Is this normal for a AZbox??

[stanleyjohn]

Sometimes during bad weather when a signal is pixeling greatly my AZbox will lock up and a reboot is in order to reestablish contact! Is this a normal thing to happen?

 

[Keith Brannen]

Have had similar experiences myself. IIRC it is usually with S2 and/or HD channels (Montana PBS can set mine off when its signal is weak and intermittent). When it happens, switching to another channel (which will then not come in) or going to the main menu won't fix it, only a reboot clears it up.

 

[Beano_face]

I havnt had that happen before stanley... my AZ just goes to "no signal" if the feed cuts out...

I have had it just randomly lockup, and need a reboot... but not because of a weak/ cutting out signal...

 

[AcWxRadar]

Sometimes during bad weather when a signal is pixeling greatly my AZbox will lock up and a reboot is in order to reestablish contact! Is this a normal thing to happen?

Stan,

From my recent experience: http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-shack/256205-doggone-wind.html I learned that if the signal quality is WEAK, the AZBox may not always relock on the original channel that it was parked at prior to the storm or weather condition. In my case, the dish was actually physically moved by the wind and that killed the signal that was originally exceptional.

In your case, you will have to determine if your signal quality was "good", "very good" or "exceptional" to start with. If the signal quality after the storm passes has degraded from that, then your dish, motor or mast is not stable or sturdy (it is moving somehow). If the signal quality is the same after the storm passes as it was before the storm, then the dish, mast and motor are probably secure, but the initial signal quality may just be too low (marginal) to begin with so that the AZBox is not regaining lock easily. In the latter case, rebooting or changing channels may "kick it" just enough to relock on the signal.

Beyond the above signal quality circumstances, it would NOT be normal operation NOR is it a known quirk for the AZBox to lose lock and not regain it automatically once the storm passes.

RADAR

 

[stanleyjohn]

Thanks everyone!In my case it was with RTV on AMC3.This S2 signal for my 6 footer does have a sharp cutoff between a good sig Q70 and nothing. Until recently i have found this channel (4080) very stable even on windy,rainy days at a Q of around 70.Finnally a week or so ago i started loosing RTV and went out to make some slight adjustments and RTV seems to be solid again.My dish was slightly off cauing the problem!When tweaking this is when i found that my AZbox was locking up during severe pixeling.Wind wasnt the problem since when i was making the adjustments there was no wind.I do have a thread started in the general fta section about RTV on AMC3 which i asked if its signal has been lower that normal recently causing me problems with my 6 footer getting a good lock on this channel.

 

[Lone Gunman]

What firmware is in the AZ?

 

[stanleyjohn]

5020 loaded when i recieved it!I know that there is a newer ver now but havent seen any reason to update at this point.

 

[iq180]

i have had that problem on some western sats with fw 5020 but i have not seen this problem with new fw 5306 in fact i have had no problems with fw 5306,
hope this helps.

 

[stanleyjohn]

Hmmm!! Thanks IQ Looks like i may load the latest firmware after all.

 

[Lone Gunman]

Both my Elite and my Ultra have 5020 and I've never seen this problem to date. The Elite is connected to a 7.5ft SAMI dish and it does loose signal from time to time but I've never had your problem as it just shows a "no signal" message box on the screen when that happens. In fact the only major problem I have with 5020 other than YouTube (which I don't use anyway) is the Diseq East limit reset each time I do a blind scan and that's not firmware specific, ie, all of them do it.

You might try that new version but there's thread on here where some have had "issues" with it and have reverted to the 5020 version.