Could this be my problem

[llzel]

I'm at the end of my rope on this. I've had D for 1.5 years and my my seldom used Vip211 acts up when I do watch it. By acting up I mean I'll turn on and I get the searching for sat signal, the 1 of 5 one. I'll switch channels and some sats come in and some don't.

I have 110, 118, 119, 129. with L523 S/W. I'll go to system set up and it'll show 4 sats with 118 in the 4th spot. I'll check switch, unplug to reset...nothing. Other times it works, I can turn on and watch all channels/sats without a problem. I've had techs out 4 times, they've changed the DP44, moved the 211 to a different port. Last time (2 weeks ago DISH replaced the 211). took forever to get going but finaly after leaving unplugged all night it worked. Still had a tech scheduled to come out and he did the next day but since it was working he did nothing. That was Thursday. The next day I came down to watch a hockey game and same BS...searching for Sat. I unplugged for 10 minutes, plugged back in and it found all 4 sats.

I have a 722 that works perfectly, never a problem. Works on all 4 DP44 ports.

Here's what I think it is.

My RG6 cable comes from the sat to within 8' of the wall outlet. It was too short. That end of the RG6 has a twist-on connector into a "Blue" coupler then the last 10' of cable is RG59 with a twist-on connector on the coupler end but the tech switched to a crimp on at the IRD end. 2 techs said the last few (10') feet of RG59 isn't a problem but I don't know what else could be giving me this much grief.

Should I fish a RG6 cable from the coupler to the sat receiver and use crimp on connectors? would that help my problem? It will be hard to get a RG6 to the sat bt I could probably do it. I think it scared the install tech.

any help will be appreciated because I'm ready to switch companies if I can't figure it out.

 

[KAB]

Yes, RG59 at a coupler is probably the problem. Make a clean run of RG6. Attach to existing run inside, and pull it out to the sat. Switching companies won't solve anything.

 

[llzel]

I can't make a "clean" run from the sat to the receiver. However i do have RG6 quad shield cable to within 10' of the receiver. I will need to couple 2 cables together. So if I couple 2 RG6 cables with a 2500Mhz blue coupler with crimp on connectors I could still have problems?

 

[Mr Tony]

So if I couple 2 RG6 cables with a 2500Mhz blue coupler with crimp on connectors I could still have problems?

nah you should be fine

 

[garys]

Please note: D = Direct TV; E = Echostar (Dish Network).

 

[llzel]

Please note: D = Direct TV; E = Echostar (Dish Network).

Sorry,

Now for the update. Tech came out, and 722 still working fine on all 4 sats. Installed replacement ird, 612 and nothing, searching for sat signal. he replaced DP44 switch, reinstalled a new Power inserter at the IRD (On port 1), nothing. Ran a temp line from the IRD to the switch in the attic. nothing. Replaced the LNB's, nothing. (I told him that would do nothing because the 722 has been working fine with good signal strength. After 4 hours he could not get the 211 or the 612 working. The 211 was working sporadically since last Wednesday. Sometimes works and gets all 4 sats sometimes 2 sats, then nothing.

Tech thinks something is frying the IRD's and wants to come back and rewire everything. Even the 4 cables from the LNB's to the switch which for now is only 10'. The dish is in the middle of a hip roof and the cables enter the attic in a "witches hat" . I personally don't think anythings wrong with those cables, they look fine and once again, the 722 works perfectly. finds all 4 sats everytime check switch is run.

He even wants to move the dish, switch, everything. My switch is in the attic with the power inserter and I have 2 leads coming down to the basement. the 722 works on any of the 4 ports.

The line from one part of the basement, where it comes down from the attic, to the other part isn't accessible. But its RG6 then coupled with a blue coupler and the final 8' is RG6. it was like that with a direct IRD for 4 years.

The weird thing is the 722 upstairs hasn't missed a beat.



So my ideas is to leave the dish and switch where it is (Just replaced roof), replace the power inserter in the attic, and replace the one line (that feeds the basement IRD) from the attic to the basement and then couple with the cable going to the basement IRD. Do power inserters go bad? the green light is still on.

