# Darn Dish Alarm Clock



## BillJ (May 5, 2005)

3:15 this morning the 622 in the bedroom roared to life. Nothing like that jet engine fan to wake you up. That's why I have that receiver set to update at noon when no one is sleeping in there. This is the second time in the last few months this has happened. The first time Dish was sending the 6.14 software update. This time I don't know what they were doing. Software is still 6.14 and I didn't see anything new in scheduled recordings, etc. I'm pissed that they keep overriding my update schedule and waking us.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Did you turn off the receiver or have it set to automatically go into standby after inactivity?

I'm not sure why it would reboot at an odd time unless there was a software update (or a power glitch).


----------



## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

> 3:15 this morning the 622 in the bedroom roared to life. Nothing like that jet engine fan to wake you up. That's why I have that receiver set to update at noon when no one is sleeping in there. This is the second time in the last few months this has happened. The first time Dish was sending the 6.14 software update. This time I don't know what they were doing. Software is still 6.14 and I didn't see anything new in scheduled recordings, etc. I'm pissed that they keep overriding my update schedule and waking us.


The receiver will look for updates any time it is in standby mode. The update shutdown you have set for noon just shuts down the receiver to look for updates automatically if it has not been shut off.


----------



## BillJ (May 5, 2005)

puckwithahalo said:


> The receiver will look for updates any time it is in standby mode. The update shutdown you have set for noon just shuts down the receiver to look for updates automatically if it has not been shut off.


That statement makes no sense. First, the receiver is shutoff every night and has never done this until a couple months ago. I've had it over 16 months. Second, why bother to have a feature allowing the user to set a specific time for updates if it's just going to randomly update anyway. Third, my other 622, which dates to the introduction of this model, doesn't randomly reboot either.


----------



## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

> That statement makes no sense. First, the receiver is shutoff every night and has never done this until a couple months ago. I've had it over 16 months. Second, why bother to have a feature allowing the user to set a specific time for updates if it's just going to randomly update anyway. Third, my other 622, which dates to the introduction of this model, doesn't randomly reboot either.


1) I'm not saying the reboots you are getting are related in any way to the receiver updating.

2) The point of the feature is to make sure that the receiver will shut down every day for an update. Not to be the only way to get it to update. If you power off all tuners on a receiver and the software is out of date, it will typically do a software download within 1-5 minutes, usually within 1-2.

The daily update feature was implemented because many people leave the satellite receiver on all the time, and just turn off the television. In older receivers without the feature, the software and guide would get out of date, and eventually start to cause problems.


----------



## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

puckwithahalo said:


> 1) I'm not saying the reboots you are getting are related in any way to the receiver updating.
> 
> 2) The point of the feature is to make sure that the receiver will shut down every day for an update. Not to be the only way to get it to update. If you power off all tuners on a receiver and the software is out of date, it will typically do a software download within 1-5 minutes, usually within 1-2.
> 
> The daily update feature was implemented because many people leave the satellite receiver on all the time, and just turn off the television. In older receivers without the feature, the software and guide would get out of date, and eventually start to cause problems.


I disagree.

The update scheduling feature gives the end user the option to over-ride the default time for the daily update 'ping'/window. Otherwise what's the point.

Having said that... one must consider that there was some 'hiccup' in the power grid that caused the unit to reboot.

I must wonder if the OP is equally miffed when a thunderstorm disrupts his beauty sleep.


----------



## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

> I disagree.
> 
> The update scheduling feature gives the end user the option to over-ride the default time for the daily update 'ping'/window. Otherwise what's the point.


You said it exactly, the use can over-ride the time that the box shuts itself down. However, if the user shuts the box down completely (ie, all tuners in standby) it will check for updates as well. This isn't speculation, this is fact. If your software is out of date and you shut the receiver down completely, within a couple minutes you will get this message (assuming the receiver is working properly or the software isn't so far out of date it can't be updated)










After that goes through, you get this message










after that the receiver goes back into standby.

This isn't speculation, this is fact. Anyone who has a receiver that hasn't been plugged in in a few months could probably duplicate it (assuming the software for their receiver has been updated in that time). Hook it up, run a switch test, let it acquire signal and download the guide, then shut it off, and within a couple minutes...presto, those messages. I walk people through the process every day, it is how it works.

The whole purpose of the daily update is to make sure that the box is in a standby mode at least once a day. If you turn off the daily update, but you power the receiver off when it is not in use, it will stay updated.

Having said that, I do not think an update is what is causing the problem, I suspect a power surge or brief outage, or something along those lines.


----------



## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

> Software Upgrading
> Symptom
> The software on the receiver is outdated.
> 
> ...


Copied directly from tech.dishnetwork.com

It says 30 minutes to make sure it starts and has time to go all the way through, but typically takes less than 10 - 15 minutes.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

puckwithahalo said:


> If your software is out of date and you shut the receiver down completely, within a couple minutes you will get this message (assuming the receiver is working properly or the software isn't so far out of date it can't be updated)


A reminder (emphasis added):


BillJ said:


> 3:15 this morning the 622 in the bedroom roared to life. Nothing like that jet engine fan to wake you up. That's why I have that receiver set to update at noon when no one is sleeping in there. This is the second time in the last few months this has happened. *The first time Dish was sending the 6.14 software update. This time I don't know what they were doing. Software is still 6.14* and I didn't see anything new in scheduled recordings, etc. I'm pissed that they keep overriding my update schedule and waking us.


