No Freaking Signal

[yourbeliefs]

Here's my equipment:

SWM hooked up to HR20 & HR22.

Basically, all of a sudden I now get no signal on either of my receivers. I've tried multiple reboots of both, rebooted the SWM, and even switched slots on the splitter that extends the wire from the dish to the SWM. None of these things worked. I set up a service appointment, but they won't be here until next Tuesday, which is AFTER the Super Bowl! Any suggestions as to how to remedy this beforehand would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jdspencer]

What are your signal strengths?

 

[dishcomm]

Here's my equipment:

SWM hooked up to HR20 & HR22.

Basically, all of a sudden I now get no signal on either of my receivers. I've tried multiple reboots of both, rebooted the SWM, and even switched slots on the splitter that extends the wire from the dish to the SWM. None of these things worked. I set up a service appointment, but they won't be here until next Tuesday, which is AFTER the Super Bowl! Any suggestions as to how to remedy this beforehand would be greatly appreciated.

First thing I would look for is to see if the power inserter is plugged in. DO that and get back to us.

 

[yourbeliefs]

First thing I would look for is to see if the power inserter is plugged in. DO that and get back to us.

The inserter is plugged in, and all the signal strengths are 0 or NA.

 

[dishcomm]

The inserter is plugged in, and all the signal strengths are 0 or NA.

Ok. You mentioned changing the position of cables on the splitter. Makes sure you did not chnage the position of the cable coming from the LNB to the splitter.
I assume you did not do this. But doublecheck anyway.
Next check the mount and tightness of the dish. Make sure the dish is tight and the mount secure. . BTW those that say NA you need not be concerned about. Those transponders are not in use

 

[yourbeliefs]

Ok. You mentioned changing the position of cables on the splitter. Makes sure you did not chnage the position of the cable coming from the LNB to the splitter.
I assume you did not do this. But doublecheck anyway.
Next check the mount and tightness of the dish. Make sure the dish is tight and the mount secure. . BTW those that say NA you need not be concerned about. Those transponders are not in use

Are there any other steps I can take before trying to get on the roof? I'm not by any means a hardware guy like that. Also, if the alignment is slightly off, would that be enough to cause the signal strength to go from 90+ directly to 0%?

 

[randyk47]

When you look into the PI do you see the little green light? It might be that you've lost the PI. Also guessing when you say SWM you're talking about a SWM-5 or -8 module/switch and not a SWM LNB? I haven't read anything about anybody losing a SWM-8 module/switch but it is electronic and stuff happens. Loss of the SWM LNB seems to be more prevalent though really cold weather seems to be the culprit there. Going from 90+ to 0 instantly makes me think equipment failure rather than a slight shift of the dish. Of course if the slight shift actually was a major shift then all bets are off trying to debug an equipment failure.

 

[yourbeliefs]

When you look into the PI do you see the little green light? It might be that you've lost the PI. Also guessing when you say SWM you're talking about a SWM-5 or -8 module/switch and not a SWM LNB? I haven't read anything about anybody losing a SWM-8 module/switch but it is electronic and stuff happens. Loss of the SWM LNB seems to be more prevalent though really cold weather seems to be the culprit there. Going from 90+ to 0 instantly makes me think equipment failure rather than a slight shift of the dish. Of course if the slight shift actually was a major shift then all bets are off trying to debug an equipment failure.

No I have the SWM LNB, or whatever the newest thing is that allows you to not need BBCs and dual tuner capability via 1 line. I tried unplugging it and putting it back in (waiting for the light to die down), but that did nothing good either. Could it be that the switch outside of the house broke, the thing that draws all 3 lines (SWM power line and 2 tv inputs?) Thing is, if that did break, I figure I'm still out on sh*ts creek as I seriously doubt I can pick up a replacement part for that anywhere, other than ordering it online which would incur added costs and probably wouldn't get it in time anyways.

 

[randyk47]

OK. Assuming you went through the whole SWM install routine in the proper order then it does sound like the LNB has gone out. I don't think it's the splitter as those rarely fail but rarely doesn't mean never so that is a slim possibility. How's the weather up your way? Any chance you've got "frozen LNB syndrome"?

 

[yourbeliefs]

OK. Assuming you went through the whole SWM install routine in the proper order then it does sound like the LNB has gone out. I don't think it's the splitter as those rarely fail but rarely doesn't mean never so that is a slim possibility. How's the weather up your way? Any chance you've got "frozen LNB syndrome"?

Present snowstorm excluded (in CT), while it has been rather cold as of late, it hasn't been exceedingly low in terms of temperature. Our biggest cold spells happened about a week ago and things were working just fine during then. Is this something I'm going to have to deal with all winter?

 

[randyk47]

Now we're getting somewhere and that somewhere is that you LNB is probably frozen. Guess it depends on the definition of "exceedingly low" for you but apparently it doesn't have to be much below freezing for some SWM LNB's to act up.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Now we're getting somewhere and that somewhere is that you LNB is probably frozen. Guess it depends on the definition of "exceedingly low" for you but apparently it doesn't have to be much below freezing for some SWM LNB's to act up.

Exceedingly cold would be about 0, give or take 5 degrees. That was typically rare though and was mainly a cold spat that lasted a few days. More recently the lows have just been in the teens.

 

[randyk47]

Bingo! I'm guessing there's not much you can do about it until it warms up.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Bingo! I'm guessing there's not much you can do about it until it warms up.

Looks like I'll have to fine-tune my Terk antenna and get the reception OTA, but reception isn't as smooth as it used to be at my old place. Maybe I can delve into this little project in hopes that my wife doesn't kill me in the process:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw]YouTube - Coat Hanger HDTV Antenna![/ame]

 

[randyk47]

Yeah...well...better you than me. My wife is very tolerant of my investments in my toys (read that as tools, TVs, speakers, DirecTV stuff) but I think she'd notice that contraption.

Seriously though it really does sound like you got hit by the now known cold weather bug with certain SWM LNB's. You might want to search around here for potential solutions though I don't recall much that can be done short of replacing the LNB with the more cold tolerant version if you could get one.

 

[charper1]

if it is frozen, can you remove it and force it to warm up?

 

[directmommy]

directv has a recall on the wnc manufactured swm lnbs due to cold weather freeze up
the aspen swm lnbs are coming out to replace them

 

[randyk47]

You could take it down and warm it up but if it continues to be cold it would just fail again when re-installed.

 

[yourbeliefs]

directv has a recall on the wnc manufactured swm lnbs due to cold weather freeze up
the aspen swm lnbs are coming out to replace them

Is there any hard "evidence" or "proof" I can back this up with so that I can make sure that they don't give me another of the WNC's and give me an Aspen instead?

 

[yourbeliefs]

You could take it down and warm it up but if it continues to be cold it would just fail again when re-installed.

I think at this point the LNB is just dead. It's not "warm" where I am, but it's in the 30s, which I think is quite tolerable for the LNB. Also, I'm not big on heights, nor am I big on working on the roof with electronics I don't understand. Also, if any injuries result from this, my wife will probably take axes to all of my receivers.