VIP 722 receiver reboot issues - HELP!

ddegil

Member
Original poster
Feb 27, 2012
7
0
USA
We have been having a problem with our VIP 722 receivers since August and I am at the end of my rope.

It all started in August when one morning I noticed that my receiver image froze, and after about 90 seconds the receiver rebooted. The interesting thing is we have 3 receivers at home, TWO VIP 722s and one SD unit. I noticed that the other 722 was ALSO rebooting at the same time. From that morning on the 2 receivers would reboot repeatedly through the day. ONLY the VIP 722s. Generally they reboot at the same time, but sometimes not.

If one of them has not rebooted for 2 to 3 hours, if I go to the DVR menu and pick to search TV shows and then to browse by network the units will ALWAYS lock and then reboot after about 90 seconds. If it has not been 2 to 3 hours at least since the last reboot they allow me into the menu there. And when I force a reboot his way ONLY the receiver I messed with reboots.

I finally did detailed checks of the rebooting times (if left alone to reboot on their own) and they do it EXACTLY every 4 hours! They reboot EVERY day at 5am, 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 9pm and 1am. Both! (Actual reboot times are about 3minutes after the hours detailed according to my atomic clock)

Since then I have had MANY useless conversations with Level 1, 2 and 3 Dish support. They initially told me it was a grounding issue at the house, so I bought a $500 UPS/Power Cleaner and that made no difference on the unit I placed on it. I had an electrician come out and check the house carefully and the power is clean, grounded and perfect. Then Dish support told me that it was the Dish cabling grounding and they sent someone out here. The person checked the receivers and the menus and pointed out some values on a screen and told us the two receivers were bad and needed replacing. I did not want to get 2 new receives from him and lose all our recorded shows, so I had DISH send me 2 replacements and I bought a 1TB external drive and moved all the shows to the drive. When the new units arrived I set the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] one up and then began the long task of moving the shows back to it. I started that task about 4pm and guess what, at 5PM the freaking machine rebooted! The NEW ONE! So I decided to move the shows over anyway and then reentered 68 auto record timers manually. I then replaced the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] unit and put it’s shows back and the timers back. I sent the older units back to Dish and then called them about the rebooting issue again. They sent another tech out who replaced the LNB, grounding on the dish and checked the receivers. He left about 3pm. At 5pm both units rebooted.

This weekend we had the techs out again and this time they replaced the LNB again and ALL wiring from the dish to the receivers themselves. In addition I showed the tech how I can go to the Brows by Network menu and reboot a receiver, which made him scratch is head. After he completed the rewiring he said that at this point everything has been replaced, that it has to be fixed. He left about 11pm. At 1pm they both rebooted!

I skipped a lot on the work done as it is just too long if not. We have had 5 tech visits and I am really getting fed up. The rebooting makes recording horrible. Ever have your unit reboot while recording a show or movie? You get 2 or 3 files and a 10 minute gap of lost content between them!
So Sunday I took one of the tech’s advice and called Dish and asked them to send me a VIP922 to see if it does the same thing. You would think that Dish would really want to keep me as a customer and make me happy, but NO! They do not want to do that. I have been a DISH customer since 1993 and a shareholder since about 2000. I subscribe to ALL HD channels and the highest package and ALL move channels! I pay about $200 a month and they cannot be bothered to work with me to resolve this by allowing me to test a different model HD receiver? If I do not resolve this very soon DirecTV will gain a new loyal customer. Any advice or ideas from anyone here?

David
 
I have had a similar circumstance with CSR BUT when you get to disconnect, they will try hard to keep you. I have never paid shipping for another receiver when one went faulty and I do not take out thatr crappy warranty of theirs.
Threaten to leave and you will get sent to someone a little higher up the food chain. They do not want to lose you. I have been a Customer since 1999 and that has its perks especially if you are a great paying customer.
 
Did you check your update menu. Press Menu button, then 8, then 4. It should show you what time to reboot for updates, and also how many hours of sitting there to turn off. Default is 4 hours. If that is showing 4 hours, then change it to disabled and see if that fix's your problem. Also i see that the tech's replaced your grounding block, LMB, and checked receivers, when the techs were there did they check actual cables for water damage in the line. You can normally check this yourself by unscrewing the connectors from the ground block or diplexer and normally if there is water damage you will see perspiration or it will be black. Also are your receivers connected to a surge protector? If so try plugging the receiver straight into the wall outlet. If it is still doing this either have the tech use his electrical outlet checker to check to make sure the outlets are not bad. You can also purchase one yourself and check it yourself if you'd like. Let me know if none of these pan out.
 
Yes, I have verified the reboot for updates and turn off timers and they are not involved in the timing of our reboots. I have then set to max times and I can be in the menu minutes prior to the 4 hour window and in the menu at the reboot time and it hangs then reboots there.
THe last tech replaced ALL the cables to the reveivers, so even if there were tons of water damage they are now brand new.

The receivers are not on a surge protector now, but as my original post stated I did place one on a $500 UPS that also cleans the poer and monitors the power as well as had an electrician out to verify the power. All is perfect.

