My crazy pansat 9200HD

[truckracer]

My pansat 9200 last night did something totally strange.
i am watching a c band channel and all the sudden i get an on screen message "please wait" in a blue box.

after it did whatever it did, the receiver rebooted itself and all my channels were gone. any satellites i added were gone and the box was totally reset to factory.
all my diseqc settings were gone too.

not sure what happened but i rescanned in the terrestrial over the air channels and it worked fine. maybe it had a memory overload?

 

[mick d]

Doesn't surprise me truck, they are so dang quirky! Mine is always freezing up and it may be a memory overload because it seems when I add more it gets more unstable. I had all my sats loaded and it started changing the sat setup info like type lnb, 22 hz on, disec on, I finally did a factory reset and started over. Sure would be nice if they could update some software to fix it.:up

 

[McGuyver]

Don't feel bad, there's a couple of other threads addressing issues with this stb. I for one have seen a lot of other freaky things and your's is new to me, hope it doesn't happen to mine.

What firmware are you using and do you have a tuner module in it such as the DVB-S2 Plus board or the 8psk Turbo?

I just installed the Pansat DVB-S2 Plus module and the latest "1226" version firmware and had my fill of problems. I finally got it up and running after days of tweaking and now when I go into the "Antenna Setup" menu the first sat on top of the list is the 97w Ku, the thing is I had my BUD tuned to the 105w C-band and when I enter the Antenna Settings menu the 97w Ku shows a signal so I went into the setup screen for the 97w Ku and scrolled through the TP's and they all show a signal, the signal will vary slightly with each frequency and to top it off it reports that it's locked on to the 97w Ku sat, go figure!
It's consistant in doing this, it's not just a momentary issue. I haven't tried scanning the 97w Ku while aimed at the 105w C-band because I'm afraid it might do something worse.

 

[McGuyver]

Doesn't surprise me truck, they are so dang quirky! Mine is always freezing up and it may be a memory overload because it seems when I add more it gets more unstable. I had all my sats loaded and it started changing the sat setup info like type lnb, 22 hz on, disec on, I finally did a factory reset and started over. Sure would be nice if they could update some software to fix it.:up

I've been corresponding with Mr. Hugo at Pansat and have reported all the freaky things that mine has been doing, he said that he has forwarded my report to the engineers and technicians and will get back to me. I asked for them to investigate the firmware, I too believe it's memory, flash rom and firmware related.

I'd like to forward both of your reports to Mr. Hugo if I have your permission, may I do so? This will hopefully put a flame under their butts. Please reply asap so I can get it done. Thanks guys

 

[McGuyver]

By the way, if you do agree that I may forward your reports to Mr. Hugo, I'll need to know what firmware you're using and if you have the new DVB-S2 module installed. This they need to know in order to determine where the faults are. Thanks again

 

[JAS]

Strange, other than occasional freezing while scanning I have not have had any of the problems listed above.

I'm running 1226 version firmware with the DVB-S2 Plus board.

I have found that after doing a blind scan, deleting all the channels I do not want and transponders associated with those channels has help reduce the frequency of freeze ups.

I don't know if it matters but my Pansat is connected to a 12' dish.

 

[McGuyver]

Strange, other than occasional freezing while scanning I have not have had any of the problems listed above.

I'm running 1226 version firmware with the DVB-S2 Plus board.

I have found that after doing a blind scan, deleting all the channels I do not want and transponders associated with those channels has help reduce the frequency of freeze ups.

I don't know if it matters but my Pansat is connected to a 12' dish.

I'm sure your 12 ft has a great influence on performance no doubt
I've discovered the same by reducing the amount of data storage in the flash rom, I usually do in increments, deleting too much in one pass over taxes the processing stream and causes it to sometimes crash and then I'm back to square one again. The Pansat 9200HD Editor that Pansat includes in the latest download works very well also. You can edit all the satellite and channel data and then download it to the box via the USB stick. This will eliminate the box from doing the editing work which it sometimes has trouble accomplishing.

And by the way, I've also discovered in my experience with this stb, the apparent so called "freeze-ups" may not be what they appear to be, in other words, the stb isn't actually frozen or has come to a complete "halt." It's actually still processing the data but it may take it hours to accomplish. I have witnessed this repeatidly during my 3 day endeavor trying to restore my 9200. It was so bad that it actually took hours to change one channel within the same satellite and that was using a 10 ft RG-6 coax straight to a fine tuned 90cm test dish aimed at a high signal Ku satellite, this is with or without the S2 board installed.

