Smart card not inserted?

[William_K_F]

Hello,

My 501 has been acting strangely. I get the following symptoms:

1) Recorded shows lose several minutes of show every so often.
2) While watching I get: Error: Smart card is not inserted.

Is this a sign my unit is on its last legs?

I tried reseating the card but I still get the errors once in a while.

Please offer any suggestions. I am hoping to make it until the 921 is released and I can retire this unit that I got two years of service from.

Thanks.

-William

[music_beans]

If you retire it, could you give it away? (for FREE I mean. I need a PVR.)

BTW, I wish i could help you, but I don't currently have a PVR (or DVR).

[Bill R]

William,

It could be that some dirt just got into your receiver. Pull the card out and shine a flashlight into the card holder and see if you can spot anything. Take a look at the card contacts while you have it out and look for dirty contacts on it. Another thing that causes the problem is that the card is lose in the receiver card reader. Usually putting something like a business card (or something that size and thickness) under the car fixes that problem. If that doesn't work give DISH tech support a call.

[DishDude1]

I had this happen on mine, seems to of went away on it's own

[Bob Haller]

Clean card contacts GENTLY with soft eraser. Avoid rebooting receivers by pulling card ....over time this can cause the insert card message.

If you dont already have ythe $2 a month sysytem warranty buy it TODAY, wait 31 days and RA the box

[William_K_F]

The card has never been removed until recently and I started getting these errors.

What is a "Soft" eraser?

[Bogney]

What is a "Soft" eraser?I believe he is referring to a pencil eraser.

[Bob Haller]

Yes a soft pencil eraser

[psycaz]

Mine did the "smart card is not inserted correctly " thing when it died. It was loosing parts of shows the were recorded and fine when viewed prior before that.I second that idea of getting the warranty asap!!!