Bell 5900 replaces 2700 - now signal drops out

[Bell_in_Boston]

So, I managed to find a 5100 (with 5900 hard-drive upgrade) on ebay, and the other day I had that activated in place of my good old 2700. The 2700 had been working fine, with good signal strength and no problems in the last month or so.

Everything was good with the 5100 for about the first 20 mins (ie, while on the phone with Bell), but then the signal started dropping out. I'd get the "searching for signal" or "lost signal" error messages for 1-2 seconds every 10 seconds or so. I went to the signal strength page. Many tps had stronger signal strength than previously (I now have 5 or 6 tps with 100% strength, including one on 82W!) - however periodically the signal meter would turn red and say "wrong sat". Usually, the actual signal strength would not drop - it would just unlock. Occasionally, the signal strength would drop down to zero for 1-2 seconds as well, but usually it was just the unlocking problem.

So, I just pulled the satellite cable back out of the 5100, and hooked up the 2700 again. There is no problem. I sat with the signal strength display on the screen for 10 mins - 5 mins each of 82W tp4 and 91W tp11. While the signal strengths were ~ 4-6% lower than measured on the 5100, both tps remained locked the entire time, with strength fluctuations of no more than 1% during the 5 min period. Since then, I've had TSN on the 2700 for the last 15 mins, with no signal loss.

Does anyone have any thoughts? I have a 20" dish with two legacy dual LNBs and a SW21. (The 5100 had been setup to run with a DP twin, but I did a check-switch and reset it to my apparatus within the first few minutes of hooking it up to the dish.) The cable run to the dish is probably only 20-25 feet. Is there something about the 5100 or DP-series receivers that might be causing this.... or is the 5100 unit just flaky? (Also, I'd asked for the 2700 to be deactivated - should I be getting any subscrption channels on it??!!)

Thanks

 

[SatboyZ]

Sounds like a flakey tuner...

once it warms up it stops working. I had a 301 on Dish like that once. Confirmed the heat thing by ripping apart the case and taking off the aluminum cover for the tuner module. Sprayed some coolant in there and it came back on for a few minutes. Never did isolate the problem - just threw it out and got another one (it was cheap enough at the time to not pay someone to fix it).

Good Luck

 

[Bell_in_Boston]

Aagghh.... I feared something like that. And it does seem to go flaky after warming up. I had it switched off all night, and this morning it worked OK for 10 mins or so before reverting to the same problem.

Of course, Bell equipment goes for much more on eBay than Dish equipment, because there's so much less of it. I don't want to kiss $150 goodbye needlessly! Not to mention the hassle of contacting Bell each time, given my location, etc.

Is the tuner a discrete part that could be replaced if I got my hands on a Dish 501 or similar? Or is everything on one giant board in there?

 

[SatboyZ]

Unfortunately...

It is all surface mount parts which is why I did not try and fix it myself. If it is like the 301, the tuner is part of the main board (from my memory of a couple of years ago) and just shielded by the aluminum case. If the 5100 is the same, I am afraid you will be facing the same problems.

PM me know if you need help - we are about 1/2 way between Toronto and Detroit on the Cdn side.

Good Luck
Steve