We need to get away from the thought that this is a software update.

Probably the best next step is to track the problem ... twice in the last few months isn't a lot to go on. If it were a common problem more people would be reporting it. In any case, we need more data.


----------



## BillJ (May 5, 2005)

I have noticed one change but I don't know when it became effective. The holiday music channels have been added to the guide. If that just happened Friday, Dish may have overridden the scheduled update time to add the new channels. The fact that both occurrences happened in the default 3 AM update window leads me to believe it is an action initialed by Dish, not something random.


----------



## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

BillJ said:


> I have noticed one change but I don't know when it became effective. The holiday music channels have been added to the guide. If that just happened Friday, Dish may have overridden the scheduled update time to add the new channels. The fact that both occurrences happened in the default 3 AM update window leads me to believe it is an action initialed by Dish, not something random.


I think Dish can add/change channels on the fly.


----------



## bigshew (Feb 26, 2007)

bartendress said:
"I must wonder if the OP is equally miffed when a thunderstorm disrupts his beauty sleep."

I know Charlie is a tough negotiator, but didn't think he had that kind of power. 


Actually, I've had a 622 for 2 years now and it has done the random reboot at least 2 times. This is when I was only doing normal watching and there didn't appear to be any power glitch.


----------



## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

puckwithahalo said:


> You said it exactly, the use can over-ride the time that the box shuts itself down. However, if the user shuts the box down completely (ie, all tuners in standby) it will check for updates as well. This isn't speculation, this is fact. If your software is out of date and you shut the receiver down completely, within a couple minutes you will get this message (assuming the receiver is working properly or the software isn't so far out of date it can't be updated)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You missed my point. The OP's comments indicate he's a good boy and shuts the thing off every night... turning everything you just wrote (and that's a very thorough post, btw) into one big tangent.

Let's think about it for a second. What could cause the receiver, resting comfortably in stand-by mode, to reboot:
- Power disruption
- ?????????


----------



## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

bartendress said:


> You missed my point. The OP's comments indicate he's a good boy and shuts the thing off every night... turning everything you just wrote (and that's a very thorough post, btw) into one big tangent.


I know that puckwithahalo thinks that he (I assume it is a "he" that posts) was helping but like a lot of other DISH CSRs or tech people he missed the point. I don't know what the problem is with DISH's people but some times they turn a simple question into a tangent. It has happened to me WAY too many times when I called them over the years (I avoid that as much as possible now). Clearly, DISH needs better training for their CSRs and tech people. DISH's future is very dark if they don't clean up their customer service "act".


----------



## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

> I know that puckwithahalo thinks that he (I assume it is a "he" that posts) was helping but like a lot of other DISH CSRs or tech people he missed the point. I don't know what the problem is with DISH's people but some times they turn a simple question into a tangent. It has happened to me WAY too many times when I called them over the years (I avoid that as much as possible now). Clearly, DISH needs better training for their CSRs and tech people. DISH's future is very dark if they don't clean up their customer service "act".





> *Having said that, I do not think an update is what is causing the problem, I suspect a power surge or brief outage, or something along those lines.*


I was correcting information (IE, the notion that putting the receiver in standby mode would not cause it to look for a software update). As noted, I did say that I didn't think that an update was the problem.

The other possibilities besides power issues that I can think of that cause receivers to reset, are hard drive issues, and heat issues.

We can probably discount heat as it was in standby mode.

Probably not an HDD issue either for the same reason, unless it was updating something and had a problem with the hard drive.


----------



## jsk (Dec 27, 2006)

Could it be turning itself on to phone home? Maybe that activates the fans.

Have you tried to put the reciever in a cabinet (with proper ventilation)? 

Maybe you could turn on a fan to mask the sound?

or Maybe you could move the reciever to another room with a cable going to your TV.


----------



## kucharsk (Sep 20, 2006)

I've had the "random reboot without an update" issue a few times with my 722s as well.

No rhyme or reason that I can tell, nothing in the Diagnostics that notes a problem of any kind.


----------



## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

I would add to the list the box locking up. This would also result in a reboot. The first things to look into with Random Reboots are.

1) Power. Power Conditioner or UPS might improved the issue. 
2) Internal or External influence. Even though the box is in standbye it still is recording programs etc so something could be effecting it resulting in the box freezing and locking up. Possible a flaky LNB or OTA connection causing it to reboot. 
3) Heat build up. (Rule out if not in an enclosed cabinet and not sitting above your Receiver). 
4) Overlapping recordings. You have show that overlaps the updating time. Not sure what happens in this case. In the case of a software update it would take into effect the next time the box is in standby but since not software update this time I am not sure how valid this point is.


----------

