Guide of Death

[mrschwarz]

I have a 522 with a new problem that has appeared in the past couple of days. Whenever I press the ‘Guide’ button, the unit freezes for about a minute. Then it restarts.

The screen usually goes black for about 2 minutes, then the lights go out on the 522. Shortly, I get the 'acquiring satellite' screens.

The guide data is good because I can scroll through channels and programs by pressing the right arrow key.

This behavior occurs on both TV1 and TV2. The unit is on V169 of the software.

Last night I forced a guide download by performing a switch test. It downloaded the guide and immediately went to the 'acquiring satellite' screen for transponder 29. The only way I could get past this screen was to reboot the unit.

According to Dish, 29 on satellite 110 is the transponder for guide data. She said that is what my problem is.

I happened to mention that my dish was not grounded. She said it should be and immediately blamed the problem on that.

I have had the installation for nearly 90 days and this problem started a couple of days ago. It seems to me that it is unlikely that grounding is the problem.

I have a 522 and it has no problem with the guide or the guide data.

Is anyone else having this problem?

Can anyone suggest if it is a hardware or software problem?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bcshields]

According to Dish, 29 on satellite 110 is the transponder for guide data. She said that is what my problem is.

I happened to mention that my dish was not grounded. She said it should be and immediately blamed the problem on that.

Grrr... Stupid CSR. I've said it once and I'll say it again.

***GROUNDING PROTECTS FROM ELECTRICAL SURGES ONLY***

It has nothing to do with operation of the system.

Check your signal strength on transponder 29 on 110. If you have a good signal, then something is wrong with your rcvr. if you don't have signal, troubleshoot your cable and dish.

Grr.. i hate that... gets on my last nerve.

 

[Bizzach]

WOW, I was going to post a new thread on here for the EXACT same thing!
What's weird about mine is, it doesn't do it during the day... the past 2 nights it's happened right about 10:00pm.
Last night, I had shows recording on both tuners. I hit 'guide' and it went black, and took about 5 minutes to reboot. When it finally came back up, the unit went right back to recording! On each show, I have 53 minutes, [then the break], then a 5 minute recording.

I thought maybe it's a software flaw. I'm running the v169 as well. I've tried forcing the download to get the 2.01, but no dice. Anyone wanna take a shot at it?
If it's happened to someone else, it has to be more widespread...

 

[clearcut]

My 522 is doing a similar thing hit the guide button while recording on TV2 and 6 minutes later it finally comes back on. The last 2 time it happened were also around 10:00 PM

It also did it once while recording. The show split into 2 chunks with about 6 minutes missing.

I called Dish and they are replacing the unit.

 

[ChrisCoop]

I had recently noticed the same exact phenomenon (surprise, surprise). In every instance that it happened to me, the scenario was as follows:

• TV1 is recording something.
• TV2 is watching live TV.
• TV1 is playing a recorded event.
• TV1 presses the guide button.
• Reboot occurs at the very moment the guide button is pressed.

As I had mentioned several times in THE COMPLAINT THREAD I STARTED, the 522s (since day one, across different software versions) have been subject to random reboots. I could never figure any rhyme or reason to it, but in the past few days this guide button issue has become pretty obvious. Still though, sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. It is not something that can be reproduced at will, but when it has happened (the guide button reboots, only), it has been under the abovementioned circumstances. And as Bizzach noted, it seems to generally happen only in the evenings. Might mean something, might not. Also currently on L169.

 

[markav]

This has been happening to me since I got my 522 a few weeks ago. I'm certain it was happening before the 169 update. I would add that I think recording on both tv1 and tv2 increases the likelihood that it happens (seems to me that increases the likelihood of many 522 glitches). And now that the other poster mentions it, I think it has happened more in the evening also.

And actually, I believe that it has been happening less since the 169 update. In fact, it's been several days since it has happened to me.

 

[clearcut]

Just happened again tonight.

Recording on TV2, hit Guide on TV 1 and poof.

9:52

My new box arrived but I have not finished watching some recorded events.

