2nd TV Suddenly Snow - Please Help

[DeeKaye]

Hi there:

I am new here and hope you can help me. I have 2 Dish Duo 625 receivers, 1 upstairs and 1 downstairs, each feeds 2 TVs.

We have just come thru the huge snow storm this past weekend (ending today) and we did have a power outage on Friday, which was restored in 4 hours.

All my TVs work, except the 2nd TV upstairs (the one without a box in the room.) I have snow.

The receiver it feeds from works fine, as I get reception on the TV1 where the box is.

I tried swapping cables with one I knew worked from downstairs, in case the cable was fried in the power failure, but still no feed.

I'm suspecting that either the cable wall plate got fried or whatever magic thing they do at the main house connection in the electric panel????

I looked online at Dish' site at their troubleshooting, and none of their fixes apply.

I have the 2nd TV Channel and Mode (in the Modulator Setup) set at channel 60 and "Air", which is what it always was set at - and which is also how the 2nd TV downstairs is set up, which currently works fine.

My TVs do not have channels that go to 60+ and this TV has always been set at 4 to see the satellite.

I honestly assume it must be the wall plate or the wires somewhere feeding that.

Can anyone give me any ideas on how I might be able to fix this myself or does this require an electrician and/or a DishNet technician?

I live on a farm in rural VA and they are generally very unhelpful, send independent contractors that come and charge you enormous fees, etc. so if I can avoid that, it would be swell.

Many thanks!

Dee

 

[papalittle]

Run a channel search on the tv. Some tv's lose their "air" settings and convert back to cable in power failures.

 

[DeeKaye]

That's the first thing I did. Power outages are routine on a farm, so the TV always needs to be put back on Channel 4 to see the satellite.

I've never had this happen before and all the other 3 TV see the DishNet feed just fine. I took this TV downstairs and hooked it to the 2nd bedroom feed and the TV got it just fine, so I know its not the TV.

I even switch the cable to see if that's what had the problem, which is why I'm thinking it must either be the wall plate with the video & phone jack (although this being the 2nd TV it doesn't plug into the phone jack), or the cable that runs thru the house to that jack or whatever it is that they do when they feed the satellite into the house at the electric panel????

If anyone has any experience with this sort of issue, I'd sure appreciate it.

Many thanks!

Dee

 

[busdriver72]

It's always been on channel 04...and it's TV2? There's no way that the TV2 connection directly from the wall screwed directly into the TV would have worked on channel 4. The cable from the wall would have to have went through something else first before it reached the TV in order for the TV to be on 04.
Is it going through an RF Modulator, converter box or a VCR?
If it's going through a VCR, the VCR itself has to be set to the right channel (60) and the TV set to the correct channel see the VCR. The VCR has to have its inputs set correctly too.

 

[DeeKaye]

Sorry busdriver, but the TV has always received the satellite feed if I put the TV on Channel 4. This is also exactly the way the 2nd TV is in the downstairs bedroom that feeds from the family room Duo Receiver. That TV is currently working fine.

This TV doesn't go past Channel 14. There is no VCR, converter or anything (no idea what an RF modulator is), just an RG-6 cable from Radioshack from the wall jack to the TV.

Thanks!

 

[busdriver72]

Okay, I believe you. I'm sure it's just an issue of modulation...making the receiver output and the TV talk to each other.
Okay, at the main receiver, turn the TV on, press menu, number 6, then number 5 which should take you to the Modulator setup screen.
Look at where it says TV2. What is the channel number given and does it specify air or cable?
Also, how old is the TV...does it have tuning ability...UHF/VHF tuning?

Added: I'm sorry, just saw you said it was on air 60. Have you checked it recently?
Also, look on the back of the 625DVR unit itself and make sure that there is a cable connected to the "Home Distribution" port.
I have had some TV2's give me fits. Hang in there.

 

[sam_gordon]

Let me understand this...

The TV in question had tuned in satellite by using Ch. 4 in the past.
Currently the TV2 output is set to 'Air' and '60'.

If I've got that right, that's where the problem is. Now, I don't have a 625 (or any receiver with a custom modulator)... but see if you can set your TV2 output channel to '4' (cable or air should not matter).

And busdriver... he said he can only tune in up to ch. 14... that means it's VHF.

 

[DeeKaye]

Hi Busdriver & Sam Gordon:

Thanks for trying to help me.

