No signal from F1 or F2 satellite.

[VE7GLR]

Hi. I have had Shaw Direct for years and travelled through the US and Mexico with no difficulty in aiming and getting service,
This fall, Oct 2019, I get a zero signal from the tuning process. This last summer at home in BC, a Shaw technician came to our house and installed a new LNB for the G2 satellite. He also did some re-programming that I didn't think too much of at the time. I recall him saying something like he was setting up the 630 that was located in Arizona and not plugged in.
When we arrived in Az and powered up the receiver and checked for a signal, there was none after the usual re-aiming ritual. Some of my neighbors here in Az are getting the older satellites with no problem.

My theory and therefore my question is, could this guy have reprogrammed my 630 to listen ONLY for the G2 signal which I know can not be seen south of the border? and.... what can I do about it?
Thank you for any replies. Gary

 

[showtime]

You needed to buy a new XKU lnb for down south as the technician re-programmed all your receivers to work on the new one.

 

[VE7GLR]

Thanks for the reply. I forgot to mention that he gave me the new head to bring down so I tried both. And like I said zero on both signal strength bars.
For that reason I thought when he did the programming, he may have turned off the ability for the receiver to receive the F1 and F2 ?

 

[Stingray24]

Hi All: I have been in AZ for a month and have been getting intermittent loss of satellite signal. We have been happy with somewhat limited service , and have been getting our hometown station/news. Problem is just that it keeps dropping out. Have checked the physical stuff and the 30" Dish is as firm as a rock, so it has to be the Satellites or the receiver. Have tried a refresh with no joy. Can anyone explain why it would work fine one day and not the next. One day I'll get 90dB on both tuners and all is great in the world. Next day one or the other will drop to zero, and some of my preset recording don't record. Then sometimes both are at zero and I get nothing.

I had good but intermittent reception here for a month with my oversized dish and the same LNB I have had here for 10 years. When they upgraded back home, and they sent out messages to call them, they said my system was good and did not need any upgrade. No technician came. Would the reprogramming referred to above have been done to my HDPVR 630s remotely? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[showtime]

go to options, then all way to the right, enter enter. you should be in system status. what are the numbers on line F map status. IE: 539-4378 New code
or 766-4321 old code?

 

[VE7GLR]

Interesting... my friend here in Az has the 539-4378 and it works fine.
Mine is 589-4320

 

[showtime]

4320 is for the old lnb, so you should get channels 2, 3, 4 5 for sure down there but not 001 for example, so tune to a known working channel and try again to tune your dish. Once you have a signal you still may not have a picture until you get a refresh. A refresh will not work unless you have a signal.
then check these numbers again, if after a refresh your numbers change to Loading 0-4378 wait until it changes to Exists 539-4378 before changing channels as it is down loading the new information. ( the 539 # is not important just the potential channels you have in your programming)
If it does chnge to 4378 then you will need to put the New xku lnb back on and throw the old one away.

 

[Stingray24]

F status is exists 539-4378. Had good signal on both satellites most of today, but 0 not locked on both right now.

 

[VE7GLR]

Hi Showtime.
Two weeks ago I took a picture of my TV screen showing Exists, 589-4320 but no signal on either tuner. Today I reconnected everything and the map status says Loading 0-4378. The best tuning I get is a flash of yellow, up to maybe 50 on the scale for a few milliseconds before returning to zero. I will try again tomorrow and recheck my dish, lnb, cables etc. but don't hold out much hope. I even did a receiver reset that didn't change anything.
If I could get a steady signal, the 630 might finish it's loading.
Any other suggestions, Thanks again for your help. Gary

 

[showtime]

Both both of you, you need to remember that you do not get all the channels down there. only f1 & f2
Stingray, did you change channels which now gives you the 0 signal?
VE7, change to channel 211 or 212 now and see if you have a signal. if so wait there until it finishes loading before changing channels.

 

[Stingray24]

HI Showtime: Can't be certain, but I probably did change channels. I also noticed that when I had 0 on both tuners, rebooted the receiver, I had a signal on Tuner 2, but not on 1. Later last night, both went off, then both came back on an hour later. We were watching recorded content and did not change channels during the on again, off again routine. This morning, with no signal on either tuner, we rebooted the receiver, but no joy after reboot. After about a half hour, still with no signals on either tuner, I changed channel to Ch 299 and immediately got a signal on tuner 2, but nothing on 1. Should I be trying another refresh net time I get 2 signals?

 

[showtime]

you don't worry about the tuners. when you change channels they alternate back and forth, when there is signal on one and not the other usually means your on a channel from G1 hence no signal. a good test is put your receiver on 212 then change it to 213. Both should not have a signal. if only one ever has a signal you could have a bad cable or port on the lnb. But if you get both tuners working on these channels you will be fine.
Re-boot may sometimes help after a power outage or surge but do not need to do this normally. and a refresh is only to get your programming back if the channel says you need to be subscribed.

