# RIP old 622



## BillJ (May 5, 2005)

I was watching the PGA tournament yesterday afternoon but this morning my 622, which serves the den and bedroom, wouldn't wake up. No green panel light despite repeated pressing of the remote buttons. Front panel power button got a brief green light and it tried to reboot. So did pulling the plug. I could hear either the hard drive or a fan on low speed but the unit just wouldn't boot up.

Finally called Dish Tech support. The woman couldn't have been nicer. Since I couldn't get the unit to boot, I couldn't give her the receiver number. Asked if I could give her the number of my other 622 that works and deduce from that which one wasn't working. "Sure, that will work," she said. Told her what I'd already done. "You've done everything possible. I'm going to send you a replacement receiver," she said.

Haven't had to call Tech support for a long time. I remember being so frustrated when they would make me repeat all the troubleshooting I had done before calling them. Today was the way it ought to work.

This is actually my newer 622 installed 5 years ago. I had experienced what we used to call "the black screen of death" twice recently but no other indications of problems. Fortunately nothing on the hard drive of this one I mind losing, but I guess I ought to get an EHD and archive recordings from the other 622. I do want to keep some of those.

RIP old 622.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Reading that esse ...I recall a few other.

I'm thinking we need to have specialized forum "Gadgets obituary".


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## SingleAction (Apr 29, 2005)

Sorry to hear about your 622!

I just shipped mine back this morning.

I had mine for over 5 years with no major problems, until 3 weeks ago.

The re-booting got so bad, it was chopping up recordings and couldn't be watched anymore. As far as the EHD, thats no guarantee. Some how it fried (or died of old age) my external hd with 4 years of programming. I broke out the hd and ordered a new case, maybe if I'm lucky the drive itself is still good.

Yesterday, I installed the replacment 622. Into 2 hours of watching tv, it re-boot itself :nono: Last night it recorded all the timers ok, and today it seems alright, but I'm not to optimistic.


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## Henry (Nov 15, 2007)

Mine was about that age. Reliable and tuff. Died overnight ... old age, I guess.


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## BillJ (May 5, 2005)

Replacement 622 arrived on Thursday afternoon and I tried install that night. I've installed numerous receivers over the years including two 622s so it shouldn't have been a big deal. But something went wrong as I worked through the onscreen install steps. I couldn't get off step 4. 

Called Tech Support and we eventually discovered the remote address had changed on its own, although I had synced both remotes and they were both working when I began. We completed the install together but there was a problem with acquiring signal. Eventually we got past that and could display the guide, top banner, screen saver, menu, etc. But no picture or sound. Also the guide displayed was not my programming. Finally had to give up and schedule a tech service call for Tuesday afternoon.

I had guests for the week and had no time to mess with the receiver. Yesterday after they left I fired it up again. Hoped, since I knew it had tried updating each night (it's in the bedroom and woke me twice), I thought it might have fixed itself. No luck. Same partial guide. Still no video or audio. Just to be sure I called Tech again and confirmed they show the receiver has been activated. So we'll see what the tech finds on Tuesday, although I suspect this box will be going back to Dish. UUGGG!


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Seems to me, it's the card's culprit, perhaps it did not get proper authorization and still running on old content from previous owner and by expired authorization records.
Perhaps it was hacked with a blocker preventing the changes.
Try to convince them replace the card.


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## BillJ (May 5, 2005)

P Smith said:


> Seems to me, it's the card's culprit, perhaps it did not get proper authorization and still running on old content from previous owner and by expired authorization records.
> Perhaps it was hacked with a blocker preventing the changes.
> Try to convince them replace the card.


You were on the right track. The tech guessed the problem right away. The smartcard was not fully inserted. He said he has seen this problem on several receivers. Maybe due to rough handling in transit?

If any DIRT members read this, put the old "pull the smartcard and re-insert it" back in the tech support script, especially with new or replacement receivers. It used to be a standard troubleshooting step but I haven't heard it in so long it never occurred to me. Could have saved Dish the cost of a service call and me the frustration of no TV in the bedroom and den for several days.


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## SingleAction (Apr 29, 2005)

Bill, glad you got the DVR going without another swap.

I had the same problem with my replacement 622 getting stuck on step 4. Had no idea that the code changed on the remote!

Had to call them, and the csr new what to do. Must be buggy install sw.

After the first reboot watching tv for 2 hours, if never happened again. So far so good. :hurah:


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## Frodo301 (Sep 15, 2007)

BillJ said:


> If any DIRT members read this, put the old "pull the smartcard and re-insert it" back in the tech support script, especially with new or replacement receivers. It used to be a standard troubleshooting step but I haven't heard it in so long it never occurred to me. Could have saved Dish the cost of a service call and me the frustration of no TV in the bedroom and den for several days.


Not a DIRT member but worked for Dish in their Christiansburg, Va call center about nine years ago. Smart card resets were common back in those days but were changed due to static discharges frying smart cards. And the fact it was much easier with the front panel reset when you got the 65 year old with vision problems pulling out the card by accident and unable to find the slot to put it back in. At least that was the information passed on to the CSRS back then. Does seem like a common sense trouble shooting step for what you just described though.


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## Henry (Nov 15, 2007)

Frodo301 said:


> Not a DIRT member but worked for Dish in their Christiansburg, Va call center about nine years ago. Smart card resets were common back in those days but were changed due to static discharges frying smart cards. And the fact it was much easier with the front panel reset *when you got the 65 year old with vision problems pulling out the card by accident and unable to find the slot to put it back in.* At least that was the information passed on to the CSRS back then. Does seem like a common sense trouble shooting step for what you just described though.


Hmm, so THAT'S what happened!


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## G.1 (Sep 3, 2012)

Sorry for your loss. I feel ya.


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