Odd Problem

[Stacy A]

Okay. I have a 622 and a recently installed 211 (that replaced an old 508) and a Dish 1000 (110, 119, 129). A little over a week ago I woke up one morning to find the "Acquiring Satellite" message and it wouldn't acquire the satellites - it just kept going from one transponder to another on the same satellite over and over. Checking the 211, I found the same thing. Checked the dish - looked fine. Checked the switch outside (DPP44) - looked fine, no chew marks or pulled wires. The boxes just couldn't see any satellites for some reason. After scratching my head for a few minutes I unplugged the power inserter (DPP44 as well) for about thirty seconds and plugged it back in. Voila! - I had reception. However, I had already called Dish to have a tech come troulbeshoot the problem. I cancelled the technician.

Now. This afternoon all of a sudden the darned thing did it again. But this time I couldn't get the power inserter trick to work. The first time I unplugged it I did get a black screen and I was able to pull up the guide, but I couldn't get a picture. I ran a check switch and it found no sats. I've done a soft reboot and a hard reboot and I've uplugged the power inserter twice and plugged it back in. No joy. Could it be just a bad power inserter or do I have a more insidious problem?

 

[JimK2]

I had a similar problem and I can’t remember exactly how I did it, somehow I got my vip622 to go to PiP split screen mode during boot-up or maybe I played a video off hard drive first after it got stuck on “acquiring Satellites”.

What I found that tuner2 was receiving transmission and the channels fine while tuner1 was stuck on “acquiring Satellites” endless loop stuck on 0 (Pressing “Swap”, tuner2 becomes Tuner1 and now TV1 was viewable) . If I rebooted 20 or so times my Vip622 would make it though to step 5 and would work fine till next reboot.

Using the “Point Dish Signal Strength” (Menu > 6 > 1 > 1). Set to satellite 129 I found:

1- Switching between tuner Input 2 and 1, I would see a Signal Strength of 57 Wrong Sat - Name Not Acquired! Red Bar then the signal Strength drops to 0 then Signal Strength goes up to 34 green bar Locked.

2- Switching between tuner Input 1 and 2 shows green bar Locked - Name Not Acquired!, then the Strength drops to 0 then back up goes back up to 34 green bar Locked.


One of the tuners (tuner1) was taking 2 or 3 times longer to lock on to EchoStar 129 then the other and my guess (i really don't know) when that extra delay was on tuner 1 it caused that part of the circuitry to lock up or something and endless acquiring satellite screen till a reboot (sometimes it would take many reboots).

Swapping the connections from the output of the splitter/Diplexer between the
1st input and the 2nd on the VIP 622 fixed it for me and has worked for months.

Only a guess, its either weak 129 is causing weirdness, or maybe a flaky dp44 switch, I really don’t Know.

If your probem is the same as I had, the feeds for the inputs for the two tuners are stacked at different frequencies by the DPP lnb, so it could have a poor connection or your cable is not performing up to specs, the higher frequency might get dropped and the second tuner not perform as well as the other.

My 2nd Vip 622 had no problem so i doubt its the LNB.

If you or the tech finds out whats going on, please post

 

[120inna55]

Just curious, when this happens, have you tried just clicking "Guide"? My 622 has been "losing signal" that miraculously returns upon clicking the guide button. I've read about someone else having the same issue, but I don't remember where the thread is.

My purpose was not to hijack your thread, but I was just wondering if clicking guide gets your signal back?

 

[garys]

Just curious, when this happens, have you tried just clicking "Guide"? My 622 has been "losing signal" that miraculously returns upon clicking the guide button. I've read about someone else having the same issue, but I don't remember where the thread is.

My purpose was not to hijack your thread, but I was just wondering if clicking guide gets your signal back?

No, it is more likely the signal came back but was not being received correctly by the receiver. I had the same problem and pressing almost any button kicks the image back. Could be a loose or bad wire caused the problem, that's all I found to eliminate the problem.

 

[Blang5313]

I know there have been some problems using the DPP LNB's with 44switches (DPP twins for sure, I'm not 100% sure about the 1000.2)... I would recommend the tech either bypasses the 44 switch if able, or replace the tri-head 1000.2 LNB with 3 duals, each with a line to the 44sw. Either way, for the tech, there will be some more lines to be run.

I would make sure the configuration was correct before trying to TS it any further, but 9/10 service calls that I've seen with your particular configuration (dpp twin or 1000.2 with 44sw) taking one or the other out of the equation fixes the problem.

Is there a reason you have the switch? (i.e. more than 3 receivers...)

 

[Stacy A]

Blang5313, I have the switch because there was another receiver in my girls room. It was a trusty 510, that went on the blink several months ago and I just had it removed from the account (and there was an earlier time I had 4 receivers total on my account). My sys info screen tells me I have a dual, twin, twin configuration.

So I need to make the call, huh?

 

[Blang5313]

I believe a service call is in order, yes.

Good luck with it, and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Stacy A]

Made the call. They were going to charge me $49 to come out, plus whatever parts (LNB, switch, etc.). However, I told the tech I really regretted replacing the DVR in the bedroom with a 211 - missed the recording/rewind. She set me up to have another 622 installed for $100 and no other charges. And to me, the great part is, the tech can't leave until the system is operational.

Then I had another strange thing happen - I could still access the DVR'd shows so I was watching one and when I got through and hit the stop button - BAM! The sat reception was back. I'm beginning to think it's a bad LNB outside.

 

[Van]

If you had all lnbs listed and then none including no switch then its a problem between the receivers and the switch and most likely the switch. Next time it happens if it does before the tech gets out there unplug the power cords from all devices in the system an let it sit fully unpowered for a minute then start with the switch and then the receivers and rerun check switch. Even with the switch unpowered the receivers are still putting out a mild charge into the system providing the switch with enough juice to maintane a memory of sorts.

 

[Stacy A]

Will do, Van. Thanks for the input. Every time I turn on my system, I expect to see the 015 message, but so far it's been good. I just have to wait until the 31st to get it it taken care of and I don't know how to convince the installer of the new 622 that the switch is going bad if it's working while he/she is out here and it's working at the time.

 

[Stacy A]

Turns out it was a bad switch. The tech asked me if all I wanted was two receivers on my system (two 622's) and when I said yeah, he said good - the switch is bad and he could work it out. The great thing is that Dish screwed up the work order, telling him I was trading in my 622 for another 622. Of course that was wrong, but he I guess had figured it was a mistake and brought a 722 out - which got installed for no extra price. So, I'm good to go. Thanks guys.