# Testers needed for possible 721 9 Day Guide fix



## Mark Lamutt

I've been asked my the 721 team at Dish Network to gather a few volunteer testers from DBSTalk to test a new software version that contains a potential fix for the 721 9 day guide issues that some of you have been seeing.

If you would like to participate (and this time around, they're only looking for a few people), EMAIL ([email protected]) your information:

User Name
Real Name
Phone Number on Dish Network Account
721 Receiver CAID
721 Smartcard ID Number

Please, only volunteer for this if you are having the 9 Day Guide problem. 

This is the 4th time that Dish Network has come to the users of DBSTalk looking for testing help. If you volunteer, you will be asked to conduct tests and then report your results back to a special email address at Dish Network. This process has worked very well for Dish Network in the past, and I expect that those of you who volunteer for this one will continue the fine tradition that we've started here with this.


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## finniganps

I sent you an e-mail with the information requested.


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## Grandude

email sent.

Situation has worsened. Powered on today and no, I repeat, no guide data. Unit wanted to download new guide data so said OK and after two hours still not finished. Canceled out and tried again but same results.

I hope the fix they are offering will resolve this.

I don't want to reboot as this sometimes causes even more problems.

Rant OFF.


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## guywall

Mark, I sent you an email as well.


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## rcwilcox

email sent


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## Big Bob

email sent


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## Mark Lamutt

The window is now closed. Thanks to all of the volunteers. You should be getting an email with instructions today, if you haven't already.


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## Charise

Dang, just saw this now. Let me know if something happens and they need another person/more people, Mark.


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## finniganps

Mark Lamutt said:


> The window is now closed. Thanks to all of the volunteers. You should be getting an email with instructions today, if you haven't already.


I haven't received any correspondence. Can you confirm that e-mails were sent to folks already?


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## Grandude

finniganps said:


> I haven't received any correspondence. Can you confirm that e-mails were sent to folks already?


I got the email reply from BugFix yesterday afternoon.


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## guywall

I received the email from Beta Bugs yesterday at 2pm pst.

No 9 day guide for me. 
I think it may be an LNBF problem. 

finniganps - know of where I can get one in a hurry in the Walnut Creek/Concord area?


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## James Long

guywall said:


> No 9 day guide for me.
> I think it may be an LNBF problem.


Try channel 145 ESPNA or 239 WGN. Both of those channels are on the same transponder and satellite as the extended guide (119° TP 18).


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## guywall

I'll try those. 

Earlier this morning, I went through the dish pointing screen and checked the signal strength of the 119 sat. 
I have 94598 as the zip, dish system 500, tuner input 1, and then the following:
transponder 1 - 0 signal, not locked
transponder 2 - flashing red/green bar up to 72, signal not locked
transponder 3 - 0 signal, not locked
transponder 4 - flashing red/green bar up to 67, signal not locked
transponder 5 - 99 signal locked
transponder 6 - 83 signal locked
transponder 7 - 0 signal, not locked
transponder 8 - 86 signal locked
transponder 9 - 0 signal, not locked
transponder 10 - 0 signal, not locked
transponder 11 - 0 signal, not locked
transponder 12 - flashing red/green bar up to 67, signal not locked
transponder 13 - 89 signal locked
transponder 14 - flashing red/green bar up to 68, signal not locked
transponder 15 - 89 signal locked
transponder 16 - flashing red/green bar up to 69, signal not locked
transponder 17 - 89 signal locked
transponder 18 - flashing red/green bar up to 67, signal not locked
transponder 19 - 89 signal locked
transponder 20 - flashing red/green bar up to 67, signal not locked
transponder 21 - 90 signal locked


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## finniganps

I'm surprised I didn't get an e-mail since I was the first responder.....ah well, at least someone might be able to get to the bottom of this.


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## retiredTech

guywall said:


> I'll try those.
> 
> Earlier this morning, I went through the dish pointing screen and checked the signal strength of the 119 sat.
> I have 94598 as the zip, dish system 500, tuner input 1, and then the following:
> transponder 1 - 0 signal, not locked
> transponder 2 - flashing red/green bar up to 72, signal not locked
> transponder 3 - 0 signal, not locked
> transponder 4 - flashing red/green bar up to 67, signal not locked
> transponder 5 - 99 signal locked
> transponder 6 - 83 signal locked
> transponder 7 - 0 signal, not locked
> transponder 8 - 86 signal locked
> transponder 9 - 0 signal, not locked
> transponder 10 - 0 signal, not locked
> transponder 11 - 0 signal, not locked
> transponder 12 - flashing red/green bar up to 67, signal not locked
> transponder 13 - 89 signal locked
> transponder 14 - flashing red/green bar up to 68, signal not locked
> transponder 15 - 89 signal locked
> transponder 16 - flashing red/green bar up to 69, signal not locked
> transponder 17 - 89 signal locked
> transponder 18 - flashing red/green bar up to 67, signal not locked
> transponder 19 - 89 signal locked
> transponder 20 - flashing red/green bar up to 67, signal not locked
> transponder 21 - 90 signal locked


Did you do a switch check?
You seem to all over the place with locked not locked.


