# BUG REPORT L184: Timers Disappearing



## aszulc (Feb 5, 2004)

I have several timers set. I have not used my set for a while until tonight. I noticed that nothing had recorded. I set a new timer to record a movie and watched it to see if it would fire. 5 minutes prior to recording, the timer dissapeared. I tried to reset the timer within that 5 minutes but the 921 would not accept it. I finally pulled the card out and unpluged the PVR. I restarted the 921. It rebooted. It now seems to be working as before. Any thoughts??


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

As per many other threads (Forum Search Is Your Friend ), there can be many reasons for this depending on what kind of timers they are, and what else is going on.


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## aszulc (Feb 5, 2004)

All my timers were not firing. I did however stop the clock from warning me of an impending recording. Could that have caused the problem?


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Many of my timers have started to disappear since the latest update. And yes, I did a power plug reboot. The timers will work for a day or so after the reboot, and then they start to not fire and disappear again. For nearly 6 months, I've had reliable recordings, but no longer. Does Dish have any official recommendations as to how often I should do a power plug reboot? Is there any Dish sanctioned robotic device that will periodically pull the plug for a few minutes and then plug the 921 back into the power?

I think it's time for Dish to send me a replacement 921, as mine appears to be failing.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

_"Is there any Dish sanctioned robotic device that will periodically pull the plug for a few minutes and then plug the 921 back into the power?"_

You could simply plug the 921 into a simple mechanical appliance timer that will disconnect power for 5-10 minutes once per day. Make sure you set the time for that to be at a time of day you rarely set timer recordings, however. For me that would be between 7-8 AM. I have been thinking seriously about doing this, Jerry!


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

aszulc & JerryG: I'll just throw my standard "delete ALL timers, power-cord reboot" solution out there. It seems to help.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

SimpleSimon said:


> aszulc & JerryG: I'll just throw my standard "delete ALL timers, power-cord reboot" solution out there. It seems to help.


Yes, that does work, but not permanently. As I said before, at some point after doing this, timers will once again refuse to fire and disappear.

If Dish doesn't want to fix this very crippling bug right away, then they need to come up with a specific time period for us to periodically reboot. They also should supply a hardware solution to do this at the required times, as it really is too much to expect the consumer to remember to periodically reboot the 921. Unlike the multitude of other problems that have yet to be fixed in the 921, this problem is truly a crippling one that makes the 921 no better than a non PVR receiver. If you can't rely on a timer firing, what's the benefit of having a PVR?


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Damn, another failed timer. I just rebooted this thing a few days ago. I set a timer for today. No padding. Just got home and it wasn't recording. Looked at the DVR menu and the event isn't there. Something has to be done as the 921 has lost it's most basic functionality.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Just talked to Dish. I'll be getting another 921 to replace the current one. Since the failed/disappearing timer isn't a universal problem, I have to assume it's a problem with my machine and the 184 software. So, we'll try another 921 and see if the problem continues. My patience is wearing very thin.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Jerry G: It's unlikely for this to be a hardware problem.

So, I'll ask if you've got OTA. That seems to be related to a lot of the problems. If so, have you tried deleting ALL OTA, and NOT reloading them? Yes, I know, that makes the box almost worthless for some people, but as a test, while you're waiting for the new box, it could be useful.

If that "solves" your problem, then the new box (with a different OTA tuner) might help. In any event, it's another data point for the unpaid beta testing we do.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

SimpleSimon said:


> Jerry G: It's unlikely for this to be a hardware problem.
> 
> So, I'll ask if you've got OTA. That seems to be related to a lot of the problems. If so, have you tried deleting ALL OTA, and NOT reloading them? Yes, I know, that makes the box almost worthless for some people, but as a test, while you're waiting for the new box, it could be useful.
> 
> If that "solves" your problem, then the new box (with a different OTA tuner) might help. In any event, it's another data point for the unpaid beta testing we do.


I do have OTA. Only a few channels are programmed in the 921. It doesn't pay to try to test the unit by deleting the OTA channels because the timer failures are too unpredictable. My 921 is one of the first units that shipped, so it's got the original hardware. I won't waste my time by doing any more testing. Without the timer reliability, the 921 is absolutely useless to me. I'll see if the new unit is more reliable. If not, then it's adios to Dish as soon as the HD Tivo becomes more readily available and as soon as DirecTV adds more HD. But come to think of it, I'd even have to switch to DirecTV even with their current HD, as with the HD Tivo, I suspect the timers won't fail.

Enough is enough. I have an 811 sitting next to the 921. I use the 811 for most viewing. I only use the 921 to record and playback the recordings. How much more babying of the 921 could I do? Not using it all would be the next step, but that's hardly a solution. I'm just not going to put a significant amount of my mental energy into figuring out how to make the 921 perform it's basic functions.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Well, this is distressing. I received my replacement 921 yesterday. Set it up without difficulty. Took the 184 download. Tried a timer and it worked. I then set a timer for the next day, today, and guess what, it didn't fire.

Dish, YOU NEED TO FIX THIS RIGHT AWAY. Many of us now have boxes that can't even do a timed satellite recording. That makes the 921 completely worthless. I'm just about ready to call Dish and demand they buy back this piece of garbage. Isn't it fraudulent to claim that a recorder will record when it won't?


