# DATA COLLECTION: 921 EPG "No Information Available" problem.



## Allen Noland

If you are finding the EPG saying "No Information Available" or only going out an hour or two, please arrow forward in the EPG and see if the program information is present again later in the listing. If it is, please post what time in the EPG the "No Information Available" starts and the time the program data is listed again.


----------



## Jim Parker

Mine disappeared Monday (11-28) morning. I did a check switch Monday night and it did not return it. I rebooted the box, went to bed and it was back Tuesday morning.

Wednesday, it was gone again. I did nothing, and it was back on Thursday morning.

Both times I skipped forward in the guide several days (can't say exactly how far forward I looked) and the guide info was not there.

This is the first time in months that I have lost the guild info. 

On 11-26 or 11-27, I changed the Inactivity mode from NOT enabled to enabled. Perhaps this had something to do with it, the timing is very close.


----------



## jergenf

Last (Thanksgiving) weekend perhaps sometime during 26th - 28th I received only current and next program on my guide for all channels. By Monday afternoon it was resotred back to normal. *No reboot *was performed during those times.


----------



## ntexasdude

My guide has dissapeared twice in the last week (once last night). Power cord reboots were required both times to get it back. I didn't wait to see if would come back on it's own.

I advanced the empty guide 4 or 5 days out and there was nothing. I would suspect there is something in the data stream causing this. Doesn't seem like a hardware problem to me.


----------



## penguin44

Channel 170 Nick, No Info Starts at 2amEST and runs for the entire guide. Only channel that has this one. All others have info listed.


----------



## mwgiii

It happened to me for the 1st time ever last week. 

Data was gone for the length of the guide, except for the 1st 2 hours.

Soft reboot did not restore data.

I had to do a power cord reboot.


----------



## tech_head

Hi,

It has happened to me several times.
It takes a reboot to fix.

tech

Class Action - I'll keep saying it until dis does something.


----------



## boylehome

I have never experienced EPG time problems before. I discovered the problem at about 6:00 AM. I rebooted the 921 and this resolved the problem.

This is a first for me but my HECD 921 experienced bizarre behavior before I discovered this problem. Please refer to my post regarding the bizarre behavior for additional information.

http://67.19.74.172/showthread.php?t=48843


----------



## Sharper

"No Information Available" starts after 1.5 hours, guide information does not return. Haven't rebooted yet because I'm in the middle of a recording, but last time a long power button reboot allowed it to get the guide info back.


----------



## DonLandis

This is not a new bug. IT shows up now and then, especially for those who haven't rebooted for awhile. As stated above, the reboot with power cord for 10 minutes should fix it as well as several other problemsthat surface on the 921 that hasn't been rebooted for awhile.


----------



## gregmisc

DonLandis said:


> This is not a new bug. IT shows up now and then, especially for those who haven't rebooted for awhile. As stated above, the reboot with power cord for 10 minutes should fix it as well as several other problemsthat surface on the 921 that hasn't been rebooted for awhile.


I read here that it reboots itself during the night if in standby. Is that correct? I always turn mine off with the remopte when not watching TV but still have problems.


----------



## DonLandis

Yes, there are a number of conditions that will disqualify the auto reboot but it should do it if you shut off by 2AM and do not have any recordings scheduled.

If in doubt, I used to power cord reboot my 921 daily at 5AM. I built a small power cord timer to automate the process. E* took a hint from me on that and 2 months later built in an auto reboot. Unfortunately, my power cord reboot was better because their's never did do the hard reboot. 

I believe that there are several types of failures that require eacvh type of clearing out the system. The soft reboot handles most issues but once in awhile the powercord reboot is necessary. In some cases a card swap reboot is also necessary. AND, I've even found that a double power cord reboot was required to fix a problem. 

There is no getting around the fact that Dish has a real design lemon with the 921. But all in all, using only the sat HD channels and never recording more than one timed event at a time, and never adjacent time slots, MY 921 seems to behave pretty well week after week. I guess one could say, if you don't use the 921, it doesn't fail!


----------



## hortonjr

I was having this problem with both of my units a week or two ago (I posted about it and questioned whether it might be systemwide). In any case, my units only showed the current program on each channel. Everything else for at least 2 days out was "No information available". I rebooted one to no avail. I did nothing to the other unit. After a day or two, everything returned on its own. I do have my units set up to go into standby, so I suppose the nightly reboot cured them.

Bob


----------



## UTFAN

I've had it happen 3-4 times, last time was two weeks ago. Program info extends through the current hour then no-info as far as the epg goes ahead into the future.

Front panel resets seem to do the trick each time, but it happens without an apparent or particular cause.

Owning a 921 is like owning a real nice dog. You love it, it loves you, but everyone once in a while it poops on your carpet.:sure:

And it just happened again last night!

And once again Friday Dec 16.

See ya at the Rose Bowl!


----------



## Jim Parker

I lost my guide data last night. It was gone when I got home after work. I skipped ahead in the guide to see if it came back for future listings, but it would only move forward 48 hours. I did not have the 9 day guide, I had a 2 day guide. I did nothing, and checked the guide data 3 hours later. The data was all there, including the full 9 days. This is the first time that it has only allowed me to look forward 48 hours.


----------



## boylehome

Usually my HECD model 921 loses all except for two hours of EPG data whenever an update software download is received. For some unknown reason, my HEED model 921 has the full EPG after the update.

In the past, I was able to force the EPG data to populate by doing a power cord reboot, then about 10 minutes later, performing a smart card pull/reboot. 

The procedure no longer works for forcing the EGP to populate beyond the two hours.

I have posted about this problem a few times before. Like most, I pay for the EPG contents and I should expect to have the EPG contents available to me.

Now I have to wait until tomorrow for my EPG data so I am unable to set up any future EPG timers. Ya, I know, I can manually set them If I know the starts and ends times. I like using the EPG for setting my timers.

The software team for the 921 need to make it so the EPG can be forced for situations where it disappears.

Sorry for the boo-hoo but it is just getting OLD.


