Help with 722K Signal Loss

[shortspark]

For a long time now I have had periodic blue screens (partial signal loss) pop up on my 722K screen. The error code is shown as 002, which denotes something not working on the multi dish switch or malfunctioning equipment between the switch and receiver. I have checked all the connections and everything is tight. The dish itself has been replaced but I still get the pop up screen. Sometimes the screen appears every ten minutes or so and sometimes it is hours, but at some point during the day it happens. The only thing in the 100ft. line run I have that might be malfunctioning is an inline booster connecting the two 50' cables. I have no trouble whatsoever on my 612 receiver in the bedroom which is connected by a much shorter cable with no booster.

I can only conclude that the in line booster I put in about ten years ago is malfunctioning. However, here are my questions - why are my recordings not affected? And why can I immediately get back the picture simply by pressing the guide button? If I am recording and watching a program and the partial signal loss screen pops up, I am still able to record the program with no signal loss. I play the recording back and it is there in its entirety. In other words, how can I record without interruption yet can't see the picture because of "signal loss"? If indeed I have signal loss, how can it be recording without interruption or the pop up screen appearing on the recording? Also, if I am watching and the pop up appears on the screen all I have to do is hit the guide button, or dvr button or menu button and the picture instantly comes back on. How is all that possible? Any ideas?

 

[boba]

Ten year old in line amplifier is my first suspect. Remove it and connect the lines with an F81 splice with blue insulators. See if that will give you consistent signal.

 

[TNGTony]

Do you have an OTA module?
Do you have an Over the Air antenna connected to the 722?
If the answer is no, disregard the rest of this message
If the answer is yes to both of these, then the answer has to do with losing signal on the OTA module. It is a bug in the software that sees loss of signal from OTA as loss of signal from the satellite. Pressing the guide button, the cancel will reset this. But if the OTA module is tuned to a local channel with flaky reception, this will happen again.

The fix: Make sure you are tuned to an OTA channel with good signal before you tune to a satellite channel.

The error code will not affect recordings.

 

[shortspark]

Thanks boba, I don't know about the equipment you are referring to (F81 splice) but I will look it up on Google. You are right, even if it is working it is time to upgrade and change it out.

Tony, you may have something there too. Yes, I have the OTA module and my antenna is plugged into the receiver to utilize it. Although I have HD locals provided by Dish, I like to use the antenna on sports programming because it looks a little better to me. However, I live in a remote area and signals are very weak, even with a 60' tower, deep fringe antenna, booster and rotor. There is one local I get nearly 90% on but the others are very weak - in the 60s. If the antenna is blown by wind even a little from its setting, I get no signal on those locals and must reset the antenna position with the rotor. If I understand you correctly, the way around my problem is to first go to my 90% strength local channel and THEN go to other Dish channels. I just tried that and I still get the pop up screen. The locals I get just now are as follows - my strongest HD channel is now reading 84%, then the second local is 77% and finally, the third local is showing the yellow error screen that says the offair signal has been lost. That is my weakest channel and it always gives me a lot of trouble. I believe from what you said and extending it further, that the problem is that weakest channel. Even if I don't go to it, the module on the receiver must be reading it as a signal loss and corrupting the Dish channels. I think I may have to go into the menu and delete that particular weak local channel and see what happens from that point. In fact, as I am typing, my 77% channel has just now shown no signal too. The wind must be moving around my antenna. I reset the antenna with the rotor and now I am getting all three stations with a bit stronger signal (but not a great signal strength). Since I have these channels on Dish I think I may disable all locals and just remove the module. That might be the best solution. What do you think? If I do that, must I reconfigure anything on the receiver? What would be the best way to do that? I appreciate the help!

 

[shortspark]

Boba, I see the connectors you are talking about here: http://www.cablesonline.com/25ghzf81ffet.html

Are these what I need? Also, are you saying to replace the in line booster too, or leave it out entirely?

 

[shortspark]

I think I have the problem solved. I don't have the connectors yet but the main problem seems to be as Tony described - poor signal received OTA. I have tweaked the antenna so that every one of my OTA locals come in at the best strength possible. SInce then there has been no wind the last couple days to move the antenna and I have not had a single recurrence of my problem. Thanks for the help!

