Joey Searching for Satellite X

[sbriers]

I just completed self install of 2H/1J system yesterday. Hoppers installed and went fine, and I verified Client ID before Joey installation. Joey went through wizard, connected to Hopper no problem. Here is where it got weird:

When trying to watch live tv, the Joey shows 015 - acquiring satellite, and after a few seconds it switches from showing sat 110 or 119 or 129 to X, and the corresponding transponder. I can view DVR content from hopper on joey, as well as EHD content, but not a tuner on a satellite feed. I haven't tried on Demand stuff or anything else.

[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]I have contacted Dish, and we went through the obligatory resets, verified RG6, node issues etc, and they scheduled a service call for Monday. I thought I would see if anyone here had any insight or thoughts...[/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif]I've also seen some strangeness with the EHD on 1 hopper. I have an older 250gb WD Mybook that I had connected to my 722 and used for years with no problems. Anticipating the upgrade, I transferred shows from the 722, plugged in to hopper, and all seemed well. However, while watching anything from EHD, ~10 minutes in, the recording starts to get choppy, and playback stops, says end of recording. The hopper properly shows the length at 1:04, but I can only watch part of it. Watching the same recording off the Joey with no problems. I thought it may be that it is an older, slower drive, but seeing it on the Joey is just strange. BTW, other hopper with new 2TB WD shows no problems. Any ideas?[/FONT]

 

[rdinkel]

What happens when you run a check switch on each Hopper? Is sat 129 also shown a "x" like showing on Joey? If Hoppers look good, try linking the Joey to the other Hopper and see what happens. Also, be sure to unplug the Joey and let it reboot. Please report back.

 

[sbriers]

Yesterday - before overnight updates - checkswitch procedures on each hopper showed 110, 119, 129 with no problems. I have not been home today to attempt anything, but plan on a "cold" reboot on connected hopper and joey. I could NOT switch the linked hopper last night, but again have not tried anything other checking if problem still persisted this AM after overnights.

I will be sure to keep everything posted, and am hoping for a little miracle breakthrough with the reboots today. I did not check to see if I had 2.07 update, still 2.04 as far as I am aware. Thanks.

 

[rdinkel]

Sounds like either a bad Duo Node or an issue with your cables/connectors. What color are your MOCA signal strength bars when you push menu, menu on the Joey?

 

[rdinkel]

Is your Duo Node near your dish, or inside the house closer to the Hoppers? What kind of cables did you run between the Duo Node and the Hoppers? Old or new? Do all your wall plates and connectors have a blue center? Did you use any cheap 90 degree connectors?

 

[sbriers]

MOCA signal bars are all green - although the first small one may be yellow? hard to tell really.

The cabling is all RG6 Quad shield installed in new home construction May 2010. I have a cable from each location to central distribution center in an inside closet - it is air-conditioned, with my DP44, Duo node, as well as my media servers and ethernet switch and routers. I did use an appropriate resistor cap on the unused client port on the node. All connectors are compression connectors - pretty good quality I think. It would be simple enough to change those out - I'll give it a try. Is there any way to "test" the DuoNode, other than replacement?

 

[rdinkel]

MOCA is good. Thanks for feedback. Since you are using a DPP44, is the power inserter the only thing connected to the DPP44's port number one? Power must not flow through the Duo Node. Just thoughts.... Also, I would try switching your Joey to the unused output on the Duo Node, but be sure to cap the unused output with the 75 ohm cap.

 

[sbriers]

I may need to check the wall plate connectors. I honestly don't remember other than they are the angled wall plates with both a coax and rj45 port. I used the same jumper cabling from the wall to the hoppers and joey as I had been using for my 3 722's. That's another place to check -- thanks.

 

[sbriers]

I did switch the client port around last night to try that - but - I bet I have the DP44 powering the node - I just swapped that cabling over, and I bet it is feeding to the node - you may have just fixed me up and saved me a service call. I'll be headed to the house in about 5 mins, adjust that, reboot and see what happens. This is great - thanks a million - I'll let you know what comes of it!

 

[rdinkel]

I bought new RG6 3ghz cables for the final connections from the wall plates to the Hoppers. Be sure the ones you are using are indeed RG6 and not RG59. With the 722's you could get away with a few feet of RG59, but not with the Hoppers.

 

[sbriers]

Okay - finally some time to update the situation:

I did have the node powered from the inserter. I removed the "reciever output" from the power inserter, and placed it on port 4 of the DP44, leaving only the power inserter on port 1. After making this change, I rebooted the linked hopper, then the joey - and ta daa!! They worked great. Watched some of the ball game on ESPN off the joey - played around with it a little to see the difference from the hopper, and felt like all was well.