Did you check your update menu. Press Menu button, then 8, then 4. It should show you what time to reboot for updates, and also how many hours of sitting there to turn off. Default is 4 hours. If that is showing 4 hours, then change it to disabled and see if that fix's your problem. Also i see that the tech's replaced your grounding block, LMB, and checked receivers, when the techs were there did they check actual cables for water damage in the line. You can normally check this yourself by unscrewing the connectors from the ground block or diplexer and normally if there is water damage you will see perspiration or it will be black. Also are your receivers connected to a surge protector? If so try plugging the receiver straight into the wall outlet. If it is still doing this either have the tech use his electrical outlet checker to check to make sure the outlets are not bad. You can also purchase one yourself and check it yourself if you'd like. Let me know if none of these pan out.
 
I hate head scratchers like yours.
Looks like the obvious has been covered so you need to start looking at the rare or unlikely stuff
Sounds like your willing to do some trouble shooting on your own
I think I would take the receivers over to a friend or relatives house (who also have dish) and see if it happens there.
If not then its has to be something that's happening at your house.
Have you had any issues with any other electronic equipment?
Is there something new or different about your system
Do you live near a cell tower, airport,military base, fire station that could be somehow interfering with your signal?
ask your neighbors if they have any issues
Whats happening with your standard receiver?
try different configurations like disconnecting one or more of your receivers, even a faulty tv could be an unlikely cause
temporarily disconnect the ground block from ground and check for ac voltage with a meter then leave it unhooked for a day or two.
 
I would love to have a friend try one, but no one in my area I am friends with has a DishNetowrk HD setup. :(

I have had no issues with any equipment at all. Heck, I am a computer geek and have 6 notebooks, a desktop, a WiFi Printer, 2 internet radios, a chumby and 7 internet cameras at home. I admit no more than 3 computers are ever run at once though. But if there were an electric issue not caught by that UPS or electrician then I would have seen something.

Nothing has been added or changed on our Dish setup except the 2 replacement receivers dealing with this issue. :/

The Standard receiver (DVR also) works like a champ and never reboots (except when Dish updates it).

That all said..
So everyone knows our setup on the 2 VIP722s and broadband...
We have no OTA and use both receivers on a single TV each. Both TVS can use the PiP from its VIP722. One receiver is plugged into our network via ethernet to our router. This unit is also connected to the telephone line. THe other unit is connected to our network through a WiFi adapter I purchased from Dish. It is not plugged into the phoneline.

Our internet at home is not cable or DSL, but broadband over the air. We are rather rural and DSL and ISDN cannot reach the house. When we moved here in 2002 satellite internet was rather expensive equipment cost and monthly cost and had to use a phoneline as well. I foudn that there was a WiFi provider in the area, but the tower could not be seen from out home. We are on a mountain and our property extends 20 acres up the hill, and I found that the top of our land could see the tower, so I paid to have 2200 feet of fiber and power placed in proper piping and placed 4 feet under ground and run up the 2200 feet and 500 feet above the house. We placed the receiving tower and equipment there and convert the WiFi to fiber where it goes to the house and is converted back to Ethernet. The network goes into a router at the house. This is the broadband the VIP722s use. In January my router died and I replaced it with a new one. This is important since we have changed routers during the VIP722 rebooting issues.

Last night after reading more threads and searches on the net I decided to unplug the broadband from one of the VIP722 receivers. I do not belive it rebooted after, but will be monitoring it closely to see. I am at work right now, but set that receiver to record a program that spans 7am to 1pm today, so if it does reboot I'll get multiple files for the show. I am trying to isolate if the idea that adding the BlockBuster to the VIP722 software is the issue now. I found a few sites and threads complaining about reboots from that. When I put the ethernet back into the receiver I will log ALL traffic to and from the unit as my next test.

David
 
One is by HDMI and the other is component. THe component one is on an older Toshiba LCD bought in 2004 and it does not have HDMI on it.
 
Replying to DishTech.Mark again,
Seems the 2 NEW receivers had not been moved off the default 4 hour auto shutdown as I thought I did. That said:
I did not change it on the receiver I took off the internet. Since I removed it from the internet I have had it do 3 12 hour recordings and none were broken up, meaning it did not reboot. I will be testing it more though.

THe other unit I left on the net and it was rebooting. I then turned off the timer to auto-shut off (4 hour to off totally) and that was yesterday morning. Since then I have not seen it reboot at all, but then again it will not be recording a 12 hour block till today so I woun't have a better clue till tonight.

Still, why the internet connect would cause it on one and the auto off feature on the other would cause the reboots... I will let you all know more as I test more.

David
 
Bweiteka,
You may be right. Last night after both not reboting (one not on the network one on) for 24 hours, I put both back on the network and BAM, reboot every 4 hours. I will continue testing, but I believe I isolate it to havin more than 1 722 on the network.

On Dishsupport.com, where the heck did it go?
 
