SWM-8 Compatibility

[allenv30]

Hi All, major help needed. I will try and make this short. I have been on vacation and spent most of it troubleshooting.

1st. new addition to home, new rg6 cables and new non swm dish. All new runs and all has been checked and are great. The original setup, I had a Zinwell 6x8 Multiswitch which ran 3 receivers, 2 h20-100 and hr20-100. never had one problem.

2nd. Installed a new SWM-8 with a correct splitter. All parts ordered at the same time. From the get go, I have had nothing but problems. I followed all the guidelines and started one unit at a time. making sure they were good before going on to the next one. No b band converters etc... So, with all installed and working, I thought it was over and could enjoy using the DVR portion of the receiver. I also had ordered 2 other receivers to replace the single receivers.

3rd. The first thing that happened was lower hd channels were pixilating and dropping out. Now this would happen on all the receivers at the same time, but at no specific time of the day or night.

A. Satellite is aligned, mid 90s to 100s on all transponders. All connections are tight and dry. Cableing is new and not damaged.
B. Ordered another power supply, was suggested. Still no luck.
C. Reset all units a million times and had replacements shipped out by Directv. All the receivers are updated with the latest software.
D. Exchanged out units from one cable to other cables with same results. Had only one unit setup and still no luck. So, no matter if it is one or three the same thing happens at no specific time.
E. Ordered another swm-8 and another power supply. Still no luck.
F. Went back to the standard with the 6x8 switch and it works normal.
G. Installed a seperate SWM-8 in the old part of the house on a single receiver and have never had any problem. The distance between the SWM-8 here is about 30 feet from the dish the same with the problem unit. The distance from the power inserter to the swm is about 60 feet. The power inserter on the new side which is the problem side is about 30 feet.

Dish good, Cables Good, Receivers new and good, SWM new, PI new.
System works on old Zinwell multiswitch, System does not work on SWM-8

1. Is there a compatability issue with the swm-8 and the direct tv receivers(DVR Units)?
2. Is there an issue with cable length and closeness to the SWM-8 from the receivers? My units are 20ft, 30ft, 40ft. IE Too strong of a signal from the dish to the SWM?
3. Only the lower HD channels keep knocking off. The uppers are fine 200 and above? Possible ground or short? To much power?

I am tired and really want to have the use of the swm, any help is greatly appreciated.
thank you

 

[randyk47]

I'm using my SWM-8 with two HR20's and an H20 without a bit of trouble. From the very first second it's worked perfectly. As far as I know there are no reported problems with any H2x/HR2x units. My distances are about the same as yours. I'm taking you at your word that you powered down and unplugged every unit and then plugged them back in and powered up each one, one at a time. From start to finish I couldn't have spent more than 30-40 minutes installing and bringing the SWM-8 and receivers back on line. I've had one power failure since I installed the SWM-8, this week in fact, and everything came back without a hitch though I do run the PI on a UPS. Really beats me what your situation is since this seems to be a pretty easy "upgrade" and I don't mean that as questioning you. When you run the satellite meter do you see SWM? I'm wondering if the firmware is not communicating with your receivers for some reason.

 

[allenv30]

update

I have been doing this for years. I am an IT professional. This is so strange. As for the powering up and down, yes i have done it correctly and all my units do see the swm.

The interesting thing about my system is before i had all hd DVRs, I had the single hd receivers and they did not see the swm. So, i had dtv send new ones, but they didn't show up as well, so,, I have nothing but DVRs now and they all pick up the swm.

As for the PI, It was first installed next to the swm with about 25 feet of coax between them. I then moved it to one of the receivers plugged into a line conditioner. Makes no difference.

The only thing that i have not changed has been the LNB itself, but logic would make you think, if it works without the swm-8 then it should work with it. But again, i do not know the specs for compatibility between the swm and the lnb. They say they are all compatible but they also said that about all my receivers.

As for the firmware of the SWM. I do not know that answer. I also replaced the SWM with 2 newer units.

The saga continues

thank you for replying. I have read so many forums. so many different people experiencing problems with the SWM. I am beginning to believe it is some issue with the receivers themselves.

 

[randyk47]

I do have to change one of my comments. Apparently there have been problems with H20's though it would appear it's the H20-100's and not the H20-600's.

 

[johndsparks]

See my posts on my SWM saga. I have no rational explanation but disconnecting and reconnecting the PI from the SWM input (I have the PI between the SWM and a 4 way splitter) while it was plugged in and a receiver was running actually seemed to fix a SWM that was not working at all. I had repowered the entire system several times to no avail.

Which dish do you have. I am using the Slimline with 4 feeds.

 

[allenv30]

swm slimline 5

I have the slimline 5 as well.

I also moved my pi to one receiver and added coax. but no luck

today turned on one of the units and the signal was out. I checked the swm transponders and the swm was showing 3 transponders locked out at 0.

that tells me that this is an issue with the equipment itself. I believe that there is some sort of back feed to the swm from one of my receivers. I don't know which one. That will take more troubleshooting.

since i never had this issue before installing the swm and i was running the zinwell 6x8 switch. It only stands to reason that it has to be something with the hardware.

 

[randyk47]

Actually I'm not sure the 0's mean what you might be thinking. My SWM-8 works just fine but I'm only using 5 of the available channels so 3 channels always show 0's.

 

[allenv30]

way off

guess i am way off base then. I was thinking that after all the info, those nodes identify with a specific receiver and keep a lock between the receiver and the swm.

it was just a guess