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Timer details please, Jerry.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Mark Lamutt said:


> Timer details please, Jerry.


Same way I've always done it, plus some variations. I choose a program from the guide, enter, get the standard screen, and accept all the defaults, including the padding. I've also tried it by setting the padding to zero and then modifying the timer to give me padding before and after. These are single timers. No overlapping. No sequential programs. After yesterdays failure, I've deleted all OTA channels and rebooted. Then set some timers. I'll see what happens.


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## jcd4878 (Feb 26, 2004)

I started experiencing this same exact problem within the last few days. All my previous and new timers stopped firing. I haven't had many issues with timers not firing before, and now its become completely useless. Bascially, all the timers I had before stopped working, and every new timer I set completely disappears off the "to-do" list just prior to the time I have set for them to fire. This happens for both Sat and OTA timers.

I rebooted it yesterday and it started working again. I do not know if it will hold, we'll see.

I personally think its the 184 firmware. The box has been a bit more unstable ever since it took the 184 firmware. Has been crashing alot more, spontaniously rebooting, this box will be nothing more than a pile of junk if they keep downgrading it with more firmware fixes.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

jcd4878, at this point, I'm convinced it's the 184 software. It's seems to have variable penetrance as not everyone is experiencing it. Last night, advanced tech support told me they've had numerous calls about this issue. The 921 has now lost it's most basic purpose in life, timed recordings. This has now become a do or die issue for me. If it's not fixed in the next update, I give up on Dish. If the 921 can't reliably do a timed recording, it's value is zero.


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## tm22721 (Nov 8, 2002)

The Fix Is Simple !!

Back Out Of L184 !!

And Yes I Want To Shout About This !!


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Feel free to, but going backwards isn't possible.

The current workaround solution: You must power plug reboot at least once a week to keep your timers working.

My testing is showing that timers will fail if the 921 has not been rebooted after between 10 days, 14 hours and 10 days, 18 hours. If you pull the power cord on a weekly basis until this gets fixed, your times will work "normally".


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

They can't back out of 184. That's what added Sirius. Mine has been working fine, but I'll keep an eye out for failed timers.

On the good news front, I haven't seen a GSOD in about a month now......, although I did get two 0 sec. recordings this week (both from HDNet timers that didn't record properly). I did have about 5 other HDNet timers go off fine.....


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Hey here in Central NJ our power stinks, so the power company will automatically reboot my machine about once a week right now in the summertime due to heat and every air conditioner firing up in the afternoon ......


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Not seeing the GSOD's is _WHY_ we're seeing the timer failures now. Before, the 921 was rebooting itself more frequently than every 10 days. Now that it's not, the timer leak has become apparent.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Wow, the GSOD was a "feature"??!!????

Ha ha. Um, Eldon. Could you make our machines crash more often so they are more stable?

OK, even me, the E* pom pom guy is about ready to join the D* boo birds on slamming E* for screwing this box up even more with software "fixes".


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Mark Lamutt said:


> The current workaround solution: You must power plug reboot at least once a week to keep your timers working.


Not in my experience. After two days, timers will start to fail. A daily reboot is more like it. And come to think of it, I forgot to reboot before going to work this morning, so today's timers may or may not fail.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Mark Lamutt said:


> Not seeing the GSOD's is _WHY_ we're seeing the timer failures now. Before, the 921 was rebooting itself more frequently than every 10 days. Now that it's not, the timer leak has become apparent.


The current situation is worse than the previous GSOD. Before, timers still existed after the automatic reboot. On two occasions, I had split recordings because of a reboot during the recording. But now, the timers just disappear as soon as the start time occurs and then no recording of any kind. I'd rather go back to the previous bug. It was a better bug than the current one.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

I agree that this one is worse than what we had before, but I think that you guys are missing my point - this current bug has always been a bug. It just never hit anyone before now because the 921 was rebooting itself due to other bugs that are now fixed. And this one will now be fixed as well. There was no possible way to catch this one in testing when it was being hidden by the other crashes.

I really don't think that daily reboots are necessary, but if doing that will make you feel better then by all means. It could very well be that the version that I'm running is better in this regard than L184 is, but I now know that I have to pull the plug every 10 days or so to keep my timers going.


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## Clarkjwc (Mar 8, 2004)

Mark, I have ad my unit unplugged for three days. Powered up today, repointed and set two timers for HBO movies. non fired and my old weekly for the 10 PM news did not fire.



JC


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

JC - did you repoint for 110, 148 or 61.5? What was your signal strength for the transponder that HBO-HD is on on whichever sat you pointed to? Did you do the check switch again when you powered up? Did you have both tuners connected, and seeing the same satellites?


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## Clarkjwc (Mar 8, 2004)

I use 110 and 119. Same city as you. both had Good SS and I purchased again and recorded Sunday.Don't know why one worked other didn't .JC


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

What do you mean you purchased? Are we talking PPV here? That could make a big difference here.


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## Clarkjwc (Mar 8, 2004)

Yes Mark these were PPV movies.

No recording on Saterday but OK on Sunday. Saterday was just after being unpluged for three days. The red ball did apear on the guide menu but no recording. Started all over on Sunday -- all OK.

JC


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

You recorded the PPV channel on 110, not on 148 right? And did you do a check switch when you initially powered back up on Saturday?


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