I lost signal

[guppy1]

I have a H20 at my travel trailer in Dallas. I have another HD receiver at my home in Jasper Tx, 6 hours away. The H20 in Dallas has worked fine until last night. The dvd player was on, I hit input to flip over to directv and I see a picture for about a second and then the receiver turned off. At first I thought maybe I had hit the wrong button. I turn the receiver back on and it goes into the searching for signal. I hit the red reset button, I unplugged for several minutes, I finally went to the setup and it shows all zeros for the signal. The dish is mounted on a pole about 6 feet off the ground, everything appears to be tight. I don't know if I have a bad dish, bad receiver, or if the dish needs re-aimed. Where do I start?

 

[raoul5788]

Clearly something went wrong! Do you have any signal strength on any satellites? Have you checked all of the cables and connectors? Could the dish have moved slightly? There might be evidence of movement on the pole.

 

[guppy1]

All sats are showing zero. The dish is mounted on a pole and everything seemed tight. As much as I hate to loosen bolts and start the aiming procedure over, I think that is my only option, unless I could find a receiver to test out on my dish. I used to have some of those old directv receivers, back before high def. Seemed like those receivers picked up channel 100 and 200 even if it was not activated. Will the old receiver work with my high def antennae? Does channels 100 still come in with a subscription? Do I have to have a card in the receiver?

Clearly something went wrong! Do you have any signal strength on any satellites? Have you checked all of the cables and connectors? Could the dish have moved slightly? There might be evidence of movement on the pole.

 

[raoul5788]

Excellent idea using an old receiver. It will get the sd channels on 101 and that should give you an indication of what is wrong. If you get good numbers on 101, then the lnb or receiver could be the problem. If you get no improvement, then I would lean toward the lnb or the alignment.

 

[guppy1]

I can not remember, does the old receiver have to have an access card in it in order to pickup channel 101?

 

[raoul5788]

No, I don't think so.

 

[Joe Diamond]

A couple of other things to try..........the sudden blink off is a clue.
Bybass the DVD and run a cable directly to thr receiver.
You may have to go through setup again and make sure the correct dish is selected.
Shake all wire and fittings....something could have been pulled apart. This could even be an uncrimped (compressed) fitting. They look ok but will not work after being pulled until the cable is again inserted all the way.
Then examine the dish itself.......has it spun or slumped off signal due to loose bolts or high winds?
There are other less probable causes........you are going in the right direction. Establish a signal with an old box....I think they need a card but not the correct card or activation to hit ch 100. Do that and see where you are.

Report back,

Joe

 

[Jimbo]

Definitely need a card, regardless... without a card in it, you'll get the "Please Insert your Access Card" message.

Now, if you have signal, but are not activated yet, you'll usually get channels 100, 200 and 500, all preview channels.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Definitely need a card, regardless... without a card in it, you'll get the "Please Insert your Access Card" message.

Now, if you have signal, but are not activated yet, you'll usually get channels 100, 200 and 500, all preview channels.

Yup,
A real thriller here.....has all the signs of "CX mowed sat line.....replaced sat line.....all well" but no mower. A true mystery!

joe

 

[guppy1]

Here is something I find odd. When I hit menu, I get a line that says Parental, Favs and Setup. When I click on this, I get a dropdown that says setup. No other options, then you click on setup and it takes you to the signal strength screen. I too thought there should be access to other settings, such as selecting which dish I have. What happened here? Is this receiver not acting right?


<br><br>

<br><br>

A couple of other things to try..........the sudden blink off is a clue.
Bybass the DVD and run a cable directly to thr receiver.
You may have to go through setup again and make sure the correct dish is selected.
Shake all wire and fittings....something could have been pulled apart. This could even be an uncrimped (compressed) fitting. They look ok but will not work after being pulled until the cable is again inserted all the way.
Then examine the dish itself.......has it spun or slumped off signal due to loose bolts or high winds?
There are other less probable causes........you are going in the right direction. Establish a signal with an old box....I think they need a card but not the correct card or activation to hit ch 100. Do that and see where you are.

Report back,

Joe

 

[guppy1]

I could not find the old receiver that I was going to use as a test. A friend is going to loan me his receiver after work, so I can make sure there is not a problem with the dish or wiring.

 

[guppy1]

So I was playing around with the receiver, as I have done everyday since it quit and Friday night it started working after I hit the reset button. Let it be know I about wore the reset button out since the receiver quit. The receiver worked all weekend, I even looked at my signals and everything was in the 90's. So tonight I hit the guide button and the screen goes black and now it is saying searching for sat. I am now pretty certain that my receiver is the culprit. Does directv just swap me out or do they charge me for another. I had actually bought this receiver off someone and it was brand new in the box, but when I called directv they said it was a lease as if it belonged to them. So will they swap me out or charge me? Which receiver should I get or do they give me a choice. For what it is worth, I would like HD & 3D, but have absolutely no use for dvr.

 

[raoul5788]

If they agree the box is defective, they will send another one at no charge. It's unlikely they will want the old H20 back since they are no longer being used for new installs. In a case like this, you get whatever is next on the pile at the warehouse unless you tell them you need the ota tuner. Then you might get another H20 since they are the only ones with an ota tuner in them.