from Solid Signal, which is the same source for the 211k ordered back in November 2015.

 

[navychop]

Wally marches on.

 

[Foxbat]

Is the 211 EHD compatible with the Wally? Or does it get re-formatted and you lose the programs on the EHD?

 

[navychop]

Yep. The latter.

 

[scoob83]

Well, after checking with my Brother-in-Law about the status of the ViP 211, I guess we're pronouncing it an "RiP 211"

The ViP 211k replacement has been ordered from Solid Signal, which is the same source for the 211k ordered back in November 2015.

I think 211k was the way to go so you can hook the antenna to it for locals. You could always buy a firestick for $20 somewhere for streaming.


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[Juan]

On the vip 211
Sometimes this works

Unplug the satellite cable.and any hardrive that might be plugged in..then reboot the 211... let it come up completely..then plug the satellite cable back in and do a switch check

 

[Foxbat]

On the vip 211
Sometimes this works

Unplug the satellite cable.and any hardrive that might be plugged in..then reboot the 211... let it come up completely..then plug the satellite cable back in and do a switch check

That was part of the original troubleshooting.

Of course, after ordering the 211k, by Brother-in-Law says it came back Monday morning and it’s been working okay since then.

And then find out today that for $10 more, the Wally now can fall back to Internet streaming of a live Satellite channel that gets blocked by weather! Oh, well…

 

[Foxbat]

So, I asked if the replacement 211k arrived okay and if my Brother-in-Law was able to activate it okay. It arrived, but he’s leaving the replacement to me as the silver 211 seems to be working just fine, thank you very much. It really needs to be hooked up to at least verify that it’s working. It would be bad if it sat in the back bedroom for weeks and when I got there, it turned out to be a brick. Solid Signal would be well within their rights to refuse to replace it if it’s been more that 30 days post sale.

 

[Bobby]

So, I asked if the replacement 211k arrived okay and if my Brother-in-Law was able to activate it okay. It arrived, but he’s leaving the replacement to me as the silver 211 seems to be working just fine, thank you very much. It really needs to be hooked up to at least verify that it’s working. It would be bad if it sat in the back bedroom for weeks and when I got there, it turned out to be a brick. Solid Signal would be well within their rights to refuse to replace it if it’s been more that 30 days post sale.

Yes, I’d have him wire it and plug it in to get to activation point. If you get that far you should be golden.

 

[Foxbat]

Well, the “replacement” ViP 211k is in its sealed box, sitting next to the TV center. The old ViP 211 appears to be happy (other than a message saying it doesn’t have an authorized account and while lose programming in 48 hours (error 803), but a call to Dish walked me through selecting “OK” to make the messages go away) and it’s a flash-back to be using ye olde stile GUI. But I am afraid that I am past the 30 day return window to send back the 211k to Solid Signal. I am inclined to swap it anyway, since it is the newer design, and the black case would match the rest of the equipment in the cabinet.

But now I have a new problem. The EHD on the ViP 211k has showed my archived recordings, some from Dish and some OTA, that appear to be corrupted. If I try to play them, it fails immediately with an Error 05. I want to say that these programs played okay last year, but I’m not 100% sure of that.

I haven’t tried the Events on the ViP 211 receiver in the family room to see if they are also “corrupted”. I don’t think they are as their dates are within the last two months.

 

[Bobby]

Well, the “replacement” ViP 211k is in its sealed box, sitting next to the TV center. The old ViP 211 appears to be happy (other than a message saying it doesn’t have an authorized account and while lose programming in 48 hours (error 803), but a call to Dish walked me through selecting “OK” to make the messages go away) and it’s a flash-back to be using ye olde stile GUI. But I am afraid that I am past the 30 day return window to send back the 211k to Solid Signal. I am inclined to swap it anyway, since it is the newer design, and the black case would match the rest of the equipment in the cabinet.

But now I have a new problem. The EHD on the ViP 211k has showed my archived recordings, some from Dish and some OTA, that appear to be corrupted. If I try to play them, it fails immediately with an Error 05. I want to say that these programs played okay last year, but I’m not 100% sure of that.

I haven’t tried the Events on the ViP 211 receiver in the family room to see if they are also “corrupted”. I don’t think they are as their dates are within the last two months.

As long as you have the new 211K and you can't return it you should do the transfer to the newer one and use the old one as a backup. You've spent the money, you might as well make use of it.

 

[navychop]

But is the K “better?”