HD Reception Issues - Some work, some don't!

[sngencarelli]

Hi All,

First of all, I hope that everyone is enjoying the holidays!

Here is my issue..

I've got a VIP 622, with the HD channels (I've had it for about 2 years). A few months ago, I started having issues with certain HD channels. Some of the channels work, some give me the "002 Signal Has Been Lost" error message.

As an example, Food HD on channel 110 works, but Lifetime HD on channel 109 does not work.

I just finished up a tech chat with a Dish Tech support person and we ran through all of the usual tests. Everything seemed to come back ok - 119, 110, and 61.5 all came back with green indicators.

I did notice that there was a status message that said "Check Details for LNB". I checked the details and it said "LNB Drift Detected". I asked the support person if that could be the problem and got a "No" response.

I then went through and did the "Check Switch" test for him, rebooted the 622, etc, but nothing seemed to work.

I Googled the LNB Drift Detected message and it sure looks like it could be causing an issue - at least from what I've read. Not sure why the tech person was so quick to dismiss it.

Anyway, I've got a service call scheduled for this week. They wanted to charge me $50 for the service call. I protested and they waived it, but said that the tech's work would be warranted for 90 days. Not sure if this makes sense - If there is something wrong with the system (not a tree blocking signal), such as equipment problems, why would I have to pay for a service call - especially to fix an upgraded service. Maybe it's just me, don't know..

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Thanks,
Scott

 

[SKrueger]

...it said "LNB Drift Detected". I asked the support person if that could be the problem and got a "No" response...

I had a similar situation and was also getting the LNB Drift Detected my support tech said that could be a sign the LNB was going bad and Dish sent out a tech to replace the LNB. They actually ended up replacing the whole dish with new 1000.2

I would call back tech support and speak with another technician.

 

[old corps]

Haven't a clue why they answered "NO" to the LNB drift question. sure sounds like a failing LNB to me.

Ed

 

[Agonizing Fury]

It's possible the LNB drift is causing your issue, however usually it will effect either all even transponders or all odd transponders (and almost always even transponders). The tech may have dismissed it because on 61.5 food HD (Channel 4110 (110) SAT 61.5 XDR 02) and Lifetime Movie Network (Channel 4109 (109) SAT 61.5 XDR 20) are both on even transponders. It's possible if the drift is not too bad that some transponders could be affected more than others. Does the signal tend to come back in when it gets colder outside (or when the sun is not shining on your dish)? LNB Drift is made worse by heat. When the system info screen (MENU 6-1-3) said to check Details for LNB what was the number showing in the details screen? Should look like this:

0x??, 0x??, ??? (e-?)

There may be more than one of these in a list. Please post them all. If you're having trouble with your HD channels one of them should be the reading for 61.5 and is probably a either above 5 or below -5. If that's not the case then this is a problem, but maybe not the main cause of your issues.

The reason they wanted you to pay for a service call after 90 days is the same reason Ford doesn't send a technician to your house for free when your car dies after 3 years. It's out of warranty. Your system is under warranty for 90 days, and the receivers for a year. After that, you're on your own. I have never understood why people with pay TV always think everything should be free. You have to pay the Gas station money to keep your car running, but they won't fix your car, yet because you have to pay dish every month to keep your receiver running, you expect them to fix everything for free?? please explain your logic on this to me as I'm completely lost.

 

[sngencarelli]

Ahh.. That actually makes sense.. The HD channels that are missing are usually absent during the day and tend to come back at night (of course, today I'm still not getting some of them..)

When I check the status, this is displayed:

LNB Drift Detected...

STB Health Lite
Tuner 0
Orbital 14 15 16 21
110 71 67 73 74
119 67 72 69 77
129 0 0 0 0

Tuner 1
Orbital 14 15 16 21
110 73 66 75 73
119 68 71 71 76
129 0 0 0 0

Value0:0
Value1: 0
Value2: 0
Value3: 0
Value4: 1
Value 5:0
Value6:0
Value7:-2
Value8:1
Value9:0

Regarding my service fee reasoning.. I suppose it's because I put Dish in the same bucket as other service providers - CableTV, Phone Company, Electric, etc..

