[MizzouTiger]

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?

 

[hilmar2k]

I would try swapping locations with one of the working receivers.

 

[sigma1914]

Check your wiring first. If possible, move your working receiver to the location and boot...if everything loads, then wiring is fine.

Unfortunately, electronics fail & HR20s are getting old.

 

[MizzouTiger]

I would try swapping locations with one of the working receivers.

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.

 

[spartanstew]

Often, when a receiver is nearing the end of it's life, a software update will push it over the edge.

Without the software update, it wouldn't have bricked last night (assuming it's bricked), but it would have bricked fairly soon.

 

[NR4P]

BTW, in the electronics OEM world, "bricked" usually means dead as doornail. Nothing. Nada. Just like a brick.

 

[MizzouTiger]

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.

 

[hilmar2k]

Have you left it unplugged for an extended period of time?

 

[anopro]

Sorry for the loss of your HR20-700 I will mourn the day when mine goes still use OTA a lot with that unit

 

[dcscot]

If it makes you feel any better, that upgrade killed my HR20-100 too. No response on any satellite now and all I can do is watch recorded shows.

 

[MizzouTiger]

Have you left it unplugged for an extended period of time?

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

Sorry for the loss of your HR20-700 I will mourn the day when mine goes still use OTA a lot with that unit

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.

 

[sigma1914]

I really like having the OTA as a back up in bad weather.

Add an AM21 for OTA if you don't get a 20.

 

[MizzouTiger]

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.

 

[PCampbell]

HR20s are getting old, that sounds like a hard drive going bad. I hope my old HR20 holds up but is is now five years old.

 

[CCarncross]

You have/had HDD's failing...the checks during reboot are what is bringing this to light. You can blame it on the the firmware, but the new firmware is really not to blame at all.

 

[Whiskey River]

My 300GB drive in my HR20-700 started going bad, It would studder, and pause, and sometimes your show would just end, strangest one was when it kept playing way past the end of the recording. So since it was 5 years since I paid $300 at bestbuy, I talked to
the Access card dept. And convinced them into transfering ownership to me so I could install a new 2TB drive. Put a Hitachi 7200RPM 2TB drive, I erased everything except Joe Satriani Live! that I recorded the first year from HDnet, and cloned it onto the new drive and its been working Great ! ever since, thats been about a year and a half now.

 

[dcscot]

An update, I call for service and since my Diag failure code: 43-607 indicated a loss of satellite signal, they go into it must be an alignment issue. I tried to explain to the contractor on the phone that my other HR20 gets perfect signal, but the contractor's script would have nothing to do with that logic. The net result is they placed a service call and the next available slot is more than one week away. I was told I could search for local contractor service providers on my own if I would like. Nice.

 

[MizzouTiger]

You have/had HDD's failing...the checks during reboot are what is bringing this to light. You can blame it on the the firmware, but the new firmware is really not to blame at all.

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.

 

[DaaQ]

Don't sweat it so bad. They will have replacements on the truck, you are in St. Louis, an O&O market they will both get swapped by the tech.
Now on to the whole should / shouldn't they drop ship replacement receivers. I have seen it more rimes tgan I can count that they drop ship a receiver, you hook it up, and still nothing.
So just tell tech who shows up what's going on and let him do what needs to be done. Unless of course he comes across as a dolt who don't know anything then keep an eye on things.!
Good luck. The guys i met there in St. Louis seemed good enough. That was 2-3 years ago tho.

 

[MizzouTiger]

Don't sweat it so bad. They will have replacements on the truck, you are in St. Louis, an O&O market they will both get swapped by the tech.
Now on to the whole should / shouldn't they drop ship replacement receivers. I have seen it more rimes tgan I can count that they drop ship a receiver, you hook it up, and still nothing.
So just tell tech who shows up what's going on and let him do what needs to be done. Unless of course he comes across as a dolt who don't know anything then keep an eye on things.!
Good luck. The guys i met there in St. Louis seemed good enough. That was 2-3 years ago tho.

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".