Dish Network Connection Question

We use Dish Network and upgraded to a new DVR a while back. They ended up letting me keep the old box to use at remote locations. At the time they told me the old box had been deactivated and I would need to call to reactivate the box when I was ready to use it. At my request they did reactivate the box (supposed to have been temporarily) so I could try to transfer recordings to an external devise. I do not know if they ever deactivated it again.

Now I am in a place where I want to use the old box at a remote location. I pointed the dish as directed and actually began to acquire satellite signals (2 of 5). All of a sudden it quit acquiring signals. The station guide showed the status of one channel but nothing else.

Does anyone know if the unit will acquire the signals if the box is deactivated? Quite frankly, if they never deactivated the box I do not want to call them to verify it. It seems to me that if it picked up a partial channel guide it may still be activated.

Anyone have any thoughts?