Then - my wife and kids get home, and my other hopper, which to this point was seemingly unaffected, was on screen 015, acquiring satellite, and had satellite X, progress 0 of 5. Great... I attempted a check switch, it found no signal, and acted like it never saw the switch, because it kept reading 1 of 1 on each tuner. I rebooted, reset to factory defaults, and still get the same issue. I really don't know how I've screwed this up sooo badly, but I hope I haven't fried my node. I'm afraid that's what has happened. I need to try switching the cable from the hoppers to the other outputs on the node, but at this point, I don't want to lose ALL my service. What do ya'll think?

 

[rdinkel]

You may well have fried half of the Duo Node with the power inserter. If so, it is not the end of the world. DishDepot.com sells new ones for less than $60 including shipping. But, before you order a new Duo Node, see if the stuck Hopper will let you run a check switch again. I think this may clear your trouble. But if not, then try this: Unplug the power from the Hopper that seems to be stuck on error 015, but keep the coax connected to the Duo Node. Give it a couple hours of "quiet time," then plug the power back in and see if it then comes back alive. If it still gets stuck on 015, switch the two Hoppers coax at the Duo Node. By then you will either be all smiles or kicking yourself for not paying closer attention to the wiring diagrams for use with DPP44 switch. Let us know how it goes, please. Warning: Several places in the documentation it says not to run a check switch if the Hopper is stuck on Attention 015. So doing what I suggest here may be wrong. However, since you have already run a check switch once, I doubt that it will do more harm.

 

[sparc]

what dish do you have right now? maybe even a proper listing of your whole setup might help us troubleshoot this better.

make sure everything is corrected properly via the wiring diagrams and you're following all the rules.

link: Hopper And Joey Wiring Diagrams

 

[sbriers]

First off - my system: Dish 1000 connected to DPP44. H/J system replaced 612 and (2)722. Added Duo Node with 2H/1J, with future upgrade adding 2 TV's in kids rooms. I was unable to get Dish to provide leased equipment in this setup, so I purchased from Mark at Dishdepot - just as I had all my previous equipment since 1996.

Secondly - I have come to the conclusion my node is in fact the problem. Last night I discovered I can run any 2 locations, but not 3. Latest check switch performed shows only 2 tuners being fed, and system info page /details, reads "good connection - no signal" on port 4 of the switch. I do see all 3 satellites on tuners 1 and 2 which makes me think it is the node and not the switch - plus I know I feed power to the node incorrectly - but, as this is the first time I have ever used port 4 on the DPP44, I guess I haven't ruled that out.

I have gotten my 2 hoppers limping along, and will wait, chagrined over my ignorance, until my service call monday to get things resolved.

Thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions, and I hope that by illuminating my stupidity, others will be saved...

 

[rdinkel]

Please let us know how it turns out.

 

[GaryPen]

"Satellite X" sounds like it could be the title of a 50's sci-fi movie.

 

[jawxx]

Another less likely option is improperly wired power outlets. I was at a dual hopper setup the other day where one of the hoppers was plugged into a hot/reverse neutral outlet. Sometimes the whole install would work, other times one hopper wouldn't, other times the other. I told the customer we wouldn't replace any more parts (had already tried a new duo node) before they have an electrician out.

In your case the 44 switch seems likely. Unplug the power from the 44, move your sat lines to ports 2,3,4, plug power back in and check it all out.

 

[sbriers]

Final update w/ resolution!!

I had tech service visit on Monday AM. I am in Conroe Texas, north of Houston, and the tech was out of OK City - doing a 3 week stint down here. Thought that was strange, but, I guess you send folks to where the work is on a roll-out like this -so kudo's to Dish for making the commitment. He was new, but admitted he was, and we visited for a while before he got started.

First thing he did, looking at my Dish1000 with 3 single DPP Lnb's was scratch his head, and ask if I had international channels. No, but I had the DPP44, and we discussed and then looked at the rest of the setup. He suggested we change to a 1000.2 because that was what he was familiar with, and then go from there. While he changed and pointed the new dish/Lnb setup, I removed the switch, unplugged the recievers, and waited for him to finish. After the new dish install, we connected the satellite inputs directly to the duo node, and brought up the first hopper. It ran a checkswitch operation, found all 3 sats for all 3 tuners, indentified the new dish setup, and we were off and running.

15 minutes later, we had the second hopper and the joey up and running with no problems, and he was filling out his paperwork to head down the road. Great to finally be up and running like it should! The service call was a great thing, not necessarily becuase he had the knowledge and skills to fix it, but because he had the parts and an open mind to try to make it work. Can't really ask for more than that.

Thanks again to all who chimed in. Appears to have been a problem with the DPP44 switch - at least the best I could tell.

 

[rdinkel]

Glad it all worked out.