 

[ChrisCoop]

Odd. I suspected that this might be a L169 software issue, but now markav has posted that he's sure it was happening even before that update. So what does that mean? Has it always been this way? It would sure explain some of the (many) random reboots my 522s have experienced. But if that's the case, how come people are all just realizing it and jumping on the bandwagon now? If this has been a problem for a while, I can't understand why no one (myself included) was able to put two and two together and realize that under certain circumstances, pressing the guide button causes the thing to reboot. Very, very odd.

I was also thinking that it happens more so in the evenings because of the fact that it checks for updates (reboots) very early in the morning, and by the time the evening rolls around, maybe it's running out of memory and that starts causing problems. But I've turned off the daily reboot and I still only notice this guide button problem at night. Granted, I generally don't watch TV during the day like I do at night, but what about on the weekends?

My new box arrived but I have not finished watching some recorded events.

LOL. That always happens to me. :haha

 

[jgray127]

Guide Button and reboots

I've also had the "guide button causes reboot" occur. It only recently (about 3-4 weeks ago) started doing this. I know for sure it did it with 1.68 and now is still doing it with 1.69. It's always occurred in the early evening (between 7 - 9 pm). I don't know if the time is relevant or if it's just when both tuners typically are in use.

TV1 is playing back a recorded show
TV2 is also watching a recorded show.

Hitting GUIDE cause a reboot. Of course, it doesn't always happen, but enough times now that I think twice about hitting the GUIDE button.

I've also noticed an increase in the the occurences of the dropped colors on TV2 since 1.69. Of course, the "fix" to this (skip back 10 sec.) still works and colors come back, but it sure is annoying.

 

[markav]

But if that's the case, how come people are all just realizing it and jumping on the bandwagon now? If this has been a problem for a while, I can't understand why no one (myself included) was able to put two and two together and realize that under certain circumstances, pressing the guide button causes the thing to reboot. Very, very odd.

I'm coming from the DTV / Ultimate TV world, and at first I thought I might be accidentally hitting the wrong button instead of guide because I wasn't used to the different remote.

When I did eliminate that as the source of the problem, I was surprised not to see this glitch more prominently mentioned here as it was probably one of the most annoying glitches I discovered in my early use of the machine. But because it didn't look like a common problem from my perusals here, I figured as a newbie I might still be doing something dumb that was causing it. And as I say, it really hasn't been a problem for me recently.

Incidentally, here are a few things I think I've noticed since 169:
* the glitch where the sound drops out after a pause is mostly gone?
* possible new glitch has developed: picture ocassionally "freezes" for a few seconds during playback of a recording, sometimes accompanied by some odd pixelation. Is this simply signal degradation? We have had some bad weather here recently.

Anybody else notice other "glitch changes" since 169?

 

[Bizzach]

I have to say, I have noticed 'the glitch where the sound drops out after a pause' has been happening more lately. Granted, I've been doing nothing but watching TV the past couple of days, but I've noticed it's been very bad.
When I push PAUSE, the audio stops, but the picture continues for about a second. Then when you hit play, there's no audio. You can tell if it'll do it when you hit pause - if the picture stops immediately, you're fine. But if it does it once during a show, it'll do it the ENTIRE show.

On the other hand, I sure can't wait for the update - 2.01! PIP! Plus, maybe they'll fix some of these bugs. I think I might write an e-mail to charlie and see if he can give me some info on when they'll fix these bugs (or if they're even aware of them!).

 

[haertig]

From reading this thread, it appears that this only happens when you are watching a RECORDED show on a particular tuner, and then you hit the Guide button ON THAT SAME TUNER. Is this actually the case, or am I reading a little more into the descriptions than is really being said?

I have never seen this reboot happen on my 522, but then I can't say I've ever had any reason to hit the Guide button in the middle of watching a recorded show. A live one, yes, but a recorded on, no. I imagine this bug would be a much bigger problem if it occurred when, say, TV2 was watching recorded, TV1 was watching live, and TV1 then hit Guide. That could happen all the time - who knows what the person on the other TV is doing?

Maybe I've just been lucky with my 522, or maybe I just haven't hit the right sequence to trigger this particular bug. If the workaround is a simple as "Don't hit Guide while watching a recorded event" then I can live with that for now. A bug, sure, but an easily bypassed one (for me, anyway).

