# My DISH 721 Install



## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

Day 1: I missed the UPS guy and didn't get the 721.

Day 2: I caught the UPS guy around the corner and got my DISH 721 an hour early. I walk 2 blocks back to my house to install they receiver. I get the 75 foot cable I ordered and start running it along the existing DISH cable. When I get the hole in the block wall I find out the DISH tech did not make it big enough to fit the second cable. I grab my drill and a masonry bit and go to town, its a rental house and the owner lives upstairs but he's gone today. Well, it look like my bit isn't long enough :/ I'll have to run to the store tomorrow my wife took the car.

Day 3: I run to Home Depot to get a bigger bit and some RG-6 connectors. I had to cut one off to "open" the hole. I get home and the owner is upstairs ( I doubt he would care but it will be easier not to ask). I turn on the stereo and the vacuum and finish the hole. With a little work I get the 2 cable through the hole. I cut and strip the cable and attach the new connector. I make all the connections to the PVR and call DISH. The first lady will need to transfer me to the tech department to add the receiver, but offers to sell me HBO for only $13.99 a month. I don't tell her that they have been giving me HBO for free for the last 4 months since I moved. I hope this will continue with the new receiver but I doubt it will. The Tech department takes my receiver and card numbers. They also offer the HBO. The receiver says "aquiring...try back later". After 15 minutes of watching the "How to use your remote" channel I call DISH again. I am sent to the Advanced Tech departmant. The nice lady on the phone double checks a bunch of stuff. The PVR is downloading its software update, 20 minutes and its on part 2 of 20! We need to run the check switch but not during the download. We get lucky and the download is interrupted for some reason!.. We run the check switch and it has the correct info now. The PVR also restarts the download ( its version L051 right now). That was when I came in here to vent. I sure hope this thing is working when I go back in there.


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## TopCat99 (Nov 3, 2002)

Poor guy. May your bad experience result in endless pleasure from your Dish Network system.


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## sjhill01 (Oct 13, 2002)

Unfortunately, that sounds about right (except for the whole drilling part!). It takes about an hour from setup to usability. The best thing to do is just leave it alone for a while after plugging it in.

But you'll enjoy it!!


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## cmaier (Nov 5, 2002)

Argh. Mine (which arrived today) finally downloaded the software (after 35 minutes... after many reboots). Now when it starts up it does its little "checking hard drive" bit, then turns into a gray screen with a little x-windows cursor in the center, then reboots again! In an infinite loop. Oh, the fun.


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## Bob Haller (Mar 24, 2002)

I have always wondered why they dont ship receivers with software, at least enough to get it running. Sure it will need new software when first connected but the delay upsets many. When I was a dealer I would download every receiver before taking it for install. 

Then one new sub got upset saying they wanted a sealed box to prove it was brand new

You cant win....


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## Bob Haller (Mar 24, 2002)

Expect a flakey 721 for a few days, then just a occasional moment when you will want to attack it with a sledge hammer


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## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

Day 3 continued: I got everything setup and working. I played with it for a while, set up the remote for my TV and stereo. Later that night I set it to record Friends, Wil and Grace, and a couple other shows. We tuned to Survivor and assumed that the PVR would be recording Friends. Well it wasn't, it didn't record Wil and Grace either. As a side note, there is a red light on the front of the unit when it is recording. The wife is not real impressed yet with my $550 purchase. She did get a $170 hand bag the other day though. 

Day 4: Now the PVR will not set a timer to record anything. I select the program, go to create and press select again. It doesn't close the window, put the red dot on the show or anything. The "DONE" is greyed out. I call DISH again, don't call today if you don't really need to, and wait for about 30 minutes for the tech dept. They guy has me remove and reinstall the Smart Card. This fixed all the problems. I have recorded several shows and it seem to be working well now. I also read throught he manual while I was on hold, normally I would never do this. In case some people don't know you can have your Caller ID show up on the TV! I ran the phone cable and plugged it in. The manual says the ID function is "on" be default, mine was actually "off". I turned it on and now I just need someone to call me


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## Scott Greczkowski (Mar 21, 2002)

Once it starts running good then it stays running good.

I think there have been some problems at the uplink which have been making problems for many folks (especially 301 users)

I love my 721.


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## EvanS (Mar 27, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Nightmare _
> * .....and now I just need someone to call me  *


what would you like me to call you? :lol:

Nightmare - I just got my 721 installed the other day. Guide was "off schedule" for the first day and I did not get my local broadcast channel numbers mapped until almost the third day.
But all the while everything else worked great. It seems that the 721 will exhibit a w i d e range of strange for the first 48 or so hours.

I sure hope it turns out well for you


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## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

My wife just called and the ID worked fine. It looks like someone else call at 9:00 am too. I just noticed the local channels finally mapped to the new low numbers 2,4,5,etc. For the first day only the 700's and 8000's showed up.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2002)

I just had my 721 installed and my locals are finally mapped correctly and things to be working well, except...

The unit seems to make a slight hum which I would imagine is from a fan. I did not look at the back of the unit when I put it in its slot, but I assume that it has a fan. It never seems to shut off. The 721 is installed in a boxed in area, but it has a couple of inches on each side and on top for ventilation. The noise is not real bad, but it is in a quiet room when the tv is not on. I can hear it so it is distracting. Anybody else seen this?


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## treiher (Oct 24, 2002)

Hey Nightmare, sorry about your trouble. Some of it sounds pretty familair, especially the part about the wife and the $175 handbag! :lol: Change that to wallpaper border, fancy towel bars with matching switch plate covers, and ofcourse, new matching towels and you have the same scenario for me!

One thing, though, that caught my attention in your first post:



> The PVR also restarts the download ( its version L051 right now).


Is that right? Because if it is, you have a different software version than the rest of us. Just curous.


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## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

It was at the factory version. Its up to date now L104


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