# 2.70 and remote quits...time after time...



## Rodsman (Jan 29, 2005)

Looked for this issue but didn't have it jump out at me. I haven't really had any problems with 270 until tonight. my remote quits working and the only thing that will get it going again is a hard reboot. Done that like 4 times now. Each time after the remote will go for a few commands and then the receiver quits responding. I had earlier problems with a previous release but that was with slow response times to remote commands. This is really pissing me off. Nothing works, either live, SD, HD or playback of recorded event. 

Anyone else seeing this or if there a fix I'm just not finding. I changed the batteries and it did it again. Ready to throw the damn thing over the back fence but my hockey game is not over yet  

This is my second 921 and I'd rant more but we've all said it before and it is just too much that we can all spend so much money and be treated so badly with this POS receiver...My 500 seires DVR has never had a single problem, ever...

Done now...


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## hollmrl (Jan 23, 2004)

I am having similar problems with my remote. I press abutton, usually in the DVR menu to start playing a show or to erase a recorded show and the 921 freezes. Sometimes needing a reboot or lockes up for several minutes and then comes back to life.


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## langlin (Apr 8, 2005)

I have had the DVR buttons freeze and not respond, I found that calling up the EPG guide frees the buttons up, I have no idea why.


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## RocketNJ (Jul 29, 2003)

I too have had this happen last night on my 921. THe same thing happened on my 721 on Friday night.

Weird....


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## Rodsman (Jan 29, 2005)

Just following up on this issue as it continues to happen. I spoke with DISH a bit ago and now the 921 group is going to get involved but the CSR seemed to think they would just replace the unit. The last time my wife called they said they might try and replace the remote first and so I was wondering if others with this problem have tried this first before getting a new unit?

This would be my second replacement (1st was a hard drive failure) and it just burns me because once again, I will lose a bunch of recordings because of yet another bad unit. The CSR also stated that this was a "known" issue but when I asked if she meant with the 921 or with L270, she didn't know (seemed to me that's what her computer was telling her with no details).

Anyone else been through this because of the remote and does anyone have any "fixes" in mind?

I'll update what their fix is but I cannot believe it might require another unit. Have we had a poll as to who has had the most replacements yet?


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## Slordak (Dec 17, 2003)

I don't think the general "the 921 stops responding to the remote" or "becomes sluggish in response to the remote" issue has anything to do with the remote control hardware or the 921 hardware.

This problem didn't used to happen to the same extent (at least speaking personally), so unless all of us have remotes which spontaneously broke one day, it's related to the current 921 software. I have tried fixes like replacing the batteries in the remote, but this doesn't make any difference.


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## jergenf (Mar 31, 2005)

The slow response to remote comands is a known software bug that occurred prior to L270. I've had situations where I've had to wait up to 2 minutes for a program to play or resume. This problem comes and goes with or without rebooting. If after 2 minutes you still get no response then you have little choice but to reboot as some type the OS corruption has occurred.

PS: Don't change your batteries your remote works if you see the light on one of the four device (example sat) leds.


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## Rodsman (Jan 29, 2005)

Thanks for the info. but I'm talking like 30-60 mins, or longer at times, with no response and then no response after reboot. I usually walk away and when I come back, sometimes the next morning, it's all working again. Very frustrating and I'm "glad" to hear some of this because I don't want to swap boxes again as I don't think it's a hardware issue either...


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## Rodsman (Jan 29, 2005)

Well, I finally caught up with the technical folks last night and DISH is going to send me a 942-remote to run my 921. Has anyone else done this? I was told many 921s had problems with the UHF remotes they come with. The 942-remote is IR which won't be a problem for me, but it did surprise me a bit. If that doesn't work, then it's a new unit.

Stay tuned...


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

The only reports I have seen is the 921 becomes none reponsive for a period of time. By period I mean a few minutes. Don't recall people saying 30+ minutes and functionality returning after a longer period of time. Lots of theorys why this is occuring. To me it looks like a possible deadlock issues or maybe a spinning loop that eventually gets killed. I personally run into this a couple times a week.