----------



## welchwarlock

I experienced this problem for the first time last night. Did some data collection with the Dish technical support team, but they were never able to restore the guide data despite two reboots. Most channels had data for 1 to 1.5 hours, with a few sparse listings in the future, on some channels.

Need a fix from Eldon!


----------



## bbomar

welchwarlock said:


> I experienced this problem for the first time last night. Did some data collection with the Dish technical support team, but they were never able to restore the guide data despite two reboots. Most channels had data for 1 to 1.5 hours, with a few sparse listings in the future, on some channels.
> 
> Need a fix from Eldon!


I'm also having problems with the guide data for the first time. I am now
running the L273 software. Today the guide data disappeared beyond 1 to
2 hours. A power cord reboot got guide data out to almost 48 hours, but
nothing beyond that, even three hours after the reboot.


----------



## lujan

bbomar said:


> I'm also having problems with the guide data for the first time. I am now
> running the L273 software. Today the guide data disappeared beyond 1 to
> 2 hours. A power cord reboot got guide data out to almost 48 hours, but
> nothing beyond that, even three hours after the reboot.


Same here, I only get the guide info for about 1 1/2 hours. This seems to be happening more frequently since the last couple of software updates.


----------



## TBarclay

I had a weird situation. I subscribe to AT180 and HD/Voom Packages. Yesterday, when I went to tune in ESPN-HD, it had disappeared! It wasn't listed, even when I went to the "All Subscribed" List! I unplugged and rebooted and it returned, but then the guide only went an hour or two into the future. (Apparently I got 2.73 when I rebooted).


----------



## Squiglee

Yesterday (Sunday) I had many channels with "No Informatin Available" after a few hours from now. I have not looked at the guide today (at the office).


----------



## bbomar

Squiglee said:


> Yesterday (Sunday) I had many channels with "No Informatin Available" after a few hours from now. I have not looked at the guide today (at the office).


That was the same situation I had on Sunday afternoon. A power cord reboot got guide data out 48 hours. By Monday night I had full guide data out to over a week.


----------



## SummitAdvantageRetailer

I had COMPLETE "No Information Available" in the EPG for the first time since 2.73 but it's easily fixed by selecting a channel and then press Guide again. It comes back up without fail so far.

I had partial "No Information Available" in some of the channels of the EPG before 2.73 but I've yet to see that yet. That's an annoying bug though a Check Switch or Front Panel Reset usually fixes it.

This appears to be another bug surfaced by these software updates. Can DISH include a bigger pool of beta testers? These problems are not being caught during beta or something?!


----------



## remdam

EPG guide data disappeared for the first time today. I don't know when it happened, it was like this when I got home. Right now I have 1 hour of data for all channels, after that it's hit or miss (mostly miss) all the way out to 9 days.


----------



## DonLandis

Welchwarlock and others. Be sure you do / try a card pull and reset reboot procedure when you start having guide issues. May not work as it has for me in the past but at least you can eliminate that before you call E*. Hope it helps.


----------



## welchwarlock

DonLandis said:


> Welchwarlock and others. Be sure you do / try a card pull and reset reboot procedure when you start having guide issues. May not work as it has for me in the past but at least you can eliminate that before you call E*. Hope it helps.


So are you suggesting that we attempt to fix he problem ourselves before we call Dish? It would seem to me that even if we could fix the problem, we should call them so that the priority of the problem will get the proper attention tha it deserves, and so that they can collect metrics about how freqent the problem occrs.

I lost guide data last night for the first time since 273, and gave them a call. This time it fixed itself by scrollng to the next day, where guide data was, then scrolling back. As It scrolled back, it filled in the blanks.

Pleasea advise on call vs don't call. I would think since calling would help get the problem fixed. Then again, you would think that being 2 years since initial release that they would have all the bugs worked out.

WW


----------



## gunawo

First time I ever had a recording missfire was this am. I had the 921 set up to record Lewis and Clark from 6am to 8am. I turned on the 921 at about 6:30
and noticed that the red dot was in the header and the header said the current program was American Chopper with 0.00 seconds left but the record light was not on. 
It wasn't recording. I deleted the timer, unit locked up. I soft rebooted, no EPG data except for about two hours out I hard rebooted, after reboot unit took forever to get a picture although the power and hd blue light were on. It has been working since. 
Since L273 I have had to reboot every am because I would lose satellite 119.
Never had this happen before.
I have had very few problems in the past. Looks like another "good" version.
It may have fixed some but it sure screwed up my 921.

Jim


----------



## langlin

Just lost all guide data for the first time tonight, nothing after 9 PM. Can't reboot now, watching shows but will reboot later. I have no future guide data for the next 9 days.


----------



## langlin

I have complete 9 day guide this morning after auto reboot last night.


----------



## KKlare

It is not 1, 1.5, or 2 hours of guide. It is current and next program. This could be from 1 to 8 hours or so. It is used by the browse (move right) button.

I think that it comes from each satellite. It is not like the 9-day guide, which is just from 110.

-Ken


----------



## DonLandis

welchwarlock-

_"So are you suggesting that we attempt to fix he problem ourselves before we call Dish? It would seem to me that even if we could fix the problem, we should call them so that the priority of the problem will get the proper attention tha it deserves, and so that they can collect metrics about how freqent the problem occrs. "_

Yes! try to fix it yourself first. But in this, I only suggest the stuff that you are / will be instructed to do anyway. If you ever listen to their instructional channels, you would see that they tell you to do certain things before calling. All I'm doing is repeating what they are telling you to do. The card pull fix has been suggested a number of times on their tech chat in the past. You may have had a point about building a history of issues and it's frequency when the 921 was less than 6 months old but you answered your own question as it, indeed has been 2 years with many of these issues remaining flakey during that time period. The updates appear to reduce and increase the frequency with each release. New issues have not really happened in a long time. 
Personal example- While I have first noticed my remote having issues for the first time, others have had these problems with earlier release/updates. I attempted to do the reboot to fix on my own first and found it temporarily takes care of it but soon returns again. Did I call the CSR group? No. Did I report the happening? Yes, Not only here, but by sending in an e-mail to an insider contact I know and who has encouraged me to do that along with posting here. 
I'm not saying Don't report it. I'm suggesting you do as E* wants you to do first, before calling do the reboots, the power cord reboots and card pull reboot. Then if no results, call adv tech support and advise them what you already did. Also, post your issues and what you did here. Understand?