 

[mrschwarz]

Update:

Had a tech from the installation company come to the house to try to troubleshoot the problem. I was out of town, so he spoke with my wife. He (and a bunch of other techs he called) decided that my 'current flow is restricted because I have too many devices plugged into the circuit'.

I have a TV, a 522, a 322, and a receiver plugged into the circuit. My understanding is that you can draw as much current as required through a circuit. That's why there are circuit breakers if too much is drawn. If the wire size in the circuit is too small there may be a voltage drop in the line.

I find it hard to believe that pressing the guide data causes the 522 to draw so much current that the voltage drops to the point that the 522 reboots. Funny, but none of the other devices show a voltage drop. You'd think the TV would be more sensitive to this.

After deciding it was the power feed, he replaced the 522 with a new unit because the old one was 'too far gone'. I guess there's a lot more 'magic' to electricity than I thought.

After a couple of days, the new one started the same problem. I didn't take the time to try to thoroughly diagnose when it was occurring, but I'm thinking one of the previous posters hit the nail on the head when talking about both tuners recording.

I got V2.01 the night before last and I couldn't make the unit reboot even with both tuners recording last night. Perhaps the software version is using less current <g>.

Michael

 

[jgray127]

More info

Well, it happened again last night at 8:17. I was watching a recorded show on TV1. TV2 was doing nothing. I hit the guide button to set a timer for a show later in the evening and "blammo", crash, burn and reboot.

Sure sounds like a software error to me. I have a hard time believing it's power related. Sounds like the techs were grasping at straws.

 

[mrschwarz]

Well, it happened again last night at 8:17. I was watching a recorded show on TV1. TV2 was doing nothing. I hit the guide button to set a timer for a show later in the evening and "blammo", crash, burn and reboot.

What version of the software was running last night?

 

[Hall]

He (and a bunch of other techs he called) decided that my 'current flow is restricted because I have too many devices plugged into the circuit'.

I find it hard to believe that pressing the guide data causes the 522 to draw so much current that the voltage drops to the point that the 522 reboots. Funny, but none of the other devices show a voltage drop. You'd think the TV would be more sensitive to this.

Don't worry, he or they are full of sh*t.....

After deciding it was the power feed, he replaced the 522 with a new unit because the old one was 'too far gone'. I guess there's a lot more 'magic' to electricity than I thought.

And where did he plug it into ?? A different outlet, I hope...

 

[mrschwarz]

And where did he plug it into ?? A different outlet, I hope...

Actually, when I came home there was a big orange extension cord running into the kitchen. I plugged the unit back behind the TV again.

He also told me that he shouldn't actually ground the dish outside because it would attract lightning.

 

[shaun-ohio]

im not having any guide problems with mine, the only thing i got wrong is when i took the new software upgrade for the single mode and pip, i cant receive my local channels anymore, it is not picking up the 105 sat now, it still picks up the 110 and 119 sat but no 105 sat, i have ran the check switch test i dont know how many times and all it detects now is the 110 and the 119, where before i got the software upgrade, the local channels came in fine, not now, so a service tech is coming this sat to check it out, is there anything i can try to get them back? i even rebooted it but that didnt help bring them back?

 

[maximum]

My 522 had a problem last night that I saw once before. Both tuners were recording and I was watching a recorded program on TV1. When the program ended I selected the "Live TV" button. Instead of switching to live TV it went to a screen saying it was trying to acquire the satellite signal. The progress remained at 0 of 5 forever. I didn't want to reboot the receiver and mess up what was being recorded so I clicked the DVR button and selected one of the programs it was recording from the list of recorded programs to see if it was still recording. I could watch the program being recorded just fine but if I tried to change channels it went back to the acquiring satellite signal screen again. It should have warned me that I couldn't change channels unless I was in Live TV mode.

After both of the programs that were being recorded finished everything went back to normal without having to do a reboot. Weird!

 

[mrschwarz]

I just had the unit reboot when pressing the guide button with two programs being recorded. I'm on version 2.01