The TV in question (like most of my TVs - LOL!) is fairly old but still works great, but as such only goes to channel 14. This has never mattered and, just as the 2nd TV (TV2) downstairs is also on Channel 4 and works fine receiving the feed from that main TV1, which the modulator is set at 60 and "air."

On a 625 Duo, if you go to 6-1-5 (the Modulator setup) on TV2, if you select "air" it automatically sets the output to "60" if you select "cable" it automatically changes to "72." From what I understand, the "air/60" is for TVs like mine that are older and do not have channels that go past 60.

When I check my system details, it correctly show that TV2 is set at "air/60" and the "remote address" as 4.

I have checked all the connections at the box, etc and they are all tight and nothing is loose. Nothing could get back there anyway to suddenly loosen them. Nothing has changed at all or been touched in the house, other than that we had a power outage over the weekend and suddenly this 2nd TV will not receive anything but snow.

I am willing to try to change the wall plate if that has anything to do with it - is it possible for this to just stop working?????

As mentioned, the 2nd TV downstairs is set up exactly this same way and works just fine. It is this TV's cable that I switched just to see if it was the upstairs cable that fried, but that also doesn't work.

Update:
I just broke down and called Dishnet hoping maybe it was something they turned off at their end, but nope. They could see my set-up and knew that this is set at "air, 60, ch.4" which is apparently not unusual for older TVs.

They walked me thru all the same diagnostics and are now gonna have to send a tech out to the house because they assume that its either the wall jack or the actual cable coming in thru the walls or into the main power box.... This will cost me $99 for the tech and I'm praying to God that's all it is, as we certainly can't start re-wiring the house or spend a bunch of $$ on this!

Any good thoughts you can send my way are appreciated!

As soon as we sort it all out, I'll come back and post and update and let everyone know how it resolved in case someone else here ever has this same problem.

Many thanks everyone!!!!

Dee

 

[harshness]

TV2 on channel 4 is not supported; the possibilities are 21-69. You're confusing the remote address with the TV channel that you need to be tuned to. The "remote address" applies only to the DISH remote control.

Tune your TV to channel 60 and see what happens. If you can see a picture but it is snowy, try changing the TV2 channel in the satellite receiver menu to channel 21 or 22 and tune your TV to match.

 

[DeeKaye]

The TV does not go up to any channels past 14. The TV2 downstairs is set the exact same way - it was set up this was by Dishnet tech on installation. It works fine. And yes, it is tuned to Channel 4. The TV in question has worked fine for the past 3 + years set up this way. Nothing has been changed or touched on this TV.

Most older TVs do not go up to these high channel numbers.

As I mentioned in my last post, I just went thru this with DishNet on the phone and they can see how I have this set up and said this is indeed correct which is why they need to send out a tech to the house as they assume that its either the wall jack or the actual cable in the house.

Thanks.

Dee

 

[sam_gordon]

A power outage shouldn't have affected a cable or connector. If there was SURGE, there's the possibility of something happening, but I'd guess you'd have lost equipment, not just a cable/end.

More troubleshooting... I notice the 625 has a coax output for TV1. Plug the line going to the "problem" TV into that. Does that work? If so, the problem is not with the line.

How are you feeding TV1? If you're using RCA (yellow, red, white), plug those into the TV2 output of the "problem" receiver.

Assuming you have time, here's something you can try... swap receiver locations. Put Receiver 'A' (that TV2 is currently working on) physically where Receiver 'B' (that TV is not working) and vice versa. Does the problem follow the receiver or stay with the TV?

The other thing I was thinking about (and keep in mind, I don't have a 625), is VCRs used to have a switch to turn the modulated output on or off. Is there something similar in the 625?

Just some thoughts.

 

[harshness]

Most older TVs do not go up to these high channel numbers.

Most old TVs go up to UHF 83, but you have to set the VHF dial to UHF and use the UHF dial to tune. Newer TVs (the "cable ready" ones) only go up to 69 and eventually they'll only go up to 51.

UHF channels (those above 13) have been around since the beginning of broadcast television.

 

[kb2vgp]

Was TV1 and TV2 seeing the same channel before? If so, you were in single mode.

 

[busdriver72]

Hey, you know, I thought about that too, but even in single mode that doesn't affect what channel TV2 has to be on. Even in single mode, TV2 has to be on the right modulated channel.
Deekay, all 4 TVs got different programming, right? In other words, 4 people could watch 4 different programs?