----------



## boylehome

DonLandis said:


> I'm not saying Don't report it. I'm suggesting you do as E* wants you to do first, before calling do the reboots, the power cord reboots and card pull reboot. Then if no results, call adv tech support and advise them what you already did. Also, post your issues and what you did here. Understand?


Good advise Don. Doe's E* follow our posts? Sometimes when reporting a specific problem to E*, say a problem that is well documented in these threads, E* is clueless stating that they have no knowledge concerning it. Report the problems to E* and have them make a report. Getting things accomplished through more than one channel is worthwhile.


----------



## DonLandis

_"Sometimes when reporting a specific problem to E*, say a problem that is well documented in these threads, E* is clueless stating that they have no knowledge concerning it."_

I don't believe that. Maybe a specific employee will say that but it has been my experience that by the time I advise someone in engineering they not only have full knowledge of the issue but also are well underway to knowing what caused it. That does not mean they are well underway to having it fixed. As we all have seen, being aware, thinking they know what caused the problem and actually fixing something are entirely different situations, especially with the 921.

As for following our posts, according to Mark Lamutt, they do. One engineering person I know told me he does personally. He is not adv tech support but one who is often on the Dish Tech show. Getting to meet these people at CES is one advantage of going there.


----------



## GeeWhiz1

Just to add to list, we had the problem with no listings this morning. We have seldom seen this problem until L273.

What makes ours interesting this morning is that we had a power outage last night in the middle of the night. Everything but the guide is working today. The guide seems to catch the program that is on, or the next program to immediately follow it, but that is inconsistent. There is one channel that shows guide info for 3 programs and then is "no description".

We will be doing a reset tonight. We'll turn it off by the remote before we go to bed. Then we'll see what happens tomorrow.


----------



## pbrown

I just got back from being out of town for four days. It is now Tuesday Dec. 20th. I have a power-line timer on my 921, which means it power-plug reboots everynight (I started it in the older days, just left it for now). Right now I only get an hour out for today. Then I get "No Information" for Wednesday and Thursday, then random half-hour and hour shows show up on random channels after that. There isn't any case I can find where there is more then one show back to back listed, and it almost seems there is only one show listed per day, per channel. I will let the overnight power down occur and check in the morning. If it doesn't work, I'll do a physical power-plug reset for a half-hour or more, which has usually fixed this problem in the past. I have probably experienced this issue randomly for six to nine months.


----------



## pbrown

pbrown said:


> I just got back from being out of town for four days. It is now Tuesday Dec. 20th. I have a power-line timer on my 921, which means it power-plug reboots everynight (I started it in the older days, just left it for now). Right now I only get an hour out for today. Then I get "No Information" for Wednesday and Thursday, then random half-hour and hour shows show up on random channels after that. There isn't any case I can find where there is more then one show back to back listed, and it almost seems there is only one show listed per day, per channel. I will let the overnight power down occur and check in the morning. If it doesn't work, I'll do a physical power-plug reset for a half-hour or more, which has usually fixed this problem in the past. I have probably experienced this issue randomly for six to nine months.


Everything was back in the morning after the overnight timer reset.


----------



## penguin44

Last night, Monday, I went ahead and set timers for Thursday Night and Friday Night. Now, I get onto the guide and wanted to set something for Tuesday afternoon. I now get no info for the entire week. How is this possible.


----------



## skassan

Yesterday, at about 9:55 a.m. CST I did a pre-emptive power cord reboot. Later, I noticed that I had only two hours of guide data for all channels. I did a check switch, but that didn't help. I haven't checked today yet to see whether or not the guide data was downloaded overnight.


----------



## bbomar

skassan said:


> Yesterday, at about 9:55 a.m. CST I did a pre-emptive power cord reboot. Later, I noticed that I had only two hours of guide data for all channels. I did a check switch, but that didn't help. I haven't checked today yet to see whether or not the guide data was downloaded overnight.


Yesterday I also lost all guide data beyond a couple of hours. I wonder if something in the guide data stream doesn't trigger this since a couple of other times when I lost guide data I saw that others did as well. A power cord reboot, smart card reboot, and check switch all failed to bring back the guide. It did repopulate overnight. My 501 and 508 never have this problem. Sometimes they indicate that guide data is out of date and ask if I want to reload the guide data. Then there is a progress bar as the download takes place. It would be great if the 921 would do the same thing.


----------



## Grandude

I don't understand how Dish Network/Echostar can in good conscience charge the five buck DVR fee for a receiver like the 921 which most of the time cannot remember or display what is going to be on two hours from now, and on top of that they charge another five bucks to get the same lack of information for the local channels.
There have been times when I have felt that I have been ripped off, but after spending close to $1000 for a 'top of the line' receiver and then allowing Dish to continue to rip me off month after month is amazing.
I just want the d*** thing to work............................period.


----------



## boylehome

This morning I found that both my 921's had auto-rebooted. The HEED model had 2 days of EPG data and would not go past Friday. The HECD model showed, "No Information" for all nine days (except for the current time programming). Doing the power cord/reboot with a 10 minutes later smart card pull/reboot brought back all available EGP data for the nine days on on the HEED model only.


----------



## penguin44

I too have an HECD model and I have had this No Info problem crop up all day today. It was fine this morning, then around 1pm I went to watch something and boom, No Info on guide. Then at 8pm it was all back up and now at 1am it's all gone again. What is up? Re-boots hard/soft aren't doing the trick. Is Dish up to something?


----------



## boylehome

I had the 2 day guide only on my HECD model this morning. The 921 had previously auto-rebooted. A power button reboot restored it to nine days.


----------



## Michael P

I just noticed this bug for the first time on my HEED. A few channels have data out a few hours (the Sirius Radio channels for example), however it's the channels that have the same program name for hours on end. ALso those channels drop into "No Info" mode 12 hours out and act strangly at the point where the No Info begins. I'm currently looking at Sirius 6006 Jan 8 1:00PM, when I move a half hour ahead the entile listing reads "No Info" despite seeing "Sirius 60's Vibrations" from 1:00 through 2:00 Pm when I was set to 1:00 PM.

