# Death Report: My 921 died today



## FarNorth (Nov 27, 2003)

Here's the story: Yesterday morning, I got up and noticed the power light was off. I checked here and discovered a new software update had gone out. I looked at my sys info and found that mine was still showing L 146, so I assumed the update didn't take. A few hours later, a tech showed up to tune one of my dishes that had a low signal. I've been losing 110 a lot which may be due to solar activity or snow but I figured it was worth trying to get a little closer. We were back and forth into the dish tune menu when it began to struggle a bit. Abruptly, it stopped responding, lost picture and never regained function. I tried to reboot it for several hours and finally called Dish. They advised me to turn it off overnight and that they would sent a bump to it and regain function. That didn't work. This morning, I got up and turned it on and it still won't boot. I see the splash screen, get the 689-downloading satellite data screen and then it goes dark and that's it. I called Dish and they agree, she's dead.

The good news is they are sending me out a replacement by 2-day FedEx. If I get real lucky, it will ship today and be here by Monday afternoon. Worst case is Wednesday. Further, I do have a 510 I can put into service as well as cable so I am not totally in the dark. Could be worse, I guess. 

I'm sure some Dish tech guy would say it was my fault for interrupting the software download. In my defense, I have no control over when that download comes and had no idea it was happening. Why did Dish bother to put a 'software update' button on the menu if they were just going to force the software to you when they felt the need? 

I'll keep you posted.


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## BarryO (Dec 16, 2003)

FarNorth said:


> The good news is they are sending me out a replacement by 2-day FedEx.


Or so they say.

Welcome to the club; mine died with the L146 download, and I still haven't gotten a replacement. I've discovered that, when a Dish CSR says they will send out a new receiver, it may, in fact, never happen. A word to the wise -- call and get the tracking number for your shipment.

I was told Thursday (by a supervisor) that I could call on Friday and get the tracking number. Of course that wasn't true, either. I'll try again today..


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## FarNorth (Nov 27, 2003)

Well, we'll see. I just called Dish and a CSR told me the new unit has been ordered, located but has not actually been shipped. They are showing an estimated arrival date of Wednesday so I assume this means it will go out 2-day FedEx on Monday.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

So, L147 did not in fact kill your 921. Something else failed, so I'm going to edit your post title as it's pretty misleading.


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## FarNorth (Nov 27, 2003)

Mark Lamutt said:


> So, L147 did not in fact kill your 921. Something else failed, so I'm going to edit your post title as it's pretty misleading.


Well, I'm not really sure what happened. All I know for certain is that everything was fine until L147 was released. Apparently, it didn't load the first time and for some reason, the second attempt failed and locked up the software. Whether it was due to loading twice or getting interrupted or if there is something wrong, I don't know. I do know it is dead as a mackerel now.


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## Jim Parker (Aug 12, 2003)

Sorry to hear about your 921.  

I lost 110 a lot during that snow storm last week. Signal strength was down to 40-45 on a lot of transponders. I have a 48" dish for 110. What size dish are you using?

Alignment on the dish is critical. Moving the edge of the dish 1/2" is enough to completely lose the signal. Just the act of tightening the mounting bracket bolts caused my signal to drop by 5 points. Not sure if tightening is changing the alignment or warping the dish slightly. I am going to realign the dishes, but will put that off until the snow is gone from the roof.

The morning after the storm, the 921 had lost every channel on 110 and 119, but the 510 still had them. After a reboot, they came back.

The HD channels were the first to drop out. I'm not sure if it is due to weaker signal strength on those transponders or somehow related to HD versus SD. I'll check signal strength on those transponders next time it happens.


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## FarNorth (Nov 27, 2003)

I have a 4 foot dish for 110, 3 footers for 119 and 148. There is some chance that my 4 footer is partially screened by my front porch and I may move it - and the rest of the "antenna farm" - to the left, to the north and I'll probably wait for summer to do that. Before my 921 died, we had gotten the signal strength to 53 on the 2 worst transponders, which I think are 7 and 17. This was an improvement as I was seeing 48-49 before. 

As I've said, I really don't know what happened. We were in and out of the 'point dish' menu and the unit started to respond slower and slower. Then, it rebooted and never completed the process. It was downhill from there. Dish just told me again that my replacement is scheduled to be delivered Wednesday by FedEx so I assume it will ship tomorrow.

BTW, I stuck my 510 back in line and with minimal fiddling, it came back up. Prior to that, it was off. Did you just split one of your coax feeds to run both?

BTW2, GCI cable said yesterday their new HD PVR box, the Motorola 6208 is available now at the Abbott Road store. The bad news, as you are aware, is that there are only 2 channels, Bravo and Showtime and it is only a single-tuner unit. The story is they will add more channels as soon as they can free up some bandwidth.


