# 508 missing timers, locking up since last 'upgrade'



## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

OK,
I'm getting ticked off now, first 3.09 introduced some bugs that were irritating. 

So I let it go ahead and upgrade to 3.6 (I think thats the latest) anyways, ever since I allowed it to do this. Timers that have been working fine for months, are now not always being recorded. Once I came home, and the whole box was locked up in the middle of a recording. Had to unplug the unit, to get it to respond again.

The last recording is listing as only being 10 minutes long, but it seems to have recorded the whole show. I'll find out when I go and watch it.

but comeon, these boxes were so stable before and now we are having all these problems.

I still think Dish is purposely adding these bugs, to make us want to upgrade to a DVR FEE reciever.


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## finniganps (Jan 23, 2004)

cdoyle said:


> OK,
> 
> but comeon, these boxes were so stable before and now we are having all these problems.
> 
> I still think Dish is purposely adding these bugs, to make us want to upgrade to a DVR FEE reciever.


Mine has not experienced this problem. I don't think it's on purpose, but I understand your frustration. If there's anything you want to save, I'd recommend moving them to videotape incase your HD crashes.


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

I have two 508s. One of them works fine and the other one started having lockups. If I reboot to clear the lockup then all of the recorded shows are now missing from the list. It will record a show and then when you go to watch the show that show will only be 10 minutes long and if I try to use fast forward, pause or other features, I get a lockup and then the program disappears. As far as being able to move a program to video tape, I'd just like to be able watch the show. At this point, I am using this machine to feed music to the stereo system. Might be easier to just sell this one on ebay and go back to one of my spare 301s. 

..Doyle


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## Frostwolf (May 10, 2006)

Both of mine are locking up and a missing timers. Also the hd's never turn off. Maybe because they are never turning off, the circuitry is starting to get hot, the fan's are not turning on though


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

Well I'm glad to know I'm not the only one having these issues.

I think heat is becoming an issue with mine too. 
I notice on a warmer day, that the picture starts to get fuzzy. The 'fuzziness' will go in and out. 

I think with the hard drive always going, and then a warmer day hits. It's causing the internal parts to act up.

This really ticks me off, because I never had any of these issues until the last upgrade. 

If they don't fix these issues, Dish can forget about me upgrading to a newer unit. I'll just cancel my service.


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

If indeed it is software/firmware issues then sending the unit in for repair also does no good. Last thing I want is a new replacement DVR that comes with a DVR fee that I currently don't have. This is the one unit in the house that is not connected to a phone line and I am not anxious to try to run a line there or buy one of those wireless units. Kind of looks like we wait for the next software upgrade to see if that helps. 

..Doyle


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## Frostwolf (May 10, 2006)

cdoyle said:


> If they don't fix these issues, Dish can forget about me upgrading to a newer unit. I'll just cancel my service.


I fell the same way, They have broken equipment that I own.

Then they had to go and try and make more money with a lame VOD feature, that no one in my household will ever use. ( lame movies for one) And there should be a way to turn it off.


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## ranman508 (Sep 6, 2006)

New here but noticed the 721's were reformating the HD to get them to work. Maybe thats why some units work and some don't. I'll give it a go tonight and let you all know.


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

Sure couldn't hurt anything. The machine deletes all of the programs I try to record so there is nothing even on the HD in terms of recorded material that I am interested in. 

..Doyle


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## CornChex (Dec 24, 2004)

...is installing a timer from Wal-Mart. My 508 has been locking up and needing a daily reboot for some time now. I bought one of those timers that you plug a lamp in when you go on vacation, and have it set to turn off my 508 from 2:00 AM to 2:30 AM. It seems like when the power comes back on at 2:30 the dvr does its necessary download and file retrieval.

The timer cost about $10, but I figured that I would probably spend that much in postage in mailing the 508 back to dish for a replacement. 

At any rate...it might be worth a try...


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

This is just sad how they ruined a great box, got all the lockup and broken timers, and didnt' even get NBR like we were told we would.


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## ranman508 (Sep 6, 2006)

K....I unpluged the IDE cable and repluged the unit back in. Waited for the HD failer to come up and then unpluged unit repluged the IDE cable and pluged the unit back in. My recorded programs are still there? What I do wrong? Never reformated.


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## ranman508 (Sep 6, 2006)

Got an up date. I could never get the HD to re-format but used the memory dump screen and erased it from there. Let it sit over night. All my timers and recordings were gone when I woke up. Guess it worked because I havn't had the problem in 5 days. cross my fingers.


