Timers disappear/no guide info/no playback audio

[LongBeachGuy]

Hi all,

Thanks for the terrific forum, everybody. I've learned a lot here.

I'm having some problems and hope you can help. I got my 522 on Aug. 14 and for the first month or so had no notable difficulties. But since Sept. 20 I've had a similar problem happen seven times.

The symptoms are:

1. The guide shows mostly "No info available" for anything beyond the current time slot.

2. All timers disappear.

3. There's no audio when playing recorded shows.

Since this started Sept. 20, I suspect it's related to the 2.05 software download (thanks to the forum for pointing that out).

Typically, rebooting the receiver fixes the problem, although in some cases I've had to call for Dish Network help. The timers DO return, but any shows that should have been recorded during the problem period have been missed.

One Dish Network rep told me I should turn off the receiver every night, which I suppose I can do, but it is a bit of an annoyance and makes me wonder how I managed to get through the first month without problems and without turning the receiver off.

In my latest call, the rep told me that I'm not picking up the transponder to download guide info (then why does the guide info reappear after rebooting?). He also said that maybe my dish isn't properly grounded (huh?).

They're sending someone out in four days, but I'm not confident that they really know what problem they're looking for. Does anyone here have some ideas so I can at least steer them in the right direction?

Thanks again.

 

[ShadowEKU]

your dish should be grounded reguardless so let the tech check that

but you do need to put the reciever in standby so it can get the updates and most importantly reboot. most likely the first month you had it your hard drive didnt have much on it. once it hits around 50% the machine gets really finnicky. I recently moved my 522 to anotehr room and before i did i cleared all but my stargate stuf foff of it and it made the thing 5x faster. but I never experienced anything like what you said but i do put my unit in standby every night.

To clear up standby vs power off

you cant turn the receiver off pushing the power button (for both tuners) puts it in standby

the only way to completely power it down is to unplug it (not needed nightly).

But yes turn it off at night it sounds like your guide and timer disappearances will disappear.

 

[LongBeachGuy]

Just a followup here to let you know what happened.

The technician came out Sunday and his first thought was that my dish was not properly aligned. So he spent time with that, but that didn't seem to bring up my signal strength. So after quite a bit of further testing, he concluded that BOTH the receiver and the LNB were bad, and he replaced both.

So now I'm basically starting over with new equipment. I've got my fingers crossed.

 

[ShadowEKU]

I hate to say it but the tech replaced what he could in order to make you happy and close the ticket.

As long as you leave the receiver in standby overnight and reboot roughly once a week you shouldnt have the problems you had.

The reciever does download guide data at night as well.

If you were receiving all your channels any time you watched them then the LNB was fine. and the symptoms you described I have personally experienced with both of my 522's and therefore it seems to be software related. Im sure others have experienced this. But as long as you reboot on at least a once a week basis and leave the unit in standby overnight you should be ok. Another thought is if no one is home during the day set the unit to download updates (includes guide) while you are gone and put the unit in standby when you leave. this is just an alternative to leaving it off at night.

 

[blockisle9]

OK, I don't get it. Everyone says put the receiver's in stand by in order to get guide and new software updates.
I had my 522 for about 4 months and never put it in stand by. Every night the 522 updates the guide checks the hard-drive for errors, reboots and puts itself in stand by.
Again I NEVER put mine in stand by and get all my updates, Besides I don't really think its ever in stand by even though the screen saver is on the screen. My reason for me thinking this is so is because if you push the select button on the remote to take it out of the so called stand by, then rewind back-wards, the hard drives been recording the last channel the 522 was on.

 

[itsonthedish]

Isn't it great being a beta tester for Dish Network?

 

[ShadowEKU]

OK, I don't get it. Everyone says put the receiver's in stand by in order to get guide and new software updates.
I had my 522 for about 4 months and never put it in stand by. Every night the 522 updates the guide checks the hard-drive for errors, reboots and puts itself in stand by.
Again I NEVER put mine in stand by and get all my updates, Besides I don't really think its ever in stand by even though the screen saver is on the screen. My reason for me thinking this is so is because if you push the select button on the remote to take it out of the so called stand by, then rewind back-wards, the hard drives been recording the last channel the 522 was on.

yours must be a littel special. Ive accidentally left mine on before... and it doesnt download or reboot. I also cant rewind anything in the buffer after i push the power button, yeah ig goes back about 3 seconds but it doesnt buffer while its in standby

 

[ShadowEKU]

I just tried. turned it on... waited about 20 seconds and started rewinding... it went back 17 and stopped. tried with tuner 2 via PIP and it didnt rewind past 10.