Not New: HR22-100 Signal Loss (771 & 772)

[seraxmd]

Bear with me, this is my first post.

I have had D* for almost 10 years (in RI) and have never had an issue.

In 12/09, I upgraded to HDTV with DVR and have not had any issues (barring blizzard conditions) until a month or so ago. I have a single HR22-100 rec/DVR and a single TV (56" Samsung LCD). Everything was installed by D*.

Over the past month, I would note occasional "searching for signal...error 771" during the day, but rarely, if ever, in the evening/night. These errors would resolve by changing channels or "waiting." However, the errors went from sporadic to more frequent and the channel (local or D* programming) does not seem to matter. Initially, DVR recordings were fine, but these got progressively worse as well, with frequent pixelation/dropouts/audio loss.

Over this past weekend it was so severe that the error was present constantly. I spent much of the weekend reading posts here and tried everything suggested: I unplugged power; coax; did manual reset; tried upx2, downx2, reset; then did D* reset via internet. I then lost all signal (black screen) x 4 hours on Sun (2 days ago) only to have everything magically restored Sun pm, without any errors and DVR worked completely fine. Yesterday (Mon)...no problems. Now, my wife informs me that error 771 is back today (Tues).

I think I've read everything here and noted that this error pattern & the accompanying troubleshooting posts were a few years ago & prior to "SWM." I did not come across "the answer" other than repeated service calls and swapping out DVR receivers. I also note occasional "error 772" as well.

My questions: Is this my fate as well or is there some fix that I missed?

Why would the signal be unhampered at night, but drop out during the day?
Why would this get progressively worse over time without other changes?

The weather has been beautiful during this time. I don't live on an airport runway. The space shuttle (I'm pretty sure) is not aligned with my dish, nor is the space station. I have not added other appliances or equipment. And lastly, I have no rogue trees on steroids. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jimbo]

Bear with me, this is my first post.

I have had D* for almost 10 years (in RI) and have never had an issue.

In 12/09, I upgraded to HDTV with DVR and have not had any issues (barring blizzard conditions) until a month or so ago. I have a single HR22-100 rec/DVR and a single TV (56" Samsung LCD). Everything was installed by D*.

Over the past month, I would note occasional "searching for signal...error 771" during the day, but rarely, if ever, in the evening/night. These errors would resolve by changing channels or "waiting." However, the errors went from sporadic to more frequent and the channel (local or D* programming) does not seem to matter. Initially, DVR recordings were fine, but these got progressively worse as well, with frequent pixelation/dropouts/audio loss.

Over this past weekend it was so severe that the error was present constantly. I spent much of the weekend reading posts here and tried everything suggested: I unplugged power; coax; did manual reset; tried upx2, downx2, reset; then did D* reset via internet. I then lost all signal (black screen) x 4 hours on Sun (2 days ago) only to have everything magically restored Sun pm, without any errors and DVR worked completely fine. Yesterday (Mon)...no problems. Now, my wife informs me that error 771 is back today (Tues).

I think I've read everything here and noted that this error pattern & the accompanying troubleshooting posts were a few years ago & prior to "SWM." I did not come across "the answer" other than repeated service calls and swapping out DVR receivers. I also note occasional "error 772" as well.

My questions: Is this my fate as well or is there some fix that I missed?

Why would the signal be unhampered at night, but drop out during the day?
Why would this get progressively worse over time without other changes?

The weather has been beautiful during this time. I don't live on an airport runway. The space shuttle (I'm pretty sure) is not aligned with my dish, nor is the space station. I have not added other appliances or equipment. And lastly, I have no rogue trees on steroids. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the site !!!!

Have them change the LNB.
When the weather changes it is effecting the LNB.
Day time temps vs night time temps, sounds like you just got a bad one.

btw, you never said where you were.

 

[seraxmd]

Oh, okay.
I was hoping to avoid multiple, unsuccessful service calls.

(I'm in RI)

 

[seraxmd]

Could it be moisture (dew) ? The temp change from day to night is hard to believe as the cause. Its been mid 30s at night and mid 40s in day.

 

[Jimbo]

Could it be moisture (dew) ? The temp change from day to night is hard to believe as the cause. Its been mid 30s at night and mid 40s in day.

Hard to say for sure.
if it's dew then the unit has a crack in it somewhere or and opening that should not be there.

Of course it COULD be something else, but thats where I would head for.

