# DP508 Freezes and pixels



## whobie (Mar 6, 2005)

Anyone else out there having 508 troubles the last couple weeks? I have three 508's and they all started having problems at the same time. No other receivers affected. Problems are occasional video freeze for a second and occasional momentary pixelation in small sections of the screen. Also rarely a large portion of the screen turns into individual yellow pixels. These symptoms occur 4 to 5 times per hour. Dish CSR submitted the problem to engineering. Anyone have any ideas? I already rebooted the machines.
Thanks!


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## ch3 (Dec 1, 2004)

Is this only happening on your local channels? I have noticed something similar where the picture skips over parts of the playback, probably a second or two. I have also noticed the pixelation and yellow squares. But it seems to only affect locals. It does not occur on other channels I record (HIST, SCIFI, etc.).

The problem started occurring with the latest P363 software release (or perhaps early). I previously had P304 and did not have this problem until they forcibly upgraded my 508 to P363. It's definitely a software problem and not a problem with the receiver.


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## Frostwolf (May 10, 2006)

ch3 said:


> The problem started occurring with the latest P363 software release (or perhaps early). I previously had P304 and did not have this problem until they forcibly upgraded my 508 to P363. It's definitely a software problem and not a problem with the receiver.


Foricibly screwed then, nothing has worked right since p304


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## rickc (Oct 7, 2005)

You might try a hard reset...followed by removing & replacing the card...followed by another hard reset. That's what it took to fix the problems I was experiencing after the last upgrade.


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## catnap1972 (May 31, 2003)

ch3 said:


> Is this only happening on your local channels? I have noticed something similar where the picture skips over parts of the playback, probably a second or two. I have also noticed the pixelation and yellow squares. But it seems to only affect locals. It does not occur on other channels I record (HIST, SCIFI, etc.).
> 
> The problem started occurring with the latest P363 software release (or perhaps early). I previously had P304 and did not have this problem until they forcibly upgraded my 508 to P363. It's definitely a software problem and not a problem with the receiver.


(raises hand)

SAME HERE!

Guess it's not my imagination.

(how do I force a hard reset and should I extricate anything worthwhile from the HD before I try it?)


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## BMWinPA (Nov 20, 2006)

whobie said:


> Anyone else out there having 508 troubles the last couple weeks? I have three 508's and they all started having problems at the same time. No other receivers affected. Problems are occasional video freeze for a second and occasional momentary pixelation in small sections of the screen. Also rarely a large portion of the screen turns into individual yellow pixels. These symptoms occur 4 to 5 times per hour. Dish CSR submitted the problem to engineering. Anyone have any ideas? I already rebooted the machines.
> Thanks!


This is the exact same problem I'm having as well, to the "T". I've been calling them until I've turned blue in the face, gone through all the troubleshooting, even had my unit replaced (DP510) and still the same. After I saw these messages, I got all upset and called them again. The technician said that they still don't show any common problems reported for our area! We need to band together and call until they admit defeat! This time, he wanted to send someone out for a service call and said it could be something between the dish and the DVR. I said "No Thanks!" I'm not going to pay to have them come out to find nothing wrong because it is there faulty software or whatever. Any lurkers out there having the same problem? Please report it so maybe they'll get serious about this. Thanks!


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## twyland (Apr 4, 2006)

Ditto - I have been seeing these problem for the past several weeks with Harrisburg locals and 501 receiver. Very frustrating!


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## cdoyle (Feb 3, 2005)

My 508 hasn't been working right since the summer right after whichever upgrade it was (can't remember)

I keep hoping that each new release would fix it, but it never does.

I get lockups, missed timers, black screens, no audio, no picture. Pretty much whatever they could think of to make these not work.


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## esteg (Aug 27, 2003)

Check all connectons, break them open and check the center wire. I had corrosion that ate the center wire and had to replace all connecters. Hard reset and things started to smooth out.
Lost timers at 1 pm when the weather channel stuff was downloading. This all seems to have worked themselves out over a period of a week or so. I have not lost a timer in over a week.


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## catnap1972 (May 31, 2003)

twyland said:


> Ditto - I have been seeing these problem for the past several weeks with Harrisburg locals and 501 receiver. Very frustrating!


This is troubling that three of us from the same area are having the same problems with the 50x/510. I'd put the blame on the bird but why don't I have any problems with my 4900 as well?

I don't suppose Dish would do anything aside from swapping the unit out as my 510 is slowly becoming useless for locals.


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## digital223 (Dec 19, 2002)

whobie said:


> Anyone else out there having 508 troubles the last couple weeks? I have three 508's and they all started having problems at the same time. No other receivers affected. Problems are occasional video freeze for a second and occasional momentary pixelation in small sections of the screen. Also rarely a large portion of the screen turns into individual yellow pixels. These symptoms occur 4 to 5 times per hour. Dish CSR submitted the problem to engineering. Anyone have any ideas? I already rebooted the machines.
> Thanks!


i am in the nyc area. found your post searching for 508 problems. my 508 has the exact problem you state above. once i even saw the yellow screen for a split second.

i had a 508 for over 4 years it worked flawlessly, until a few weeks ago. 
my recordings appeared but i couldn't play any of them. also i discovered that the r/c had no pvr functions. i posted these problems elsewhere on dbst and the consensus of opinions was a dead hard drive. the 1st 508 replacement resulted with intermittant freezes, etc. called t/s and a 2nd 508 was sent. before sending back the 1st replacement i encountered the same problems plus the unit was extremely noisy. it actually was vibrating on my mantle.

I decided to keep the 1st replacement. hoping the glitches were a result of solar storms or possibly as another poster stated a software problem, but the problems of freezing still persists.

Note: i haven't been watching too much tv lately but this problem is mainly happening on channel 132 TCM. i was also watching the news [forget if it was Fox or CNN] and thought i saw a very swift freezing and yellow screen there as well. hope all of you 508 users that view this post, will tune to Turner Classic Movies, and comment if they are seeing these glitches. they are intermittant and last a second or so, sometimes longer with strong pixelization and rarely a black or yellow screen just before the video and sound initializes again.

I think E* is hiding something from us 508/10 users, it will be interesting to see how many other 508 subs will wind up with the problem.


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