In the twenty-first century, we expect things to work. It can be frustrating when you press the GUIDE button on your DIRECTV receiver or DVR and see nothing but “Regular Schedule.” It’s even more frustrating if you see a message saying that your receiver hasn’t gotten any guide data and needs to reboot.
Before you do anything, press the red reset button on the DVR. It may be very obvious on the side or back, or it may be hidden behind a spring loaded door on the front. Note that you’re looking for the reset button on the DVR or receiver. Doing this procedure on the Genie clients or on the Gemini won’t help.
On older devices, you’ll find the red button behind a door like you see below.
On a Genie 2, it’s on the side of the tower, you can see it at the bottom of this picture.
Press the button and wait for live TV to come back. This generally takes 5-7 minutes. As soon as you get live TV, press the button again and wait.
About 90% of the time this will solve the problem.
If the front of your dish is wide like you see above, you have a Slimline-5 dish. This dish is designed to look at five satellite locations. The thing is, only three of those locations are in use for HD channels. The other two have been decommissioned, except for a very small number of SD local channels. If you have this dish, you may be getting your data from the 119 satellite, and that could be the source of your problems. It’s possible your dish can’t see that location.
Most of the time this is caused by a line-of-sight problem. If you have the Slimline-5 dish, you may not realize just how much of the sky your dish needs to see. It’s a swath about 22 degrees wide. If there are trees or other obstructions anywhere near the dish, it’s possible that it’s just not seeing everything it needs to see. Your receiver may not have a clear view of the 119 degree satellite location. When your receiver starts up, it will get some data from any satellite it can find but if there’s a Slimline-5 dish installed it will want to get that guide data from a satellite that’s located quite a bit off axis from where you think your dish is pointed.
One way to test this is to get on the roof, put yourself right behind the dish, and then turn your head to the right about a quarter turn. If you see any trees or other obstructions, they are probably blocking the dish.
If you aren’t fond of high places, a site like dishpointer.com will help as well. Set it to point from your dish’s location to the DIRECTV 119 satellite and you’ll see an overhead view of where the dish needs to point. You might be able to see the problem or the map may help you figure out where to look when you go outside.
If you don’t see any obstructions, the next step is to check your satellite’s signal strengths. (Here’s a tutorial on how to do that.) You should see strong signal on the 101 satellite (higher than 85) and, if you have the Slimline-5 dish, you should also see strong signals on 119. If you don’t have those, it’s time to aim the dish again.
The Slimline-5 dish isn’t needed for about 99% of people at this point. If you want to solve this problem completely, the easiest thing to do is upgrade your dish. Depending on the equipment you have, there are several choices for upgrades. The best thing to do is to call us at 888-233-7563 and get more information.
There’s one more possibility, although it’s pretty unlikely. DIRECTV receivers have an extra tuner. This tuner onl;y receivers guide data. DIRECTV calls it the “Network Tuner” and there’s a hidden menu on non-Genie receivers to help you test it.
On an older DIRECTV receiver, go to the front panel of the receiver. Then press GUIDE and the right arrow at the same time. This will take some practice to get right. When you do, you’ll see a hidden test menu that looks like the image above. Arrow down to “Coax Network” and press SELECT. You can do this part from the remote.
Unfortunately, this hidden menu isn’t available on Genie systems.
Do you see strong signals on all your satellites using the signal strength test but the Network Tuner is low? That’s a sign of a receiver or DVR going bad. At that point it’s time to think about a replacement. That’s when you should call the experts at 888-233-7563 or fill out the form below.
The post No guide data on your DIRECTV receiver? Here’s what you can do about it. appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
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Here’s the first thing to try.
Before you do anything, press the red reset button on the DVR. It may be very obvious on the side or back, or it may be hidden behind a spring loaded door on the front. Note that you’re looking for the reset button on the DVR or receiver. Doing this procedure on the Genie clients or on the Gemini won’t help.
On older devices, you’ll find the red button behind a door like you see below.
On a Genie 2, it’s on the side of the tower, you can see it at the bottom of this picture.
Press the button and wait for live TV to come back. This generally takes 5-7 minutes. As soon as you get live TV, press the button again and wait.
About 90% of the time this will solve the problem.
If you still have the Slimline-5 dish
If the front of your dish is wide like you see above, you have a Slimline-5 dish. This dish is designed to look at five satellite locations. The thing is, only three of those locations are in use for HD channels. The other two have been decommissioned, except for a very small number of SD local channels. If you have this dish, you may be getting your data from the 119 satellite, and that could be the source of your problems. It’s possible your dish can’t see that location.
Most of the time this is caused by a line-of-sight problem. If you have the Slimline-5 dish, you may not realize just how much of the sky your dish needs to see. It’s a swath about 22 degrees wide. If there are trees or other obstructions anywhere near the dish, it’s possible that it’s just not seeing everything it needs to see. Your receiver may not have a clear view of the 119 degree satellite location. When your receiver starts up, it will get some data from any satellite it can find but if there’s a Slimline-5 dish installed it will want to get that guide data from a satellite that’s located quite a bit off axis from where you think your dish is pointed.
An easy test
One way to test this is to get on the roof, put yourself right behind the dish, and then turn your head to the right about a quarter turn. If you see any trees or other obstructions, they are probably blocking the dish.
If you aren’t fond of high places, a site like dishpointer.com will help as well. Set it to point from your dish’s location to the DIRECTV 119 satellite and you’ll see an overhead view of where the dish needs to point. You might be able to see the problem or the map may help you figure out where to look when you go outside.
If you don’t see any obstructions, the next step is to check your satellite’s signal strengths. (Here’s a tutorial on how to do that.) You should see strong signal on the 101 satellite (higher than 85) and, if you have the Slimline-5 dish, you should also see strong signals on 119. If you don’t have those, it’s time to aim the dish again.
Upgrade the dish?
The Slimline-5 dish isn’t needed for about 99% of people at this point. If you want to solve this problem completely, the easiest thing to do is upgrade your dish. Depending on the equipment you have, there are several choices for upgrades. The best thing to do is to call us at 888-233-7563 and get more information.
Checking the network tuner on an older DVR
There’s one more possibility, although it’s pretty unlikely. DIRECTV receivers have an extra tuner. This tuner onl;y receivers guide data. DIRECTV calls it the “Network Tuner” and there’s a hidden menu on non-Genie receivers to help you test it.
On an older DIRECTV receiver, go to the front panel of the receiver. Then press GUIDE and the right arrow at the same time. This will take some practice to get right. When you do, you’ll see a hidden test menu that looks like the image above. Arrow down to “Coax Network” and press SELECT. You can do this part from the remote.
Unfortunately, this hidden menu isn’t available on Genie systems.
Do you see strong signals on all your satellites using the signal strength test but the Network Tuner is low? That’s a sign of a receiver or DVR going bad. At that point it’s time to think about a replacement. That’s when you should call the experts at 888-233-7563 or fill out the form below.
The post No guide data on your DIRECTV receiver? Here’s what you can do about it. appeared first on The Solid Signal Blog.
Continue reading...