 

[MR.Directv(tech.007)]

i agree it depends there are some LNB's on whats called a cold weather recall after a nice storm of snow or really cold weather that LNB starts to fail during the day but not at night wierd i knw

 

[seraxmd]

follow-up

Okay, so I've done nothing since the last post except to reset/refresh my receiver many times. This eventually works for a few hours of TV. For the past few days nothing has worked. I called *D* and initially got the "script," but after awhile the tech seemed to believe me that it wasn't the dish position or loose coax. He said I have to reset the SWM switch behind the receiver (power infuser?).

So, I look and there isn't any switch or power modulator. I follow the coax from the dish to the HR22/100 and there's nada! Is it possible that I don't have the SWM switch but the HD & DVR work occasionally? This includes simultaneous DVRing 2 programs. Should D send me the switch (free) or should I just buy it elsewhere? Help or I'm calling Verizon.

 

[seraxmd]

Could it be that the installer didn't include this as I only have one TV?

 

[raoul5788]

If you have one dvr, then you won't have a power inserter, which is used only with the SWM setup. I assume that you have two cables going to your dvr, yes? If so, you definitely don't have a SWM or power inserter. My best guess is that Jimbo is right (he usually is!). You probably need a new lnb. It is possible that your dish needs to be realigned, but I doubt it. Can you post your signal strengths on all of the sats when the system is working correctly and when it isn't?

 

[seraxmd]

ISSUE RESOLVED

I have one cable coming into the HD/DVR receiver.

So after a few unsuccessful discussions with D* CSRs, I finally caved and had a tech come out (Eddy from Providence). It was fairly clear to me that a SWM switch was needed. I specifically did not want a second coax run to the receiver unless absolutely needed. Eddy listened to me and installed the switch. Presto, all is good. Signal strength (when handled by the receiver properly) was always in the 95-100 range. Now it is 24/7.

Thanks for all the info in this forum, which helped me narrow down the issue. The call to the installer was most beneficial as he could not believe that he did not put the switch in to begin with.

 

[raoul5788]

I have one cable coming into the HD/DVR receiver.

So after a few unsuccessful discussions with D* CSRs, I finally caved and had a tech come out (Eddy from Providence). It was fairly clear to me that a SWM switch was needed. I specifically did not want a second coax run to the receiver unless absolutely needed. Eddy listened to me and installed the switch. Presto, all is good. Signal strength (when handled by the receiver properly) was always in the 95-100 range. Now it is 24/7.

Thanks for all the info in this forum, which helped me narrow down the issue. The call to the installer was most beneficial as he could not believe that he did not put the switch in to begin with.

Glad to hear you got it resolved. I am surprised you have a SWM setup, most don't with one dvr. I'm now thinking you never had the power inserter or splitter in the first place. You definitely need the power inserter, but I'm not sure if the splitter is necessary with only one dvr. Probably not. Can you check and see what the installer put in the line? If it was the power inserter, then the dvr was trying to supply the power when you didn't have the power inserter. That could have been the problem because the dvr doesn't have as much voltage as the inserter does. Anyway, I am glad you got it fixed! :up

 

[seraxmd]

AND I HAVE VERSUS AGAIN !!!

 

[seraxmd]

Glad to hear you got it resolved. I am surprised you have a SWM setup, most don't with one dvr. I'm now thinking you never had the power inserter or splitter in the first place. You definitely need the power inserter, but I'm not sure if the splitter is necessary with only one dvr. Probably not. Can you check and see what the installer put in the line? If it was the power inserter, then the dvr was trying to supply the power when you didn't have the power inserter. That could have been the problem because the dvr doesn't have as much voltage as the inserter does. Anyway, I am glad you got it fixed!

That was exactly the problem.......Not enough power to handle TV + DVR

 

[texasbrit]

Glad to hear you got it resolved. I am surprised you have a SWM setup, most don't with one dvr. I'm now thinking you never had the power inserter or splitter in the first place. You definitely need the power inserter, but I'm not sure if the splitter is necessary with only one dvr. Probably not. Can you check and see what the installer put in the line? If it was the power inserter, then the dvr was trying to supply the power when you didn't have the power inserter. That could have been the problem because the dvr doesn't have as much voltage as the inserter does. Anyway, I am glad you got it fixed!

That was exactly the problem.......Not enough power to handle TV + DVR

Yes, EVERY SWM system needs a power inserter, SWM won't work properly without it. You don't need a splitter if you only have one DVR.