LNB Drift, any stop-gap solution???

bub

SatelliteGuys Guru
Original poster
Nov 18, 2003
120
0
I have a Dish 1000 and vip622, with no switch at all in my setup. I have a DP Plus dual head LNB and a Dish Pro single.

I'm getting a -8 drift on the 129 satellite (I'm stuck at the 015 screen, acquiring satellite signal) and DN is sending a tech out with a quad LNB replacement but that won't be for another week. Weird thing is when I check signal strength in the point dish menu, my signal for 129 t10 is perfectly fine as is the other two sats, 119 and 110.

Is there a way for me to turn off the 129 LNB and get the stations available from the other two satellites until DN gets here with the replacement LNB?

And, if that is possible, is there a list somewhere that will tell me which channels are available from which satellite (so I know what I won't be able to get)?

Thanks for any help! I can't believe that DN would leave me hanging for an entire week without fixing this, but what are you going to do? I've only been a full time customer of DN for almost 11 years...

Thanks again all,
George -bub
 
I have a Dish 1000 and vip622, with no switch at all in my setup. I have a DP Plus dual head LNB and a Dish Pro single.

I'm getting a -8 drift on the 129 satellite (I'm stuck at the 015 screen, acquiring satellite signal) and DN is sending a tech out with a quad LNB replacement but that won't be for another week. Weird thing is when I check signal strength in the point dish menu, my signal for 129 t10 is perfectly fine as is the other two sats, 119 and 110.

Is there a way for me to turn off the 129 LNB and get the stations available from the other two satellites until DN gets here with the replacement LNB?

And, if that is possible, is there a list somewhere that will tell me which channels are available from which satellite (so I know what I won't be able to get)?

Thanks for any help! I can't believe that DN would leave me hanging for an entire week without fixing this, but what are you going to do? I've only been a full time customer of DN for almost 11 years...

Thanks again all,
George -bub

You would have go up there and physically disconnect the DP Dual (the little one) from the Dish Pro Plus Twin (The bigger one), then re-run a check switch. That's the only way to take the 129 out of the loop.
 
Thanks for the tips fellas but still stuck at 015 Acquiring satellite. Foil over the single LNB and then ran a check switch. I guess I need to reboot...

Man, a ton of the programming I watch is on 129.

George

Reboot, didn't help. At the System Info screen under status all is clear now with 119 and 110 but still stuck at 015...
 
Thanks for the tips fellas but still stuck at 015 Acquiring satellite. Foil over the single LNB and then ran a check switch. I guess I need to reboot...

Man, a ton of the programming I watch is on 129.

George

Reboot, didn't help. At the System Info screen under status all is clear now with 119 and 110 but still stuck at 015...

You may have more serious problems than just drift. Sometimes I see other issues that are actually at fault, but the receiver mis-identifies it as drift. Things like a bad barrel connector, sucked out fitting, bad diplexer or ground block, low frequency wall plate that just gave out, RG59 somewhere in the system, etc. I'm afraid you'll end up having to wait for the tech to come out. He will check the whole system, and is expected to bring the system into complience with our new quality standards.
 
You may have more serious problems than just drift. Sometimes I see other issues that are actually at fault, but the receiver mis-identifies it as drift. Things like a bad barrel connector, sucked out fitting, bad diplexer or ground block, low frequency wall plate that just gave out, RG59 somewhere in the system, etc. I'm afraid you'll end up having to wait for the tech to come out. He will check the whole system, and is expected to bring the system into complience with our new quality standards.
I'll bet you are correct. I have a -8 drift on both 110 and 119 and have no picture problems.
 
Well, I guess I'm really confused as to why when I go through the point dish screen all the sat signals are great, 75 and 75 for 110 and 119 and 50 for 129 (which is very good for this area and Dish 1000 dish) if there is a problem with a cable, ground block, sucked out fitting, bad diplexer etc...

I would think a bad connection anywhere would also show up on that screen as well as low signal or intermittent signal etc...

George
 
When I ordered the vip622, the guys who came out were clueless. They had a used SW64 switch that they couldn't get to work so they were on the phone with 'the brains' of the operation and devised a way to run a single cable into my house from the used DP Plus and used Dish Pro LNB's they scrounged off their truck without using any switch at all.

But, that was 3 years ago or so and everything has been working fine (I was pretty skeptical for awhile). I've made no changes since they got it running.