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## FarNorth (Nov 27, 2003)

Well, surprise, surprise! After being told for 4 days the unit would be shipped or was already shipped, they finally told me today that they have no new 921s in stock and I was unable to get an answer as to when they would. This after being told on Monday it had shipped and to call back and get a tracking number. I was then told the numbe was unavailable because 'we ship thousands of units ever day.' When I explained that Amazon does as well and provides a tracking number within minutes, there was no response. Then I was told on Tuesday the unit had 'interfaced with our shipping software and was enroute.' Wednesday, no tracking number, never shipped. Two different people promised to look into the matter and call me back with a definite date and time when the unit would be shipped. Never happened, messages never returned. Another told me she was in 'the executive offices' but could not call the warehouse to check on inventory because she could not get the phone number.

Unbelievable.


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## ggw2000 (Dec 22, 2003)

FarNorth said:


> Well, surprise, surprise! After being told for 4 days the unit would be shipped or was already shipped, they finally told me today that they have no new 921s in stock and I was unable to get an answer as to when they would. This after being told on Monday it had shipped and to call back and get a tracking number. I was then told the numbe was unavailable because 'we ship thousands of units ever day.' When I explained that Amazon does as well and provides a tracking number within minutes, there was no response. Then I was told on Tuesday the unit had 'interfaced with our shipping software and was enroute.' Wednesday, no tracking number, never shipped. Two different people promised to look into the matter and call me back with a definite date and time when the unit would be shipped. Never happened, messages never returned. Another told me she was in 'the executive offices' but could not call the warehouse to check on inventory because she could not get the phone number.
> 
> Unbelievable.


I went thru your exact scenario 3 weeks ago  . It took two weeks to get a replacement out of them. Said it shipped- no tracking number. This will go on and on for you. Sorry to hear and hope you still have a unit to put back on until you get the replacement 921. gerry


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## FarNorth (Nov 27, 2003)

I have my 510 up and running but it ain't the same, obviously. What really gripes my is the runaround. "It's shipped but FedEx hasn't given us the tracking number." "It's been pulled and is in the shipping queue, you'll have it on Wednesday." "I'll look into it and call you right back."

To date, only one Dish employee called me back as promised - and was wrong. She told me on Monday that the unit had been picked up and to call the next morning for a tracking number. Wrong. The best line I heard was from a CSR who told me to call the retailer where I bought it. I told her I had and that they told me they hadn't been able to get a 921 for a couple of months and had no idea when they'd be shipped. "That's because your retailer can't afford them and don't want to pay. All the retailers are like that. If they had the money, we'd ship them right now." Gee, how come they are going on Ebay for $12-1300? Wouldn't a smart retailer buy them from you at wholesale and then sell them on Ebay and make all that extra money? "I have no idea. I do know we have lots of 921s available and if your retailer can't afford them, that's not our fault." Why hasn't mine shipped then? "IT HAS!! YOU JUST NEED TO WAIT TILL TOMORROW FOR THE TRACKING NUMBER!!" 

BTW, I emailed an address I believe to be Charlie's. No response there and no messages this morning on my voice mail.


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## BarryO (Dec 16, 2003)

I'm getting the exact same B.S. If you remember, mine died with the L146 upload. I _still_ don't have a replacement. Everytime I call, I'm told the unit shipped that day, someone will call with a tracking number, and it will arrive on such-and-such date. This never turns out to be true, and the delivery date keeps being pushed out.

It appears to me that -

--Dish CSR's are trained to lie to customers in this instance, just to get them off the phone, at least for a few days.

--They are unwilling or unable to honor their warranty obligations w.r.t. the 921.


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## Jim Parker (Aug 12, 2003)

Hi FarNorth
Sounds like our signal strength is about the same - low 50s on a clear day for the weak transponders. I have a switch to combine the feeds and send out 2 runs to the 921 and 1 to the 510.

Did you send your 921 in? If not, it might be worth hooking up again just to see if still does the same thing. Sometimes things just start working again for no obvious reason.  

The fact that you can't get a replacement 921 actually sheds some light on why the 921 is not widely available. There are two theorys being kicked around here: Held up for software problems or held up because they don't have any. Sure looks like the latter.


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## FarNorth (Nov 27, 2003)

Yeah, I hooked it up last night just to be sure. It's dead, just won't finish booting up. I called again today and talked with 2 different CSRs in the Executive Offices. It appears they simply don't have any new units in stock. I say "appears" because it isn't totally clear to me that they can actually talk to the warehouse. I asked today why I hadn't been told to send my unit in for repair and nobody could explain. 'We'll look into that for you.'

So far, my record is perfect. I have talked to a dozen different people, given out all 3 of my phone numbers and not one has called me back. I also never got a response to the email I sent to [email protected].

Here's what I don't understand: I've been told that fewer than 1,000 of these units have been delivered. If this forum is any indicator, most are performing fine so lets say there are 25-50 people like me waiting for replacements or repair. How hard can it be to take care of 25 customers? How are they building these things?


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