DirecTV HD Receiver Failure

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crenchy

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Sep 2, 2018
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I returned home after being away for three weeks to find my DirecTV receiver unresponsive. The fan was running as if it were turned on, but none of the lights on the front of the box were one. It was unresponsive to the remote or my touching the "power" section of the front of the receiver.

I tried pressing the red reset button, and the fan turned off, then turned on again as if it were rebooting. Still no lights on the box.

I unplugged it, waited, and plugged it back in. The fan immediately started running (without my doing anything to try to turn it on), but still no lights.

Also, the TV to which this receiver is connected is also misbehaving. The light indicating it's turned on is illuminated, but it just shows a black screen. It doesn't respond to the remote or my pushing the power button on its side. I unplugged it, and the "on" light went out, but when I plugged it in again, the "on" light illuminated by itself without my pushing any buttons on the remote or set. Still no picture or sound, though. Just a black screen no matter if I use the remote or press the power, menu, and input buttons on the TV itself.

I called DirecTV. They weren't helpful other than to say they'd replace it. When pressed, they said they could send a tech out to see if they could fix it.

I suspected a possible power surge, but nothing else on that circuit or outlet is damaged. Everything else works perfectly. Also, there wasn't a surge along the DirecTV line because the receiver and TV downstairs are fine.

Right now, I've unplugged everything in the hopes that a several-hours-long downtime will solve the problem.

I have hundreds of hours of recorded shows saved. Please let me know if you have any suggestions as to how to fix the receiver and/or recover my recordings.

Thank you!
 
If the receiver won’t boot about all that can be done is to replace it, and you will lose the recordings. No way to move the recordings to a new box unfortunately, they are tied to the receiver number.


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The the fan starts running when as soon as the receiver is plugged in. The front panel just doesn't light up.

I feel like all my recordings are just trapped in there.

Is there a way they can give me my recording history so that I can try to rebuild my playlist? I signed in online, and got a message "because you watched____, we suggest____." So they obviously know what I've watched and recorded.
 
:welcome to Satelliteguys crenchy!

There's no way to recover your play list if the dvr is toast. Can you connect the dvr to another tv? It's possible the first tv is fried but the dvr may still work. It's unlikely but worth a try.
 
I thought that if I contacted DirecTV, maybe THEY could tell me what I've recorded.

The DVR fan comes on as soon as I plug it in, but the front panel doesn't light up, and it doesn't respond to the remote or my pressing the power section of the panel. When I push the red reset button, the fan does cycle off then on like it would normally do, but the panel stays dark.
 
Are you able to try the dvr on another tv?
 
BTW, if/when you call Directv, tell them the dvr doesn't work at all. Nothing, no lights, nada. Otherwise they will have you go through a 30 minute diagnostic procedure. Just tell them it's dead.
 
I might be able to connect it to an older TV using the A/V red/white/yellow cable.

When I called DirecTV last night, she wasn't interested in any troubleshooting -- just wanted to send a new receiver. (She wasn't very sympathetic about my losing all of my recordings, either -- I think I got the holiday weekend call center people...) I actually qualify for all new receivers because an upcoming system change will drop my local channels if I don't have a new receiver. I'd been planning to keep the old receivers so that I could keep my recordings. Now, I'm just hoping to recover them.
 
I might be able to connect it to an older TV using the A/V red/white/yellow cable.

When I called DirecTV last night, she wasn't interested in any troubleshooting -- just wanted to send a new receiver. (She wasn't very sympathetic about my losing all of my recordings, either -- I think I got the holiday weekend call center people...) I actually qualify for all new receivers because an upcoming system change will drop my local channels if I don't have a new receiver. I'd been planning to keep the old receivers so that I could keep my recordings. Now, I'm just hoping to recover them.
What model dvrs do you have? If they are hd, then you don't need new ones just to keep your locals.
 
What model dvrs do you have? If they are hd, then you don't need new ones just to keep your locals.

I have a HR24-500 HD DVR (that's the one that isn't working) and a R16-500 Basic DVR downstairs (working perfectly fine). I'm guessing the Basic DVR is the one they want to replace.

The HD DVR is the master receiver where the SWM is located. However, the receivers aren't connected to each other (it's not a whole-home setup).
 
I have a HR24-500 HD DVR (that's the one that isn't working) and a R16-500 Basic DVR downstairs (working perfectly fine). I'm guessing the Basic DVR is the one they want to replace.

The HD DVR is the master receiver where the SWM is located. However, the receivers aren't connected to each other (it's not a whole-home setup).
IIRC, the R16 won't do whole home, but it can do hd.
 
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