# 922 Locks up overnight EVERY night



## jmccull78

Hi All,

My dad and I have been working tirelessly with a problem which we thought was specific to his 722, but after a receiver replacement, the symptoms are the exact same with a 922. He has been a dish customer for 15 years, and I have been for 12 years. When this got to the point where we couldn't figure it out, FIVE separate techs have been to their house over the last eighteen months at which time they have replaced the dish, lnb's, and cables. They moved the physical location of the dish (even though the property is on a flat area in the middle of nowhere). The techs have tried three different 722's. ....finally putting in a 922.

The 722's and 922 both work fine all day and evening, but upon attempting to turn on the receiver in the morning, there is a black screen with absolutely no response. The reset button has to be utilized EVERY morning, and the receiver has to go through its entire boot sequence before the channels can be viewed...this is exceptionally annoying because no timers will work on their own until the receiver is rebooted.

I have never seen or heard of anything like this...especially since the 922 is doing the same thing. I have had a 722 for years with no such issues, but their issue appears every day without fail.

I have exhausted my brain trying to guess what else could be the issue.


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## Stewart Vernon

Two things to check:

1. Is the receiver in an area that is well ventilated? These receivers do generate heat, and if you put them in an enclosed spot, they can develop problems. Also, don't block the vents.

2. Have you checked the electrical wiring of the home? If there are power issues, that would explain things too.


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## jmccull78

Ok..your first point needs to be checked on. The unit is mounted on a wall tree in a home theater set up.

The wiring in the house is fine, I can say that for sure. My dad is in his 43rd year as an electrician.


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## jmccull78

I am going to have him move it to a table by itself....the internal HDD temp averages 107f, with a high of 129f. The average seems to be about par or a little below par.


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## Stewart Vernon

I haven't looked at mine in a while, but I think my high was in the 130 range, with averages of 100-120 maybe. I can't remember. I'm in a well ventilated area with mine BUT don't have working A/C so this summer was kind of hot in the house but I still had no overheating problems with mine.

Electrical or ventilation issues are usually the common point in situations like this where you've replaced the other wiring and replaced the receiver a couple of times.

You could have a properly wired home, but problems with the electrical service itself. These receivers can sometimes be temperamental so might require a power line conditioner/UPS of some sort to ensure consistent power "quality" (for lack of a better word) that might not show up in other equipment.

Does he have the receiver connected to broadband internet? There have been some situations when the receivers would freeze with internet connections. Not sure all of these problems were fixed, though I haven't experienced that particular problem in a while.


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## jmccull78

He had unhooked the broadband connection on the back for several days to no avail with the 722. He has now unhooked it on the 922 as of earlier this evening....I will post the results of this tomorrow morning.

Also, he brought in a commercial Fluke power quality analyzer which he attached for 72 hours. The results were good, however, each day the receiver experienced the same problems. 

I think the options are running out here!


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## SandyG3

Just a thought; is he running the HDMI directly to the TV or through another component in the media rack? I know some newer TVs and even media equipment (receivers) have the ability to send control signals back to the receiver and I'm thinking it could be causing issues. 

Any way to plug the HDMI on the dish receiver directly to the TV or maybe to another TV for a few days for testing?

Good Luck.


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## Stewart Vernon

Actually, that raises an interesting point.

How do you know the receiver is locked up? By which I mean... what is it doing (or not doing)?

IF, for example, it is displaying a black screen without audio... it might not actually be locked up... it might just have lost HDMI sync and thus no audio or video... but otherwise could be running fine.


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## Jhon69

DISH's VIP 922 can lockup because it's overheating,it's not being turned off at night(put in Standby) so it can do it's housekeeping when it's in Standby.If you have the MT2 installed(Dual Over The Air Tuners Module) the 922 will run hotter.

Normally the lockup/overheating point was 140 degrees.But my 1st 922 was in a cubbyhole in my entertainment center and the temperature was only averaging 128 degrees when the Hard Drive went out.Now I have it in the open on top of my entertainment center and the average temp has dropped to 120 degrees.

Also internet connectivity(which Stewart already covered) plus if for some reason your Hard Drive is going bad or almost full that can cause lockups.
Hope these ideas help with your troubleshooting.Good Luck!


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## Stewart Vernon

I always wondered if having a mostly full hard drive might be an issue... I tend to keep a LOT of recordings that I never get around to watching... and I mentioned that to Dish a time or two, that I suspected some issues might be because I had a lot of stuff on the hard drive for it to manage.

Never got a response to that... but I still always wondered if I moved a lot of stuff off if it might start working better.


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## P Smith

If you coud try that method, we would be happy to read your report here. From the horse's mouth .  Real one.


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## jmccull78

A quick update......