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## rickc (Oct 7, 2005)

cdoyle said:


> This is just sad how they ruined a great box, got all the lockup and broken timers, and didnt' even get NBR like we were told we would.


I also have the same lock-up problem since the latest software "*upgrade*".

This machine had been operating perfectly before the VOD patch was installed. The problem could well be caused by the HD running almost constantly now.

Since I will never use the VOD function, and did not ask for the VOD function to be installed on my machine, I would hope that Dish will give me the option to disable this function and perhaps return my 508 to its previous perfect operation.


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

I still think Dish is just trying to burn up these boxes, so then they can entice us to upgrade to a box that has a DVR FEE. 

Why else does the HD need to spin constantly?

I think just reading on here, I've seen a few people who have 501 and 508's who complained about a problem since the last few rounds of upgrades, who ended up just getting a 522 or newer box.


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

right after posting my last post, I got up and went over and turn the TV on. '

No Audio!!
Had to unplug the 508, and let it reset itself. I've never had to do that before either.


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

well it missed another timer tonight.

What I found is, if I actually turn it 'off' with the remote. Now it just doesn't record anymore. Because I walked by it, and didn't see the light on, so thought hmm, turned it on and the red light came on. So I tried to go back to see if actually did get the first 30 minutes of the show I thought I was recording. Nope.

Before the last upgrades it always recorded when I had it turned off.

This is ticking me off.


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## finniganps (Jan 23, 2004)

rickc said:


> Since I will never use the VOD function, and did not ask for the VOD function to be installed on my machine, I would hope that Dish will give me the option to disable this function and perhaps return my 508 to its previous perfect operation.


I also don't use the VOD and never downloaded the software when it asked me to.

Dish will NOT go back to an older version. They want us all to use VOD since it's an added revenue stream.


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

Still trying to figure out how they expect to make money off it, does anyone actually buy those movies? to me it just doesn't make sense to pay more for those movies, and then only have access to them for 24 hrs?

what a waste.


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

This is really strange, I have two 508s. One works perfectly (knock on wood) and the other one now won't record anything. It goes through the motions but when you go to the list of recorded programs it is either empty or if the program is there, then when you click on it, it locks up and when you come back, the program is gone. I have tried using protect and that doesn't help. I do need to check to make sure both machines have the same revs in them. 

..Doyle


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## Frostwolf (May 10, 2006)

Maybe we can find a pattern.

I may have noticed something, but it will take a little while to prove right or wrong.

If memory serves, only the shows that start at the hour (8:00) seem to lock up, if I select start 1 minute early I haven't seen it lock up.

I'm going to try and notice if this is true.

If others can help, that would be great.

Thanks


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

hmm, I'll try and watch for that. 
I'll let you know if that happens to me.

I sure hope they fix these problems, this thing better not miss lost next week.


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## ranman508 (Sep 6, 2006)

Well another update for you all. I went a few days with out problems and then my 508 started to (searching for signel) when I switched chanels. Also did a check switch everytime I turned it on to watch it. I did a search on the other sights and found they were having a problem with a small chip just under the tuner. Most of them would cut their ground wire (black) to the fan and mount it to the nearist ground screw. This would make the fan stay on all the time thus keep the chip cooler. They fell it is something to do with the fact the HD stays on all the time and heats up everything. Apparently this chip gets unseated when hot and has been a on going problem of the 508/510 units. So I did that and also mounted a large 180mm fan in side of the case. You can plug it in to the HD power. I used the large fan because it will push air and does'nt make noise. I zip tied it to the under side of the case. Tight fit but really keeps it cool. Again I havn't had any problems in the last few days but I went a few days the last time before it messed up. This makes a lot of sence to me. My PC's run all the time at the office and have been for years on end. That means the fans are also going. My HD's do shut down but not untill we quit using them for a hour. So on all day long their up and running. I'll keep messing with it but if I have to replace it I'll build my own PVR and go back a non-recording unit.


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

I know I have heat related problems now, on a warmer day. The picture always seems to get fuzzy, and then clears up, then gets fuzzy. Goes back and forth.

It never did this, until the last update. It has to be because that HD is always going, and creating heat, which must be effecting the tuner.

I've seen heat related tuner problems on TV's before, so I have a pretty good idea this is what is going on. 

