Dish 500 system will not see SW21

[David Taylor]

Have an old Dish 500 and a 508 receiver at our vacation home. When we came up at Thanksgiving nothing was working. Did a check switch and turned out it could no longer find the SW21. I tried running a new coax from the receiver to the switch. Didn't help.

I just hooked it up with a coax splicer/joiner and could see 119 or 110 fine. Decided it had a bad switch and ordered one.

Fast forward to now. I am back at the vacation home and just installed the sw21. The receiver doesn't see it! It can still see the individual sats though.

Any debuggjng ideas or suggestions?

 

[TheKrell]

Let me understand this better. You have two legacy dual LNBs on your d500, either of which work? Or do you have a legacy twin which isn't switching sats? If you have any twin at all, you don't need an external SW21 since one is internal to the twin. This is why I'm confused about your setup.

 

[David Taylor]

Let me understand this better. You have two legacy dual LNBs on your d500, either of which work? Or do you have a legacy twin which isn't switching sats? If you have any twin at all, you don't need an external SW21 since one is internal to the twin. This is why I'm confused about your setup.

I guess it is the legacy dual. Not sure of terminology. It had always needed a sw21. Worked for 7-8 years this way. There is no switch built into the LNBs. Each LNB has 2 coax connections. And yes, I can hook either LNB up to my receiver and see either 119 or 110. But the brand new switch isn't recognized when I do a check switch.

 

[HIFI]

if your 508 has not been connected to the satellite in quite some time it may be behind in software, my suggestion is to hook directly to 119 run a check switch go to ch 101 and hit the power button on the 508 it should then download updated info then you can reconnect the switch and rerun the check switch.

 

[David Taylor]

if your 508 has not been connected to the satellite in quite some time it may be behind in software, my suggestion is to hook directly to 119 run a check switch go to ch 101 and hit the power button on the 508 it should then download updated info then you can reconnect the switch and rerun the check switch.

Huh. Ok. I didn't know you could do that. That is worth a try I guess. Just go to 101 and press power in re receiver eh? I'll try that as soon as this basketball game is over. Go Bears! Beat Mizzou!

 

[HIFI]

after talking with Lou from the DIRT team it seems as though that 508 is or will be obsolete very soon so you may need to get an updated replacement.

 

[David Taylor]

Huh. Ok. I didn't know you could do that. That is worth a try I guess. Just go to 101 and press power in re receiver eh? I'll try that as soon as this basketball game is over. Go Bears! Beat Mizzou!

I guess I am confused. I'm not sure that did anything. I have it connected to 119 and my programming is on. It has downloaded guide data. But how do I make it update to the latest software?

I have P409. Is there a newer version?

 

[David Taylor]

I guess I am confused. I'm not sure that did anything. I have it connected to 119 and my programming is on. It has downloaded guide data. But how do I make it update to the latest software?

I have P409. Is there a newer version?

Have they done something to disable 508s? If not it should still work like it always has, right? I just need to get it to see the SW21 instead of going against 1 sat at a time. :-(

 

[HIFI]

Have they done something to disable 508s? If not it should still work like it always has, right? I just need to get it to see the SW21 instead of going against 1 sat at a time. :-(

not that I'm aware of but haven't seen a 508 in quite a while. At one point they were replacing them with 512's.

 

[David Taylor]

not that I'm aware of but haven't seen a 508 in quite a while. At one point they were replacing them with 512's.

Ha. I had a 2700 at the vacation house until a year ago. Will newer receivers still work with legacy dishes and switches like I have?

 

[isaacmorseMI]

Ha. I had a 2700 at the vacation house until a year ago. Will newer receivers still work with legacy dishes and switches like I have?

I believe so, but it makes more sense to do a 1000.X setup for HD or a 500 for SD.

 

[HIFI]

all dish receivers should see legacy dish equipment.

 

[David Taylor]

I believe so, but it makes more sense to do a 1000.X setup for HD or a 500 for SD.

I have a 500. It points at 119/110. Mine has an external switch (sw21) which my 508 won't see for some reason.

 

[isaacmorseMI]

I have a 500. It points at 119/110. Mine has an external switch (sw21) which my 508 won't see for some reason.

Hmmm. This LNB should work.

https://www.dishstore.net/product_info.php?cPath=5&products_id=14

 

[TheKrell]

I guess it is the legacy dual. Not sure of terminology. It had always needed a sw21. Worked for 7-8 years this way. There is no switch built into the LNBs. Each LNB has 2 coax connections. And yes, I can hook either LNB up to my receiver and see either 119 or 110. But the brand new switch isn't recognized when I do a check switch.