 

[boba]

Boba, I see the connectors you are talking about here: http://www.cablesonline.com/25ghzf81ffet.html

Are these what I need? Also, are you saying to replace the in line booster too, or leave it out entirely?

Yes that is the correct fitting. I would replace the inline amp to try it without and see what effect it has. If you have found the problem with the weak signal leave well enough alone.

 

[dwarren2]

Also do a Sstem Info test to see if there is any problems with your lnb's. Results will be in box a. That was my problem when I was getting partial signak kiss screens.

 

[shortspark]

Yes, all tests seem okay. I will wait a while and see if I need to make the new connection but so far, so good! I wonder why DIsh has not addressed this problem? It seems an easy fix to separate a weak OTA signal from screwing up the entire satellite signal.

 

[TNGTony]

If I understand you correctly, the way around my problem is to first go to my 90% strength local channel and THEN go to other Dish channels. I just tried that and I still get the pop up screen.
[snip]
Since I have these channels on Dish I think I may disable all locals and just remove the module. That might be the best solution. What do you think? If I do that, must I reconfigure anything on the receiver? What would be the best way to do that? I appreciate the help!

Strong signal does not necessarily mean stable signal. For example, I have a station here that I get a 100% signal strength on, but due to some multiphasing (used to cause ghosting on the old TVs) the signal cuts out from time to time and will, in a blue moon, cause the error screen to come up on a satellite channel. Tune to the most stable signal before going to a satellite channel.

Disconnecting the antenna from the module will also take care of the problem. The bug is triggered when the OTA signal is lost. If the signal is already gone, then the bug won't strike.

 

[shortspark]

Thanks Tony, the OTA signal strength is, as you say, the crucial factor. If I can keep the antenna in position I'm all set but if it becomes unstable the signal loss across the board occurs. I can see the signal strength jump up and down frequently on the OTA channels. For example, I will be watching a show and it is perfect but all of a sudden the pixels start going nuts. I hit the guide button and I see the signal strength going into the 50s and that is when I loose the picture. I've been able to keep the strength of the antenna channels in the 70s the last few days and there has been no problem. If it continues to happen I'm pulling the plug on the antenna!

 

[mickey53usa]

My 722K has been in service since 12/26/14. Last night and this afternoon, my wife turned on the unit and got a black screen with the message "Signal Loss." Yes it has the OTS module and antenna. Last night I unplugged the unit as nothing on the remote would do anything except turn the unit on and off. Boy it took a long time to come back on-line. This afternoon, I turn the unit off and then used the reset button on the front of the unit, and it came back on-line much quicker. Seems odd that it happens when the unit is turned on and having been off for a period of time.
I also will get momentary pixilation and video freeze on recorded programs. Don't know if that is happening during the recording or the playback stage. Additional, my signal strength on the Dish show to be about 53% on 119 and about 56% on 110.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[dwarren2]

My first suggestion is do a System Info test. That will tell you if there is a problem with your lnbs. Results will be in box a.

 

[shortspark]

Well, it has been several months since I posted this question and I have tried all the suggestions the good posters above have given me - without much luck. I have to believe that TNGTony is correct as to the cause of my blue screen "loss of signal" notice - that I would receive constantly and virtually every night. As he suggested, I unplugged the OTA antenna from the 722K locals module and I have not lost the signal since (going on one week now). What I have lost is a slightly better picture with OTA 1080i, however, the Dish locals are fine and indistinguishable from the OTA unless you are really looking close. The slight loss of picture quality is certainly not worth the headaches of a constant loss of signal.

Tony said the glitch is that the receiver is sensing an unstable signal from the module and because of that, defaulting to an overall "loss of signal" notice for all channels, including both locals and regular Dish channels. It seems to me that Dish could resolve this problem as it renders the OTA module inoperative and useless. The 612 receiver in the bedroom is not affected at all by this instability in the OTA signal, only the 722's locals module. Because of this, I have to assume the 722 module is overly sensitive to the signal it receives. Unless the OTA signal is perfect the module basically shuts down.

For anyone who has the problem of constant "loss of signal" on their 722, try Tony's suggestion of unhooking your antenna from the locals module and I bet you will have your solution.

