I had an old receiver that had this function as well (it recently died and was replaced). My only guess as to why it stopped working for you is that your receiver had a software update and the volume feature was disabled in the new version of the software. Only a guess.

Legacy receivers haven't had a firmware update in years -- and I can confirm the 401 did not have that feature to begin with (my notes were ones I had made when I was in training as a TSR a few years ago).

Yeah, I guess that grey bar at the top left of my screen that I ran up and down for ten years with my remote was imaginary. Thanks for "confirming" it, now I won't need to see a head shrinker for these delusions, because the facts have been defined and I will just have to accept that my experience didn't happen.

The steps to control it have been posted, as has the information regarding internal satellite volume. Let's try to keep this from deteriorating into a flame.

There is always the slight possibility that the receiver you had could have had the incorrect motherboard placed in it. So even if they Unit was a 401, and all the information (Unit Address, Serial Number, etc...) was for a 401, there is that slight possibility that maybe the MoBo for it was for one of the 5 receivers other users have noted as being able to use the Internal Volume.

Obviously the likeliness of this is low, but I'm not going to doubt you had the internal volume bar if you said you have for "xx" years. The only thing I can think otherwise is that it wasn't actually a 401, but you've vehemetly stated a few times that it was.

Either way, regardless if it was actually a 401, or if you actually were controlling the internal satellite volume - Nav401's do not support internal volume. The listed receivers other users have posted (410/411/451/921) are the only ones that have ever had this function.

Zomby, have you tried contacting SC to inquire about this? (I apologize if you mentioned if you did, I might have missed it). Even have them verify the old model was a 401 just to be 100% sure.

I seem to remember that there were actually 2 different receivers put out with model # of 401. The one most people saw was the low profile one with only lights on the front, no channel # display. I'm pretty sure there was also a 401 that looked like a 410/411 with a channel # display on the front. (my memory is not great but I believe this is correct) These were originally made for VOOM and a small number were still in stock at Motorola and sold to Starchoice to get rid of them. I think the model numbers were both 401 but the letters before the 401 were different.
I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion.