# Help, Lost it All



## KKlare (Sep 24, 2004)

Tonight it hit the fan. I had watched a old SD recording (12/10 or so) and with many more on disk (5+ hours of HD left) I went to a recent HDNET recording of Smallville and I got a blank screen. I remotely turned it off and tried again and got the same thing. The next time it showed no recordings, only timers. I did the power button reset twice and nothing came back. As luck would have it, a new recording started so I stopped it and removed all 30 timers. The 921 says I have 22:41 of HD available -- thanks Dish/Eldon, not.

Is there any chance I can get back the 100+ hours of recordings? ? ?

I've been having only the usual troubles --
Format key to get rid of jitters.
Power off to get rid of dark overlay.
Power button to get rid of slow or no response.
Few zero-second recordings (ZSR) because I offset the programs carefully, I thought.

Rcvrs: kept/tries
921 DVI #2/2 (7/9/04 lightning nearby) 120B/F051/L211HECD-N
811 Component #1/1 (1/04)
501 RF/S-vid #2/4 machine (#1 few months, #2 flakey, #3 1 day, #2 came back, ran #2 + #4 kept quieter running for 2 years)
Versions: current software
Monitor: Hitachi 46H83
Dish: 500/500 Legacy SW64
Orbits: 119, 110, 148
Terrestrial - Dish Rim Philips amp-ed, 48 mi sight to Alb, NM co-aligned


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## PittsbuRgh R (Jan 22, 2005)

KKlare,

Check out this thread: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=37830


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## KKlare (Sep 24, 2004)

I've only seen this wipeout/meltdown mentioned in the last few days.

I took the plunged and did the factory reset menu-6-6. A the disk diagnostic only took a minute or so with nothing there. The 921 came up with blue and yellow simultaneous outputs. Had to get all my settings reset: closed caption colors and font, satellite locals, 1080i, and the biggest -- a new favorites list. Locking out PPV and adult got rid of most of the junk.

The problem I had in re-enabling timers was that some channels did not have guide info beyond the 2 programs (yet) and will have to wait for that. The missing include SciFi, A&E, and BBC.

Cross fingers that I don't lose hundreds of hours again. Got to keep up!

-Ken


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## Tom in Ohio (Sep 25, 2004)

I lost all recorded programs and timers about three weeks ago. Back in early December I lost the blue color component of my output and when the lost data I just assumed my receiver was dying a slow death. I have since, after many hours on the phone (mostly waiting on hold) with service techs, received a new receiver. I have not yet installed it because I'm considering putting it on eBay before it becomes a "used" receiver. 

This whole Dish Network experience has been an unmitigated rip-off. I'm amazed Dish is willing to take the PR hit without offering 921 owners some compensation. My retailer won't rerturn my calls asking out of my contract. That's despite the fact he told me the 921 has USB functionality and an HD off-air programming. He was uninformed about the 921 at the time. I apparently have two alternatives, one being the abovementioned eBay sale of the "new" 921 and either paying the cancellation fee of $200 or paying the monthly fee for another 9 months. Or I can hook up the 921 again and suffer through. 

Any advice... anybody. Please help me with this decision. 

Tom in Ohio


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## KKlare (Sep 24, 2004)

The saga continues.

I programmed lots of recordings and changed from low channel OTAs to 88xx for more certainty?

Sunday morning I found 5 (count them) ZSR -- a recapture of a lost program, 2 hr A&E, 2 1-hr HDNET -- all overlapping satellite. I did get some programs later. As I seldom had the ZSRs, this is trouble territory for me. They seem to pop up with two recordings going.

Sunday evening, I tried to get several recordings and lost several and broke others. Now it seems a ZSR cannot be eliminated while "being recorded." As it is unstoppable "still recording," you must change the timer stop to the next minute and wait for it to stop before you can erase it. You must also do this if you wish to start a new recording from where it is then. The red light may be off while it is recording, NEW! It does say recording and I always thought it was the other way -- red light correct, REC wrong. Guess not.

Tried an outdoor antenna laying on the deck and got generally much high signals than the rim antenna just above the 1st floor deck. Found a 3- or 4-way splitter dropped the signal from 100 to the 70s-80s. A old 50-450 MHz amp (really VHF/FM, not UHF) raised the UHF OTA signals back to 90's with the splitter. I need a lot of signal sources for 921 811 501 DVR FM and maybe VCRs again someday. I was having problems (good was breakup, bad was no signal although 811 worked at in 70s) with CBS D16 (A13) and the real antenna fixed that for the football game. Will try mounting under the porch as that should still have a straight shot at the towers and be out of the way. Maybe I will be able to use OTA recording with the better signal.

First I want reliable recordings.
-Ken


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## KKlare (Sep 24, 2004)

I had a wipeout a couple of months ago and elected to keep the "devil known" 921 rather than a "devil-unknown" replacement after I was able (how?) to get it to not click and show the red-blue-yellow sequence after powering up. (Some have said they got 942s but that would not have been me.) I lost a nearly full disk, timers, 100 search patterns, and favorites. Quite a reconstruction.

Well it happened tonight like this earlier one except I have not yet got it going at all.
I will have to assume it lost my hundred hours of recordings include a Starz free weekend.... Now I'll have to get a replacement. I cannot keep doing this, I have a 622 on order but decided to keep the expensive 921 for a soon-to-come second HDTV even without the newer channels for the $200 difference. A mistake?



KKlare said:


> Tonight it hit the fan. I had watched a old SD recording (12/10 or so) and with many more on disk (5+ hours of HD left) I went to a recent HDNET recording of Smallville and I got a blank screen. I remotely turned it off and tried again and got the same thing. The next time it showed no recordings, only timers. I did the power button reset twice and nothing came back. As luck would have it, a new recording started so I stopped it and removed all 30 timers. The 921 says I have 22:41 of HD available -- thanks Dish/Eldon, not.
> 
> Is there any chance I can get back the 100+ hours of recordings? ? ?
> 
> ...


Rim antenna replaced by real log-periodic with UHF nose. 148 dish moved to 61.5 for VOOM.


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## KKlare (Sep 24, 2004)

It lives, mostly.

I lost the favorites, locals, and it needed a switch check to get more than 119.

What I had been doing was a power-cord or button reboot and it then went to a state with red, blue, and yellow lights sequencing. There were clicks or a clunk after the medallion reboot. With minimal clicks, I waited it out and suddenly it was flashing all 3 lights and I was able to power it up with the remote. With another reboot I found all recordings and timers. It did not record an overnight timer and may have lost others that I do not remember. As this is the third time, I will request a replacement as soon as I get the 622 and can get most of the contents to DVD+R. That recorder is a story of its own. Yes, I should be able to get one despite being out of warrantee because I under the old-old DHP with my 501 and not DHA or DHPP.
Stay tuned, Ken


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## KKlare (Sep 24, 2004)

Add to it for the last couple of weeks:

The 921 is hanging up (un-indicated pause) while S-video DVD recording from it, making it hard to walk away--a new problem?

-Ken


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