When I was a cable subscriber, if I lost my cable or if my cable box died, they fixed the problems/replaced the box, no fee. If my phone line goes dead, the phone company sends someone out to climb the pole and fix the problem. Same deal with the electric company.

I can understand if I do something to interfere with service, just like cable TV, Phone company, etc - let's say I cut through some inside wiring and I expect them to come and fix it (I wouldnt expect that, but for arguments sake) -- then being charged would make total sense. I did something which required a service call.

I was under the impression that I don't own any of this Dish equipment - the dishes or DVR. If I move, I'd be told to leave the dishes behind. Regarding the DVR, I was under the assumption that I don't own that, either.. If I do own it, then I need to call and find out why they're charging me $6/month for having a DVR - that's certainly not a service they're providing - it's a hard drive recorder.

Don't get me wrong - I'm very happy with Dish.. We could probably argue why we think we should/should not get charged for certain services. (I don't want to get off the original tech topic, otherwise we could debate why in the world Dish charges to activate external DVR storage)

Thanks for all of the advice guys - I do appreciate it! Have a safe New Years Eve!
Scott

 

[Agonizing Fury]

First off I missed in my original post that you are new to satelliteguys so let me say

Second, It's weird that it's not telling you which LNB has a drift issue (or how much drift it's detecting) but if it gets better at night that's probably the issue. I guess a recent software update might have changed things to make it less confusing for people. Let us know how things work out with the tech!

Lastly, I'll agree we can drop the whole charge thing to keep this on topic. I only addressed it because it looked like you were asking why, so I thought I'd explain the same way I do when people ask me why. Maybe one of these days I'll start a thread about that (or dig up an old and bump it

 

[sngencarelli]

Thanks so much, again - and thanks for the welcome! There is a lot of awesome info on this board, and I did a lot of research here prior to choosing Dish when I changed from cable.

Have a safe and happy New Years Eve - I'll let you guys know what happens when the tech comes out tomorrow.

Scott

 

[sngencarelli]

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year!

The Dish Tech came early this am and my issue has been resolved! Turns out it was a bad LNB. He said that it was odd that although the software was reporting LNB drift, it did not show which dish was causing the issue.

At any rate, he was able to determine which dish was the culprit by checking the channels that were giving me trouble.

All is well now..

Thanks for all of the advice!
Scott

 

[Plasmanite]

I have the same issue. It started off with only a few channels, but now is much worse. I've set up a service appointment so the fact that your problem was resolved is good news.

 

[dishcomm]

Hi All,

First of all, I hope that everyone is enjoying the holidays!

Here is my issue..

I've got a VIP 622, with the HD channels (I've had it for about 2 years). A few months ago, I started having issues with certain HD channels. Some of the channels work, some give me the "002 Signal Has Been Lost" error message.

As an example, Food HD on channel 110 works, but Lifetime HD on channel 109 does not work.

I just finished up a tech chat with a Dish Tech support person and we ran through all of the usual tests. Everything seemed to come back ok - 119, 110, and 61.5 all came back with green indicators.
I did notice that there was a status message that said "Check Details for LNB". I checked the details and it said "LNB Drift Detected". I asked the support person if that could be the problem and got a "No" response.

I then went through and did the "Check Switch" test for him, rebooted the 622, etc, but nothing seemed to work.

I Googled the LNB Drift Detected message and it sure looks like it could be causing an issue - at least from what I've read. Not sure why the tech person was so quick to dismiss it.

Anyway, I've got a service call scheduled for this week. They wanted to charge me $50 for the service call. I protested and they waived it, but said that the tech's work would be warranted for 90 days. Not sure if this makes sense - If there is something wrong with the system (not a tree blocking signal), such as equipment problems, why would I have to pay for a service call - especially to fix an upgraded service. Maybe it's just me, don't know..

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Thanks,
Scott

LNB drift .....simple. You require a Dish tech to come out and replace the LNB. That is the problem.