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## guywall

145 & 239 did not come in.

retired Tech, I do a couple of switch tests a day lately. It always says verified for both tuners and all three satallites I have. 

I'll check them again to see what readings I get tonight.


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## rcwilcox

guywall said:


> 145 & 239 did not come in.
> 
> retired Tech, I do a couple of switch tests a day lately. It always says verified for both tuners and all three satallites I have.
> 
> I'll check them again to see what readings I get tonight.


sounds like a hardware or aiming problem to me. Try somebody else's dish.

Got the beta SW so far so good


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## FLY5

Mark,

Any estimate on when testing will end and the fix will be rolled out? (Are we talking days, weeks, months?). Many of us are quite anxious to get our 9-day guides working normally again. (I was on vacation when the request for testers was posted, so I missed the chance to participate.)


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## rcwilcox

FLY5 said:


> Mark,
> 
> Any estimate on when testing will end and the fix will be rolled out? (Are we talking days, weeks, months?). .)


YES........................................

Email said it went well and would roll out soon whatever that means. I got the impression it would be quickly


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## rlegan

I hope that this test went so well, that all future updates will be beta tested!


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## Grandude

rlegan said:


> I hope that this test went so well, that all future updates will be beta tested!


I second that suggestion. Modify it to say beta tested by forum members.:grin: 
I would expect the 'fix' will be downloaded this week. Of course I do not have any insider info on this. Just a BIG hunch.


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## Grandude

New software arrived at my 721 today. L3.26. 9 day guide still works. Spooled to all 721s today per the Tech Portal.


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## Charise

Grandude said:


> New software arrived at my 721 today. L3.26. 9 day guide still works. Spooled to all 721s today per the Tech Portal.


Not spooled to all, as I still hadn't received it this morning and I only had a 3-HOUR guide this morning.


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## Grandude

Charise said:


> Not spooled to all, as I still hadn't received it this morning and I only had a 3-HOUR guide this morning.


Strange as it is now listed as the only version on the Dish Network software page.
Did you have your 721 turned off at all during the night?


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## Charise

Always "off" every night--and I did a reboot too. I'll hope after I get home and do another reboot that I'll have it. I sure could use it!!


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## RocketNJ

Charise said:


> Always "off" every night--and I did a reboot too. I'll hope after I get home and do another reboot that I'll have it. I sure could use it!!


I received 326 today. So far, so good!


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## Charise

Working fine with the 9-day guide when I got home yesterday. Still don't understand why, when I tried to download any updates the night before, it said no updates available (or words to that effect).

Anyway, all's well that ends well. Thanks for the support!


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## BobaBird

For those of you who have had L326 for more than a day, is the EEPG being replenished without user intervention?


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## FLY5

Before I turned the receiver off last night, I had the full 9 day guide with all information present.  I even loaded additional information by trying to advance past what I had (the progress bar is a nice touch).

But when I looked this morning, the guide had advanced showing another day, BUT my local stations now only showed a couple of hours of information with NO INFORMATION after that.  Other stations had all of the information present. I tried to advance past what I had, but wasn't given that option. So the guide was replenished overnight but some of the stations regressed to only having a few hours of information.

When I get home tonight, I'll check if the local stations got filled in with information during the day (I have the receiver on during the day). I'll also check tomorrow morning to see what I have. 

Anybody else have missing information problems?


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## BNUMM

My guide is still only 2 days.


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## FLY5

> When I get home tonight, I'll check if the local stations got filled in with information during the day (I have the receiver on during the day). I'll also check tomorrow morning to see what I have.


Still missing info last night, but I used the update function and it brought in all of the information. Then this morning the guide had advanced and had all of the information. So I'm a happy camper so far.


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## BNUMM

My 9 day guide is back but I still cannot use the weather application. It will start to launch then go to an advertisement (last night it was for Lowe's) then the receiver automatically reboots.


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## dlt

BNUMM said:


> My 9 day guide is back but I still cannot use the weather application. It will start to launch then go to an advertisement (last night it was for Lowe's) then the receiver automatically reboots.


