Missing Many channels (not favorites)

[Zankuro]

Hello everyone! I'm brand new to the forums but this is a wonderful idea and I wish I'd thought about it years ago when I first made that big change from rabbit ears to satellite TV!

I've been able to handle most problems that have cropped up over the years myself but I've encountered one that has me totally boggled and I need some help on what to tell DTV customer service when I give them a call.

The problem I'm having is that I only get about two out of every thirteen channels and these are channels I previously got just fine. We had a major storm a few weeks ago (yes, I waited that long ) and now I have one receiver (upstairs) that has this problem while the downstairs receiver is working fine and getting all its channels. They both receive their signal from the same dish.

The channels that are missing will display the name of the channel (ie Discovery, National Geographic--the two main channels that I watch the most and which are now gone) and will pop up with the "searching for satellite signal" message at the bottom of the screen for less than a second every now and then, and that message is constantly displayed on the channels my package doesn't actually cover.

I have tried removing and replacing the access card, removing the power cable, making certain the Favorites setting wasn't set (and it isn't) and none of that works. This is definitely some sort of other problem. The storm I mentioned caused a power outage which also knocked our heating and air conditioning system out of whack so I know it was a biggee.

Does anyone have any advice on what I might try myself or what exactly I can say to Direct TV customer service? I know they'll just have me do the access card thing and the power cord thing and the Favorites thing to rule those out but I know they're ruled out. I'd love to fix the problem myself since the couple times I've called service it's been at least a four hour wait though I completely understand how busy they are and I do greatly appreciate the service! I'd just love to get to the point immediately if possible!

Thanks so much!

 

[raoul5788]

Have you tried switching receivers to eliminate the cable as the cause? It sounds like the receiver itself may be bad. Also, check all of the cables and multiswitch, if you have one.
Oh yeah, WELCOME TO SATELLITEGUYS!

 

[Zankuro]

Thanks so much and I'm glad to be here!

I don't have a multiswitch and I haven't yet switched the receivers--only because I have this illogical fear that I'll transmit whatever problem the upstairs one is having to the downstairs one I know it seems rather absurd but I have one person in the house who just watches TV all day long and can't lose that (retired elderly parent.)

I've wanted to switch them just to see. There's no way to transmit the problem is there?

 

[raoul5788]

Thanks so much and I'm glad to be here!

I don't have a multiswitch and I haven't yet switched the receivers--only because I have this illogical fear that I'll transmit whatever problem the upstairs one is having to the downstairs one I know it seems rather absurd but I have one person in the house who just watches TV all day long and can't lose that (retired elderly parent.)

I've wanted to switch them just to see. There's no way to transmit the problem is there?

No, it's not like they have Ebola or anything! Just make sure to connect the cable from the dish before you plug them back into the wall. It's possible to short out an lnb or receiver if it's plugged in and you touch the center connector to the outside threaded connector, but only if the receiver is plugged in. Good luck!

 

[camo]

I'm no expert in this area, but I did have a LNB go bad, back when I was on Dish network and lost 1/2 my channels. Best thing to do would be call customer support , I'm sure they will have it figured out in a couple minutes of test and it's free.

 

[raoul5788]

So Zankuro, any luck with your receivers? Were you able to switch them?

 

[Zankuro]

Haven't tried it out yet, actually. I've been really busy with tons of other things the past few days--one of the reasons I waited so long to even try anything about the problem; I only tend to watch TV on weekends so when that time is taken up I don't even turn the receiver on. I will more than likely do the switch this coming friday and I'll update when I see what happens. Thanks again for the all the advice and I'll let you all know what happens!

 

[Zankuro]

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a year since I first posted this!

As it turns out, this past december we had a huge storm and it completely knocked out ALL my service for DirectTV and I don't even get the few channels I previously got. I called customer service and they told me I needed a new receiver and that would solve the problem, although I can't afford what they want to charge for the new receiver for a while. HOWEVER, I was able to bring home a brand new receiver from work to hook up and it was not able to find a signal, which told me it was the cable. I was recently able to get on the roof to check the old cable, which didn't work, so I replaced it with a brand new coax cable that was left over from an installation at work. I tested the cable here at work and it was fine.

Once I got the new cable hooked up my clock updated and channel information appeared but there was nothing but black on the screen. I got an "invalid access card" message a couple times but I reinserted it twice and it finally accepted it. I did a reauthorize on the DTV site and I can now get one channel...and only one channel

There seems to be a problem with my ability to change channels as going up or down or typing in the numbers just sends me to a black screen and five to ten minutes after I change the channel it will finally go to that channel but not show anything but black. I was able to eventually get back to that one channel I get just fine but I'd love to be able to get all the channels I'm supposed to have.

Over the course of two and a half hours I did four more reauthorizations, making sure to wait at least ten minutes between each one, but to no affect. Since my work switched to Dish I have a brand new Direct TV receiver from our old service that I'm going to take home tonight to try out since although there was definitely something wrong with the cable, there is obviously also something wrong with my receiver.

Thanks again for all the advice on here and I apologize for not updating much sooner--I just haven't had much need to watch TV and as long as my retired mom has her receiver working in her room I'm happy to pay for the service. But now I want to watch TV again so I'm back on this.

I'll update tomorrow after I've hooked up the new receiver. With my luck there will be a large explosion and it will trigger a fault line that just happens to run under my house and California will fall into the ocean. I don't have good luck. Anyway, I really appreciate the advice everyone gave, I was just incredibly slow in getting to call customer service--I was afraid of the wait time and didn't have a huge block of time to devote to it...turns out when I called I got in after only fourteen minutes.

 

[charper1]

have you validated that the dish is still aimed correctly? if it was posted in there I missed it.

 

[cave1376]

What kind of dish do you have? Post your signal strengths.

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[Zankuro]

I will try to figure out what dish I have and get the signal strength tonight. My attempt to use the receiver from work didn't work as it is one that had a DVR on it, I realized. I've got an older, simple one that I still want to try. The only thing I know for sure about our Dish is that it's totally beat up from all the storms we had last winter and has lots of dents in it and the rubber thing on the armature that points at the dish is falling apart

I know the signal itself is working since the downstairs receiver works just fine and gets all of its channels, it's just mine upstairs that seems to have the problems. Thanks for the replies and I'll try to get the information soon!

 

[raoul5788]

If your dish is really as beat up as you say, it needs to be replaced.

 

[jdspencer]

Sign up for the protection plan and then in a week or so call in that you have a problem. This can reduce your costs.

Also, tell us exactly what receivers you have.