I have not yet done a reboot. this is the first time I've seen the problem. My 921 has been behaving itself lately, I havn't had an aspect ratio stick in some time. I guess it's time to pull the plug


----------



## DonLandis

_I can't wait for the day I see a thread "PSIP is on it's way"!_

Why? so you will have something else to complain about?  I predict the most common complaint will be, It's not the same from station to station. Some are 8 hours while others are 14 days.


----------



## Zarom

My EPG today had two hours, or at most two entries, followed by No Information. Had normal operation yesterday.

Power switch reboot. No help.
Power cord reboot. No help.
Smart card reboot. Restored Normal operation.

Last time this happened, a Smart card reboot was also required to restore normal operation.

DVR921: - Jan 12, 2005
Boot 150B
Flash F054
SW L273HEED-N


----------



## Michael P

DonLandis said:


> _I can't wait for the day I see a thread "PSIP is on it's way"!_
> 
> Why? so you will have something else to complain about?  I predict the most common complaint will be, It's not the same from station to station. Some are 8 hours while others are 14 days.


Some OTA program guide data is better than none! But I refuse to pay for the overcompressed SD LIL's that E* is trying to make us 921 and 942 owners subscribe to just to get an incomplete (i.e. no PBS or stations not carried in the LIL's, subchannels etc.).

My back yard is lit by the tower lights, so I prefer to get my locals OTA. As an E* sub since the days before LIL's, I never needed the locals delivered via outer space. If they included any distant signals that I cannot receive, I _might_ consider subbing to LIL's. However the only station in my DMA that I cannot receive is not a part of E* LIL's (however D* has recently added this station  ).

Oh I wold not complain to E* about a short guide form the PSIP data, for I know that the source would be my local broadcaster.


----------



## Michael P

Well I did the power cord reboot, it reestablished the 9 day guide but then I got an aspect ratio lock-up. I hadn't had one for a long time, so I attribute having to do the reboot conjured up the other bug 

921 poops again


----------



## Jim Parker

Michael P said:


> ... an incomplete (i.e. no PBS or stations not carried in the LIL's, subchannels etc.).


I don't have the PBS or subchannel guides either. Also missing is the digital SD channel of KTVA (channel 11 CBS) and the digital SD channel of KTUU (channel 2 NBC). The only guide I do have is for the HD channel of KTUU. I was not sure if it was unique to Anchorage or was a nation wide issue.

I put up the rooftop antenna about 6 months ago, only to find out that the 921 pixelates badly on channel 2 HD.

So, I have 2 HD channels, one digital SD channel and 7 subchannels with no guild and one with a guide but an unwatchable picture. The entire 921 OTA has been a total waste of time and money.


----------



## DonLandis

I got back from CES to find my 921 was locked up. Rebooted and it returned functional but I lost my Favorite channel lists (4 of them). In addition, I lost my guide data for all channels beyond 2 days. I lost all ability to receive OTA channels. It's like the OTA tuner is non-functional yet diagnostics indicate it works and scan channels brings them up but since they don't appear in the all channels guide, I can't seem to tune them. Now the strange part- I now get some of the news channels that normally are with the base SD program package that I don't subscribe to. My timers failed to record anything while I was away. All recorded programs I had in archives are still there and my timers I did have set are still functional, including the OTA timers which fired tonight on schedule for the OTA channel that I can't tune with the guide. What a screwed up mess this is. L273 is still my version but obviously, someone must have been experimenting with my 921 via satellite while I was away. The 921 has been in standby while I was away. 
Maybe Dish is slowly attempting to break my 921 so I will just go to their competition completely.


----------



## Curmudgeon

Jim Parker said:


> I don't have the PBS or subchannel guides either. Also missing is the digital SD channel of KTVA (channel 11 CBS) and the digital SD channel of KTUU (channel 2 NBC). The only guide I do have is for the HD channel of KTUU. I was not sure if it was unique to Anchorage or was a nation wide issue.
> 
> I put up the rooftop antenna about 6 months ago, only to find out that the 921 pixelates badly on channel 2 HD.
> 
> So, I have 2 HD channels, one digital SD channel and 7 subchannels with no guild and one with a guide but an unwatchable picture. The entire 921 OTA has been a total waste of time and money.


OK, I give up. How is it the 921's fault that your local OTA station pixelates (it's your antenna...not the 921's) local channels with no guide (it's their responsibility...not the 921's) not to mention the fact that PBS stations do NOT follow any national schedule...every local sets their own...and there is no requirement for them to advise any guide service of that schedule.

You may have OTA problems...but they're not the 921's fault.


----------



## Jim Parker

I'm not sure exactly where the problem lies, and that is part of the frustration that I have. 

The tuner in the TV locks onto KTUU's signal without any problems at all, but the 921 doesn't. With the FM trap and splitter in line, the 921 shows a signal strength of 93, without the splitter, it is 97, without the FM trap or splitter, it is 103. The signal strength does not vary by more than 5. That should be more than a strong enough signal. The transmitter for KAKM (PBS) is on the same tower as KTUU. It has a signal strength of 116. The 921 locks onto it just fine.

KTVA is on a different tower about 6 miles away that just happens to lie in the exact same direction (about 320 degrees on the compass from me) as the tower for KTUU. Again, the TV locks onto the signal without any pixelization, but the 921 pixelates. 

KYES is operating a low power transmitter 4 miles to the east of me. Both the TV and the 921 lock onto it. Signal strength is in the 80s.

KIMO has just got their SD digital transmitter up, the TV locks, but the 921 doesn't. I don't know where the transmitter for KIMO is.

I am guessing that the most likely problem is that the 921 is not a good as the TV at rejecting multipath signals. I tried turning the antenna, but any deviation from pointing the antenna directly at the KTUU tower only makes the problem much worse, and it rapidly looses the signal completely. I did not try turning it and watching the TV tuners behavior.

It is not an SD/HD issue as KTUU transmitts both SD and HD and the 921 will not lock onto either one. KIMO and KTVA are both SD.