The HDMI cable was removed to no avail, the DVR is only 50% full, and this is the fourth unit to experience these issues (three 722's and the current 922).

Again, each morning the receiver does not respond to either remote. Both TV1 and TV2 just show a black screen, and until a hard reset is done and the unit boots back up, the receiver is useless.


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## P Smith

Same house ( air, temperature, dish, cables, a switch, F-connectors) and same owner has same problem with different replaced devices.
Question, *who* or what is wrong ?


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## Stewart Vernon

jmccull78 said:


> A quick update......
> 
> The HDMI cable was removed to no avail, the DVR is only 50% full, and this is the fourth unit to experience these issues (three 722's and the current 922).
> 
> Again, each morning the receiver does not respond to either remote. Both TV1 and TV2 just show a black screen, and until a hard reset is done and the unit boots back up, the receiver is useless.


When you removed the HDMI cable, what did you replace it with?

Not trying to beat the horse... but IF there is an HDMI issue, the receiver could be working fine and you wouldn't see or hear anything via HDMI.

Have you tried not just another HDMI but using component cables instead?


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## jmccull78

Yes.....component out used for TV1 as an alternate to HDMI...RG6 run to TV2.

P Smith, I am not sure I understand what you are writing.....


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## KurtG

Is your 922 hooked up to a Logitech Revue (aka GoogleTV)?


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## JeffN9

Just spotted this thread.

I think the problem you are describing is related to the black screen issue that has been documented before in other threads. I have to re-boot mine just about everyday also. This issue seemed to start about the time Blockbuster At Home was sent out to the 922's. 

Once I get mine re-booted and back to normal operation it is just fine until the next morning. I have surmised that for whatever reason the nightly update messes it up. Others have speculated that it does not re-boot all the way after the update or something like that.

One way to check if the problem you are describing is related or not is to go into the dvr while it is displaying a black screen, start playing a recording, stop it and then see if you can view live programming. I can usually get mine back to an operational state by doing this but beware that it is still somewhat unstable at that point and your timers may not work. I always know when mine is in this state because I have the curser even though it's supposed to be hidden.


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## pjazz

My problem is similar . Every time I turn the dvr off and turn it back on I get a black screen. After I reboot everything is ok. After a few tests I noticed accessing the help menu and exiting got me a screen again. I'm going to call support and see if it allows me a fix instead of a replacement of the dvr.


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## lonewolf41

I have a similar, but maybe not 100% the same type, issue. About 2-3 times a week...not always in the morning, but mostly, I have no picture or sound from live TV. I can pick the guide or the DVR menus and can see those, but I cannot pick anything. It is like it ignores my commands. I can see the banner up top that tells me what channel I am on and what is playing, but there is no picture or sound. I am now on my 3rd receiver since August (just showed up today).

A hard reset always fixes it so I am thinking about putting it on a timer so that it shuts off for a little while every night. I figure I am not the only one having this issue, but Dish seems to know almost nothing about it. I do have an external drive and it is connected to the internet. I think I will start disconnecting those one by one to see if one of those things is causing it. I think I have made it 10 days (some record )without it acting up before so a couple of weeks should tell me which item is the culprit. 

Hopefully someone comes up with a fix. If so, please post it. I like the receiver, but having to reset it every 3-4 days is the pits...especially when it misses recordings. 

Thanks,
-Keith


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## JeffN9

There has been so many strange issues with mine that I've lost count.

I decided to record the Badgers game on Saturday. About halfway through the first qtr. the picture froze. It remained that way for the rest of the recording. Fortunately I was able to start watching in the 2nd qtr. so I didn't miss the whole thing. Turned out I wouldn't have missed much

I read in another thread that someone believed it was having EHD's connected that caused at least some of the problems. I have noticed that sometimes when I re-boot a dialogue box comes up that tells me I have an external device connected. It prompts you to click ok. If I didn't click ok could that cause an issue? I'm usually not awake at 4am to click ok after the nightly update/re-boot. Since day one I've also had problems sometimes with the 922 not seeing one or both of my EHD's when I turn it on in the morning.

I've been experimenting with this by disconnecting the EHD's. Time will tell but I've had no problems the last three days. Obviously I wouldn't want to leave the EHD's disconnected forever though.


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## munsel6

I have had these same issues with 2 or 3 722's, a 722k which was new not reconditioned and barely a month old. Had this happen 3 times last week. Tomorrow a tech is coming out to install a 922. Again receiver is fine at night, then when you try to turn on next morning you get no response from either TV 1 or TV 2, just a black screen and no sound. receiver has to be reset or have the power cord unplugged then plugged back in. Remotes have been replaced along with several receivers. After reading this Thread it does not appear that a 922 will be the answer to these issues


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## P Smith

Isn't new version S1.19 fixed the issue ?


