721 either 110 or 119

[navychop]

I am very happy with my 721. Except it just died, hard drive failure. The replacement arrived Friday. Called to activate. S/W dl that I did before calling had not taken, had to redo, CSR said to wait the 45 minutes and call back. I called the next day, Saturday.

I called to get a CSR to activate it and help out- I could get 101 and the FTAs, but other channels would show "Lost Lock" - an inappropriate error message. The CSR said it was in fact activated yesterday (Friday). We fiddled around with the unit and finally could get it to receive 119 but not 110. Check switch showed both sats plus 61.5 as "OK" (DP34s). After various reboots, unplugs, etc, we got 110 working, declared success, and went our separate ways.

Immediately after hanging up, I discovered, yep- we were now getting 110, but were no longer getting 119. I called back, got another CSR. No 119. No channel 101. Determined the box must be defective, ordered a replacement. Went to bed.

Mid day Sunday, discovered 721 was now receiving both 110 & 119. Called Sunday night to ask if they wanted to cancel sending out the new receiver (too late), or if I should keep this one or install the one they were shipping out. My choice, basically. I could refuse shipment- but I wouldn't be there to do so.

I need to check to see if it's receiving The Pentagon channel off 61.5.

So what do you guys think? If I keep getting 110 & 119 - and 61.5 - should I stick with what's installed now? Or figure it's cursed by witches and unreliable and install the next one being sent?

Has anyone heard of this kind of error before? Does it indicate a specific hardware problem, or just some delay in coming to life, perhaps due to the latest s/w dl?

I should mention I also have a 508 and ViP622, both of which are receiving all channels properly. The previous 721 worked fine in that location until the hard disk died (The King is in excellent health until he's dead). Wiring and dishes are all new, as I just moved to this house a couple of months ago and put it all in.

 

[Grandude]

I think I would put in the new one and see what happens. If it goes through the same gyrations trying to get the signals from all satellites, I would suspect then that perhaps there is a marginal cable problem.

 

[navychop]

Well, the point is moot. Thursday I came home to find the replacement-replacement 721 at my door, on end, corner ripped open and box a bit crushed. I called Dish, who said to reject the shipment or return it with the RA # previously provided. I took it to work to UPS, who said they would not take it as a rejected shipment, that had to be at home at delivery. They said to call Dish and get a new box to ship it back in, and a label. I rather imagine Dish would prefer to have the original messed up box to see.

I'll return the replacement-replacement 721, in the original box taped up, and tell them not to bother with another replacement. We'll see how long this one lasts. Might not matter much. I'm beginning to think the non-8PSK and non-MPEG-4 programming may start going away in 2007.