# Question/Bug?: Blue light on, but Power off



## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

When I'm not using my 921, I turn it off. But every two or three days, I'll notice that although it's off (ie front power light isn't illuminated), the blue light (the HD output indicator) is on. I'm trying to figure out why this happens, and I think I know.

When I first got the 921, with all the playing around with it's feature, it would frequently become unstable and require a manual reboot, which I did by a power cord disconnect or a smart card pull. If I did this while the unit was off, the blue light would always come on during the reboot process and when rebooting was finished, the power light would be off, as expected, but the blue light would remain lit.

So, even though I now treat the 921 more gingerly and have only rarely had to force a reboot recently, I was beginning to think that finding the blue light on when the unit was off indicated that a spontaneous reboot had occurred. The other day, I set a timer to record a Showtime HD movie while I was at work. When I got home, the blue light was on. I checked the recorded movie in the PVR list and the movie was recorded in two segments. I'd seen this movie before, and by looking at the end of the first segment and beginning of the second, it appears that about 5 minutes of the movie is missing, approximately the amount of time it takes the 921 to boot. That suggests that the 921 happened to reboot during the recording and upon finishing rebooting, it still saw an active timer and started another recording to finish up the timer. This is the first time I've had a recording problem.

Last night, I was watching a recorded show. I wasn't doing anything else and all of a sudden, the 921 rebooted. After rebooting, I watched the recording without incident, so there wasn't any problem with the recording itself.

At this point I'm fairly sure that the solitary blue light does indeed indicate that the 921 rebooted while it was off. Has anyone else experienced the solitary blue light or have any other thoughts on this?


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

I see it all the time on mine. Usually after a timer has fired when the 921 has been off. I don't know if it has anything to do with rebooting or not - haven't noticed any of my recordings split in half.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Thanks for the reply, Mark. I've had plenty of timers fire when the 921 was off without seeing the blue light on, so it's doubtful that's the cause. I'm still betting it's because of a reboot. I did talk to advanced tech support and they hadn't heard of this, but did file an uncommon trend report. At least I'm not the only one who has seen this.


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## kls (Nov 27, 2003)

I noticed this a few weeks ago so I started watching it, it happens when the 921 reboots itself. My 921 typically reboots once or twice per day on its own.


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## JoeQ (Dec 17, 2003)

I have had my 921 for about 1.5 weeks.

Only one time, I saw that Blue light lit while the 921 was off when I had gotten home from work.

Did think it was odd so I am glad to see that I am not the only one.

Can't tell whether it had rebooted and I haven't noticed any hicups in the a recording - course I don't know which one it was recording that day.

Joe


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## rudolpht (Nov 6, 2002)

I have had 3 total recordings split (none that important). I notice the blue light, but never correlated the two. I'll go back and check the split recording, which I really thought was more of an irritant of switching sources and never really made sense.

I'll go back and check the recordings I didn't automatically just delete because they were split. What a hassle. I was just thinking today how would a split show (if it keeps cropping up) get recorded to phantom dishwire and would there be a hiccup between parts (never pondering a gap as big as 5 minutes).

This is a go to the head of the class bug on the bug list if true.

Tim


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## rudolpht (Nov 6, 2002)

Well I had recorded Heaven Can Wait, the Warren Beatty remake, and the first part was 89 minutes long. The second part definitely lost a number of minutes, specifically the whole end of the superbowl game, back to where Jack Warden & Beatty are in the post game lockerroom.

Very disturbing and I guess I'll ditch these recordings and wait for it to come around again.

Please put this on the BUG list. Good catch Jerry. I guess it's actually a "feature" to warn you recodings were interrupted by a reboot....

Tim


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## djtowle (Feb 2, 2004)

I've had at least (4) timer recordings split in two with the 921, Over just a few days of use. Once the 2nd half (segment) was not recorded at all.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

rudolpht said:


> Please put this on the BUG list. Good catch Jerry. I guess it's actually a "feature" to warn you recodings were interrupted by a reboot....
> 
> Tim


After reading all the comments, I'm fairly convinced that seeing the blue light on when the unit is powered off does indeed indicate there has been a reboot. And I'd guess the reboot isn't necessarily related to any timed recording that might have been active at the time of the reboot. I've certainly had the "blue light" syndrome happen when I didn't have any timed recordings set during the time the reboot might have happened. I think it may be coincidental that the seemingly random reboot happened during a recording, resulting in a split recording with 5 to 7 minutes missing between the two segments.


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## bytre (Sep 10, 2003)

I had the blue light on today with the machine off. 

I don't have any split recordings, yet.


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## rudolpht (Nov 6, 2002)

Did you have any timers set when the reboot occured? If not you will not have a split recording?


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## rudolpht (Nov 6, 2002)

The bug here is really the inordinate number of reboots vs the indicator of such.


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## 928gt (Dec 17, 2003)

I am so glad others have noticed the "blue light" oddity. I have noticed this since the first few days of ownership (over 3 weeks ago) and it is exactly as everyone else describes. I also had a split recording recently and now that you mention it, the blue was on when I went to check on this recording. This spontanious reboot/blue light situation is obviously a major issue that needs to be addressed. 

While I know for a fact Dish Advance techs monitors these threads (the last advance tech I spoke with knew me by my username here,.. scary) I feel everyone who has this issue should call Advance Tech and add their name to the uncommon trend report in an effort to speed up a reaction (fix) to this issue.

Dave


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## wcswett (Jan 7, 2003)

Jerry G said:


> When I'm not using my 921, I turn it off. But every two or three days, I'll notice that although it's off (ie front power light isn't illuminated), the blue light (the HD output indicator) is on. I'm trying to figure out why this happens, and I think I know.


I have seen this as well and was completely perplexed. I haven't had any split recordings but I have had one recording that fired and only recorded 2 minutes.