I found that switching off the power when it appeared to freeze was not doing it any good. After repeatidly cycling the power each time it appeared to freeze just kept putting me back at square one. So then I decided to let it rest for 36 hours and try again, it was now performing much better but still slowed down to the apparent freeze mode so this time I said "hell with it" and left it on in that mode, eventually after a few hours in the "freeze mode" it somehow came to life and has been working very well since. The flash rom, memory, the processor and firmware are involved, the processing performance is no better than it's weakest link, this is a known factor in the computing world. Satellite receivers are in a sense "computers" and we sometimes have to address them as such. This time I spared the sledge hammer, LOL

 

[gordonkearse]

I have three fortec ultras. I believe they are Pansat products. The remote controls either a Fortec or Pansat.

All three ultra have been converted using PUFF software to be Pansat 2700's

I scan about twenty satellites between 83W and 129W.

When I get up close to twenty satellites, the older (frown-faced) unit evidently overloads with info.

If I go into the install menu and look at some of the info like transponder numbers, or switches selected, or disc numbers, or type lnb, there's jibberish. The words aren't even in English anymore. By that time I've scanned close to 1,000 channels.

I'm sure its an information overload -- probably just like yours. And the only way to clear it up is to do the factory reset. And I'm talking about after four or five hours of programming. The blind scan function is slow, slow, slow.

So your 9200 is probably automatically doing the factory reset for you instead of you doing it manually. After all, it is a lot "smarter" than my old stb's. I want a 9200 myself but don't know how much more I'll get with it.

I really don't believe it is a "short". You'll find out if it does it again. I know mine isn't a short. It has done it too many times. My newer fortec ultras don't do it as badly. The old frown-faced model is the guilty culprit. But I still love it.
I bought it new in 2004.

Happy satellite hunting!

 

[JAS]

By the way, if you do agree that I may forward your reports to Mr. Hugo, I'll need to know what firmware you're using and if you have the new DVB-S2 module installed. This they need to know in order to determine where the faults are. Thanks again

I wish you luck on this. Pansat appears to have no interest in fixing the problems with the 9200 HD. When I contacted them on the freezing issue the response I received was I needed stronger signal and quality levels. As mentioned above It's connected to a 12' dish and I get very high signal and quality levels on most satellites from 53.0°W to 139.0°W both C and KU bands.

If we can pinpoint the problem for Pansat they might just fix it. That is what happened with the channel editor Pansat now has as part of it's software package.

Pansat had no interest in a external channel editor until a member over at Rick's developed it. Hope they rewarded him for it.

So, for a start I have set up my satellite list for C and KU example:

AMC-3 c and another as AMC-3 ku.
Setup this way I have 61 satellites listed with 15 inactive IE nothing scanned in.

311 channels in the channel list

I'm not sure of the number of transponders but because many channels are on the same transponder I suspect that the number is 1/3 to 1/2 less than the channel number. If needed I could go into the Edit TP/Satellite Menu and count the number of transponders under each satellite.

As I have stated before I only have occasional freezing while scanning and mostly during blind scan.

I don't think my freezing problem is due to memory overload because it will freeze occasionally even when I do a factory reset and only have one or two satellites activated with very few channels.

 

[JAS]

For some reason I cannot edit my post. I need to correct this statement:

"As I have stated before I only have occasional freezing while scanning and mostly during blind scan."

I should have said after the Scan when it shows the channels picked up and you can scroll through them before exiting out.

 

[Chas]

For some reason I cannot edit my post. I need to correct this statement:

"As I have stated before I only have occasional freezing while scanning and mostly during blind scan."

I should have said after the Scan when it shows the channels picked up and you can scroll through them before exiting out.

Forgive me for my lack of experience with "DVB" knowledge. But, how do you do a blind search? I have a Pansat 2500A slaved behind, DSR922 4DTV, HD200, 10" SAMI dish. I can't get anything on AMC4, 101*. It list the channels names but no signals. Have good signal on c-band side.

 

[McGuyver]

Forgive me for my lack of experience with "DVB" knowledge. But, how do you do a blind search? I have a Pansat 2500A slaved behind, DSR922 4DTV, HD200, 10" SAMI dish. I can't get anything on AMC4, 101*. It list the channels names but no signals. Have good signal on c-band side.

Chas, having no signal on Ku band TP's regarding the 101w may be another issue with the slave factor. Maybe the master stb is blocking the signal through a diseqc switch or something. I recently read that if you turn -off the diseqc settings in the master stb you might get signal.

SMART SEARCH = SMART SCAN = BLIND SEARCH = BLIND SCAN
All are the same.

Some receivers have AUTO SEARCH. That is not the same as BLIND SEARCH or BLIND SCAN.

You should find a "Smart Scan" (or something similar) feature in the Menu, use it for Blind Scanning. Just make sure your receiver settings are correct for the satellite you wish to Blind Scan and verify a signal on at least one TP and then start the scan procedure and it should scan the frequencies for live TP's usually starting with the horizontal polarities and then the verticle polarities, after it gathers the scanned data it will then scan the TP's for channels.