Let us know if the 942 remote solves your issue.


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## ssj2 (Dec 1, 2004)

I've encountered this recently as well -- only a couple times. I only use an IR remote. re-booting is the only fix.


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## kcmia (Jun 28, 2005)

I had this problem for a few months, before 2.70. I called and the tekkie told me to see if an IR remote would work when the UHF remote was frozen. Tried this, it did, and I called back. He said the 921 UHF contoller has chips (he called them crystals) on it that overheat. When they overheat the unit won't respond to the UHF remote until they cool down. This is why a hard reboot works, it gives it a chance to cool a bit. He sent me an IR remote which is used for the 721. He said if the IR remote works, and it works for me, ie not in a cabinet or hidden away, go that route because if we trade out the 921, I might end up with more problems than just the remote because it's such a flaky unit (his words!) Anyway the 721 remote works just fine. I usually use the 921 one and when it craps out I switch to the other one and it works fine.


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## Ken Green (Oct 6, 2005)

kcmia said:


> I had this problem for a few months, before 2.70. I called and the tekkie told me to see if an IR remote would work when the UHF remote was frozen.


I "thought" the remote used with the 921 (8.0 UHF Pro) addresses the receiver with both UHF and IR commands simultaneously when in the SAT mode.
No---Yes


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## jergenf (Mar 31, 2005)

kdg454 said:


> I "thought" the remote used with the 921 (8.0 UHF Pro) addresses the receiver with both UHF and IR commands simultaneously when in the SAT mode.
> No---Yes


According to page 27 of the user manual it only sends UHF for the receiver and IR for the other devices. Maybe the remote could be configured to use one of the other devices for 921 receiver commands. This could allow a secondary method of control. However there's no mention about that in the manual or even if it would respond to IR.


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

The 721 remote is UHF/IR. My 921's remotes are UHF/IR. Who knows what may have changed with the past software updates, perhaps they made the 921 IR capable.


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## jergenf (Mar 31, 2005)

According to this web link *all IR/UHF remotes * send both IR and UHF in sat mode. The user manual failed to mention that. That person that's getting a 942 remote might turn out to be a waste of time. Maybe you can remove the UHF antenna and place a 75 ohm terminator (or maybe a 30db antenuator might also work) on the UHF remote input connector so it doesn't hear the RF commands.

http://rweb.echostar.com/departmental_content/TechPortal/content/tech/remotes/8.0.shtml

Click on "*About IR*" link.


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## Ken Green (Oct 6, 2005)

jergenf said:


> According to this web link *all IR/UHF remotes * send both IR and UHF in sat mode. The user manual failed to mention that. That person that's getting a 942 remote might turn out to be a waste of time. Maybe you can remove the UHF antenna and place a 75 ohm terminator (or maybe a 30db antenuator might also work) on the UHF remote input connector so it doesn't hear the RF commands.


As I've been reading up on this today, I've found in one place on the TechPortal site the "About UHF" link it says "all," and then under the "About UHF Pro" link it says, except the UHF Pro, which is the remote provided with the 921.
From the "About UHF" link:
_"...All IR/UHF remotes also send IR commands in SAT mode and only IR commands in all other modes._
From the "About UHF Pro" link:
_"...The UHF Pro remote sends radio signals to the UHF remote antenna connected to the back panel of UHF Pro compatible receivers. These remotes operate the receiver similar to the standard UHF remotes but *does not send IR to the receiver*. UHF Pro remotes have an extended range of 200' to operate the receiver and will not operate non-UHF Pro receivers at this time."_

perpetually


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## jergenf (Mar 31, 2005)

kdg454 said:


> ...The UHF Pro remote sends radio signals to the UHF remote antenna connected to the back panel of UHF Pro compatible receivers. These remotes operate the receiver similar to the standard UHF remotes but *does not send IR to the receiver*. UHF Pro remotes have an extended range of 200' to operate the receiver and will not operate non-UHF Pro receivers at this time."[/i]
> 
> perpetually


Correct.
Just out of curiousity I tested my remote using an IR detector card (glows orange with IR light) and it does not send IR when sending sat based commands. Thanks for finding the extra info.