 

[VE7GLR]

Hi Showtime.
I have been struggling with this Shaw Direct problem for a couple of weeks and thought a recap might help.
We are in a RV park in Casa Grande Az. There are lots of Canadians here moaning about their satellites not working. It seems to be an issue of the receiver not hearing the sat signal.
Friend #1 brought his box from home, hooked it up and it worked. His F map is Exists, 539-4378. 6.0 dB on tuner.
Friend #2 brought his box from home, hooked it up and it worked. His F map is Exists, 539-4378. good signal
Friend #3 brought his box from home, hooked it up and it worked. good signal.

My box stayed in Az unplugged and just plugged in on Oct 15th. F Map was Exists, 589-4320 subsequently changed to Loading, 0-4352 -10 dB.
My brother's box also stayed in Az since March and was unplugged. F Map is Exists, 586-4322 -10 dB. Neither one of us can get more than zero on the tuning bar.

The difference obviously in the first 3 examples, they brought working receivers down from Canada so they were only unplugged for a few days.
The question is can we, and it seems Stingray has the same problem, do anything here to make the receivers hear the satellites?
As I said before, I have tried new coax, the old lnb and the new xkb and re-aiming the dish. All boxes are 600 series.
Thank you, G

 

[showtime]

Friends 1,2,3 have a new LNB and the correct V-code in their receivers to make it work.
your box now is set to the old default code from a factory reset (4352) this will be very hard to tune in your dish now as there will be only a very few channels available that work. your brothers is on 4322 which was the advanced map and his channel number would have been totally different than yours when it did work.
The best thing for you to do right now is take your rec over to 1, 2 or 3 plug it in there find a working channel to get rid of the red light such as 250, 252,
possibly 280 or 282, anything as long as you have a signal. then call in for a refresh and let it load, then take it home and set it up with the new lnb.
same for your brother, he could try 502 or 503 on friend 1,2,3 dish and call in for a refresh as well. I presume he will have a new lnb too, so his rec should change to 4378 as well if not he will have to request the change.
Good luck

 

[Vessman]

I'm in FL. I have the same Problem. My receivers stayed in the rig over the summer. I have 0 signal strength. If I understand what you are saying, I won't be able to get a signal greater than 0, until I find someone who brought their receiver from home so that I can do a receiver refresh using their dish.

 

[VE7GLR]

Hi Vessman.
Our expert here, Showtime, has made a point of telling me to connect my receiver to friends dish/lnb that is working. What I don't know is if this suggestion is just to eliminate the possibility of a reception and or aiming issue with my dish... OR... is there some programming sent to the LNB itself that I don't have? I have spent hours re-aiming my dish, a task that usually takes only minutes, and I get 0 on both tuners with the exception of a brief flash of yellow or green on the tuning bars. I'm starting to think that the solution is to take it home and get it working then bring it back as my friends have done. Gary

 

[catamount]

Active MPEG-4 maps are as follows (note we no longer have East/West maps as of 2016):

4378 - xKu New Lineup
4321 - xKu Classic
4323 - xKu Advanced
4377 - Quad New Lineup
4320 - Quad Classic
4322 - Quad Advanced
4379 - Stacked New Lineup
4319 - Stacked Classic
4318 - Stacked Advanced

The last three are rarely used as Stacked LNBs are few and far between at this point.

The above is quoted by a Shaw rep on July 23/2019. over at Digital Home.

No longer with Shaw Direct myself but spent 10 years with them. Unless something has changed in the past few years, you have to call a service rep and they have to manually change the v-code in your account to match the lnb. A rehit or refresh never used to accomplish this.

Catamount

 

[VE7GLR]

Hi Catamount.
Thanks for the map info.
I have 2 receivers in Canada and this summer a tech came to our house and installed a new xku and gave me a second one to bring to Az. He loaded the necessary changes and those tv's are fine. I believe he may have loaded a change for the 630 receiver we have here that was not plugged in until Oct. You probably have read that we can not get any signal from the sats. Zero on the tuner bars (-10 dB). Without a signal, obviously we cannot even receive changes.
Do you know if a local tech is capable of updating this receiver or will it need to be done by a Shaw tech in Canada?

 

[showtime]

The 4378 is the only code that will be working going forward. All the others are discontinued. Shaw is the only one that can change it.
That is why I told you to take it to a know good working dish, put it on a channel that gets a signal, then Call Shaw (not from an American number either)
and have them change the V-code in your receiver to the new 4378 wait till it loads, then you can go back to your dish and re-aim it. Basically the same thing as if you were at home.
Now you could always just borrow a friend's receiver as well, bring it to your place and tune in your dish. Then you know your good to go.
The only trick that nobody seems to realize anymore is that you have to be on a know working channel to aim the dish or receive a hit/refresh and the channels that work will have different numbers depending what V code or lnb you are using until everyone is on the new one.

 

[mellaby]

Hi Catamount.
Thanks for the map info.
I have 2 receivers in Canada and this summer a tech came to our house and installed a new xku and gave me a second one to bring to Az. He loaded the necessary changes and those tv's are fine. I believe he may have loaded a change for the 630 receiver we have here that was not plugged in until Oct. You probably have read that we can not get any signal from the sats. Zero on the tuner bars (-10 dB). Without a signal, obviously we cannot even receive changes.
Do you know if a local tech is capable of updating this receiver or will it need to be done by a Shaw tech in Canada?

Where are you located in AZ. I might be able to help you out.