Yet another new H20 Horror Story...

[aristotlewilde]

** Please understand that I love my DirecTV. Unless Comcast PAID ME monthly, I'd never switch back, so please don't jump down my throat claiming I am a D* basher. This is a serious post about an issue that needs addressing **


I was a victim of the H20 reboots in September. After reading here that others had the same issue, I consulted D* who admitted to the issue and gave me a $50 credited to cover the partial month of service I'd be "enjoying" while waiting for the magical October Software Update.

Well, this past Sunday (10/7/06), I noticed that ESPN2HD, Discovery HD, and HDNet were not in the guide. I chalked this up to a bandwidth thing for Sunday Ticket. No worries.

Monday night (around 8:30 pm est), I noticed the channels still were not in the guide, so I hit the handy reset button since I knew this would be the D* rep's first suggestion. "Searching for Satellite Signal" "Acquiring something or other".... 0%. I waited about 5 minutes.... 0% still!!!!

So, I called D*. They asked me to do a "Hard" reset by unplugging the satellite cable and the power cable. Got stuck at ZERO again. The rep kept denying that there have been any issues with this box until he took the time to actually read the notes in my file. Then he came clean and admitted the issue.

He finally threw in the towel and ordered me a new H20 (most likely a refurb) to be sent within 3 business days (pretty fast turnaround actually).

Funny thing is, after reminding him that he was no help whatsoever (he's the one who asked if I was satisfied with his service and if he solved my problems), I hung up with him and hit the reset button again on my way out of the room. Guess what... when I came back in the room, I had service again! I was still missing channels 72,76, and 79 though.

So, after wasting 45 minutes on the phone with the rep, who could not solve my problem, my problem solved itself (half way).

FYI, I have unplugged my OTA antenna cable since I was told that could be causing issues.

 

[tandias]

I actually had the same issues. Looong story short, D set up a service call. The service rep told me the issue befoer he even reached the TV. He claims it was the software update that is causing the issues. He was pretty PO'ed because D is just sending new receivers out and claiming other things are causing the issues. After 5 minutes, he had all channels back on the guide.

 

[nishot]

ive heard and delt with this before to.ive since found out that alot has to do with their side of things.with reboot recievers they punch in the programming and forget to get the whole programming youve ordered.thus missing channels on the guide.so while they say its something else they are there fixing their mistakes on the programming signal till it comes through.some reps can find the problem quickly while others struggle like theres no tomorrow.

 

[smitchell]

Wow...I have had a similar issue! After calling DirecTV cause of an increasing amount of reboots on the H20, they sent me a replacement one! But the replacements HDMI input did NOT work! I called DirecTV again & they stated that none of the replacements work with HDMI, they are trying to fix it & to use Component? Can anyone confirm that? Cause I told them it worked on my original H20 with no problem, so how could the replacement NOT display HDMI??

Thanks!

Steve

 

[fratwell]

Any chance of letting the H20 cool down for like 30 minutes? I had the reboot problem before and had to let the H20 cool down and disconnect the OTA before reboot fever.

 

[jlmanning]

I had the same issue with regard to HDMI not working on a new H20 receiver that I installed last week. It took me a while to get through to a HD technical support person. When I described the problem I was having with HDMI, he told me to use component video, that it was a known problem that would be remedied through a software update in the future (no time table).

It would have been nice to know not to use the HDMI before I spent a lot of time trying to troubleshoot the problem myself. Component is working OK.

 

[smitchell]

I had the same issue with regard to HDMI not working on a new H20 receiver that I installed last week. It took me a while to get through to a HD technical support person. When I described the problem I was having with HDMI, he told me to use component video, that it was a known problem that would be remedied through a software update in the future (no time table).

It would have been nice to know not to use the HDMI before I spent a lot of time trying to troubleshoot the problem myself. Component is working OK.

Can anyone confirm that 100% of the replacement H20's can NOT utilize HDMI?? Cause the first one I had (before rebooting probs) worked fine with HDMI, but if ALL replacement cannot, that just seems strange. Especially considering they do not have a time frame on when the issue will be fixed!

 

[aristotlewilde]

In my quest to get my ESPN2HD, Discovery HD and HDNet back, I called in last nigth and got an AMAZING CSR who helped me get these channels back by completely re "installing" my H20 over the phone. She laughed about the replacement box and told me to send the NEW ONE right back as it will most likely be a refurb and most definitely have HDMI disabled.

She also took the time to go thru the local HD channels to see which ones had audio sync issues and reported thoroughly to the technicians workin on this issue.

 

[kentuck1163]

Can anyone confirm that 100% of the replacement H20's can NOT utilize HDMI?? Cause the first one I had (before rebooting probs) worked fine with HDMI, but if ALL replacement cannot, that just seems strange. Especially considering they do not have a time frame on when the issue will be fixed!

My first H20 was a H20-600, which had heat issues and was starting to act, well, "funky." It was replaced with an H20-100 which looked brand new to me. I'm only using HDMI on it and it works just fine. Of course, my unit was replaced quite a while back - maybe my experience is not the case now.

 

[smitchell]

My first H20 was a H20-600, which had heat issues and was starting to act, well, "funky." It was replaced with an H20-100 which looked brand new to me. I'm only using HDMI on it and it works just fine. Of course, my unit was replaced quite a while back - maybe my experience is not the case now.

Okay...thanks for the info. I ended up swapping out HDMI cables & it worked, so DirecTV must be incorrect & only certain H20's & NOT ALL cannot utilize HDMI.

Steve

 

[realplaya3tn]

i don't think that my h20 ever rebooted so far, and i'm going to have to check and see if i'm missing any channels today, also, my hdmi is working great as far as picture, i don't know about the sound if it's in sync, because i use the optical out for a home theater system.

 

[aristotlewilde]

Thanks for the info guys. I will go ahead and try the new one before just blindly sending it back.

 

[Mtnmike]

Thanks for the info guys. I will go ahead and try the new one before just blindly sending it back.

With THOSE eyes that might be a hard thing to do LOL

 

[aristotlewilde]

Touche!