--- WCS


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

I have seen the blue light too. I have had several split recordings, also. I know for sure that one was a result of a reboot since I was watching the show at the time (timeshifted by about 15 min.). 

-Chris


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## angiodan (Sep 2, 2002)

I also get the blue light special. Haven't had any split recordings however.


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## 928gt (Dec 17, 2003)

FYI, According to an Echostar Advanced Tech (921 group) I was corrosponding with via e-mail today...

"The random reboot issue is definitely the top priority of the 921 team."

Dave


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Update on this - the developers think the blue light on may be a leftover piece of code from the 721 having to do with the 721's message light. But, they have a couple of people looking into it.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Mark: While they're at it - maybe they could look into making some light, ANY light turn on MUCH earlier in the boot process? It would just be nice to know the box is actually doing something as opposed to wondering if it needs to be kick-started.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Well, it does display the dishHD logo on screen very early in the boot process. I'll pass the suggestion along, although hopefully after next week, none of will be seeing the numerous reboots anymore.


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## SoCalStev1 (Jan 10, 2004)

I too have the same Blue Light issue. I have never noticed any split in my recordings though. I thought it was "normal". What do I know?

Hope this and all the other issues get worked out soon!


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Mark, or anyone who has been through it once: When the software is sent out does it destroy the recordings and schedules set in the system we have now? I have a couple of important programs that I want to keep. Maybe I need to put these shows on DVHS tape before they stop cycling them. Namely, I have the recent tech chat and I have the CES forum recorded off of HDNet. I would hate to lose these.


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## Jim Parker (Aug 12, 2003)

A software update does not erase any of your recordings.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

The software update definitely should not erase any of your recorded programs, Don, nor any of your current timers. 

However, I find that it's always better to play it safe "just in case"...


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## rudolpht (Nov 6, 2002)

Jim Parker said:


> A software update does not erase any of your recordings.


There was a beta that did just that. I have Don's concern also, though I'm ditching things that I would like to archive right now because of total disk space.

I HOPE the dishwire update does not dump current recordings, but I also hope they turn it on soon.

Tim


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## TV Director (Feb 14, 2004)

I've noticed the blue light on almost every night when I get home, and every morning when I get up. Couldn't tell you if I've had any split recordings though, as 99% of all timers I've set just don't fire (I'm on the RA list for a new unit). As much as my machine re-boots, I just assumed that was the cause of the blue lights.


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## JoeQ (Dec 17, 2003)

The blue light is on every time get home from work and also in the morning.

It must be a reboot because I had a timer scheduled for during the day yesterday.
Got home, the blue light was on and I had 2 of the same named recording.
One was listed as 84 minutes long, the other listed as 6 minutes long.

Did not get a chance to see if the recording was okay cause I spent too long messing with the stupid remote control address issue that I reported as a bug in this forum.

Joe


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## TV Director (Feb 14, 2004)

Got up this morning with the blue light on again. I set up two test recordings overnight. One was a movie on HBOHD, and it was a split recording...one for 6 seconds, and the other for zero seconds. The other test was on HBO Comedy...it turned into a 3-way split recording with large gaps in the program content. In other words...I got pretty much nothing.


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## FarNorth (Nov 27, 2003)

Last night, I was watching the recorded episode of Letterman from the CBS-HD feed.I was watching the first half while the second half recorded. The software update came, unannounced and kicked me off and shut down my 921. It then went totally dark for 3-4 minutes. Then, the blue light and the red light came back on but the green light would not power the unit back on from the remote; the green light would flash for a split second but not stay on. Finally, I went over and pushed the button on the front of the unit and it came on and powered up. I then went to the DVR section, found that Letterman had been split into to 2 episodes and I watched the second half. Seemed just fine.


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## sleepy hollow (Aug 25, 2003)

I have noticed the blue light come on a few seconds after I power off the 921. I have then powered up the unit and powered down again. That seems to work, but sometimes takes several tries. So far I have not connected this with timers firing or reboots since I have video and audio when I turn on the unit during the on-off sequences. It is not rebooting as far as I can tell. So far since Thursday's download, not a single reboot other than the two reboots I initiated. One was to assure the L.46 was loaded. The other was in response to the blue light coming on after power down. I just figured it would be smart to reboot and see if that fixed the problem. Not sure it did anything.

Have no idea what is going on, but so far have made no connection to operation. Everything works fine otherwise.


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## ggw2000 (Dec 22, 2003)

sleepy hollow said:


> I have noticed the blue light come on a few seconds after I power off the 921. I have then powered up the unit and powered down again. That seems to work, but sometimes takes several tries. So far I have not connected this with timers firing or reboots since I have video and audio when I turn on the unit during the on-off sequences. It is not rebooting as far as I can tell. So far since Thursday's download, not a single reboot other than the two reboots I initiated. One was to assure the L.46 was loaded. The other was in response to the blue light coming on after power down. I just figured it would be smart to reboot and see if that fixed the problem. Not sure it did anything.
> 
> Have no idea what is going on, but so far have made no connection to operation. Everything works fine otherwise.


Sleepy Hollow, are you using the following sequence to power off the 921?
Hit red button to turn off 921.
Hit TV button to turn off your TV

If so, you are half way turning the 921 back on: blue (or yellow depending on mode your in) when you power off your TV. You will get the blue/or yellow light but the green power light will remain off.
This is a result of the L146 version of S/W. A little "feature" was put in that no one wants. To turn both the 921 and your TV on & off at the same time using the "TV" button. The TV button will turn both OFF completely but will only turn ON the TV and give you the SD/HD light on the 921 (ie NO green power light). We have asked Mark to have this "UNfeatured" at the earliest opportunity as it is driving me and others bonkers!!! Gerry


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