722 in endless reboot cycle. Please help!!

hopton

SatelliteGuys Guru
Original poster
Feb 21, 2008
148
1
Lycoming County, PA
I have a leased 722 with software version 618 that started doing constant reboots. A call to tech support on the first day of the problem resulted in the csr telling me I need a replacement and it will arrive today. The point of posting the issue is to see if anyone has any advice on how I can get this thing running long enough to write down my timers. I do use dish's sling guide, so suggestions from that angle are welcome as well!! Here's what's happening...

It started while I was watching the news Monday morning. No changes in setup or settings recently. This is the sequence I am referring to when I say "reboot": Fan noise gets really loud and TV goes blank from lack of signal, all lights on receiver go off and fan goes silent for 15 seconds or so. Loud fan noise returns and the mode light and TV1 and TV2 lights come on. The next symptoms have changed over the past few days so I will explain what was happening and what is now happening (each will pick up where I left off here - the three lights lighting up)...

On Monday it would reboot and the 3 lights would stay on and it would come up with the acquiring signal screen. It would eventually go through the 5 steps and I could use the receiver as normal (live or DVR'ed). It would stay working for no more than 3 minutes and then would reboot and repeat the whole process. I tried disconnecting all cables and cords and found it would boot for longer (not consistent) times. I focused my attention on transferring some of my recorded stuff to my external. Initially I couldn't use the external, but found that after leaving it on the acquiring signal screen for 5 minutes or so, I could connect the sat 1 coax briefly and it would let me start accessing the external (didn't think I had the feature activated until I did that, I guess). I could also leave the HDMI connected. I was only able to transfer a couple of programs and the symptoms got worse...

Tuesday the sequence was the same, but it started rebooting much more frequently. It would bring up the searching for signal screen, but would only stay on it for a minute or so and go through the reboot process again.

By Tuesday night it got worse. Now instead of the three lights staying on, they flash once and then just the green TV1 light comes back on. It stays on until it reboots. Rebooting is happening so fast now that the signal acquisition screen doesn't even come on.

While having all cords disconnected helped get me to the acquiring a signal screen the first day or so, that doesn't even work anymore. During that time, however, I did notice that if it was sitting on the signal acquisition screen, the instant I would try to connect either sat 1 or sat 2 coax to the coax terminal on the receiver, it would instantly start a reboot. That became pretty consistent. It should be noted, though, that NOT connecting the coax would end up in a reboot also, just not as quickly. I tried disconnecting (and even removing) the grounding block for the coax and this had no affect.

I have also tried unplugging the power cord for varying lengths of time (including overnight) with no change in symptoms. When the problem started, the recevier was plugged in to a surge protector. I have since been plugging it directly into a wall outlet to rule out the protector. This has not helped either.

I couldn't care less about the physical receiver. It's leased and being replaced. I am upset about losing so much recorded content and timers, though. If anyone has any suggestions to get it resurrected long enough for me to even just take a couple of pics of my timer list, that would be wonderful! (This is the third 722 I have had die (completely unrelated issues with previous ones) so I am upgrading to a 722k this time so I can save my timers and settings in the remote and won't have to worry about this if it happens again!)

I am a little concerned that there may be an issue with the dish / cabling that could be causing this I wouldn't want it to hurt my new receiver. Should I be concerned? My house is less than 6 years old and the cabling was run by E* subs right after it was built. I can't remember which 2 dishes I have installed. One is almost 6 years old, oval, and is pointed at 110/119. The other is smaller and is only a couple of years old. It was added to pick up my locals on 61.5. They both feed into one switch, but I am not sure the model. Two lines of coax (one for sat 1 and one for sat 2) go from the switch to the receiver. If model numbers of dishes and switch would help, I can provide them tonight.

Thanks so much in advance. SatGuys members are the best!
 
Bye Bye HDD

Your HDD drive is bad. You are pretty much SOL. You can try to open the case and when the unit starts up with HDD out of case and in a vertical position do constant light tapping on the HDD get it going long enough to get info off it. Other than that it's so sorry and bye bye. HDD's die and nothing can be done about that.
 
What makes you think its the HDD usually its the power supply.

Try unplgging the receiver over night or longer and it may work for a short while.
 
Thank you for your suggestions. I have unplugged it for up to 12 hours and it did not help. I guess it doesn't make much difference if it's the HDD or the power supply, I am out of luck either way. Thanks, though.

My replacement arrived today. Instead of sending the 722k dish it up upgrade I ordered, they sent me another 722. I called and chatted with 3 CSR's after the order to confirm the K was sent and they all confirmed it. Now they say they have to send a 722 first to swap out the bad one, I use that for the week or so until they get the dead one back, then I can reorder the upgrade to be shipped. Sounds like an efficient process that puts the least amount of inconvenience on the customer. They took my creidt card info and read me the "you are giving us 2 more years" speech and everything and now say I have to do it all again. Yippee!

Thanks again, guys. I will make sure to print screenshots of my timers on dishsling after I get them all entered into my temporary 722 this time so I can reference them later. Maybe they will give us the two-way backup feature on the 722 in the next couple of weeks so I don't have to reenter the timers twice! The CSR told me that it was coming to the 722's in the next software update. I was told it will happen at roughly the same time everything happens with *E... soon.
 
try putting it in the freezer over night (if you can get HD out with out breaking the tamper seal put just the HD in the freezer) I have used this trick on Laptop and PC drives for years and it works about 70% of the time.
 
I just replaced a 722 for the same reason, constant rebooting. The problem is they are overheating and going out faster than normal. The unit need to be very open and not in a closed entertainment center. it also help to get a small fan for it. I would suggest you get an EHD for it so you can transfer your recording to it every so often and watch them from it. I do that now. that way if the unit goes out again you won't loose everything
 
try putting it in the freezer over night (if you can get HD out with out breaking the tamper seal put just the HD in the freezer) I have used this trick on Laptop and PC drives for years and it works about 70% of the time.

My 2nd 722 in 12 months died from the same problem last week. I was told the 1st died from overheating because it was installed on top of my AV receiver so I put the 2nd 722 in an open area on it’s side to aid in cooling…..this is the one that died last week. Anyway most of my recordings were backed up on the external HD but I still have a few on the 722 I would like to transfer to the Ext. HD. I had plugged and unplugged the old 722 several times including one period of 3 days.

I installed and activated the new replacement 722 yesterday…..using the above freezer method…..if the old 722 does power up will there be any issues transferring the recordings since I have activated the replacement unit?

Finally, is it possible to put temporarily put the old 722 HD in the new 722 to see if will boot and transfer the recordings?
 
"Finally, is it possible to put temporarily put the old 722 HD in the new 722 to see if will boot and transfer the recordings?"

yes
 
What makes you think its the HDD usually its the power supply.

Try unplgging the receiver over night or longer and it may work for a short while.

Mine must have been the power supply!!!

I put both units (old & replacement unit) on their side and pluged the HDD from the old unit into the mother board on the new unit and was able to transfer all the movies to the Ext HDD. This way I did not have remove the HDD and mess with the tamper seal.
 

Did dish hire this guy for marketing?

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