Spontaneous Reboots on 922: A sign of the end?

[psychotrope]

My 922, with which I have had very little to complain about in the years I've had it, has recently been spontaneously rebooting itself at an unusual frequency. It seems to do this most often when I am recording something, especially two things at once. Or it could be that's just when I notice it the most because of the split in overnight recordings when I view them the next day. The only change I've made was to add an additional EHD to the second USB port so I now have two hooked up, whereas I had just one EHD connected before. I am guessing that is not related to the problem but I don't really know.

So does this most likely mean my 922 is on its deathbed and I need to start archiving my recordings to the EHDs fast and furious? Any input is appreciated, but general 922-bashing is probably not necessary -- I've read the feedback already and there are plenty of threads focused on trashing the 922. I just didn't find an answer to this specific question.

 

[KAB]

Well, first thing I would do is disconnect one of the EHDs and see if it continues.

 

[SomeDishGuy]

Dish receivers in general can be sensitive to voltage. If you have two EHDs, you probably already know this, but they have to have their own power source, or it can cause issues. KAB is right, I suspect the second EHD may be causing the problem. Try without that connected. Also, if you're connected using a surge suppressor or similar, try plugging the receiver directly into a wall outlet to see if that resolves or helps the problem, as that can (rarely) be an issue.

 

[psychotrope]

Thanks for the help KAB and SomeDishGuy. I unplugged the EHD from the back and I thought it was behaving better. Last night I noticed another split recording (sign of a mid-recording reboot) which would be the first time it's done it since I unplugged the second EHD, at least that I have been aware of. I am plugged into a fairly advanced batter backup / surge protector (AKA uninterrupted power source [UPS].) Could a UPS potentially cause the same problems that you mentioned might be caused by a surge suppressor? My understanding was that a UPS delivers a cleaner, more consistent current to the machine, better than straight from the wall outlet. But perhaps I have too many things plugged into the UPS now with the addition of an extra EHD. So I will try unplugging the EHD from electrical power as well. I now have a couple other things to try and I am encouraged that there may be a good answer to these anomalies other than "my receiver is dying."

 

[navychop]

A UPS DOES NOT "deliver a cleaner, more consistent current to the machine, better than straight from the wall outlet." You're thinking of a Line Conditioner. That i$ a different hor$e altogether.

Most UPS units do nothing until the power dies. Then they rapidly switch to batteries, and deliver a "modified square wave" to your equipment. The more you pay, the closer to a true sine wave they get. And for the REALLY big buck$ you can get units that produce a true sine wave. Some, perhaps most, UPS units will also cut off if the incoming voltage exceeds some set figure.

I doubt that your UPS is causing the problem, but it could be.

Is your ViP922 your only receiver?

 

[psychotrope]

I also have a 722 which is having no problems at all that I know of. I tried completely unplugging the additional EHD, even from the wall to make sure it wasn't overloading the capacity or causing any fluctuations. But it's still rebooting in the middle of recordings. It did it at about 10:50 p.m last night affecting two recordings. I don't know if recording something makes it more likely to reboot, or if it's just that that's the only time I notice the rebooting: when I see that a late-night or overnight recording is in two segments with about 18 minutes missing. Could the four-hour inactivity standby setting be causing (as an error, not that it's supposed to be this way) it to reboot as a glitch? That would just about matchup with four hours after I last touched the remote and stopped watching TV, leaving the receiver on. It seems to happen between 10:30 and midnight a lot of nights. My update time is set for 3 a.m. I don't recall it crashing on me while I was watching TV unless I was recording something.

 

[psychotrope]

Update: I plugged my 922 directly into the wall (or more directly into the wall) and am no longer running it through my TripLite UPS/Surge Protector. It has now gone two days without randomly re-booting, at least not at a time when I noticed and not during any recordings (no split recordings). It's been a while since it has gone 48 hours without crashing in the middle of a recording. Hopefully this is a good sign that, with all of your help, I have narrowed in on the root of the problem. If this ends up working better long-term, it still won't help me understand why my TripLite would have been causing the problem, but I imagine it has to do with current fluctuations as mentioned by another poster. Thanks for your input.

One further question: Do you know if the sudden development of a problem such as this might be a sign that my UPS/Surge Protector is not functioning properly anymore? It might be worth swapping it out for another one to see if the problem comes back or not. Many of you know a LOT more about these kind of electrical setups than I do, which is why I thought I'd ask.