 

[pattykay]

Well, it has been several months since I posted this question and I have tried all the suggestions the good posters above have given me - without much luck. I have to believe that TNGTony is correct as to the cause of my blue screen "loss of signal" notice - that I would receive constantly and virtually every night. As he suggested, I unplugged the OTA antenna from the 722K locals module and I have not lost the signal since (going on one week now). What I have lost is a slightly better picture with OTA 1080i, however, the Dish locals are fine and indistinguishable from the OTA unless you are really looking close. The slight loss of picture quality is certainly not worth the headaches of a constant loss of signal.

Tony said the glitch is that the receiver is sensing an unstable signal from the module and because of that, defaulting to an overall "loss of signal" notice for all channels, including both locals and regular Dish channels. It seems to me that Dish could resolve this problem as it renders the OTA module inoperative and useless. The 612 receiver in the bedroom is not affected at all by this instability in the OTA signal, only the 722's locals module. Because of this, I have to assume the 722 module is overly sensitive to the signal it receives. Unless the OTA signal is perfect the module basically shuts down.

For anyone who has the problem of constant "loss of signal" on their 722, try Tony's suggestion of unhooking your antenna from the locals module and I bet you will have your solution.

I live in an area with marginal OTA reception, and I leave my OTA antenna connected to my ViP722k all of the time. I use my ViP722k in Dual Mode, and I only see the issue you describe on TV1 when I leave TV2 on an OTA channel. It happens no matter which OTA channel I leave it on. My solution is to simply leave TV2 on a satellite channel. It also helps to not tune to a satellite channel you want to watch directly after watching an OTA channel. Switch to a different satellite channel first, then tune to the channel you want to watch. If you still get the Partial Signal Loss message after doing the above steps, pressing the Reset button on the front of the receiver should resolve the problem until the next time you watch an OTA channel.

 

[shortspark]

Thanks for that information, crodrules. That is a strange solution but it might work for me too. I would love to keep my OTA signal if possible because I have a projector and 106" screen and the slight difference in picture quality is more noticeable on such a big display. Like you, I also live in the "sticks" and have to use a 60' tower and deep fringe Channel Master with rotor and booster to get my "locals", but it works fine. This long distance factor is probably what makes my OTA signal not always stable. Thanks again for the tip.

 

[dwarren2]

When you get the "signal Loss" if you rewind what you were watching, can you see what was in the buffer?

 

[TNGTony]

Yes, as long as you do not change the channel. It used to happen to me all the time before I got a better aim on my antenna. Just press Guide. Wait until you see the picture with the guide, then press cancel. Then you can rewind the buffer no problem.

 

[dwarren2]

The signal loss problem I had was traced to a bad lnb. New lnb and no more signal loss.

 

[Dotskip]

For a long time now I have had periodic blue screens (partial signal loss) pop up on my 722K screen. The error code is shown as 002, which denotes something not working on the multi dish switch or malfunctioning equipment between the switch and receiver. I have checked all the connections and everything is tight. The dish itself has been replaced but I still get the pop up screen. Sometimes the screen appears every ten minutes or so and sometimes it is hours, but at some point during the day it happens. The only thing in the 100ft. line run I have that might be malfunctioning is an inline booster connecting the two 50' cables. I have no trouble whatsoever on my 612 receiver in the bedroom which is connected by a much shorter cable with no booster.

I can only conclude that the in line booster I put in about ten years ago is malfunctioning. However, here are my questions - why are my recordings not affected? And why can I immediately get back the picture simply by pressing the guide button? If I am recording and watching a program and the partial signal loss screen pops up, I am still able to record the program with no signal loss. I play the recording back and it is there in its entirety. In other words, how can I record without interruption yet can't see the picture because of "signal loss"? If indeed I have signal loss, how can it be recording without interruption or the pop up screen appearing on the recording? Also, if I am watching and the pop up appears on the screen all I have to do is hit the guide button, or dvr button or menu button and the picture instantly comes back on. How is all that possible? Any ideas?

I just ran into same issue, changed 2nd box and it has cured the issue, but I have heard also that people who have the OTA module - remove it and it also cures the issue ? ...