I hope this answers your questions, other's here will have more useful info.
Enjoy

 

[JAS]

Forgive me for my lack of experience with "DVB" knowledge. But, how do you do a blind search? I have a Pansat 2500A slaved behind, DSR922 4DTV, HD200, 10" SAMI dish. I can't get anything on AMC4, 101*. It list the channels names but no signals. Have good signal on c-band side.

Not sure about the 2500A but most Pansat receivers use the same menus.
Go into menu-installation-satellite setup-antenna setup-hi-light the satellite you want-hit enter and make sure your LNB configuration is correct for Ku (I assume) exit out go to smart scan and scan.

Make sure your 922 is on the same satellite you want to scan, Also, make sure the 922 is on the same polarity (V or H). If your are slaved off the 922 like mine the Pansat will only scan the polarity the 922 is on

 

[truckracer]

My 9200 HD's have always been buggy. If I remember it seems the 12.14 or so firmware. Ack was better. It will overload with data and lose all the satellite settings as stated previously. The info looks like symbols. This bos runs extremely hot IMO. I removed the too cover to help cool it.

My fortec star ultra lifetimes used to act up similar to the pansats.
I am running s2 plus tuners in both of my 9200's.

I really like those stb's..just wish they were a little smoother.

 

[JAS]

My 9200 HD's have always been buggy. If I remember it seems the 12.14 or so firmware. Ack was better. It will overload with data and lose all the satellite settings as stated previously. The info looks like symbols. This bos runs extremely hot IMO. I removed the too cover to help cool it.

My fortec star ultra lifetimes used to act up similar to the pansats.
I am running s2 plus tuners in both of my 9200's.

I really like those stb's..just wish they were a little smoother.

Will the S2 Plus Tuner work (scan) with older firmware?

 

[goaliebob99]

I was just scanning AMC3 And the darg thing rebooted on me then it was bam like it was back to factory specs all over again. I tell you one thing, I will never buy another panasat product again after how buggie this thing has been.

 

[Chas]

Chas, having no signal on Ku band TP's regarding the 101w may be another issue with the slave factor. Maybe the master stb is blocking the signal through a diseqc switch or something. I recently read that if you turn -off the diseqc settings in the master stb you might get signal.

SMART SEARCH = SMART SCAN = BLIND SEARCH = BLIND SCAN
All are the same.

Some receivers have AUTO SEARCH. That is not the same as BLIND SEARCH or BLIND SCAN.

You should find a "Smart Scan" (or something similar) feature in the Menu, use it for Blind Scanning. Just make sure your receiver settings are correct for the satellite you wish to Blind Scan and verify a signal on at least one TP and then start the scan procedure and it should scan the frequencies for live TP's usually starting with the horizontal polarities and then the verticle polarities, after it gathers the scanned data it will then scan the TP's for channels.

I hope this answers your questions, other's here will have more useful info.
Enjoy

Thanks McGuyver,

I've been doing that all the time "Smart Scanning" that is, but not knowing the terms.

 

[Chas]

Not sure about the 2500A but most Pansat receivers use the same menus.
Go into menu-installation-satellite setup-antenna setup-hi-light the satellite you want-hit enter and make sure your LNB configuration is correct for Ku (I assume) exit out go to smart scan and scan.

Make sure your 922 is on the same satellite you want to scan, Also, make sure the 922 is on the same polarity (V or H). If your are slaved off the 922 like mine the Pansat will only scan the polarity the 922 is on

You are correct, that is the way it works. I thought i might be missing out on something i didn't know the terminology for. You both been a great help
http://www.satelliteguys.us/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

[mick d]

I have the latest firmware 0609 release and s2 board, but am afraid the pansat is not too concerned about the fix or it would have done something by now. If they don't get on the ball when the az box does incorporate a blind scan in their box Pansat may be on its way out the door.

 

[Hermitman]

I've mentioned this before, but I really think this is a cpu overheat problem. I've performed experiments where my 9200 would slow down, I would put a fan directly on the heatsink and all problems would go away. All except that the unit wouldn't properly display 1080 HD. I suspect the cpu just doesn't have enough speed and power for that. Maybe a different codec would help cut down on the resources used. I would then remove the fan and the problems returned. I tried fans from above and below and blowing from the side. Its like Pansat prototyped this unit with mil spec cpu's but during the mass production, the cpu's installed were changed sometime to consumer or factory seconds. That would explain why some units have problems and some don't. The heatsink isn't enough to keep the cpu from heating up to the point of causing slowdowns and crashes. And we're not talking about real hot to the touch, but merely warm/hot. I wish Pansat would have done some quality control during the mass production. They would have caught this problem. Good luck to all.