Mercury II acting strange

[TiminMb]

My Mercury II is acting up. It did this on the first day I got it, but quit doing it after I deleted some channels.

I recently added about 40 more channels manually. Now on that satellite, it freezes up and resets sometimes when I change channels, or press on of the buttons.

It is also very slow when I switch from one TP to another. Its like it has to process something internally, but once its on that TP you can quickly change channels to another channel on that TP. But if you switch to another TP channel, it takes long to respond and show a pictures (approx 5 seconds), but then is quick again when you switch to another channel on that same TP.

Any ideas?

I've backed up my channels and done a factory reset, to no avail.

 

[brentb636]

If you restore factory defaults, and set up just one satellite, does it still act up ? I'm wondering whether you have so many channels that there is a memory problem. Maybe deleting entire satellites with all their tp's might clear it up, in that case.

 

[TRG]

You might want to recheck the settings on the extra channels you entered manually. I find that Symbol Rate is a bit finicky sometimes. And as Brent mentioned delete any unnecessary channels to free up some memory.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Are you running original Firmware or has it been upgraded to the latest Factory Firmware?

There are several TPs that will cause the receiver to act sluggish with the original firmware. A quick upgrade is all that your receiver may need!

 

[rv1pop]

If we load the latest factory firmware, do we lose the Glorystar features?

 

[Keith Brannen]

As others have noted, it may be partially a memory problem. I would also check some of the satellites and delete any transponders that were just feeds. Satellites like AMC6 (72), H2 (74), AMC5 (79), and G11 (91) get bloated very fast. For example, on H2 (74) delete all transponders but the ONN transponder.

As far as the slowness in switching between transponders on the satellite with the manually entered channels, it sounds more like the transponder frequency isn't quite right so it is taking the receiver a few seconds to compensate to the correct frequency. Have had that problem before myself. Usually an adjustment of 1 or 2 points can correct the problem (I check using the TP scan to see how fast the receiver locks on the frequency and adjust accordingly). Of course, then the problem might be that you have to manually re-enter in the channels again!

 

[SatelliteAV]

I don't believe that TiminMb has a Glorystar system. If his receiver has the original Fortec Star firmware, it is know to have issues with scanning transponders with non-compliant DVB Transport Streams.

If we load the latest factory firmware, do we lose the Glorystar features?

 

[TiminMb]

I checked the S/W version and its 1.06. Is that the best and bug free?

Don't let this minor glitch make anyone think the Mercury II is a bad receiver. Its just the opposite. This is a very good receiver with extremely well designed features for scanning and editing. I'd highly recommend it.

 

[Anole]

Have you checked the FortecStar web site?

I put the link and version info in the Mercury II Review thread.

 

[TiminMb]

Re: null model hookup. Do they have serial ports on modern computers anymore? I thought they were all usb now? The Fortec sight says to use a null model cable with female to female ends. There is a nine pin female plug on the back of my computer. Is that likely serial? I guess I need a null modem cable with male ends then. Sound right? I"m sure they have them at all those computer stores around here that cater to sat hackers.

 

[brentb636]

You are correct, that 9 pin D-shell connector is com1: . I got a null modem cable with my Merc, maybe you did , too? and it's stashed somewhere ?

 

[TRG]

Re: null model hookup. Do they have serial ports on modern computers anymore? I thought they were all usb now? The Fortec sight says to use a null model cable with female to female ends. There is a nine pin female plug on the back of my computer. Is that likely serial? I guess I need a null modem cable with male ends then. Sound right? I"m sure they have them at all those computer stores around here that cater to sat hackers.

Most nine pin serial ports on a computer are male. If you bought your receiver new it should come with a cable. Most any computer store or radio shack should be able to set you up though. Sounds like you might need male on one end (computer) and female on the other (STB).

 

[Tron]

If the port on the rear of the computer is a female DB connector, chances are that its a female DB15 used for VGA, not a DB9 serial connector. As TRG stated, the serial port should be male.

 

[TiminMb]

Maybe I'll have to use an old computer that definately has a serial port. I'm wondering if they started eliminating them after introducing all those USB ports?

 

[phlatwound]

I don't know much about this stuff but you might check into a USB to serial adapter?

 

[kingjeste]

acting up

This is the same thing my FS Mercury II did when i first got it.. i thing the unit does have an memory problem.. or they need to back to drawing board with this one.. i had to add just 5 SATs or the thing starts to act slow or freak out and delete all my channels.. happen to me. atleast 3 times already.. not like'n this unit at all. will not get another fortec star product.. will go wth another much better unit.. has firmware v1.53 latest..