Plagued by Dish issues… 622/722k reboots, lockups, etc.

CaddoMoney

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Original poster
Oct 15, 2003
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Long time visitor, first time caller….

I’ve been with Dish for a while – 7-8+ years, last year we moved to a new house and had Dish reinstalled on the roof on the side of the house. Our main DVR was installed in the living room and also fed the master bedroom. One of our other SD boxes is in the guest room and only gets watched when we have company or the kids are over – to my knowledge this second box has never had issues but it’s rarely on.

Several months later my main box (sorry, I don’t remember the model at the time) started having issues – that was nearly a year and many Dish tech calls later so I don’t remember the exact issues, I do know that it resulted in a replacement box. That was Tech visit #1.

Fast forward to last Thanksgiving and I made the switch to HD.

They came out and moved the Dish from the front half of the roof of the house to the back half of the roof (there was a POA covenant that I forgot about upon initial install). Tech put in a 622 and we were in HD bliss… until the box started having issues – I believe they were all lockups and reboots – I have to start keeping better notes I know – but again that was many Dish calls ago. That was Tech visit #2.

Tech #3 comes out to fix the issues with the box – he says that the Dish was not properly grounded after it was moved and he re-grounds it. He said that maybe static electricity is building up in the dish and is not getting pushed towards the ground; it’s going to the house instead. He fixes that and installs a new 622.

End of March - eventually, things start acting up again, lockups, reboots, etc…. Tech #4 installs a 722k – but he takes the remotes (the ones that can store the program guide) I’m getting sick of reprogramming my timers at this point.

A week or so into April - Tech #5 takes apart the LNB and finds some rust in one of the connections, he also moves the Dish from where it was installed and wobbly on my roof decking to an actual stud in the roof. He replaces that and installs a new 722k and this time leaves the remotes but has no idea how to get them to store the timers so I have to reprogram them again – I figure out how to get them to save 15 mins after he leaves.

Last Sunday - Tech #6 (same tech as #5) comes out again. This time he tests the line from the box to the Sat and it test out fine (which I would kind of think that it would because the issue is intermittent) he installs another 722k, this time before he starts anything he sends my timers to the remote first thing – I guess he figured out how to do that. He leaves – the 722 works all day – had it on for several hours. Eventually turn it off and leave the house for a while. When we came back home I turned it on – a big “woosh” sound from the box on startup – then that red Dish Network screen, the press select to watch TV screen, and then accruing signal screen. TV works fine for a few hours then it locks up. Then it starts in on it’s reboot cycle – with the red Dish screen, black screen, red screen, etc.

Yesterday – Tech #7 come out – along with one of the Dish trainers in our area – they replace the 722k with a new one – test the power circuit, alignment, etc. I told them several times that the only thing that hadn’t been replaced was my all of the cabling – I guess they missed the hint or didn’t want to do it. He said that they previous guy had tested it and it checked out – I reminded him that my problem is intermittent – sometimes it works for a few hours other times it’s out all night. Anyhow, it worked when they left – I setup a timer when I left and headed back to work – 23 mins or so of it recorded – with the event msg of STB reboot. My wife came home and turned on the TV – same reboot issues. Eventually the TV came on for a few hours and then it locked up again and entered in the endless reboot cycle. Of note, the box is now sitting on a small bench with no obstructions on any side.

In between all of these tech calls, I’ve tested our wiring, moved the main box to a different circuit, and I’ve tried it plugged into the wall and into a surge protector. Additionally, the issues with my box has happened on two different tv’s using two different types of connections. I’ve unplugged the box from my phone and home network, and I’ve tried it sitting out in the open and on two different entertainment centers (both were ventilated very well).

At some point in here I started learning how to check my values, I think this was around Tech #6 Values 1 and 6 were 33 in the morning then 50 in the early afternoon, the next day when the tech was in they were 33 (I didn’t realize they could actually go down). One of my boxes had values 1 and 6 at 127 at some point. And the current box had them at over 10 less than four hours after install.

I’ve left out notes from the endless calls into tech support. Some times I get connected to support in the US, other times it’s outsourced to another country – one tech told me to “observe the box and watch what happens” which was probably my favorite suggestion on getting it fixed. With the last call, I was transferred to the retention department and they offered to take my basic programming package off my bill – I still have to pay for locals, HBO, taxes, etc – even though I can’t watch that 99% of the time now.

So I’m not sure where to go from here, I’ve really liked Dish over the time that I’ve been with them and really haven’t had any issues – but this is beyond ridiculous. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to go from here? I feel that I’ve been pretty patient at this point, but the endless calls and giving up part of a workday or weekend while someone comes out and tries the whole let’s place the box trick is getting old.

