0x059C Bricked My Receiver

Have an HR20-700 receiver. It was working fine last night when I went to bed. Got up this morning and it would not come out of standby with either the remote or front panel buttons on the receiver. I unplugged the receiver to restart it. When it got to the last screen where it is downloading the satellite information, it just sat there for quite a while and then came up with the error of searching for signal. I restarted it again, with the same result.

The living room receiver, also an HR20-700, and the basement receiver, H21-200, are both working just fine.

I didn't have time to call DirecTv before going to work, so I thought I would let it sit for the day and see if it would come back on its own. I then remembered that 0x059C was out as a staggered release, so I called my wife at home and had her check the living room DVR to see what the software version was. It had apparently gotten the update overnight. I then thought that possibly the software update didn't fully install on the bedroom receiver and that was why it wasn't working this morning. I then had her restart the bedroom receiver and force a software update on it using 0-2-4-6-8. She did that and said that when the message came up that it was looking for updated software she went in the other room while it finished updating. She came back a while later and it was still looking for the software update. So, apparently it is not receiving any kind of satellite signal at all.

I have a SL-3 with a WB68 multi-switch setup. Has anyone else seen this happen before?

 

Yeah, I can try that when I get home. It's just a royal pain in the @$$ to deal with disconnecting/reconnecting all of the cabling.

 

Well, looks like I'll be giving the Protection Plan people a call here shortly. Just switched locations of the 2 DVR's. The living room unit, which was working just fine, is also working fine in the bedroom.

The bedroom unit, which is the one that was getting the searching for satellite error message when attempting to download the satellite information, is doing the same thing in the living room. So that tells me that the cabling is fine and that it's a problem with the receiver itself.

 

Yes. It was left unplugged all afternoon long - about 5 hours. I plugged it back in when I got home from work. It still couldn't receive a satellite signal

I had an HR20-100 in the bedroom until last year when it's hard drive died. I felt lucky when they sent me a refurb HR20-700 to replace it. I doubt that I'll have that kind of luck this Friday when the service tech shows up. I really like having the OTA as a back up in bad weather.

 

Wow! When it rains, it pours! Now my other HR20-700 looks like it may be bitting the dust also. We were watching a recorded program last night and it kept freezing up during the playback. It has never done that before. Then when turning everything off before going to bed, the receiver wouldn't go into standby mode from the remote. I tried pressing the power button on the front panel of the receiver also, but it still wouldn't. I then reset the receiver and when it seemed to take an extra long time during the receiver self check phase. It then popped up that errors had been found on the hard drive and that it was going to scan the drive to try to fix the errors. That started about 10:30 last night. It is now almost 6:00 a.m. and it's only 22% complete. It has found and fixed 2 errors so far. I have a service call scheduled for the other receiver for tomorrow morning. Guess I'll call back and add that this receiver is also having problems and will most likely need to be replaced tomorrow as well.

Seems like quite a coincidence after just receiving the latest software update.

 

I agree. It's just the coincidence of my second HR20's hard drive showing signs of failing the same day that the other HR20 is having internal issues regarding being able to receive a signal from the satellite and both happening immediately after the software update.

I know these receivers are old. I have had the living room HR20 for 5 years now. I knew it was just a matter of time before the HDD died. The scanning/fixing that it's going through now may remedy the situation, but I know it will only be a temporary fix until the HDD completely craps out. The same thing happened lat year to an HR20-100 that I had.

Just talked to Technical Support about the HDD error issue. Since I already have a service call scheduled for tomorrow morning, I asked that they add the 2nd DVR to the service call. I also asked her if/when the service tech determines that either receiver is bad and needs to be replaced, that he has been authorized by DirecTv to bring new/refurb receivers with him on his truck to swap out while he is there. She said that he may or may not be able to swap them out tomorrow and that I would then have to wait until next week to receive replacement receivers shipped to me. I find that to be ridiculous if that is what ends up happening. That means that I will be without any DVR, which I'm paying a monthly fee for, and will not have 2/3 of the DirecTv service that I'm paying for. That's a major inconvenience in my mind. If they insist on rolling out a service truck rather than just immediately shipping a replacement receiver, then they should make sure the service truck has replacements ready and is authorized to swap them out.

 

I have only had 1 service call in each of the last 2 years. One was for a bad LNB that had to be replaced and the other was for a dish realignment and the tech added a couple of lateral stabilizers to the dish to keep it from moving in strong winds. Both times, I felt that the tech knew what he was doing and did a good job. My concern about being able to swap out the receiver(s) tomorrow is that I have read many times that if DirecTv doesn't provide the authorization in the work order to the tech, then he obviously can't do it. I don't want the tech to show up and say "Yeah, the receiver is bad, but I can't replacement it today. You're going to have to call DirecTv and arrange for them to ship you one next week".