# DVR 721 shuts itself off



## FLY5 (Jun 11, 2004)

I just got a new DVR 721 to replace my 4000. It seems to be working really well. But every day for the three days I've had it, it has shut itself off in the middle of the night. The receiver is on when I go to sleep, but off when I wake up. I thought maybe it was supposed to turn itself off and turn itself back on again for some reason, but it doesn't turn itself back on. So my questions are:

1) What could cause the receiver to shut itself off? Is there something I can do to fix it?

2) Does the 721 still record timed events if the receiver is off?

Thanks,

Frank


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## cclement (Mar 22, 2004)

FLY5 said:


> 1) What could cause the receiver to shut itself off? Is there something I can do to fix it?
> 
> 2) Does the 721 still record timed events if the receiver is off?
> 
> ...


I'm not sure what would cause the receiver to shut itself off, but I know for a fact it does record timed events with it off. I turn my 721 off every night and it has never missed a timer.


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## kenyarnall (May 11, 2004)

FLY5 said:


> 1) What could cause the receiver to shut itself off? Is there something I can do to fix it?


There is a setting in the 721 menu that allows the receiver to turn itself off after a period of inactivity (no remote signals, etc). I think the period is several hours long.

The unit will certainly record when it is off. In fact, it seems to be a pretty bad idea to leave it on all the time. When you're done with it, turn it off.

Ken


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Remember, "off" isn't really.

"off" is "stand-by", and these units need to do that - to update guide data, download software, etc.


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## FLY5 (Jun 11, 2004)

Ok, great. I get it now. (I couldn't find anything about this in the manual ... you'd think they would have mentioned it.)

I tried recording a timed event with the receiver off and it did indeed record it.

I found the menu option. It's "inactivity mode". But all the Help says is that it turns off the receiver after four hours of inactivity. It doesn't explain what exactly that means. Leaves a lot to be desired.

Thanks for answering my questions. Now I know that the receiver shutting itself off is normal and I don't have to worry it.


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## Bob Haller (Mar 24, 2002)

Mine never did that till the last software download. Since then its off every morning and is hard to wake up Multiple power on offs or reboot needed. I will have to check my preference setting but things definetely changed


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## the_beaver (Feb 15, 2003)

After the last update, if you happen to be watching 
tv in the middle of the night and you have not 'interacted' 
with the receiver for several hours a message somthing 
like this appears at the bottom of screen: "The receiver 
will be turned off because of inactivity within __ minutes...
Press any key to continue watching tv"...
remot


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

My 721 rebooted on its own today and then all the channels were not showing up in the EPG and was not specific to which satellite they were coming from but about an hour later those channels showed back up on its own.


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## Blademan (Jun 3, 2004)

SimpleSimon said:


> Remember, "off" isn't really.
> 
> "off" is "stand-by", and these units need to do that - to update guide data, download software, etc.


Dish advanced tech told me yesterday that powering the the 721 off is a good thing, and that the 721 "defrags itself" when powered off. Housekeeping I can imagine, but "defragging" a linux box? :grin:


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Blademan said:


> Dish advanced tech told me yesterday that powering the the 721 off is a good thing, and that the 721 "defrags itself" when powered off. Housekeeping I can imagine, but "defragging" a linux box? :grin:


Why not? Every file system I've ever encountered that allows either extending an existing file, or creation of a file larger than the biggest existing "hole" should be defragged on a regular basis to avoid performance problems.


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## Blademan (Jun 3, 2004)

SimpleSimon said:


> Why not? Every file system I've ever encountered that allows either extending an existing file, or creation of a file larger than the biggest existing "hole" should be defragged on a regular basis to avoid performance problems.


Heh. OK. I won't fan this possible flame :grin: , but you are right in stating that every filesystem will invariably enounter fragmentation, to different degrees. It's more accurate to say that FAT fragments much worse. ext2/3, JFS, and Reiser don't fragment as bad as FAT. Therefore, fragmentation in linux fs does occur, but it's a question of gain vs. cost. Google pretty much came back with the same, you can defrag linux fs, but it isn't as bad as FAT, where you need to defrag.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

No argument from me, and no flame intended, just stating the facts.

Fragmentation isn't so much a function of 'class' (FAT, or whatever) of filesystem, but of it's allocation unit vs. file sizes and add/extend/delete frequency. Performance degradation (or lack thereof) due to fragmentation IS very much a function of filesystem 'class'.

In a prior life as a IBM Mainframe Storage Systems Performance Analyst , we took great care in keeping the various classes of files (big, small, update frequency, etc.) in the right places (gawd, THAT was a long time ago).


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## oblio98 (Sep 17, 2002)

By turning the receiver off, Dish is insuring that all boxes will get any updates that come down the pike. The "Sirius crash/reboot the 721 problem" affected non-upgaded machines - machines that were not upgraded because they were never turned off - according to Dish. Now they insure that the things will be off at least once in a while


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## Bob Haller (Mar 24, 2002)

Ahh mine crashed on Sirus AFTER the software update....


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## Filip1 (Sep 3, 2002)

Bob Haller said:


> Mine never did that till the last software download. Since then its off every morning and is hard to wake up Multiple power on offs or reboot needed. I will have to check my preference setting but things definetely changed


Bob, since 171, i believe that the 721 goes into a "deep sleep" mode when in standby. It now takes 2 or 3 times as long to come on when powering up. It threw me for a while too. But just wait and it should come on.


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## Bob Haller (Mar 24, 2002)

Thanks I will try just waiting, and see what happens. Tomorrows experiment


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## Filip1 (Sep 3, 2002)

Bob Haller said:


> Thanks I will try just waiting, and see what happens. Tomorrows experiment


You are welcome Bob. I hope that is indeed the problem.


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## Charise (Jan 25, 2004)

Okay, I seem to have the opposite problem from the original poster of this thread.

I'm one of those people who "shuts off" my 508 and 721 each night. Since the announcement of the last software upgrade, I still put them into standby each night, but each morning when I look at the boxes, the green light indicating they are "ready" is on.

Anyone else with this little anomoly?


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