Don't run Check Switch during bad weather??

[jdr01930]

My dad's VIP211 is having a problem, so I went over to check it out and called Dish for him. (he's 80, non-technical, and has very bad vision)
His 211 has been stuck on the Aquiring Satellites screen all day, and just cycling through the transponder on 119, staying at step 0 of 5 (I'm pulling this from memory, my verbiage might be a little off).

I called Dish, and they wanted me to run a Check Switch, since I had already done a few power cycles (including leaving the receiver unplugged for a few minutes) and always get the same result (looping thru Sat 119 transponders).

His other receiver is a 625, and it's running fine. Although I did not try out channels from all birds, or check signal strength when I was there so maybe it's not completely happy... (will check tomorrow).

The Dish support rep said to call back when the sky was clear, as running the diagnostic she had in mind could cause the other receiver to go out.
So I asked her if this diagnostic was Check Switch, she said yes. Well, I can run that myself easy enough.

But what's this about it causing problems on the 625 if there's a little foul weather signal degradation? Since I know just enough to be dangerous, I'm holding off and doing what she says - although I think the weather looks bad here for the next several days (Northeast Massachusetts.).
Is that for real or was she trying to get me off the phone cause maybe it was quittin' time or something?

My dad has got a VIP211, a 625, and two dish's - one for 110/119 and one for 61.5. Don't know the exact hardware of the top of my head, but it's a pretty standard New England setup done less than a year ago.

(Edit - just noticed another thread here about ice on the dish/LNB's - I'll definitely check for that as we've had freezing rain, but wouldn't that mess up both receivers and not just the 211?)

 

[volkodav]

when you did check switch what type results did you get? what did it say? and how high did it go?

 

[jdr01930]

I didn't run the check switch, because the rep said it could take out the other working receiver (the 625) since the weather was bad.
(not just take it off line for the duration of the test, but basically make it loose sync with the sat's and I wouldn't be able to get it back until the weather clears)

I don't want to risk causing the 625 to go off line, since then he'd have no working TV's!

On the main diagnostic screen, it showed red boxes with white X's through them for all three birds (110/119/61.5). Getting no signal on any sat's in Point Dish, as I'm guessing the receiver is not acknowledging their existence (I'm guessing that what those red/white X's mean!)

So, my main question at this point is:
I really wanna run Check Switch on the 211, but the Dish support person claims it could make his 625 stop functioning if the weather was bad. Is this true? Can running Check Switch on one receiver mess up a completely separate receiver???

 

[volkodav]

no you cant mess it up, when you do check switch. they were wrong, unless there is a prob with LNB but since 625 worked in a bad weather makes me think there is a bad connection some where.

 

[jdr01930]

Thanks - I'm gonna go ahead and run Check Switch tomorrow.
(Volkodav: I trust your word over a random support rep any day!)

 

[KE4EST]

Yeah the CSR you talked to, don't know what they are talking about.

 

[volkodav]

thanks. as soon you do check switch let us know so we can help you.
the CSR's get get timed as well as we do now to, so quicker they get off the phone better their stack rating is

 

[toolate]

Actually the agent was advising him of this that way to prevent him from running the test its to prevent customers from running the test in bad weather because if they run the test in bad weather= no signal and results are saved so when the weathers good they are going to call back and we have run it AGAIN to fix it and now they have called twice

 

[volkodav]

Actually the agent was advising him of this that way to prevent him from running the test its to prevent customers from running the test in bad weather because if they run the test in bad weather= no signal and results are saved so when the weathers good they are going to call back and we have run it AGAIN to fix it and now they have called twice

then why does the 625 worked in same weather? they have same modified signal strength menu. I'm sure he wont mind to do a couple of check switches

 

[jdr01930]

Well, I ran the Check Switch, and the world didn't end, the 625 still works - lol.
However, it did not fix the problem.
After the test ran, the screen said:

Sat Input:
Port 1
Sat X
Trans X
Status: Reception Verified
Switch: None

The system info screen said I was experiencing signal loss, and showed a bunch of time periods with counters showing literally hundreds of millions of occurances (signal was lost 2122314293 times)

I don't think there are any external switches anywhere, but I traced the cable to try to figure out more about the setup.
There's a gray Coax looking cable going from one dish to the other, then a dual coax looking black cable coming out of the dish and going though the house. Inside the house, it seems to spit off such that one line of the pair goes to one receiver, one to the other reciever. This is different than the way it is at my house. Unfortunalely, I was becoming late for work so I couldn't dig deeper and completely trace cables so I might be wrong.