I have the nine day guide, but when I go to dish home interactive, it locks up, have to do a reboot. The rare times I can get the weather to work, when I go back to dish home, it surely locks up.


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## guywall

Just got back from vacation and a tech came out and installed the new LNBF. All is working! 9 day guide and all my channels! I've forgotten how nice it is to have everything working!
Many thanks to all of you for your suggestions and also to the DISH techs who I worked with on this as well. I'm sending my LNBF back to them for further tests...

Thanks!


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## UGAChance

On the 721, you can go to Instant Weather without going into DishHOME/Mosiac.

Hit Menu->8 Interactive TV->2 Instant Weather

Are you guys only having problems with DishHOME or are both ways crashing for you?

There were problems with DishHOME crashing when you exit or tune to one of the six windows. It seems to be fixed in L325 and L326. Have you guys tried it in L325 or L326?


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## Charise

DishHome is working better for me now than it has for a while--maybe ever. And the 721 has retained the 9-day guide since getting the latest update.


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## BNUMM

UGAChance said:


> On the 721, you can go to Instant Weather without going into DishHOME/Mosiac.
> 
> Hit Menu->8 Interactive TV->2 Instant Weather
> 
> Are you guys only having problems with DishHOME or are both ways crashing for you?
> 
> There were problems with DishHOME crashing when you exit or tune to one of the six windows. It seems to be fixed in L325 and L326. Have you guys tried it in L325 or L326?


Both. Tonight I did finally get the current temp. to come up, but that was all it would do. Then it went back to the previous channel I had been watching with a still picture and no sound. After about 30 seconds it rebooted.


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## UGAChance

I do not think the weather app problem lies with a hard drive file corrupted since it is happening over several releases of software.

I think it might be more due to either signal loss or user settings memory corruption. You may want to check your signal strength on 119 transponder 6 for the weather app. Customers do not have the ability to wipe out the complete flash memory, but you can clear preferences, user settings, favorites, etc by doing a Reset to Factory Defaults.

You will lose all your preferences settings, but resetting to factory defaults may fix your problem. You may also try changing the zip code in the Point Dish Screen.


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## shadough

Im still havent guide issues. Only a soft reboot gets the 9 day guide. Then once I eclipse those '9 days', I have a 1 hr guide. Occasionally it will get a 2-3 day guide, but revert back to the 1 hr guide eventually. Going into guide and going forward in time, the messg on screen says guide data is old, do you wanna d/l a new guide? I say yes, the lil green bar just zips accross the screen and voila, I still have a 1 hr guide. And so I reboot to get my guide data.

Today after a soft reboot, I only had a 3 day guide. This time when I went forward in the guide it asked me the ....d/l guide..question and after saying yes, it actually worked and downloaded a 9 day guide......course it took 5 mins, as the lil green bar slowly moved across the screen. We'll see how long it lasts this time.


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## BNUMM

It is not signal strength. I am an installer and I have the best signals possible. It is impossible to get anyone at Dish who knows anything useful about the 721. All dish wants to do is upgrade you to a 625 or higher but I don't need 2 tvs connected and I do not want a DVR fee.


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## UGAChance

shadough said:


> Im still havent guide issues. Only a soft reboot gets the 9 day guide. Then once I eclipse those '9 days', I have a 1 hr guide. Occasionally it will get a 2-3 day guide, but revert back to the 1 hr guide eventually. Going into guide and going forward in time, the messg on screen says guide data is old, do you wanna d/l a new guide? I say yes, the lil green bar just zips accross the screen and voila, I still have a 1 hr guide. And so I reboot to get my guide data.
> 
> Today after a soft reboot, I only had a 3 day guide. This time when I went forward in the guide it asked me the ....d/l guide..question and after saying yes, it actually worked and downloaded a 9 day guide......course it took 5 mins, as the lil green bar slowly moved across the screen. We'll see how long it lasts this time.


If you have L326 and are still having problems with acquiring/keeping a 9-DAY Guide, you may have signal issues.

The 9-Day Guide is on 119 Transponder 18 which is an even transponder. The 2-Day Guide is on 119 Transponder 19 which is an odd transponder. Some people are experiencing bad/flaky LNBS where even or odd transponders are experiencing signal issues. This is becoming more of a problem since the weather is getting warming.

I would go to the Point Dish Screen and excercise every transponder on 119. I would do this for both Tuner Inputs 1 & 2. If you are only having problems on Tuner 1 or Tuner 2 then it is probably a bad Tuner Card or bad coax cable. If you are having problems with odd/even transponders then it is probably a bad LNB. If it is only certain transponders then it is probably a signal issue like bad pointing of dish or tree/obstruction in the way of the dish.

Hope this helps some people.


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