The bottom line is that the tuner in the 921 is just not as good as the tuner in the Hitachi TV.

As far as the guide goes, when I change the channel on the TV, it shows the current program info for KTUU SD, KTUU HD (both SD and HD transmit the same program), KAKM HD, KTVA SD but not KIMO SD or KYES HD. The 921 only shows KTUU HD. 

I freely admit that I don't know enough about how the guide data is transmitted to figure out why the TV gets some of the stations that the 921 does not. Perhaps since KIMO is just recently up and transmitting, the guide data simply has not been set up yet. KYES has been up for more than a year, but is operating on a shoestring budget, so I am guessing that they simpy have not set it up to transmit the data. 

That leaves KTUU SD, KTVA SD and KAKM HD unexplained as to why the TV gets the data but the 921 doesn't.


----------



## boylehome

Concerning my HECD model. I've had the, "No Info" except for the current programming data for EPG every day for the past four days. The receiver has always auto-rebooted. Concerning the last four days, except for today, a power button-reboot has restored the EPG. Neither that nor the smart card-reboot helped. I was able to restore the EPG data by doing a Check Switch followed by a power cord-reboot. I have swapped cable inputs with the 921's thinking that the problem may be isolated to a switch but this is not the case. If this continues, I'll contact E* advanced tech. support.


----------



## DonLandis

boylehome said:


> Concerning my HECD model. I've had the, "No Info" except for the current programming data for EPG every day for the past four days. The receiver has always auto-rebooted. Concerning the last four days, except for today, a power button-reboot has restored the EPG. Neither that nor the smart card-reboot helped. *I was able to restore the EPG data by doing a Check Switch followed by a power cord-reboot. * I have swapped cable inputs with the 921's thinking that the problem may be isolated to a switch but this is not the case. If this continues, I'll contact E* advanced tech. support.


Interesting! I had a similar problem I noticed after returning from CES week away. The 921 was actually locked up and a standby reboot fixed that but then it was lacking all my favorites, erased! Also I had additional channels like Fox News, CNN MSNBC etc that I do not pay for??? All my local OTA channels were gone. I did a rescan for them but while they scanned they would not show up in the guide so I couldn't tune them. Plus in All Channels, I got no EPG info after about 6-8 hours. It varied depending on the channel.

I did a check switch which was only on sat 119 at first then a card pull reboot followed by several hours of power cord outage reboot and the local channels returned to the guide but no guide info. After 24 hours of just allowing the 921 to be left alone, all returned to normal. The additional channels I wasn't supposed to get are now red in the guide. My locals returned to normal WITH guide info out to 9 days along with all my HD channels too. Only thing that remains different from before is my Favorites guides (4) are still gone so I may need to recreate them. Oh yes, one of the old timer schedules fired off on time, first time in 2 weeks, and recorded the show just fine.

I'm thinking that maybe the programmed reboot that dish executes as of an update tot he code may not be enough and doesn't completely restore the 921. I have my original power cord timer that forces a power cord reboot each day for 15 minutes. I'm thinking of re-installing that again for awhile. But, this recent snafu with my 921 is the first really disasterous experience I have had in about 9 months. But keep in mind, I don't really use my 921 very hard anymore. I know most of you rely on it for daily use. I rely on the HDTIVO that way since July '04.


----------



## Jim Parker

An couple of updates.

I deleted the OTA channels, rescaned and did a power button reboot yesterday morning. After coming back up, I had only 2 hours of gude data. I turned it off and went to work. After getting home, I still had no guide data. A check switch did not help. Leaving it off overnight fixed the problem.

Local OTA channel KIMO now has guide data on both the 921 and the TV.


----------



## Slordak

Anything being done on this?

We're still missing guide information for two locals in Chicago.

Pay for locals from Dish: Yes.
Satellite-supplied locals appear in guide: Yes.
OTA digital channels scan / tune correctly: Yes.

WGN9 - 8494 - 009-01 (Freq. 19)
WTTW - 8496 - 011-01 (Freq. 47)


----------



## tnsprin

Slordak said:


> Anything being done on this?
> 
> We're still missing guide information for two locals in Chicago.
> 
> Pay for locals from Dish: Yes.
> Satellite-supplied locals appear in guide: Yes.
> OTA digital channels scan / tune correctly: Yes.
> 
> WGN9 - 8494 - 009-01 (Freq. 19)
> WTTW - 8496 - 011-01 (Freq. 47)


Thats a different problem than being discussed. NY also has one of these.


----------



## jadebox

I'm getting "No Information" every day now. Skipping forward in the guide, I can't find any information later.

I'm just about fed up with this and the other problems with the 921.  

-- Roger


----------



## tnsprin

jadebox said:


> I'm getting "No Information" every day now. Skipping forward in the guide, I can't find any information later.
> 
> I'm just about fed up with this and the other problems with the 921.
> 
> -- Roger


Last time a reboot forced?

Do you have your receiver, timers active in the early morning hours? At least one tuner needs to be free to pick up the guide info.


----------



## jadebox

tnsprin said:


> Last time a reboot forced?
> 
> Do you have your receiver, timers active in the early morning hours? At least one tuner needs to be free to pick up the guide info.


I haven't recorded much lately (it's hard to when the guide is not available), so I don't think I have any recordings set for the early morning hours. But I'll check.

I haven't tried forcing a reboot in a while. I don't recall it helping in the past, though.

Thanks for the suggestions!

-- Roger


----------



## devough

My 921 does this from time to time. Drives me nuts.


----------



## jadebox

tnsprin said:


> Last time a reboot forced?
> 
> Do you have your receiver, timers active in the early morning hours? At least one tuner needs to be free to pick up the guide info.


Thanks again for the suggestions.

Before going to sleep the other night, I rebooted the 921 - power off then cycled power. Then I turned the receiver off with the remote. The next day, and since, I've had the full programming guide. 

Now I need to work on the other problems .....

-- Roger


----------



## robkunz

About a week ago I lost only some of my local OTA guide data. A few channels are fine but the rest say "No Information Available." I have done both a soft and hard reboot but no change. Luckily all of my timers are still firing fine.