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## JeffN9

FWIW, I have had no problems with my 922 since I disconnected my 2 EHD's last weekend. Could be just a coincidence, or not. If you are having problems with your receiver and have a EHD connected you might want to try the experiment yourself. Disconnect the EHD for a week or so to see if the problems go away.


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## P Smith

If you'll keep just one EHD, would it have same issue.


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## JeffN9

I have had EHD issues since I got the 922. It doesn't seem to matter whether I have one or both connected. When I turn the receiver on in the morning it usually doesn't see one or both of the EHD's. I've tried using the front usb and having one plugged in the back and one in the front but still have prob's. I have a powered hub but that also doesn't seem to make any difference.

Recently I read someone's post that thought having EHD's connected could be causing the black screen issue. So far having mine disconnected has fixed that problem. Of course now that I said that it could mess up tomorrow

I haven't seen any release notes on S119. What all is it supposed to fix?


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## Ray [email protected] Network

Although it may work with both EHDs plugged in, we recommend only 1 at a time be connected to the receiver. Does the 922 recognize the EHD after you reboot the receiver?

I don't have information about the S1.19 software release yet. Thanks.



JeffN9 said:


> I have had EHD issues since I got the 922. It doesn't seem to matter whether I have one or both connected. When I turn the receiver on in the morning it usually doesn't see one or both of the EHD's. I've tried using the front usb and having one plugged in the back and one in the front but still have prob's. I have a powered hub but that also doesn't seem to make any difference.
> 
> Recently I read someone's post that thought having EHD's connected could be causing the black screen issue. So far having mine disconnected has fixed that problem. Of course now that I said that it could mess up tomorrow
> 
> I haven't seen any release notes on S119. What all is it supposed to fix?


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## P Smith

JeffN9 said:


> I have had EHD issues since I got the 922. It doesn't seem to matter whether I have one or both connected. When I turn the receiver on in the morning it usually doesn't see one or both of the EHD's. I've tried using the front usb and having one plugged in the back and one in the front but still have prob's. I have a powered hub but that also doesn't seem to make any difference.
> 
> Recently I read someone's post that thought having EHD's connected could be causing the black screen issue. So far having mine disconnected has fixed that problem. Of course now that I said that it could mess up tomorrow
> 
> I haven't seen any release notes on S119. What all is it supposed to fix?


Perhaps need to turn off power safe features on the EHD?


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## JeffN9

Ray [email protected] Network said:


> Although it may work with both EHDs plugged in, we recommend only 1 at a time be connected to the receiver. Does the 922 recognize the EHD after you reboot the receiver?
> 
> I don't have information about the S1.19 software release yet. Thanks.


Hmmm, that's the first time I heard (or read) that even though the 922 can support up to 4 EHD's, you only recommend 1. Regardless, I had the same problems with only 1 connected. And the problems have occured on two different 922's as I'm on my 2nd one.

The only reason that I brought up my EHD problems was because it might relate to the black screen/locking up issues that so many (including me) seem to be having. It would be interesting to find out if that problem goes away after disconnecting the EHD.


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## P Smith

I recall before the hopper, 922 works fine (did reboot each night as scheduled) with no-name EHD enclosure...


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## JeffN9

P Smith said:


> Perhaps need to turn off power safe features on the EHD?


I have read volumes of threads and posts about this. There seems to be a lot of opinions about whether the power save(or sleep mode) is actually the culprit when it comes to the receiver not seeing the EHD. I use a 1tb WD Essential and a 2tb WD Element. Both do go into power save mode but only the Essential has the built in user controls to turn off power save. Unfortunately the only way I can turn off power save on the Essential is to hook it up to my computer but when i do that it will want to re-format. I don't want to lose all the recordings.

The funny part of it is that once I re-boot the receiver and get the EHD's back (sorry Ray forgot to tell you) the 922 will continue to see them until the next morning, even if I turn it on/off several times in between. It seems as though everything stays connected and the receiver remains stable until the next morning.


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## P Smith

Nope, you don't need to re-format. 
It's just default action of your OS, just say NO to that and do disable the power safe mode.


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## JeffN9

P Smith said:


> Nope, you don't need to re-format.
> It's just default action of your OS, just say NO to that and do disable the power safe mode.


Ok, I might try that with the Essential.


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## jmccull78

It appears that the particular television model being used through the HDMI port was to blame. After making countless calls and running the model number of the television, it was found that the particular samsung television was causing compatibility issues over the HDMI connection. Switched televisions, and the problem ceased. 

Sorry to resurrect the thread, but I wanted to put up the resolution to my original post.


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