Just weird that my signals are good yet can't get a picture. I think I should be able to take the Dish Pro out of the loop and still use the other two sats from the DP Plus as recommended in earlier posts.

The 015 screen keeps bouncing between these two, sat 119 t19 test 3 of 5 to sat 129 t10. I think something is going on but not convinced it is a bad LNB as I would think a bad signal reading would be a symptom as well.

Dang though, thanks for all the pointers fellas. I will be sure to report back next week. If anybody has any other ideas, please let me know. My dish is right outside my office mounted on the side of a brick wall that is very accessible to me.

George
 
Just picked up a used Dish Pro LNB from a friendly local DN rep. Replaced it and no difference at all. In fact, the drift went from -8 to -9.

I'm clueless,
George
 
Everybody desert me in my hour of need? What, you all watching your satellite television programming? That would be great as I'm going to miss the race tomorrow :(

Anybody? Bueller?
 
Just picked up a used Dish Pro LNB from a friendly local DN rep. Replaced it and no difference at all. In fact, the drift went from -8 to -9.

I'm clueless,
George

What Dish Pro LNBF did you get? A dual or a twin? Also, what locations are experiencing drift? 129, 110, or 119? This information will can be fount on the system info screen under the details tab.
 
What Dish Pro LNBF did you get? A dual or a twin? Also, what locations are experiencing drift? 129, 110, or 119? This information will can be fount on the system info screen under the details tab.

This info was given in my first post, drift is -8 for sat 129. I have a DP Plus and Dish Pro LNB, the Dish Pro is on sat 129. That is the LNB that I replaced but it made no difference.

Since, I've tried to isolate sat 129, as others have suggested, but no luck. A local DN rep suggested that it wasn't the Dish Pro that was bad but the 'in' port on the DP Plus.

I can't figure it out but have tried multiple permutations (I think I covered them all). I appreciate any suggestions that's for sure. DN will not send someone out until next Thursday evening.

George
 
This info was given in my first post, drift is -8 for sat 129. I have a DP Plus and Dish Pro LNB, the Dish Pro is on sat 129. That is the LNB that I replaced but it made no difference.

Since, I've tried to isolate sat 129, as others have suggested, but no luck. A local DN rep suggested that it wasn't the Dish Pro that was bad but the 'in' port on the DP Plus.

I can't figure it out but have tried multiple permutations (I think I covered them all). I appreciate any suggestions that's for sure. DN will not send someone out until next Thursday evening.

George

Did you do a hard reset after replacing the LNBF? (Unplugging and plugging back in) If you don't, it will still register the drift, even if there is none on the new LNBF. After you do the hard reset, do a check switch, then check for drift.
 
I have run into one situation (very rare) where I believe the band translator in a DPPlus Twin actually started to go. This did register as LNB Drift (although it was really the translator that was drifting) on 61.5 despite my having replaced the LNB twice. Tested the multiple duals I had used all by themselves, and they all came back fine. Could be your issue.
 
Did you do a hard reset after replacing the LNBF? (Unplugging and plugging back in) If you don't, it will still register the drift, even if there is none on the new LNBF. After you do the hard reset, do a check switch, then check for drift.

OK, took this advice (unplugged the 622, then made the lnb switch), drift was again at -8 (before w/o unplugging the 622, drift would switch to -9 with the replacement lnb).

Is there any way for me to use the hardware I have to pull in only the 129 sat until DN shows up?

I only have one cable run into the house as the 129 lnb fed into the in port of the DP Plus (which the local DN rep said might be the culprit).

I now have the DP Plus hooked up with one port feeding the receiver and the other port hooked into its own in port. Check switch is good and status is good, but I still can't get past the 015 acquiring sat signal screen, wtf???

Why would the check switch pass and the status pass, yet I still can not acquire sat?

If I could only get 129 off that single lnb, I would be happy for a week. But, every time I try, I still have a problem after agreeing to the 'warning, less sat available' screen, the test switch fails (it completes but the one sat is x'ed out).

I really do appreciate any input fellas, thanks.
George
 
You could disconnect that cable coming from 129W LNBF dish: a) at 129W dish side; b) at In port of DPP LNBF.

Read above... I did that and the check switch was good, and the system info was good, yet I still could not get past the 015 acquiring sat screen. I'm stumped!

George
 

622 - software v511 and channel locks

HD only pack with Missing SD?