Satpros DSR500 - self-help support

[Anole]

make yourself worth more

As I had one of those cables laying about, I tried the Tristar firmware ...
The firmware is reported as "DSR500S-4.139" on the system screen.
Supposedly this is an "official" release,

On a side note, if you flash this firmware, you now own a $300+ STB instead of a $99 one

After finding the Tristar connection last night, I went to bed instead of searching for firmware or support.
Looks like it's just one minor version (release) lower than that mentioned by VinceT3, above.
There seem to be a few other brand names that are identical, but at least now we have a little better idea where to search, should we need firmware or more info.

As for the extra value, just send 10% of the difference to the charity of your choice, and you'll sleep better at night.

edit: and it looks like we need some pretty thorough testing with a motor.

 

[ussexplroer]

Motor

I got the motor on mine to work okay. The receiver has a built in off or something. When I ran my dish into the side of the house (my fault. Bumping the motor with the east/west function). The motor did what it was supose to and my receiver also shutdown. Not sure what happened. Never hit the house before. I was messing around with echostar 3 at 61.5 and I'm about 3" from the side of the house. go figure. But I can cover from 61.5 to 148 and I can go byond 148. Just that is as far I I need for ku. I tried some stuff arther than that. But not luck. If you have any ideas. let me know.

Stab setting with lat and long.

later,

Josh

 

[VinceT3]

fixed it....damn language was in portugese...dicked with the settings and found english

factory reset worked for me.. I forgot about that pain.. seems to be fix in other versions.. I did try orasat as well, installed but I didn't have a working remote so I couldn't do much..

 

[VinceT3]

I forgot I have the harmony remote.. so I tried the orasat again, no dice doesn't scan any channels.. went back to the original version the box came with.. seems all others are hacks of the original..

 

[timmy1376]

Wondering aloud what would happend if I tried to load software from a Pansat 2500 onto this thing?? They seem to be VERY close.....

 

[digiblur]

Wondering aloud what would happend if I tried to load software from a Pansat 2500 onto this thing?? They seem to be VERY close.....

I wouldn't try it unless you are prepared to JTAG it back to life.

 

[timmy1376]

Not sure what JTAG is. Is there a way without the remote to factory reset the unit?

 

[Mr Tony]

reload the factory software

 

[CharredPC]

Wondering aloud what would happend if I tried to load software from a Pansat 2500 onto this thing?? They seem to be VERY close.....

You try it; if it works we'll do the same
From what I've read, JTAG involves a special cable hooked up inside your STB, and I guess would be the most direct way to redo the firmware.

 

[timmy1376]

If I was sure it wouldn't render the box a doorstop, I would try different softwares in a heartbeat trying to get blind scan on this thing. I wonder why they would not write blind scanning into this thing when it seems it is possible with this box.

Anyway, I am going to sell it to a guy in town here, and get a Traxis 3500 that will blindscan.

Nice knowing ya Satpros....

 

[VinceT3]

I tried the 2500 bin, no dice won't even install.. I get some funky error from the app I'm using...

 

[VinceT3]

Does anyone know how to generate a new BIN to update the satellite list on this box?

 

[Anole]

new firmware & factory reset - not a good thing

I had the original firmware 4.106 on my box, as delivered.
During initial play, I accidentally did a factory reset.
While it cleared the selected satellites, and reset a few things, I was able to continue just fine.

Eventually, I put 4.139 (?) onto the box.
The startup banner (box) which usually says: Initalizing, when you do a power-on, had no text in it.
Once up, the menu had no text, but you could still cursor around in it.

I think the previously programmed channels still "worked" at least to the point of letting me select them and see either blank or garbage for scrambled or hi-def channels, respectively.

I somehow managed to do a factory reset (pretty tricky with blank menus!) ... and that restored the text into all the menu boxes.

Somewhere along the way, the receiver totally stopped seeing anything coming in from the LNB.
At first, I was worried the last factory reset had caused the problem, so I put back the old firmware and tried another reset (which hadn't hurt in the beginning).

To make a too-long story a little shorter, I went back and forth between numerous versions (including the factory original), never losing text in the menu again, but also never being able to get signals from the LNB.
Reports about the same 60 signal, but instead of 80 quality, I get 10 for quality, now.
Besides a firmware setup problem (because that's what I was in the middle of), the only other logical thing to consider is a lose LNB connector.
That actually happened on this receiver the other day, so I tightened the coax on the rear of the receiver.
I'll try to find an independent way to verify the LNB is still powered and pointed, but besides a failing connector , I can't think of any other situation that'd happen right in the middle of my experiments, in the middle of the night.

I've also waded through the hacker forums, looking for any insight.
For the most part, those folks don't have clue-one.
I didn't find any concern noted about doing the factory reset....

Anyone else see were I might have gone wrong?

 

[Mr Tony]

Just out of curiosity, did you change the LNB LO to the correct one (Universal or Standard). I know when I factory reset my box it changed all the settings

 

[digiblur]

Does anyone know how to generate a new BIN to update the satellite list on this box?

Use Channel-Master. Then export the list to an Orasat format, then upload it to the receiver. No BIN updated needed.

 

[VinceT3]

It exports as a text file and I don't have any tools to upload a text file??

 

[Anole]

Satpros owner's manual, and the channel editor, are in this thread.

 

[VinceT3]

Ya know that's too obvious for me to figure out.. Thank you

 

[Anole]

my problems resolved ... ?

hahahahaha
I think the obvious bit me in the butt, too.

I gave up trying to make my dead (?) LNB work and switched over to other ones, all aimed and set up with switches.
I told the Satrpros about the new LNB / switch combo, and turned it lose to scan.
This time, it actually found a bunch of channels... unlike my post above where I found nothing.
(different birds too, but I doubt any had been shot down in the last 48 hours)

Of course, there were radio channels, and no TV channels.. what the heck?
I saw it scan them, where did they go? Why can't I select them?
I don't know how long it took me before I finally looked up in the manual and found a button on the remote , over by the power button, to select between TV and radio mode.
This finally got me a couple of slates (barker channels), and some FTA promo chans.

The experiences all paid off. I'm getting more comfortable with the odd menu system of the Satpros.

Just out of curiosity, did you change the LNB LO to the correct one (Universal or Standard).
I know when I factory reset my box it changed all the settings

Yes, thanks for the tip. That Factory Reset reallly ripped it a new one!

At one point, I did find that my LNB selections were the wrong type (LO freq), and changed them.
But I was going through menu settings with a fine-toothed comb, and double checked diseqc switch settings, LO, and everything else I could think of.

Somewhere along the way, I think the start-up menu asking for English or Portuguese has disappeared.
Now, if I could just get it to stop asking me for the password when I access some menu settings....

 

[Mr Tony]

Now, if I could just get it to stop asking me for the password when I access some menu settings....

agreed on that one