So the basement IRD will have 3 couplers, one where the cable comes from the attic to the basement, one to extend the cable's length and one at the wall plate. All are blue 2400Mhz(?)

They are coming back Saturday, if not fixed, then I'm switching to Uverse.

 

[pweezil]

So my ideas is to leave the dish and switch where it is (Just replaced roof), replace the power inserter in the attic, and replace the one line (that feeds the basement IRD) from the attic to the basement and then couple with the cable going to the basement IRD. Do power inserters go bad? the green light is still on.

Any chance a nail punctured a cable somewhere in the attic?

 

[llzel]

Good question on the nail, but the dish was installed after the roof.

 

[Agonizing Fury]

I hate to be the ninny in this whole thing, but I never saw anything mentioned in your cable run description about the system being grounded, or the tech using an outlet tester to ensure that all of the electrical outlets are wired properly. Electricity can do strange things when it is not flowing in the way it was intended to. For example: I went to help a tech with a job a few weeks ago. House had all old electrical outlets (no third ground prong) and only two wires going to each (so the screw in the center was not grounded either). System was hooked up perfectly; burial cable, clear line of sight, grounded to main electric ground, but the receiver (and any other receivers we installed, tried 4 612s) would just continuously reboot. Other times, I hook up systems at old houses without internal ground wiring, and it works fine, for many many many years?!?!

 

[KKlare]

Many times two-wire power outlets have a metal conduit back to the fuse box, which may serve as the earth ground (green/round pin) and should have been wired to the screw through the outlet body. The broad prong (white metal--white wire) is the neutral on 2 or 3 wire and you can check continuity/voltage difference from the screw to it with a volt meter. (Cautions apply.)

In any case, after you adapt it to a 3-prong outlet check polarities with a sub-$5 3-neon tester. On a 7-year-ago remodel (before dish) I found exactly 1/2 of outlets to have hot-neutral (black-white) reversed as created 30 years ago. As I was changing all old outlets and wall plates from ivory to white this was the time to fix it.

-Ken

 

[llzel]

Fury and Klare great ideas, a tech never checked the outlet. I will today. It is a 3-wire grounded system. One thing I noticed is my dish or coax wires aren't grounded. So i ran a ground wire from the DP44 lug to my electric service ground/water pipe. I'll advise...

 

[llzel]

UPDATE, new tech came out yesterday had no idea it was a re-install, he just had notice to replace IRD. I explained the problem I've been having with the 211 he went to signal strength screen and said my problem was 119 was on port 2? it went 110, 119, 129, 118. he said 119 had to be on port 1 with the inserter, he changed it to 119, 110, 129, 118 (118 had to be 4)
hooked up 612 checked switch and it went to 1of4 right away and has worked fine since yesterday.

 

[llzel]

UPDATE II,
I'm glad I didn't cancel my Uverse install for 12/29. It seems now my other IRD, the 722 which has NEVER given me a problem, goes to searching for sat signal when switching channels that require different satellites, IE HBO on 129 to local HD on 118 the channels will sometimes hicup and go to searching for satellite signal then lock in. I reset IRD and it still did it.

Ironically while one tech was at my house Saturday another (who has been at my house before) was accross the street installing a new EA system. He told me that if I was experiencing any more problems I should switch to EA. No DP44, no power inserter. He said the 1000+ with 4 sats suck and are always having problems.

I'm pissed because up until yesterday my 722 has work perfectly so what ever they did Saturday screwed that up. HELP

 

[Agonizing Fury]

Did the tech run a check switch on your other receivers after changing the satellite inputs around? You may want to try it to make sure. The 722 (and any other receivers in your house) may still be looking for 119 on port 2 and getting 110 instead. The receivers are not smart enough to realize that the check switch matrix is wrong and correct for it automatically. You actually have to run a new check switch any time anything is changed. You can run a check switch by pressing Menu 6-1-1, then select "Check Switch", then select "Test". I hope it was just the tech missing this simple step and everything goes well for you.

 

[llzel]

Yes he did run check switch on both units 722 and new 612. I did again yesterday after the 722 would fail to switch channels smoothly and go to searching for satellite signal.

Thanks for the tip and I too everything works out.