Occasional Black screen since 2.80

[hhh222]

On 2 occasions since 2.80 download the video output has gone to a black screen and no audio. If you brought uip the 811 menu it would show but where the Sat. picture should be it would be a black screen. This has happened on both satellite sd and off air HD. Unplugging and plugging back in has been the only cure.

 

[golfman]

I think this occassional black screen is happening to us all.

 

[hancox]

yup - same here. REALLY annoying.

 

[sirlurkalot]

add another user to this list

 

[hzhao]

Twice last week so far........ This will be changed to blue with 2.90, it is a feature that Dish put in for their CSR to be able to easy identify which level and release you were on

 

[Ddavis]

Join the club...FYI...the Soft Boot also works. Hold power button on the receiver down for 3 to 10 seconds.

 

[hzhao]

I am getting so use to soft boot now, if I don't do it once a week, I feel that I missed something in life

 

[Deuce]

So that's all I have to do? I've tried a power cycle (or 15), to no avail. Thanks for the info ... this is really annoying. I've seen 5 or 6 software upgrades on this thing since I got it in May, every time there's something I've got to fix.

 

[Deuce]

I just tried a hard reset ... my HD channels are back, but I can't tune to any SD channels or off-air channels. If I punch in a channel number outside 9421 through 9424, it takes me right back to the last HD channel I was tuned to.

Also, TNT HD (9420) is gone! Program guide only shows me 9421 through 9424 and 9467 (HD ppv channel).

I first noticed this problem last Saturday (9/4). I was bouncing between a SD Dish channel and the Michigan State game on ABC (off-air). It was working fine, I had bounced between the two stations 3 or 4 times, then on the 5th attempt, the title bar came up at the top of the screen, but the channel never displayed. Then, I couldn't tune to any Dish or off-air channels.

Any suggestions? I'm calling Dish tomorrow, but am not real confident they'll be able to help.

 

[hhh222]

Thanks for the soft boot info.

 

[hhh222]

I want to get a 921 soooo bad but damn.

 

[Rajumon]

Occational Black Screen

I have been getting the black screen with no sound on my 811 from day one (Dec 2003). Every time this happened I have been watching OTA channels for long periods of time (more than about 15 minutes). Then if I pressed the "guide" button then I would get the black screen. But many in these forums suggested a work around to this. Instead of "guide" use the channel up/down buttons and go to a satellite channel. These worked for me most of the time. But, if I watched OTA for say, more than half an hour or more continuously, I still encountered the black screen. So, now a days everytime there is a commercial on OTA, (happens most of the time in less than 10 min), I would switch to a satellite channel temporarly and then return to OTA.

We should not be putting up with this kind of problems on a box that was released in Dec 2003. If they do not fix this problem and lack of OTA guide data by the time my 1 year commitment runs out in Dec 2004, I am dumping 811 and probably Dish network also. I may go and spend $300 to get LG LST-4200A OTA only receiver which does not have any of these problems.

-rajumon

 

[keith]

I have been getting the black screen with no sound on my 811 from day one (Dec 2003).

So was I, my December 2003 box was firmware LABDxxxx. RMA'd the box, new one is LAFDxxxx, and this new box has not locked up once when switching from extended OTA viewing to satellite. The video is a noticeably punchier too - more dynamic range.

I suggest to beat on Dish support for an RMA. They might not want to do so for this problem, which they will likely deny is a known problem with older boxes. So, be creative and get an RMA any way you know how [hint - Dish have no clue what your box is doing].

Keith.

 

[hzhao]

Just a word of caution: It took me THREE RMAs to finally got one that worked "normal" per majority today's standard. Most of time, the RMA unit is nothing more than a re-packaged RMA unit from someone else and being so called "factury serviced" unit. Those unit may have been returned for some other reasons that you might experienced, therefore, it may or may not fix your issue at all. During the last RMA request, I was fortunated enough had spoke someone that is nice and knowledge enough, and willing to carry on the conversation beyoung the scope of the "tech" issue. The rep had checked my two previes RMA unit and noted both of them had been register with other customer before. The bad part of that is: there is no way to designate whether new or refublished unit will be your next RMA....... Just pray harder

 

[joeadt]

piece of crap

What do you expect from a piece of crap! Do you really expect it to work. My wife can't even enjoy watching tv with the 811 because she doesn't know all the tricks to make it work right. Can't wait till my year is up. this sucks.

 

[BFG]

I'm getting the black screens and the soft reboot doesn't work on my box. I hold the power button and nothing happens. I don't know how they do their updates but I'm surely convinced that they way it works is the updates remove the problem from people that had one before the update and adds the problem for those that didn't have it. This has happened to me so far for the Acquiring satellite when pressing guide in OTA and now this black flash....

 

[Bobhend]

Turn Off Pip Guide To Reduce Blackscreen

Someone else suggested to use the full screen channel guide and not the 1/2 screen with picture. Whoever that was, many thanks ! I can't be sure the black screen problem is totally gone, but so far it is greatly improved. The speed with which it changes channels also seems better. The amazing thing is that Dishnetwork Tech support does not know this. [OK not so amazing]. I am on my second receiver and it had a lower serial number processor than the one I sent back, So I agree they are probably just sending these back out if they get warm when plugged in. [9/27 - it crashed; its better but not a total fix]