This leaves one question open *can the 921 even receive IR sat commands?* It sound like it can only receive RF if that's all they provided as a remote solution.


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## Slordak (Dec 17, 2003)

This has been asked and answered before, but...

The 921 can and does receive and process IR commands. This can be verified by using the 921 with any universal remote; the remote sends the command to the 921 as an IR command, and the 921 acts on it appropriately. The only limitation of having the 921 remote send RF is that it can't easily be used to teach a universal remote.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

You guys are gonna hate me but I have never had an isue with my remote or my 921 in general. It continues to work near flawlessly after about 10 months.



jergenf said:


> Correct.
> Just out of curiousity I tested my remote using an IR detector card (glows orange with IR light) and it does not send IR when sending sat based commands..............


As an alternative to testing with an IR detector card you can point any IR remote at a video camera. If it's emitting IR it will show up as a flash on the camera. At least it does on my old Sony 8mm camera.


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## jergenf (Mar 31, 2005)

ntexasdude said:


> I have never had an isue with my remote or my 921 in general. It continues to work near flawlessly after about 10 months.


*You've never had your 921 hang after sending a command from your remote? * :sure:

Someone suggested that a component that processes UHF commands sometimes overheats thus cause lockups until it cool down. A possible solution may be to use IR only commands so you're not detained by the UHF processing circuit.


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## Rodsman (Jan 29, 2005)

Yo, ntexasdude, I won't hate ya but I wish I had your remote! Hopefully this will fix "my" issue but if I had my 921 off in a closet or a cabinet, I would not be a happy camper.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

My HDTV is a 32" Samsung CRT on one of those stylish silver stands with glass shelves you can get at Best Buy or Circuit City. The 921 is on the bottom shelf and it gets plenty of air circulation. It's also in a room that has two ceiling fans that we leave on continuously. BTW - my 921 is whisper quiet too. Lots of folks complained about them being excessively noisy.

I recall a lot of discussion several months ago about heat problems with the 921. I think it's plausible that heat _could_ be the problem with the remotes.

When I say near flawlessly I really mean it. I've had a few aspect ratio lockups (thoroughly discussed elsewhere) and a new bug seemingly introduced by L270. When I set an event and try to manually extend the time by 30 minutes or so (usually for football games) it just won't do it anymore. I've been burned a few times this football season and missed the end of a few games. The workaround is to just record the next scheduled event. That's one area where NBR would be very nice.


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## tom921 (Jan 21, 2005)

When I turned on the 921 yesterday, only a few of the remote functions worked. Guide and themes did not. SD/HD and channel up/down did work. I stopped testing at that point. Following a reboot, they all worked again. Then two hours later the stuck aspect ratio struck again which required another reboot. I've said it before; if they can't fix the bugs, at least give us a fast reboot!


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## Rodsman (Jan 29, 2005)

Received my 942 remote yesterday and so far so good. I will keep you posted but for those of you experiencing the same problem, this seems to work. I'll let you know if I see any other issues on this in the future with this remote.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Yep! I just experienced the remote failure here for the first time in my 921 history. I did a soft reboot and the result is that I lost my greenout on the RGBHV connection. Composite and DVI was fine. 
Did the power cord reboot for 10 minutes off and this fixed everything. Back to normal, or as normal as it gets for the 921.


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## hortonjr (Oct 28, 2005)

I've had the remote on one of my 921's just stop working several times. Tech support sent out a new remote on one occasion but by the time it got here the old one just started working again on its own.

In one instance I was able to get the remote working again by changing the channel assignment via the buttons on the box and then reprogramming the remote to the new channel.


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