Do I make them send out some sort of manager and have him rip everything out and replace it all with new – Dish, wire, boxes, etc. (with a DVR that was made in a different factory from the batches of 722s that they seem to have in stock)?

Do I cancel and switch to something else?

I know that the 722s seem to have some reboot issues – none of the Dish techs via phone or in person seem to have ever run into this before but if you search online, I’m not the only one.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Update - contacted the guys that run the @dishnetwork Twitter feed - they have another crew and the district manager showing up tomorrow morning to look at it again. YAY! Any suggestions as to what I should have them check or do? I wish that "fix it" was an option but that doesn't seem to be the case... I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.
 
Good Luck!! Hopefully it gets resolved. I just recently was reinstalled with Dish and the first 722K ended up dying the following morning. The next day the installer swapped out the 722K and I've been problem free for about 3 weeks now. Sorry, I can't see where I would be able to offer any assistance. It looks like you've tried everything except, as you noted, a complete overhaul of the system (wiring and all).
 
papalittle - as far as I know, they've replaced all seperators and diplexers - there isn't anything in the whole system that they haven't replaced besides the remote batteries.

I've been meaning to get an update up this week but it's been a bit busy. Tech visit #8 was the day after tech visit #7 - this time the solution was not to replace the DVR. Dish sent out one of the head regional trainers and his quality assurance sidekick.

They apologized profusely for my troubles, etc. After doing a recap of everything that I've gone through they decided to redo the ground wire that runs from the dish to the utility box on the side of my house and then to the ground. After several hours of work they said, "well, we think we fixed it and this will probably be the last time you'll see us." and wanted to leave. I said, "Wait, you've replaced everything from the dish to the ground and other techs have replaced the box, but you're not wanting to replace everything from the box to the sat?!???!?!"

They felt that they really didn't need to but would replace it if needed. They said that if I had any more issues to call them directly and they'd be back out. I told them that if I had to call them again they would be coming out to take down the dish and cancel my service.

Needless to say, they redid everything from the box to the dish and left. Before leaving, the tech said that he'd stop by Saturday to check on everything.

Everything was fine for that evening and our local HD channels launched, so it was a great day.

Later that day the tech called to ask if everything was ok - I told him that it was.

The next night it rebooted.

Again.

and again.

Friday morning I called the tech back and told him it was rebooting, he said that he'd give me a call back after he finished his training class. More than 48 hours later, and I still haven't received a return call.

I spent most of Friday on the phone being transfered to many different heads of departments. The first person on the line wanted to offer me $10 off the next 12 months of my service. As you can imagine, I laughed and explained that I wasn't going to be a customer for the next 12 days, let alone the next 12 months.

After about 6 transfers through the different levels, I finally reached someone who had "internal documents" explaining that there are in-fact, known reboot issues with some of the DVRs - this is the first that I've heard of anyone at Dish even admitting that they've heard of the issue before.

We discussed some of the options for my account - and our "proposal" is under review in another dept. we'll see if they accept it.

I really would like to have said that my issues were fixed and the techs have restored my faith in Dish - I was a long time customer - but that's not the case on this one.

It's time for me to start looking elsewhere - I'm leaning towards DirecTV or UVerse for now...

In the meantime, I've heard of someone else locally with just one of the SD boxes that is having the exact same issue.
 
I thought that temps might have been an issue so with this latest box it's sitting on a piano bench with nothing around it - I don't remember my mins and maxs from the other day but I do remember that the avg was 106. I'll try to get more specifics up tonight.

What has surprised me is that NONE of the techs (either in person or on the phone) have been remotely concerned about temperatures. From working in the computer industry, I do realize that heat is an issue but most computers run a bit hotter than the dish boxes.

If heat really IS that much of an issue with the boxes, I'm not sure why Dish employees don't seem to care about it - and why they've designed the 722k without any heat ports on the top?
 
Well, actually, if you can remember the average being 106, it's no need to check the others... that's running cooler than mine & I'm w/o issues. Actually, the 622 (what I have, so I cannot speak to the 722) runs hotter than my desktop 'puter. My best guess on the case of the 622 is "forced air" motion. Computers (mine anyway) have tended to run higer temps w/ the case off because the air does not move across the CPU, sure the heat floats out, but the air doesn't move from front to back through the case... that's my guess on the 622. the left side is the intake & the right is the outlet, so the air moves across the HD and main IC...

Sorry, that doesn't help you & right now, I've got no more suggestions :(
 

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