No Signal! Sat "X" UPSET!

[2extreme]

Well I am very upset, my sat 622, DPP44, blah blah blah, went out almost 24 hours ago. I thought it was just a glitch as I wasn't home at all last evening after noticing that it wasn't receiving signal. I wake up this morning and still find it saying "Acquiring satellite signal" and it shows Satellite X.

I conducted a check switch and it said there was no input. I checked all the connections and everything is as it should be. I didn't move/touch anything before this problem occurred either. I checked my DVR and it recorded a show yesterday (friday 10/06) from 1p-2p, so I think it's been out since then.

Would the power inserter to power the 44 be bad? I had this happen a while back pre 622 days and they replaced it and it worked fine after.

Here now is my biggest complaint. I called dish today, took forever to be put on hold waiting for "Technical Support". Waited on HOLD for 15 minutes and spoke with a female "Cindy". I said I needed a tech to come over because I am getting sat "X" and performed a check switch saying it wasn't receiving signal and the system info screen is showing no sat's, a warning in the status and there is no device listed. She said her normal crap and still wanted to run tests. After doing everything she asked she (surprisingly) came to the same ending as I already explained to her.

She then says ok, we can send a tech but it'll cost you $99 unless I sign up for the warranty at $5.99/mo then it would only cost me $29 upfront for a tech to come. I was extremely pissed at this point and told her this is bullchit. She then said, ok (after arguing for some time) I can send a tech for "free" but it won't be until Monday Oct 15th. WHAT?!?!? That is over a week away.

I complained some more and she said that is the earliest she could send a tech and wouldn't budge. She kept apologizing, but apologies don't fix my dish. So she set up the appt for Mon 15th mad and I said so I'm supposed to go a week/half w/o tv and she said sorry sir...blah blah blah. She then gave me 2 "local" numbers I could try to call, both numbers are not even local to my location and the other # started with a "0" after the area code, WHAT?!?! This isn't even a real number.

FUDGE I'M PISSED. What options do I have here?!?! Any suggestions? I'm sorry to complain but, wouldn't you all be upset too? I love dish but this is pushing me to switch to cable. Oh and the weather is sunny and clear and warm, so that's not blocking the signal..and I have rebooted the 622 with no avail...

I then asked her for a credit since it's been out for almost 24hrs and wont be back on for a week/half and she sounded annoyed but then said she submitted the credit for that period of time...Still doesn't fix the problem.

Please help!!!

 

[HIFI]

not sure what you have tried but pull all power from complete system including receiver and power inserter,let it sit about a minute and a half plug all back in and try check switch

 

[rcwilcox]

I would try unplugging the switch and receiver. Run a check switch to clear the matrix. Leave the switch unpowered for 5 minutes or so then repower and reconnect and rerun check switch.

 

[2extreme]

not sure what you have tried but pull all power from complete system including receiver and power inserter,let it sit about a minute and a half plug all back in and try check switch

Yup just tried that again, did 50 of 50 checks and it gave same results. Warning #530 "One of the satellite inputs or switches is not connected properly..."

 

[steve4810]

I understand your anger, really. I've been there. But in the final analysis sh** happens and things break. Dish built the best unit it could and gave you a warranty but that expired.

99 bucks for a house call isn't out of line. There is a wait just because you wanted something for free.

You have my sympathy. I know how pi**ed off you get when your TV is interrupted. I have several TVs, mulitple sat receivers and cable available and antennas not to mention solar panels and two banks of deep cycle batteries. ALL just to make sure I'm NEVER without TV.

(Least you think I'm too nuts, the solar and batteries are in my travel trailer for desert camping.)

 

[2extreme]

So in other words if I would pay the "fee" instead of "free" they would miraculously have someone available immediately to fix my problem? That is BS. I guess I just figured I am leasing their receiver, paying a bundle of money to them each month etc etc, they could at least treat me/us customers with a little more respect!

 

[steve4810]

Again I understand and don't blame you a bit for being pi**ed.

99 bucks gets you head-of-the-line privileges. "Free" calls are only booked in a few prearranged blocks of time set aside so as not to interfere with "paying customers".

Life isn't fair.

 

[slocoma]

Last time I had this problem, it was an inside cabling problem. One of the terminations wasn't exactly right. I cut off the end and re-terminated. In my case, the bad spot was where I had a female to female adaptor to extend cabling. Like you, I had touched nothing. It was working fine forever, then all of a sudden, problem.

 

[Cokeswigga]

Last time I had this problem, it was an inside cabling problem. One of the terminations wasn't exactly right. I cut off the end and re-terminated. In my case, the bad spot was where I had a female to female adaptor to extend cabling. Like you, I had touched nothing. It was working fine forever, then all of a sudden, problem.

