Six year old DSS gives "Please insert a valid access card" (1 Viewer)

[Preston Durrer]

A couple weeks ago, my six year old Sony A1 DSS stopped working. It now provides either a blank screen, a pixelated display, or the infamous "Please insert a valid access card" message. I can get video when I tune to channel 100. I've spoken with DirecTV, and they've gone throught the usual power-down resets, and reset the access card. No luck, so they referred me to Sony, where I've waited on hold forever without speaking to a real person. I'm just not convinced yet that this is a hardware problem. If I can receive channel 100, it seems the problem must be in the card, or the card reader. Has anyone else gone through something similar?

 

[Bob Jackson]

DirecTV has been cancelling old cards and making people pay shipping for new ones.
Usually DirecTV tells you this though.
The contacts on the card may be dirty or bent or something.
Walmart was selling new receivers with cards for $50 (some have vouchers for the cards you send in).

 

[LDfan]

If your receiver has the "old" H card (blue with a picture of a satellite on it) it probably has been deactivated. Call DirecTV and have them send you one of the new HU cards(picture of a football player on it). They will charge you about $80.00 for the new card but re-credit about $50.00 back to you once then receive your old card in return.
Jeff

 

[Scott Kimball]

So... waitaminit....
DirectTV is choosing to deactivate old cards, and requiring the legal owner of said card to pay for a replacement??!?
What kind of racket is that?
Can you say, "Class Action?"
I have DishNetwork, so this doesn't apply to me (yet), but it smells fishy.
-Scott

 

[LDfan]

Yes it's true. They are making you pay for the replacements. You might be lucky and try b*tching at them. Hughes does not manufacture the cards, they are made by a 3rd party company, NDS I believe.
Jeff

 

[CRyan]

WOW. That seems slightly unethical to say the least. I am also a Dishnetwork subscriber, so this does not pertain to me right now, but this just does not seem right. I mean if this company can get away with it than any company could including Dishnetwork.
I don't have all the details, but if it is truely as simple as it is being stated in this thread something is horribly wrong. Is everyone actually bending over for this?
If there are more details that make this easier to swallow, please fill us in.
C. Ryan
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[LDfan]

The only reason this is getting done is to help stop or at least slow down the amount of piracy going on. The blue H cards are notoriously easy to hack and enable anyone to get all the channels from DirecTV. The HU cards are much more difficult to hack so that is why they are trying to switch everyone over. I'm sure it costs DirecTV a fee to cover royalties to NDS so they are in turn **trying** to pass it on to the consumer, however if you return the H card back to them they will make it less painful by giving you a credit of $50.00.
Dishnetwork cards are also easliy hacked but not to the extent of DirecTV. The reason being,.... the sports packages that DirecTV offers are very enticing to a lot of people out there. If and when Dish gets rights to the NFL sunday ticket watch out, cause their card hacking rate will skyrocket and this may happen to all Dish subscribers.
Jeff

 

[Scott Kimball]

Y'know... the REASONS for DirectTV doing this are irrelevant. The fact that DirectTV is punishing its legal customers to catch a few crooks is really sad. It's not the amount of money, it's the principle. DTV could take the loss on the replacement cards in order to make the gain against piracy. They would win in the long run. By treating customers badly, they run the risk of them leaving for the competition.
In essence, DTV is "breaking" your equipment and forcing you to pay for repairs.
-Scott

 

[CRyan]

I have to agree with Scott. I cannot beleive I have not heard more about this pratice on the forums. They are essentially turning off your service and asking for another setup fee of $30. What a way to punish the early adopters.
I for one know how difficult it is to talk to the drone on the other side of the phone, and it seems impossible to get answers. However, this is a case where management needs to be drilled with complaints and threats of leaving.
I must say again that I am making this comment based on what I have heard here and not from personal experience.
C. Ryan
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[Nick]

Well, I'm glad I stop in here. I was just on the phone with them last night and refuse to buy new card from them.
So, you're telling me that they knew about the swithing to the new card all along and still train poeple to go through the setup routine ?
I told her that I can get a new system for that price and she even encourage me to do so.
I was a pretty satisfied customer until last night. So, are you telling me that my other receiver will stop working pretty soon also.
I'm planning on giving up on them completely and go with Dish network.
Any advice ? I want the dish that can receive HDTV signal (so I don't have to spend money again buying the dish once I get my HDTV set) any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[John Schmiedt]

Boy do I know how you guys feel dealing with those blockheads. I was one of the apparently few people that was having freezing problems with my RCA receiver. It would not power on after it was powered off for an hr or so. You had to physically unplug it. It turned out to be an old(H) access card problem, but of course they never would admit to it. They refused to send me an access card without me paying a riduculous amount for it. What I finally did was follow the lead of Bill R here :
http://www.dbsforums.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/002200.html
Call DTV and tell them, no matter what they ask youor tell you to do, that your receiver is always showing "Call Ext 745" on all channels and they will send you a new card. I was not getting that message at all, but I kept telling the guy that & finally he sent me a new card free of charge & my problem went away. At least they were sending it out free back in January when I had my problem.
Hope this still works & I'd be interested to know if it does.
Good luck,
John

 

[Dan Wesnor]

For those who don't know, when you cancel DirecTV, they ask you why and try to talk you out of it. So, call up and cancel, and when they ask you why, tell them "Becase you turned off my system and want $80 to turn it back on again." I bet you get the card for free.

 

[Timmy]

when you cancel DirecTV,

Yes, they transfer you over to the "win back" department (there really is such a thing). I doubt they let you go over a measly access card.
If I'm not correct, didn't DSS offer free replacement cards during a certain time period?
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[mark_feiling]

I was another early adapter of DirecTV that was hit by the Electronic Counter Measure (ECN) they sent out indescriminately to thwart hackers and unfortunately -- long time paying customers.
When I orginally spoke to customer service they threw out the net $39 dollar deal. I declined and did some research which revealed that they instigated the problem.
I called back DTV cust service and told them I was going to cancel. They offered some free premium channels to help diminish the cost. I declined and cancelled my service. A few days later they called back and offered a $200 rebate for new equipment and $50 credit towards programming to have me sign up again.
I was so disappointed regarding this underhanded and deceptive practice that I decided to switch to Dish. (My wife declined on the option to hack the card to create my own cost free solution)
Mark
PS -- I have an RCA reciever, dish, and 'H' card for sale

 

[Nick]

Hey. was just wondering if we can get 20/20 to do a story on this. Without early adopter like some of us in here they would not be here today. This is the price we have to pay for being royal customers ? What I paid then can buy 7 receivers now. They know that we have no choice but to buy the card. No one wants to give up the money that they had invested buying the system in the first place.
I saw free dish offer from Dish network on the net. Don't know how legal it is ? will definately have to check that out.

 

[Ken Winders]

yes, new customers to dish can get awsome deals to get you in there. I would recommend to get all the equipment you want to start, ie: 6000HD receivers as once you are a customer you get no favors or special deals, that sucks, but I have been mostly happy with their service and support. I have been with them for 2 1/2 years.
Just my .02
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Ken Winders