Any thoughts? Sorry my terminology isn't up to speed (dual coax? Hopefully you know what I mean!). I'm a computer geek, not a dish geek - lol.

Thanks again!

 

[hrxtreme]

I'd find and check the point where the dual cable is split off into 2 separate cables. Reason being is that usually a ground block or another type of device is used to connect the dual cable to the separate cables, and these have been known to go bad from time to time...

PS. The check switch on a given receiver should only ever affect that given receiver and would not screw with other receivers...

 

[RandallA]

Well, I ran the Check Switch, and the world didn't end, the 625 still works - lol.
However, it did not fix the problem.
After the test ran, the screen said:

Sat Input:
Port 1
Sat X
Trans X
Status: Reception Verified
Switch: None

The system info screen said I was experiencing signal loss, and showed a bunch of time periods with counters showing literally hundreds of millions of occurances (signal was lost 2122314293 times)

I don't think there are any external switches anywhere, but I traced the cable to try to figure out more about the setup.
There's a gray Coax looking cable going from one dish to the other, then a dual coax looking black cable coming out of the dish and going though the house. Inside the house, it seems to spit off such that one line of the pair goes to one receiver, one to the other reciever. This is different than the way it is at my house. Unfortunalely, I was becoming late for work so I couldn't dig deeper and completely trace cables so I might be wrong.

Any thoughts? Sorry my terminology isn't up to speed (dual coax? Hopefully you know what I mean!). I'm a computer geek, not a dish geek - lol.

Thanks again!

I haven't read the entire thread but this is what I suggest.

Clear the switch matrix:

Disconnect the satellite feed and run check switch. Connect the satellite feed and run check switch.

One more thing, did you reboot the receiver already? I would try that after running check switch.

Could you pls. tell us what software version the 211 is running? Press Menu twice and you'll see the version. L4.35 is spooling right now and Mdonnelly reported having some problems with 129 showing red in his switch matrix.

 

[jdr01930]

"I'd find and check the point where the dual cable is split off into 2 separate cables."

I did find that point in a closet inside the house - will check it more closely tonight.
I don't think there was a gounding block or anything special - the dual feed from the dishes was just connected to the pre-existing house coax with regular male/female connections.
Hmmm - if they didn't re-terminate the pre-existing coax, could be the old cable end on the house side is bad. I installed some coax for my dad many years ago, and some of my earlier crimps weren't the best in the world.

Edit - to answer Randalls questions:
L434 as of last night
Did a few reboots last night, including leaving power off for a bit.
Have NOT rebooted since CheckSwitch this morning.
Will try clearing matrix as you describe tonight (will be checkin my old cable ends first though)

 

[RandallA]

If clearing the switch matrix doesn't help. Connect the 211 where the 625 is but don't use the DP Separator. The DP separator is for dual tuners. Run check switch and report back.

If it works where the 625 is, there's something wrong with the cable run for the 211 or that LNB output went bad.

 

[ddgtomahawk]

yup do the good old swap let us know

 

[jdr01930]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone - will do my "homework assignments" tonight and report back!

 

[volkodav]

also when you do check switch does it goes 1of 3 or it goes to 1 of 38? if it goes to 38 then you have bad connection, or barrel connector( not high frequency)

 

[jdr01930]

It said running 1 thu 38, and counted up through the whole range.

 

[volkodav]

you don't have communication from box to dish. check all ends

 

[jdr01930]

Well, I checked all the cable connections I could find. Turns out none of my old (amature) connectors are still in use - they'd all been replaced with the good stuff back when the Dish install was done. I did not want to start randomly cutting off those nicely done ends and replacing them with the crappy job my limited skills/experience provide!
So I just checked everything I could for obvious trauma and tightened stuff up, cleared the matrix as explained earlier. Still no go.

My dad called dish the night after that CSR said not to do the check switch in the rain. Sounds like they got someone better this time - they concurred with what's being said here: There's a cabling problem somewhere.

So, they're rolling a truck Monday afternoon - I'm sure an actual sat tech have better luck as I don't have a cable testers that will easily work with Coax, and this is out of my area of expertise.
Also, much of the cable goes along the outside of the house, kinda embedded in the ground a bit. Didn't feel like digging around in the snow, going up on the roof, etc (it was starting to snow pretty bad), so I was a bit relieved that this is being taken of my hands!

Did not try moving the 211 to where the 625 is to confirm the 211 itself is OK, as the TV was in use and they didn't wanna give it up!

Thanks for the help everyone - greatly appreciated.
Hopefully this will be resolved with the service call on Monday!

(I was tempted to unplug everything and get out my telco toner and try to tone out the coax, but my dad had some more important projects for me to do - lol)