I called 921 Advanced Tech last night. I was told there was a known issue with this. She took my receiver information and said she would send a report to an engineer. She then told me to wait two days and if nothing changed and I did not hear from them to call them back (this must be a standard line because I heared it several times a year ago but it seemed my issue fell into a black hole).

I'm not holding my breath but we'll see what happens within the magic two days.


----------



## tthomps

Yesterday moring, the "no information" bug showed up again. The guide was fine at 8 am, but around 10am the guide collapsed to the current show and one after it. The guide did not return with a warm boot, cold boot, or check switch. It was back this morning after the overnight warm boot. This is the third time this has happended, and the guide will only return after the overnight reboot.


----------



## boylehome

This morning on both 921's I only had 2 days of EPG data.

Okay, I've done the usual procedures for the fixing of the EPG and NADA. They still have the 2 day guide.


----------



## penguin44

Same here. Been like that since last night. Hard and soft reboot. Nil.


----------



## boylehome

I called E* Advanced Tech. support and reported the problem. They have received many reports of this problem. The tech. ran me through the standard procedures to eliminate any process that may prohibit the restoring of the 9 the guide. The guides are still only for 2 days.


----------



## Grandude

boylehome said:


> I called E* Advanced Tech. support and reported the problem. They have received many reports of this problem. The tech. ran me through the standard procedures to eliminate any process that may prohibit the restoring of the 9 the guide. The guides are still only for 2 days.


Hmm, well two days is better than the one to two hours that happens to me all the time. 
When is Dish going to reimburse us for the money spent on a DVR that can't be used as such? I'm talking about both the DVR fee and the local channels fee.

Is the 921 officially dead? Is any work being done software wise to get it to perform at least up to its official title as a DVR/PVR?

Are we going to be forced to upgrade to a 622 at our expense?

The whole 921 situation sucks, big time.


----------



## boylehome

Grandude said:


> Hmm, well two days is better than the one to two hours that happens to me all the time.
> When is Dish going to reimburse us for the money spent on a DVR that can't be used as such? I'm talking about both the DVR fee and the local channels fee.
> 
> Is the 921 officially dead? Is any work being done software wise to get it to perform at least up to its official title as a DVR/PVR?
> 
> Are we going to be forced to upgrade to a 622 at our expense?
> 
> The whole 921 situation sucks, big time.


Two days are sorta better but the 9 days should be there 24/7. About your questions, I wasn't thinking about those issues when I was talking to tech. support. They are all good questions and I would hope that you will call E*, ask them, then report back to us so we will know what to expect from them.


----------



## boylehome

It is day 2 and both 921's still only have 2 days worth of EPG data.


----------



## russ9

Same here - 2 days of data.


----------



## penguin44

Same here. Getting annoyed since I go away on monday for 3 days and woud like to record some programs.


----------



## lionsrule

Same here.......two days only! Tried both a cord pull and manual reboot. Anyone emailed [email protected]? Perhaps a request for a credit is in order.


----------



## boylehome

Day 3 still a 2 day guide. This needs fixed.


----------



## penguin44

Posted in other forum. Guide was still 2 days until about 7 am and it's a full 9 days!


----------



## gregmisc

I now only have 2 days of EPG on my 921. It was fine last night but I just tried to set up a timer for Monday but can't see past Sunday midnight.


----------



## boylehome

Day 4 still only a two day guide on bot 921's.


----------



## Ben Hodson

2 days of guide only and for most channels it is info no available for further out then 2 hours. This is on both of our 921's. Our third box (an 811) appears to have the problem as well only going out 2 days but at least full data for the 2.


----------



## Grandude

I believe two days is normal for the 811.


----------



## SummitAdvantageRetailer

My 921 also having the No Info bug AND 2-day guide at times. Grrr...


----------



## boylehome

Day 5 and only a 2 day guide. Maybe something good will happen today. 

Update - I just checked EPG and it is now the full 9 days!


----------



## SummitAdvantageRetailer

boylehome said:


> Day 5 and only a 2 day guide. Maybe something good will happen today.
> 
> Update - I just checked EPG and it is now the full 9 days!


It comes and goes. I had full 9 days yesterday but I'm not holding hope that it's a permanent fix.


----------



## woofwoofmo

My EPG is also only good for a couple of days. A couple of times I tried a reboot and got 9 days of "No Information Available", but currently sitting at about 2 days. The 921 beat goes on.:lol:


----------



## ggw2000

woofwoofmo said:


> My EPG is also only good for a couple of days. A couple of times I tried a reboot and got 9 days of "No Information Available", but currently sitting at about 2 days. The 921 beat goes on.:lol:


Has anyone called the Dish turkeys on why there is only a 2 day guide? Sorry if this has been covered before. What the heck is going on? Thanks, Gerry


----------



## Allen Noland

I believe it will be addressed with the next Software Update. And to save everyone asking, I really thought it would have been here by now. Hopefully it will be soon. The next release is to address the Aspect Ratio issues as well.


----------



## Grandude

ggw2000 said:


> Has anyone called the Dish turkeys on why there is only a 2 day guide? Sorry if this has been covered before. What the heck is going on? Thanks, Gerry


I taked to a "HD tech" two days ago and he didn't appear to know anything about this. (I guess that is normal)
Sent an e-mail off to them today asking when it will be fixed. No replay yet.


----------



## BobaBird

We've been on L273 since Dec 8 with the full EEPG accessible almost the whole time. My guess is a glitch in compiling the guide data. I certainly wouldn't refuse an update if it made the receiver better able to handle the glitch, especially if it also fixes the SAR bug.


----------



## bbomar

SummitAdvantageRetailer said:


> It comes and goes.


Exactly right. I had 2-day guide data Saturday and Sunday. The 9-day guide came back late Sunday night without a reboot, check switch, or anything else that I did. I am back to a 2-day guide Monday night.


----------



## boylehome

Day 6 back to the 2 day guide. What the company giveth the company taketh away.


----------



## woofwoofmo

EPG is now down to 26 hours. Eeek!! The incredible shrinking EPG.:eek2:


----------



## russ9

Got my guide back this morning, intersingly enough it was 8 days - Tuesday to Tuesday the 28th.