Hi all, here is some news! I just spent several hours on the tech support chat with dish and after being pushed up several times to higher agents, I got one who actually admitted to my issue! Here is the first time anyone at dish admitted this:

Ian (ID: Z7D): David, what you suspect is in fact true, there is a software issue with the 722 and 722K receivers and that issue will be corrected with the next software update scheduled to be pushed in June.

So now I know that you cannot have 2 722 receivers on the same network or they reboot every 4 hours! Their fix? Wait for June, OR buy a Hopper when released! *rolls eyes* I was really pissed and I called their customer relations people and after I was bumped up to a level 2 rep (there are lvels of customer relations??) they gave me a large enough discount on my programming costs to cover the electrician they had me have out on the power and my general annoyances for 6 months plus 4 more months to June. I was really eager to tell Dish to screw off and call DirecTV tonight, but this one rep was nice, smart and good at dealing with a pissed off customer. So they have till June to resolve this issue now.

So, if ANYONE out there as 2 722s and they reboot abiut every 4 hours.... IT IS A KNOWN ISSUE!

David
 
Ummmm.... wait a minute

Hi all, here is some news! I just spent several hours on the tech support chat with dish and after being pushed up several times to higher agents, I got one who actually admitted to my issue! Here is the first time anyone at dish admitted this:

Ian (ID: Z7D): David, what you suspect is in fact true, there is a software issue with the 722 and 722K receivers and that issue will be corrected with the next software update scheduled to be pushed in June.

So now I know that you cannot have 2 722 receivers on the same network or they reboot every 4 hours! Their fix? Wait for June, OR buy a Hopper when released! *rolls eyes* I was really pissed and I called their customer relations people and after I was bumped up to a level 2 rep (there are lvels of customer relations??) they gave me a large enough discount on my programming costs to cover the electrician they had me have out on the power and my general annoyances for 6 months plus 4 more months to June. I was really eager to tell Dish to screw off and call DirecTV tonight, but this one rep was nice, smart and good at dealing with a pissed off customer. So they have till June to resolve this issue now.

So, if ANYONE out there as 2 722s and they reboot abiut every 4 hours.... IT IS A KNOWN ISSUE!

David

This would be plausible (in the word of "Mythbusters"), except I only have *one* DISH receiver in my household at home, and have the four hour-reboot issue myself. That leads me to believe that they may not have completely and accurately root-caused the bug.

Guess I better go back downstairs and unplug the LAN connection to my receiver--again.
 
I have the 722K and disconnected the lan connection and still get the reboots. I do not think I cant wait until June..lol
 
I have 2 VIP722s connected to DSL and have no problems with reboots, cross fingers.
So that is not a problem for everyone. They are picking on you?
Just asking, you do have the sleep time-out set to disable? Where-ever it is.
-Ken

DishSupport is covered in a lot of post--virus infection, supposedly.
 
Replying to DishTech.Mark again,
Seems the 2 NEW receivers had not been moved off the default 4 hour auto shutdown as I thought I did. That said:
I did not change it on the receiver I took off the internet. Since I removed it from the internet I have had it do 3 12 hour recordings and none were broken up, meaning it did not reboot. I will be testing it more though.

THe other unit I left on the net and it was rebooting. I then turned off the timer to auto-shut off (4 hour to off totally) and that was yesterday morning. Since then I have not seen it reboot at all, but then again it will not be recording a 12 hour block till today so I woun't have a better clue till tonight.

Still, why the internet connect would cause it on one and the auto off feature on the other would cause the reboots... I will let you all know more as I test more.

Please PM your account info to me, so I can submit the report.

David

David,
I read your posts through three times just to make sure I had not overlooked an important detail.

You said:
You had 2 VIP 722 receivers
- 1 connected via broadband only
- 1 connected via broadband and land line.

The inactivity times were causing reboots every 4 hours. You have reset these, and tried different combinations.
You have a fiber drop from your broadband 2200' to the house, back to a router, which has been replaced once
In a combination of 5 visits:
Both VIP 722 receivers have been replaced, outside cabling/LNBFs was replaced.
You had a UPS connected in the loop
An electrician has checked your power
One of the receivers is connected to the internet, via wireless adapter.
A 3rd SD receiver is not having issues.

The above is a brief synopsis of main details.

What I noticed is that you disconnected the broadband. If I read this correctly, you did this on the unit with the wireless adapter. That would leave the phone line and broadband hooked up to the other one? If I understood you correctly, the receiver connected tot he router (hardwired Ethernet cable ) is also connected via phone line. the other is connected via wireless broadband adapter.

There may be a buffer or router setting that needs to be tweaked, but I am not sure, based on your ISP, if it could be a timer or packet size issue. That might be the cause of the issue on the receiver connected to the wireless adapter. As for the other, have you tried disconnecting the phone line, and leaving the broadband connected? I have never heard of this affecting two receivers, but have seen the updates have issues with both phone and Ethernet connected to the receiver. If they both operate normally with only the broadband connected, then the phone line connection

This was the only thing I saw that had not been tried.

I have sent a report to our engineering department for you. This situation is an unusual one, and you have done some extensive troubleshooting already. Let me know if unplugging the phone connection works for you.
 

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