Dish needs to remove the VOD or at least let us turn the feature off, so our HD's can shut off.


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

Time to get out the old digital thermometer and run a few tests. I may need to add some additional cooling in the equipment rack. Not sure that is the whole story as the unit I am having the most trouble with has been unpowered for a couple weeks and it still has problems whenever I fire it up. It has pretty much been relegated to playing Sirius Music for the house Stereo system. 

..Doyle


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## mhowie (Sep 30, 2006)

They say misery loves company, so I'm happy to find I am not alone as well during this period of aggravation. I just stumbled upon this group and am copying the content of two posts I made to the alt.dbs.echostar Usenet forum which chronicle my related woes. Of note is the fact that I have found mass deletion of recorded programs in addition to timers not recording, receiver locking up, etc., etc. I finally sent an email to Dish Tech Support and they have acknowledged the problems, apologized for the lost recordings (no way to retrieve, of course!), and suggest a future software update will correct. I am not holding my breath...

Here is my tale:

_*"I have a 508 and it has been updated to the 360 level of software. For
the past six weeks or so, I have found several timers being erased.
All of these timers have been singular events (not weekly, recurring
timers) and have been created numerous days in advance of the actual
broadcast (usually 5 or more days).

I don't know when the 360 software was delivered, so this may have
been an issue with the previous revision as well. I have rebooted the
receiver a couple of times during this timeframe, but the issue
persists.

In addition, I discovered a couple of nights ago that all my
recordings, save for the past week or so, had gotten mysteriously
erased. I had about eight hours of space remaining on the hard drive,
so many, many hours of programs from the past 12 months or so were
purged. No explanation...just happened.

Is there a software bug plaguing these receivers or is my hard
drive/receiver faulty and I need a replacement?"*_


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## Frostwolf (May 10, 2006)

mhowie said:


> They say misery loves company, so I'm happy to find I am not alone as well during this period of aggravation. I just stumbled upon this group and am copying the content of two posts I made to the alt.dbs.echostar Usenet forum which chronicle my related woes. Of note is the fact that I have found mass deletion of recorded programs in addition to timers not recording, receiver locking up, etc., etc. I finally sent an email to Dish Tech Support and they have acknowledged the problems, apologized for the lost recordings (no way to retrieve, of course!), and suggest a future software update will correct. I am not holding my breath...
> 
> Here is my tale:
> 
> ...


since 309 software I've had the missed timer issue, release dates are here http://ekb.dbstalk.com/313

I've had , daily and single timers to fail.

I spoke with someone in top tier tech support, it is still being worked on. It's currently waiting for the software engineers to fix it.

I say go back to 3.04 Dish!!!!


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

I'm so glad I started this post, it's nice to know that it's not just MY receiver that is acting up. 

I really wish dish would properly test these software upgrades before releasing them, and stop trying to push 'features' we don't want such as VOD. Which makes no sense at all to buy a movie from.


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## OrangeandBlue33 (Dec 15, 2003)

I just sent in (under warranty) a 508 I purchased back in January. About 3 weeks ago it started dropping video and audio for a few seconds. Then, one day I came home and it was in an endless loop of trying to acquire signal and re-booting - it seemed pretty warm. I called Dish and they sent me another ($14.95 shipping+handling). I got it plugged in and running and the new one has already missed a timer (Season Premier of Supernatural  ). So I don't know if that was a one time glitch or if there's an underlying problem, but I'm definitely nervous.


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

Seems to be the same thing all of them are doing now.

I sent an email to [email protected] yesterday about 
1. why I never get credit for the dishclub referrals, and 
2. What is being done to fix the problems with the 508's and listed out the problems that we have been having. 

So far no response.


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## Frostwolf (May 10, 2006)

cdoyle said:


> Seems to be the same thing all of them are doing now.
> 
> I sent an email to [email protected] yesterday about
> 1. why I never get credit for the dishclub referrals, and
> ...


Good luck, I've been waiting for somw time for a response from that email address.


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## Frostwolf (May 10, 2006)

seen online


10/03/2006: 1100 Software Version P3.63 for DP501/508/510

Effective Wednesday, October 4th, Engineering plans to spool a PARTIAL PHASE of software version P3.63 for the DP501/508/510 receiver. This is primarily a non-forced maintenance release available at ALL satellite locations.
At this time P3.60 and P3.63 will be the valid software versions for the DP501/508/510.


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