Another 771A issue

[asolarsat]

Hi,,
I am newto this forum and have issues I cannot seem to fix by reading the posts on the771A error code.
1. Hereare the details:
a. HR24-500HD-DVR: located in 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] floor master bedroom closet
b. H21-200HD Receiver: located in 1[SUP]st[/SUP] floor theater room
c. Zinwellmsplit8r1-03: located in 1[SUP]st[/SUP] floor mechanical room in a/vdistribution box
d. PI-29Power Inverter: located in 1[SUP]st[/SUP] floor mechanical room in a/vdistribution box
e. DECbroadband adapter: located in 1[SUP]st[/SUP] floor mechanical room in a/vdistribution box
f. Clearstream2 HDTV OTA antenna: located outside
g. DirecTVSlimline SL5S4NR2-02 dish: located outside
h. Wireless2-way radio internet
2. SuspendedDirecTV whole-house DVR service for 6 months due to planned vacations, outdooractivities, etc..meaning not home to watch TV & justify paying $95 permonth: annual occurrence for past 6 years or so…...been a DirecTV customer since1993(?)..maybe earlier?
3. InSeptember 2011 purchased & installed Clearstream antenna to watch OTA HDprogramming.
a. Disconnectedsat dish from cabling into house & connected cable from Clearstream antennato cabling into house
b. Disconnectedcabling from back of HR24-500 and connected cabling direct to back of TV
c. Havehad OTA TV since September..works ok…some pixeling at times, but always take 1 –2 minutes to get signal to work at TV..picture comes on but is frozen & nosound..seems like cable has to get completely full of signal before itworks..like buffering..can’t think of a better way to describe it..maybe I needa signal booster..but, hey, it works..eventually
4. DirecTVservice reactivated Nov 22, 2011
a. Triedit today..Nov 24, and remembered oh…I have the Clearstream in place..ok, let’sreconnect the cables and try DirecTV in the theater room, leaving OTA in themaster bedroom
b. Didnot work..got a 771A error
c. Ok,disconnected the OTA antenna and reconnected the HR24-500..still nothing..calledDirecTV and the automated system got me a signal …great..had DirecTV..YEAH!
d. Decabroadband adapter had 3 lights
e. PI-29had a solid green light
5. Wait..4minutes later DirecTV signal froze..called DirecTV and spoke to a CSR…dideverything she said with no success…
6. ReconnectedOTA and had TV again in master bedroom
7. MovedHR-24-500 downstairs to theater room, disconnected H21-200, and connectedHR24-500..nothing..no DirecTV
8. Readthe posts here and unpluggedPI-29, unplugged HR-24-500 and left house for 2.5hours..upon return disconnected sat dish from Zinwell msplit8r1-03 for 10minutes…reconnected sat dish to Zinwell msplit8r1-03, plugged in PI-29, andthen plugged in HR24-500…while it was receiving sat info twice it flashed “troublecommunicating with dish” but hey, it finally worked..I had DirecTV ..yeah!!!but, only for 5 min..lost signal..”trouble communicating with dish”..but,wait..signal came back for 2 – 3 minutes…and has stayed away now for over 20 minutes..gaveup..no DirecTV so here I sit typing this issue up, hoping someone here mighthave a solution….

9. Atone point the Zinwell msplit8r1-03 had an open connection as I now have themaster bedroom cable connected directly to the Clearstream OTA antenna..(do notthink the Zinwell msplit8r1-03 has both sat & OTA connections..I think theSWM-8 does)..but I connected another cable (not sure where it goes..the otherend could be open) to the open connection as I did not have a terminator to use

10. So,any solutions to getting the DirecTV signal back?
11. Anythoughts on having both OTA & DirecTV simultaneously?
12. DoI need to provide more info, such as distances? From the sat dish & the OTA antenna to the a/v distribution panel isprobably a good 75 feet of cable…from the a/v distribution panel to the masterbedroom is probably a good 60 feet of cable…from the a/v distribution panel tothe theater room is probably a good 30 feet of cable…from the Zinwellmsplit8r1-03 to the PI-29 is probably 9 inches of cable…from the Zinwellmsplit8r1-03 to the Deca broadband adapter is about 6 inches of cable
13. Thank you very much for the help!

EDIT: also, I cannot get the projector to go to full screen...have tried menu setup on the DirecTV remote and also using the Epson remote...no matter what I select the picture stayed small with space on both the left * right side...but, at this poitn with no signla I guess it does not matter, does it? Woudl this issue have to do with single mode & dual mode?

 

[BobStokesbary]

asolarsat,
I have no personal experience with trying to mix OTA with D*'s SWM signal, but from everything I have read it cannot be done. If I understand your system correctly it is a SWM setup. (I have a bit of trouble trying to track down the SL5S4NR2-02 dish.) So it would appear that you are going to have to work something out outside your D* setup with the OTA signal.

But, back to the SWM setup. The first confusing part is why they set you up with a 29 volt power inserter. That power supply is used for the separate SWM switches with the 4 wires coming from the dish to the switch. The current SWM LNBs use a 21 volt power supply. I am not sure, but I would think you are heating up the LNB with the extra voltage. I would double check your documentation and make sure you have the right power unit. Your test when you unplugged everything and plugged it back in should have worked. The only thing that makes sense with it quitting so quickly makes me think the power supply is wrong. If you can't get the one receiver to work well with your dish nothing else you hook up will work well either. So you really need to focus on just this step for now.

Hope this helps,
Bob

 

[asolarsat]

Thanks for the reply. I am curious, however, why I had no problems from March 2011 - May 2011 with this set-up. The only change since May 2011 was the installation of the OTA. And, it is not a requirement to have it anymore. I was just thinking if I could have both OTA & DirecTV then I would. At this point the main issue is getting DirecTV back working again. I have no clue either why DirecTV woudl have given me a PI-29 if you think I should have a different one. In late Feb 2011 I called DirecTV to have the whole house DVR installed, which works really great, and in March 2011 they came out with the required equipment and installed everything, and again, it worked fine. We suspend the service & reconnect it and I would think everything that worked March - May 2011 would work again, once I reconnected the cable the way it was back then. But, nope.

 

[BobStokesbary]

asolarsat,
I totally agree. If it worked from March to May it should work now. Which certainly makes it sound like things are not connected correctly now. But, it sounds like you know what you are doing so the obvious things like making sure there are terminators on all the unused connection points doesn't need to be discussed. That is why, from your description, the only thing I could think of was the power inserter. On my RV setup I have a SWM dish that I connect directly to the receiver (HR24) that I take from out bedroom along with a PI-21 power inserter. It works perfectly. Your connection to your HR24 should work the same way. I would also double check the wiring for any loose connectors. Sometimes in moving things around they can be overlooked.

I certainly share your frustration on this. It should work.
Bob

 

[asolarsat]

I believe I found the issue and DirecTV is sending a tech out tomorrow a.m., 8 - 12 noon, Sunday, Nov 26. The connection is loose to the white box directly behind the theater room equipment rack, the white box that has only one wire/cable feeding it, a coax, and two wires coming out, a coax & a ethernet cable. The coax came completely out of the white box, leaving the conencter attached. This is the 2nd one have seen do this..the 1st one was to the Deca box in the a/v distrubition panel. So, I am done messing with this..a time sink. DirecTV can come out & redo all the conenctions and get everything working..and, to top it all off this a.m. we are socked with clouds & rain in NM. Thanks, Bob. I will check in tomorrow after DirecTV is finished. Interesting to see this 2-way radio Internet works great in the clouds...my Hughesnet sat Internet would be out... I am glad I switched!