Is my old receiver a doorstop?

[Mr Tony]

well I hope not

I obtained an old Dish 921 (yes a 921...not a 922). Anywho just wanted to use it to record OTA.

So set up a Dish300 at 119 and connected 2 lines. Plugged in unit and let it boot up. After a couple minutes got into menus and aimed dish. Most TP's on 119 (non spotbeams) are 95-116 on the meter. Did check switch and all looked fine.

Hit OK and get just a black screen. Was able to get into the menu and scan my OTA locals in. But just get the black screen. Pulled card (old yellow one but it should at least load the guide) and it rebooted. After a couple minutes I got the 015 error which would be normal after a reboot. 5 minutes or so and then black screen.
No guide info
If I go into the guide and select say 213 (NASA) it thinks it went there but I hit guide again and it still is on 101

Is the unit dead? I know this was part of the Tivo lawsuit but I didnt think Dish "killed" them literally. I had an old 811 (381) for OTA for a year after I cancelled Dish and until last summer could still get Nasa and Angel One on an old Dish 5000 with a blue card (since they were in the clear...now they are fixed key for purple cards...free if you have a purple card, scrambled for any others)

Just seeing if there is anything else I can try...

 

[MattG@DISH]

"The 921's ability to receiver digital broadcasts is disabled unless the receiver is activated with qualified programming". It took us awhile to find this info, but we found it in the last place we thought of looking (the user's manual/product information document). Especially hard to find this info on a discontinued receiver. So to answer your question, yes you now have a very expensive doorstop.

 

[Mr Tony]

So to answer your question, yes you now have a very expensive doorstop.

actually I didnt pay much

But it logs the channels just fine even locals. The issue is the guide wont download for any channel and wont go off of 101 (which is a black screen too)

 

[MattG@DISH]

We can have it replaced with something newer I believe. Just thought you should know you have options before you gut it.

 

[Mr Tony]

We can have it replaced with something newer I believe.

I dont think that would work
(look at my signature....Directv Slimline SWM 3 LNB.... Directv H23, 2 Directv R22 with HD....)

Its just weird that the 811/381 worked fine as an unsubbed receiver for OTA but the 921 wont

 

[MattG@DISH]

DOH! Didn't read the fine print . I have no idea why it's that way either.

 

[Mr Tony]

its all good. Had Dish a few years ago

oh well...like I say I guess I can gut it. Maybe salvage some parts

 

[old corps]

I have one I paid $549 for that will make a great boat anchor---if I ever have a boat.... It's sitting in a closet with a couple of other receivers I was dumb enough to buy.

Ed

 

[navychop]

Its just weird that the 811/381 worked fine as an unsubbed receiver for OTA but the 921 wont

Well, the 921 was cursed by witches!

Glad I "almost" bought one, but didn't quite.

 

[Silly Burrito]

I know how you feel. I have three DirecTivos that I meant to put on eBay a long time ago. Never really did get around to it, and now they're just taking up space.

 

[gdarwin]

Owned one of those once.... Had to give it away...

 

[Mr Tony]

That was fun gutting it. Took less time to completely gut it than it did to set up the dish to try it out

The hard drive I'll keep and maybe throw it in that ancient computer I have...the one with the "uber sexy upgraded" 20GB drive

 

[MattG@DISH]

lol 20GB... My phone has more then that...

 

[Mr Tony]

its an old computer that I have as a backup because it has a RS232 port which I need for something for use in the free to air area. My good computer doesnt have one

 

[TheKrell]

lol 20GB... My phone has more then that...

OK, now you've done it. What's the smallest (in capacity) hard disk drive you have actually personally used? I'll start by dating myself. It was a DEC RK05 removable disk which, according to Wikipedia, had a 2.5MB capacity. I thought it was 5MB, but that was a few years ago...

 

[Dah-Henny]

I got into the game WAY late. In 1998, 4GB HDD and WIN 98SE.

 

[harshness]

OK, now you've done it. What's the smallest (in capacity) hard disk drive you have actually personally used? I'll start by dating myself. It was a DEC RK05 removable disk which, according to Wikipedia, had a 2.5MB capacity. I thought it was 5MB, but that was a few years ago...

I had three Control Data Corporation Hawk 5MB drives. Two fixed drives and a cartridge drive. Each had a single 16" platter and the sectoring was apparently determined by how many stove bolt heads there were in the hub rung.

They had a voice coil linear motor for head positioning that would make any Hi-fi woofer jealous.

 

[TheKrell]

They had a voice coil linear motor for head positioning that would make any Hi-fi woofer jealous.

No kidding. Years later, I managed a VAX with two RK07 drives in separate chassis. The cabinets were on casters, and they shook back and forth like little washing machines.

 

[dfergie]

I pulled the Hard Drive out of my old 921...

 

[GNASH]

Ok, I'll bite. We once had a windows 3.x machine that had a drive that was under 500 Kb (I think they were like 350 Kb). In fact, we eventually canibalized a 2nd computer to get 2 really "large" hard drives.

Geoff