OK, then I think it's pretty clear that you have two working and aligned legacy dual LNBs going into an SW21 and from there to your 508. Since both LNBs still work, I'd say your SW21 died and your replacement was also DOA. Lucky you!

No wait... I think the legacy switches switched with a 19kHz tone. It's possible that your 508 lost it's 19kHz tone generator. The easiest way around that problem, short of replacing your 508, is to replace both of your legacy dual LNBs and SW21 with a DishPro or DishPro Plus twin. All twins have internal switches, and your 508 is supposed to handle either. I wonder if the DishPro DiSEqC switching depends on that same tone generator?

As for getting Dish to replace your 508, they will do it for free with a 512 receiver, but only if they contact you first. I don't know if you can hurry that along, unless you are on the DHPP program. In that case, if they discover that your 508 is kaput, they will replace it with a 512 right now.

Edited to add: I see a 512 receiver in your future. That being the case, I recommend a DishPro Plus twin, so that you can feed both tuners with a single cable. If you buy a regular DishPro twin, you would need one cable/tuner. (The 512 has two tuners.) The only alternative to two cables from a DishPro Plus twin is to connect up only one tuner on your 512. Ugh! You will like two tuners.

 

[David Taylor]

OK, then I think it's pretty clear that you have two working and aligned legacy dual LNBs going into an SW21 and from there to your 508. Since both LNBs still work, I'd say your SW21 died and your replacement was also DOA. Lucky you!

No wait... I think the legacy switches switched with a 19kHz tone. It's possible that your 508 lost it's 19kHz tone generator. The easiest way around that problem, short of replacing your 508, is to replace both of your legacy dual LNBs and SW21 with a DishPro or DishPro Plus twin. All twins have internal switches, and your 508 is supposed to handle either. I wonder if the DishPro DiSEqC switching depends on that same tone generator?

As for getting Dish to replace your 508, they will do it for free with a 512 receiver, but only if they contact you first. I don't know if you can hurry that along, unless you are on the DHPP program. In that case, if they discover that your 508 is kaput, they will replace it with a 512 right now.

Edited to add: I see a 512 receiver in your future. That being the case, I recommend a DishPro Plus twin, so that you can feed both tuners with a single cable. If you buy a regular DishPro twin, you would need one cable/tuner. (The 512 has two tuners.) The only alternative to two cables from a DishPro Plus twin is to connect up only one tuner on your 512. Ugh! You will like two tuners.

I have a great setup at home, but this is just a vacation home. I am not there enough to care about too much of that. I'd rather just get a cheap receiver that isn't a DVR. I may look into that. But I guess I don't know if it is a other dead sw21 or a bad receiver. :-(

 

[LouF@DISH Network]

Ha. I had a 2700 at the vacation house until a year ago. Will newer receivers still work with legacy dishes and switches like I have?

Your 508 receiver is now obsolete, and will need to be replaced. This will be a 1:1 replacement. Please PM your accoutn information so we can begin that process.

 

[David Taylor]

Your 508 receiver is now obsolete, and will need to be replaced. This will be a 1:1 replacement. Please PM your accoutn information so we can begin that process.

Are you saying that Dish has done something that made it where it won't work? Or are you saying it has broken on its own and needs to be replaced with a new model?

 

[garys]

He means the receiver is old and will be deactivated. If you do not exchange it for a newer model, Dish will shut it off. That is the extent Dish will do, if it is still working they haven't done anything yet. It could have broke on it's own.

 

[TheKrell]

Are you saying that Dish has done something that made it where it won't work? Or are you saying it has broken on its own and needs to be replaced with a new model?

Let me clarify for Lou. Dish is trying to cram more channels on each transponder, so they are migrating to 8PSK modulation everywhere (not just HD channels). This is generally a good thing, except for legacy receivers (with model numbers in the thousands), the 301, and the 501/508/510 PVRs. Woops! Dish just renamed the Hoopper again to the Hopper2000 IIRC. But anyhow legacy receivers and your 508 and most notably the 301 won't be useful much longer on either arc.

Since Dish is forcing this migration, they are (for free) replacing all activated obsolete receivers with comparable models that can demodulate 8PSK. In addition (good for you!) they won't replace a dead 508 with another 508; they replace it with a 512. I have owned and loved a 501, and also a 625. I predict you will be very happy with a 512 (it's really a 522 stuck in solo mode) because of the dual tuners. Please PM Lou with your account info, and see what he can do for you.

In the meantime, to get your 508 (potentially) going again, a DishPro Plus twin can be had for cheap. You can swap it for your two dual LNBs without disturbing the dish alignment. Since we don't know whether you got two dead SW-21's or a dying 508, this might not work. But it's a sure bet that your 508 will be replaced at some point with a 512 regardless, and at that point you really want a DPP twin to feed a 512.