----------



## tthomps

Mine is back down to the current show plus one, after being at the 2 day guide for a couple of days.


----------



## Grandude

I'm back down to the two day guide. Maybe I should have left mine on when I had the 9 day guide to keep it from doing it's nightly reboot. I put the PIP window in the upper corner last night to see if the reboot happened and it was back down in the lower right this morning so the nightly reboot did occur.


----------



## boylehome

I'm down to two hours of EPG or where ever the second hour program ends. Everything beyond is the infamous, "No Information." What next?


----------



## Grandude

boylehome said:


> I'm down to two hours of EPG or where ever the second hour program ends. Everything beyond is the infamous, "No Information." What next?


Hey Boyle, this is off topic. I have a once good buddy living up there in Redding. Name of Claude who is a tall, German decent guy, and loves to sing at the local pubs. Just wondering if you have run into him. If you run into him say hello from Brian.

Now back to our regular EPG rants..............................................


----------



## boylehome

Grandude said:


> Hey Boyle, this is off topic. I have a once good buddy living up there in Redding. Name of Claude who is a tall, German decent guy, and loves to sing at the local pubs. Just wondering if you have run into him. If you run into him say hello from Brian.
> 
> Now back to our regular EPG rants..............................................


If I run into (have not yet) Claude I give salutations from the Grandude. BTW not only am I missing the EPG data but it is still at 2 days. See, we are still on topic.:grin:


----------



## AnubisPrime

I also am experiencing this now. It really started this week, and only rarely in the past. When it did happen either a soft boot, hard boot or smartcard pull would remeedy the situation.

Now it's only pulling two days of guide and none of the above resolves this.

I am also looking forward to an update.


----------



## boylehome

Day 7 for the 2 day guide. My HECD had the full 9 days mid morning for a while. I hope this alleged bug gets fixed.


----------



## gregmisc

My full guide is back. I left the 921 unplugged all night and this morning it was back. 

BUT...now can't record one channel and watch a prereorded event at the same time. I also can't close a PIP window that is recording and watch another channel. I get errors 312 and 313. I tried all the different reboots but no fix.

I called dish tech support. Went thru all the reboots again. No solution, new problem to them so my 921 must be bad. They will replace it if I PAY $35.72 or pay $5.99 a month for service :money:  

I'll unplug again overnight and hope for the best.

Anyone have any ideas? I won't pay Dish anymore money for this machine.


----------



## brmann

I was told by 4 separate csr's yesterday that this problem was software related and wouldn't be fixed until the next sw update *SOMETIME IN THE NEXT QUARTER!*


----------



## boylehome

Day 8 and only a 2 day guide.



brmann said:


> I was told by 4 separate csr's yesterday that this problem was software related and wouldn't be fixed until the next sw update *SOMETIME IN THE NEXT QUARTER!*


That is what seems very odd. Here we have had the software for a few months and the 9 day guide worked well the majority of the time. The software must have had a time released bug. This is totally unacceptable.


----------



## brmann

I'm wondering if they internally caused the problem by maybe moving broadcast content from one satellite to another, or maybe spot beaming is interfering, or maybe area 51 is doing something funny again.


----------



## russ9

Back to 2 days..

Or, depending on the mood or the moon, I get a full giude, 2 days, or "No Information Available."


----------



## robkunz

I've been at two days in the guide for 9 days now. I called Advanced Tech Support over the weekend and was told it was a known software issue and that they were working on it. He assured me that since there are a lot of 921's still out there they are working on the problem.

We'll see......

As to the refund question, E*'s answer is the 622. $99 is a good deal but....it will increase your bill at least $6 (HD enabling fee! on top the the $5.98 DVR fee which is on top of the $5 receiver fee). The HD pack is $13. That's where they get you.[

QUOTE=Grandude]Hmm, well two days is better than the one to two hours that happens to me all the time. 
When is Dish going to reimburse us for the money spent on a DVR that can't be used as such? I'm talking about both the DVR fee and the local channels fee.

Is the 921 officially dead? Is any work being done software wise to get it to perform at least up to its official title as a DVR/PVR?

Are we going to be forced to upgrade to a 622 at our expense?

The whole 921 situation sucks, big time.[/QUOTE]


----------



## bobukcat

I don't know when this started for mine but it hasn't been as long as a lot of you have been fighting with it! I'm at about 2.25 days worth of EPG data and it will not let me scroll out past that so it's not the "No Information.." issue.


----------



## Redwingsfan

I only have two days in the guide,i've tried unplugging the box and also soft reset.
Any other suggestions,other than waiting for April fools day?


----------



## bobfreengel

Redwingsfan said:


> I only have two days in the guide,i've tried unplugging the box and also soft reset.
> Any other suggestions,other than waiting for April fools
> 
> I have the same problem....I have done everything; pulling out the card, and unplugging the unit. Two day is all I can get! Why isn't the 921 important anymore? My 721 was acting up, but now it is working ok again.


----------



## bobfreengel

:nono:


bobfreengel said:


> Redwingsfan said:
> 
> 
> 
> I only have two days in the guide,i've tried unplugging the box and also soft reset.
> Any other suggestions,other than waiting for April fools
> 
> I have the same problem....I have done everything; pulling out the card, and unplugging the unit. Two day is all I can get! Why isn't the 921 important anymore? My 721 was acting up, but now it is working ok again.
Click to expand...


----------



## tnsprin

bobfreengel said:


> :nono: Seems widespread, I was looking to see if anyone else had reported. Both my 921's have sudden go to about 2 days of guide info. Is it only 921's or is it other DVR's as well?
> 
> I'll post a new thread with a poll in one of the other forums.


----------



## tnsprin

tnsprin said:


> bobfreengel said:
> 
> 
> 
> :nono:
> Seems widespread, I was looking to see if anyone else had reported. Both my 921's have sudden go to about 2 days of guide info. Is it only 921's or is it other DVR's as well?
> 
> I'll post a new thread with a poll in one of the other forums.
> 
> 
> 
> I see there is all ready a bug report (saying max 3 days) in the 921 bug report. Be sure to post in that poll.
> 
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=31229
> 
> And there is dicussion in the thread.
> 
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=53161
Click to expand...