X2

I had the same problem.

I have three receivers, and all of sudden one of them stopped working. But the other two were working fine.

This told me: (1) That the LNB's were working (2) the DP44 was working, when I tried hooking up a known working receiver to the the cable ofthe "bad" receiver, then the good receiver was no longer working.

This told me that it was a cabling issue. So I ran a test line from the same port of the switch to the receiver and it worked. This verified that the port on the switch and the receiever were both OK.

So I removed the terminators on both ends of the cable, and reconnected to the switch and the receiver and everything was OK.

Now you can pay Dish $99.00 to come out and do this for you...
or you can spend around $100.00 on tools and terminators and do it yourself. (but if it turns out to not be a cabling issue, then you have just bought some tool, and still have a problem, and you may end up calling DISH to come out anyways.)

 

[2extreme]

I wish I had another receiver to try that with but I don't. My problem happens on the 622 on both TV1 and TV2. I'm thinking the switch is fried or the power inserter took a chit.

Anywho...If I call back and tell them I'd pay the "fee" would they get here by Monday?

Oh and the terminator thing...my neigbor installs cable so he'd have those tools etc...how do I find what one/if there is a problem with them? Replace everyone of them till it works?

 

[fpembleton]

Cabling Issue

One of my cable leads from Dish 500 would show the XXXX on switch test. Swapped receiver to other lead and worked fine. Ended up wiggling the bad cable location at the reciever connnection point and replaced it with a new connector. Works fine. You might give that a try.

 

[Super Dave]

Had the same problem also, after several hard reboots I undid my coax lines in and reconnected them, rebooted and things were fine. It was weird and frustrating when it happened, but things are back to normal.

 

[JimK2]

Yup just tried that again, did 50 of 50 checks and it gave same results. Warning #530 "One of the satellite inputs or switches is not connected properly..."

You might have to re-boot a few time and go to point dish and see if turner 2 is out too. Had some what same problem and reversing output's of the separator to vip 622 fixed it. You can test Tuner1 or Tuner2 independently without the separator by using the cable directly into Tuner1 and goto point dish and read signal level (menu > 6 > 1 > 1)

You might have to re-boot and do a check switch a few times. Last resort clear the switch by doing a check switch with no cable connected to vip 622 satellite input.

 

[rcdallas]

Again I understand and don't blame you a bit for being pi**ed.

99 bucks gets you head-of-the-line privileges. "Free" calls are only booked in a few prearranged blocks of time set aside so as not to interfere with "paying customers".

Life isn't fair.

That's not true. It's all based on calendars, if the calendar is full, it's full.

 

[rglore]

If the receiver is doing the 50 tests, then it's not seeing the DPP44. The weatherproof connectors on the DPP44 are recessed a little so unscrew the cable on the DPP44 going to the receiver and power inserter and make sure the center conductor extends about 3/16" past the end of the connector. You can pull it out some with needle nose pliers for a temporary fix.

 

[daro]

Maybe if people didn't demand everything for free, there could be more techs in the field.

Why do you need a 44 sw ? Do you have 4 sat inputs ? What type of dish do you have ? Could you bypass the switch to rule it out as the problem ?

 

[steve4810]

That's not true. It's all based on calendars, if the calendar is full, it's full.

So why did the CSR say that someone could show up (soon implied) but it would cost $99 and a few minutes later say a tech could come out for free on Oct 15? And I meant "head of the line" as a figure of speech.

Perhaps the tech doing free appointments is busy until the 15th but the one who charges has time "tomorrow".

Perhaps urgent calls have preference over routine calls (and Dish is the one who decides which is which)

Perhaps emergency calls are $99.

Anyway you slice it, it comes out the same. Money talks, bs walks.

Do you have another explanation?

 

[rcdallas]

Nope, guess I don't.

 

[NoWhrMn]

I have had the same issues off and on for the last couple of months. Had an E* tech come out and replace the LNB. And a few days later had a different company come out and re-aim the dish. Everything worked well for a while but the other night (Wednesday night) I came home from dinner and my 622 was out again. Ofcourse it was late and I wasn't going to stay up to try to investigate the problem. The next day when I came in to take a look all was working fine.

I never thought to look to see if it was a cable issue. Next time it goes out I will bring the 322 into the living room and try and see if it works out there. I am still leaning twards the 622 being bad. We shall see. I just know if I miss another playoff game I am going to scream.

 

[slocoma]

What really blows my mind about my cabling problem is the fact that I got the "X" on TV1 on a 722, but TV2 was still getting a picture. I figured if the cable was bad, it was bad, and I wouldn't get a signal at all.