# 921 after power surge



## Nathan_R (Jul 21, 2003)

Hi all, 

I apologize in advance if this post should be in another forum and for my long-windedness. Here's the deal:

Two nights ago, I had a very brief power surge in my living room, where my 921 is located. The 921 is protected by a Panamax Max 5300, which cut out briefly due to the surge. The other 11 components in my rack are performing perfectly after the surge, but the 921 is flaky. 

Now I can only receive some channels on the 119 sat. I've lost my sat HD, my sat locals, and my sat movie channels. The kicker is that when I run a check switch, the routine says I have no switch installed at all. I have a red-and-white X on 119 with Switch: No Switch and Status: UNKNOWN on both inputs. However, I'm getting a very high strength on 119 (consistently 125 strength), and like I said, I'm getting all some of my 119 channels.

The 921 is fed by a 34 switch, which also feeds a 508 (or maybe 510) in my bedroom, along with an 811 in my living room. The bedroom DVR and 811 are performing perfectly. I even ran a check switch and hard reboot on it to make sure it's not a bad switch.

Before I called Dish las night, I ran another unplug, reboot, and check switch routine to no avail. Unfortunately, the advanced techs couldn't help. Their final advice was to call my installer. While I have no problem with this (he's heading over tomorrow), I'm at a complete loss as to what the problem may be.

I could understand one of the tuners frying, but wouldn't that mean a loss of all of 119 altogether? Also, last night (24 hours after the surge), I still had OTA guide data for me locals. This evening (48 hours after the surge), I have nothing but "Local Programming" on those channels.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

On a side note, I greatly appreciate the professionalism and good humor of my advanced tech last night. I was concerned I was going to spend the evening in an endless cycle of "unplug and reboot" scenarios, but to my surprise, she was said I'd already followed the normal procedures and she didn't want to spend the night wedged between the wall and my rack 

Any and all comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and best regards,
~~Nathan


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## bbomar (Oct 18, 2004)

Just a couple of thoughts which you may have tried. If the satellite
cable(s) go through the surge protector you might try bypassing it.
If it is not too difficult you might also try swapping cables with
your other receiver.


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## Nathan_R (Jul 21, 2003)

Good point, bbomar. I'm not running the coax through the surge protector, though. This may be a lessoned learned as far as running coax through the SP in the future, but I'm not sure how a random surge could have come from the dish itself.  I'll have him switch out the cables tomorrow, as I don't have 100 ft. of coax lying around 

Any ideas if possibly something within the 921 itself could have shorted out?


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

It's absolutely possible that your 921 was fried by the surge, especially if your other receivers are working.


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## FrequentFlyer (Sep 22, 2004)

Did you power cycle the switch? I have seen this a lot on my 921 and I have to power down the switch (unplug power inserter) and then power it back up EVEN IF the other receivers are all working.


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## Nathan_R (Jul 21, 2003)

Just an update:

I'm pretty sure my 3-month-old 921 is dead at this point.  I've changed all the cables out and even re-ran the lines from the switch to my receivers. I neglected to mention that I also have an 811 in the living room setup. In fact, I completely forgot it was even in the rack, as I never fire it up. I switched out the feeds between the two (several times), all with the same result. I can only get a few of the 119 channels on the 921. The 811 is performing beautifully. 

My installer buddy couldn't make it out this weekend, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing he can do to resurrect the box. Still, I'll have him out whenever he can make it.

In the meantime, is there any type of warranty for this thing (aside from the optional Dish monthly surcharge warranty fee)? Given the lifespan of my particular unit, I can't and won't pay for another unit. If any of the other 9 components had fried (or even acted up) after the power surge, it would be a different story. 

This is just depressing before the holidays


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

First, have you done what was suggested in the prior few posts? They are all good tests that the E* CSRs don't know about.

Second, I think the 921 has a one-year warranty.


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## Nathan_R (Jul 21, 2003)

I tried everything mentioned except power cycling the switch. To the best of my knowledge, my switch has no power inserter to unplug. 

I purchased 100 of coax and re-wired the run from the switch to the 921.

Thanks for the heads-up on the warranty. If I get out of work at a reasonable time, I'll give Dish a call again.

In the meantime, I'm glad I still have the 811.

Thanks.
~~Nathan


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## Nathan_R (Jul 21, 2003)

Just an update (and then this thread can be closed):

Dish is sending me a new 921. I was supposed to receive a call regarding my RMA number today, but nothing yet. I'm just glad they're replacing my unit. 

Thanks for the input and suggestions, folks!


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Nathan, if you don't hear anything from them by Monday afternoon, email me your contact info and I'll send it along.


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## Nathan_R (Jul 21, 2003)

Thanks for the offer, Mark. I'll keep that in mind Monday


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## ClaudeR (Dec 7, 2003)

I would also recommend getting one of the cheap UPS systems. I rarely get power outages, but I've got UPSes on the TV, both computers, and the cable modem closet. Better than a power strip, and come up to around $20 after rebate.

One warning - the default setting is to BEEP when an outage happens. A two second outage during the night will wake everyone up! THe next day I went around with the laptop and reprogrammed all the UPSes.


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## Nathan_R (Jul 21, 2003)

I'll look into that, as well.

Dish issued my RA last night (plus a time without service credit), so a new unit should be on its way to me today. 

Thanks, all!
~~Nathan


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## Orcatek (May 1, 2003)

Doesn't the Panamax offer protection warranty. Many claim to pay if a protected device is damage while plugged into their device. Never used this claim, but they almost all have this warranty now days.


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## Nathan_R (Jul 21, 2003)

Yes it does. However, I never sent in a warranty card, nor do I have a receipt for it anymore. I'm sure those two items are required for a replacement on their part. My Panamax is behaving perfectly (along with all my other components). I'm guessing there was something wrong with my 921 to begin with, and the surge was the final straw.


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