----------



## brmann

Clearly failure to perform as advertised!

Any Attorneys out there? Would this qualify for a class action? If so, would what we could expect to get be worth the effort?


----------



## Grandude

boylehome said:


> Two days are sorta better but the 9 days should be there 24/7. About your questions, I wasn't thinking about those issues when I was talking to tech. support. They are all good questions and I would hope that you will call E*, ask them, then report back to us so we will know what to expect from them.


I've sent you a PM on this topic.


----------



## boylehome

It now day 13 and still hung up on the 2 day guide. 

I decided to do the standard procedure in attempt to get the 9 day guide back. This is what I did:

1. performed a check switch
2. placed tuner one and two on a satellite 110 transponder (ch 126)
3. placed the 921 in standby
4. pulled the power cord for 30 seconds and let it fully reboot
5. gently pulled the smart card and left it unplugged for 30 seconds and let it fully reboot.

I powered on the 921 after this procedure and checked the EPG. It was still at 2 days of EPG data. However, every satellite 110 channel contained, "No Information Available" except what was listed current and next program. There was the, "No Information Available" for all of the HD channels except for the VOOMS and the Demo Channel that I receive off of 61.5.

The 9 day guide information comes from satellite 110 transponder 29. 

My model 622, 501, 510 and 721 all have the full 9 day EPG.

I did a Point Dish and found that the signal from 110 transponder 29 comes in locked at 105.

Latest Software updates:

09-16-05 Model 721
10-26-05 Model 510/508/510
12-18-05 Model 921

Time released bug or IM Force sensitive materials?


----------



## bobfreengel

Mine came back on 2/27/06. I turned it on and it said, "No imformation" So I pull the card and after rebooting I had nine days of programming. Still working as of todat 2/28...


----------



## brmann

mine came back today after several weeks of a 2hr epg


----------



## Zarom

Came back on the 28th, after over a week with only a two day guide. No action on my part. I think somebody threw a switch. (or unthrew a switch.)


----------



## Zarom

And, this morning, it's gone again. Power cord, Power button, and smart card reboots have no effect.


----------



## robkunz

After about three weeks at 2 days I found my guide data back at 9 days on Wednesday night. No software update so Dish must have fixed something on their end.


----------



## boylehome

robkunz said:


> After about three weeks at 2 days I found my guide data back at 9 days on Wednesday night. No software update so Dish must have fixed something on their end.


Be sure to report back when it reverts back to the 2 day guide.


----------



## 921Blues

My god! I am getting SOOOOO sick if this sh!t. My 921 isn't simply switching between 2 and 9 days - I'm lucky if I get 1 hour of EPG. It's been on an off like this for weeks, and constant for the last couple of days. Even an unplug, hard reboot had no effect. Now my wife is complaining about the bugs to. They used to be at least random enough that they didn't really bother her - now they're driving her crazy. This thing was more reliable 4 releases ago. Dish is REALLY screwing up with me. I was ready to do their $99 deal in April. Now I'm rethinking the whole DirectTV thing.....but I'm sure Dish doesn't give a crap.

Why am I venting here? Because I've called Dish on a number of occasions, and most of the tech support crew has no clue. At least the folks here acknowledge the problem.

921Blues


----------



## robkunz

boylehome said:


> Be sure to report back when it reverts back to the 2 day guide.


I am now back to only 42 hours ahead. I am confident that Dish does not care about the 921 users and, in fact, wants to get rid of all 921's by upgrading everyone to the 622.

I do want the 622 - it's obviously a great jump in features. But, I am not interested in my bill going up another $6-13 per month (required) with it!

I, too, am thinking again of switching to DirecTV.


----------



## brmann

the 921 is connon fodder!

and after we turn it in (for that fabulous upgrade they offer a/o 1 April with a promised install date of sometime in May, if we're lucky) they will correct it's existing problems and re-sell or lease it to (new customers only please) to further build up their coffers.

And they (Dish) didn't even have to buy us dinner.


----------



## barryl

tech_head said:


> Hi,
> 
> It has happened to me several times.
> It takes a reboot to fix.
> 
> tech
> 
> Class Action - I'll keep saying it until dis does something.


I'd would be glad to join a class action suit. My 921 has been nothing but problems since the day I got it. Does "we're coming out with a fix next quarter" ring a bell? We just need an attorney to take this case. I'm sure there must be several thousand customers that are unhappy with the 921.


----------



## robkunz

brmann said:


> the 921 is connon fodder!
> 
> and after we turn it in (for that fabulous upgrade they offer a/o 1 April with a promised install date of sometime in May, if we're lucky) they will correct it's existing problems and re-sell or lease it to (new customers only please) to further build up their coffers.
> 
> And they (Dish) didn't even have to buy us dinner.


I don't think so. I think they want to get the 921 out of service. One, it is a technical problem which results in customer dissatisfaction. Two, upgrading to the 622 increases their revenue as well as revenue potential.

I've wondered what they will do with the 921's they take back but I can't believe that they would re-lease them.


----------



## Jim Parker

The 921s that don't work worth a damn will get traded in ASAP. Those that do work stay in the field until they fail. Dish will then send our 921s to replace the failed units, there by inflicting the bad 921s onto customers until they have all failed or frustrated the customers into upgrading to the 622. 

I figure it will take about 1 year.


----------



## SimpleSimon

Jim Parker said:


> The 921s that don't work worth a damn will get traded in ASAP. Those that do work stay in the field until they fail. Dish will then send our 921s to replace the failed units, there by inflicting the bad 921s onto customers until they have all failed or frustrated the customers into upgrading to the 622.
> 
> I figure it will take about 1 year.


Sounds about right to me.


----------



## brmann

My 8 day and EPG came back two days ago, and lasted exactly 24 hours before reverting to a 36 hour EPG. It has done this three times in the last several months or so. Could this be a case of bandwidth bingo where if you, win you get the prize, you lose you get Dish SameOldSameOh?


----------

