Picture problem, 1 box only.. need your help

[aec4]

We have 4 boxes, and have had them set up for a couple years this way. 3 are still working perfectly, and the D10 I have in this room is not. We have a 3 LNB dish, and this box is on a diplexer with a cable modem (and has been since we moved here 5 yrs ago).

About 4 weeks ago, we started getting some picture breaking up ON THIS BOX ONLY. The other 3, on the same channel work perfectly.

At first, I thought it was the diplexers, so I swapped them out. Nothing changed. Then I decided to swap boxes (to another D10), moving one in from the other room that was working.. no help.

Now, I have no picture, BUT if I run a SIGNAL test, I get 90+ across the board, and the signals match the other boxes. (well close enough).

Is there anything that can be done? It seems to not be a box or diplexer problem. I even swapped in some new Coax, but obviously, not the one that runs from outside to the wall here (which seems to be fine.. the cable modem is running perfectly at 15mb)

 

[aec4]

Also note, this happens a lot on say 206, 209, 293, but not very often on 298 or 622.

 

[boba]

Have you reset the D10 that is giving the problem? If you moved the box and the problem moved with the box your receiver is most likely the problem call D* and get it replaced.

 

[aec4]

Have you reset the D10 that is giving the problem? If you moved the box and the problem moved with the box your receiver is most likely the problem call D* and get it replaced.

Sorry I wasn't clear above. When I moved boxes, the problem DID NOT MOVE. The problem stayed in the same room. In other words... the box in my office had the problem, so I moved it to the guest room and it worked perfectly. The one from the guest room which was working perfectly now is having the same problem in the office.

 

[thetractorking]

Sounds like a grounding problem.

 

[aec4]

Sounds like a grounding problem.

I don't know how to fix that, but is that something that could have been working for years, and then all of a sudden stopped? All of our other boxes work as normal, but whatever one I put in this room does not. It started about 4 weeks ago, and before then, this room worked perfectly too.

What do I look for to try to solve this?

 

[memory]

If it is a grounding problem get a 3 prong adapter and us it so ya dont have the 3rd being plugged in

 

[boba]

If the problem stayed when you moved the boxes it is probably a cabling/fitting problem. Trace that line back to the switch look for loose/corroded fitting on cable, most likely location will be outside at the dish where your switch is located.

 

[aec4]

If the problem stayed when you moved the boxes it is probably a cabling/fitting problem. Trace that line back to the switch look for loose/corroded fitting on cable, most likely location will be outside at the dish where your switch is located.

Well I hope it's not up there, becaue I'm not going up there .. It was working fine, and all of a sudden it stopped. I guess it's possible. There is 1 little piece of coax I forgot to swap out... it goes from the wall to the diplexer inside. Other than that, the only coax pieces left would be from the roof to the connections outside, and then from the connections outside to through the wall to the office. I swapped the diplexer there too.

The cable modem works perfectly, so I am thinking the cable from the connections to the office is working well....

 

[Doctor Bob]

Well I hope it's not up there, becaue I'm not going up there .. It was working fine, and all of a sudden it stopped. I guess it's possible. There is 1 little piece of coax I forgot to swap out... it goes from the wall to the diplexer inside. Other than that, the only coax pieces left would be from the roof to the connections outside, and then from the connections outside to through the wall to the office. I swapped the diplexer there too.

The cable modem works perfectly, so I am thinking the cable from the connections to the office is working well....

Unhook the Cable Modem, take the diplexers out of the loop. See if that solves the problem. If it does, then you will have to run a separate line for the Cable Modem. If there is no improvement, then you will have to either replace the cable, or the port is bad on the LNB.

If you took the Box, that is giving you problems, into another room, and everything is fine, then the cable or the port are bad. Do the tests, and let us know how things turn out...

 

[aec4]

Unhook the Cable Modem, take the diplexers out of the loop. See if that solves the problem. If it does, then you will have to run a separate line for the Cable Modem. If there is no improvement, then you will have to either replace the cable, or the port is bad on the LNB.

If you took the Box, that is giving you problems, into another room, and everything is fine, then the cable or the port are bad. Do the tests, and let us know how things turn out...

I've had the same setup for the last 5 yrs. Yes, since we moved here, the cable modem was placed on the diplexer. Nothing has changed. I'll do it, but running an at home business makes it tough to take the cable modem offline... even for 15 minutes to test....

The TV has been better lately, but we haven't watched it as much either. The problem is it is not consistent, so even if I take the cable modem out of the loop, and it works, I'm not certain if that fixed the problem, or if I am just going through a "good" stage which it has sometimes.

 

[aec4]

It will work for hours on end, and then stop and cause problems for a few hours, and then revert back to working.. Does that help?

 

[Jimbo]

I agree with Bob,
It sounded like a cable modem problem from what you have mentioned.
You will not be able to know for sure until you try for awhile with out the cable modem hooked up, is it possible to move the cable modemm to another room, temperarly to verify.
Sounds like something may have changed with your cable modem, you changed everything else. Something is now interfering with the over all set up. I would have first suspected the diplexer but you said you changed that.

Jimbo

 

[aec4]

I agree with Bob,
It sounded like a cable modem problem from what you have mentioned.
You will not be able to know for sure until you try for awhile with out the cable modem hooked up, is it possible to move the cable modemm to another room, temperarly to verify.
Sounds like something may have changed with your cable modem, you changed everything else. Something is now interfering with the over all set up. I would have first suspected the diplexer but you said you changed that.

Jimbo

I did change the diplexer, but I had this setup for 5 yrs... What could have changed? Cable modem changed 1 yr ago to 15 MB... and no problems.... It makes sense that has to be swapped out, but it has to be in that room (it not only has our cable modem stuff on it but we use it for VOIP too)

 

[aec4]

I have noticed a few other things with this situation. Before I turn my TV on downstairs, the problem never happens. Also, in the morning it's far less likely to happen. At night, say after 9pm, it happens less too. Also, if I turn another TV on it starts happening.

Does that help anyone?

 

[benj]

If it worked for 5 yrs as you said, and just recently started acting up- then I'd be hard pressed to say it is a cable modem issue. The cable modem is way more sensitive then that receiver is so if that is working fine then the problem is somewhere else that is related only to the satellite and not the modem.

Basically, odds are that it rules out the cable itself being the culprit.

All the channels you quoted as "not working" happened to be populated onto even transponders. All the channels that you said the problem hardly happens on happen to be on odd-numbered transponders.

So... 18 Vdc selects even transponders, 13 Vdc selects odd... the default polarization absent voltage from a given LNB is 'odd transponders' blah, blah blah...


My guess is that the 'SAT' port of the diplexor being used to combine the satellite and the cable- on the outside of the house is so corroded ~+15.5 Vdc is unable to pass to the LNB or switch- thus creating your problem. If I'm right, taking the diplexer out of line inside your house will not fix this issue because the real issue is a) not with the cable modem component of the signal, and b) with the "upstream" diplexor- not the "downstream"/inside one.

Lucky for you, odds are that this particular diplexer is not up at the dish, but instead is down near where your cable box. You should easily be able to check this for yourself without needlessy going up to the dish.

There are other likely causes as well, but this is just my first thought based on the information you provided.

Please, post back if this did or did not fix the problem.

 

[aec4]

If it worked for 5 yrs as you said, and just recently started acting up- then I'd be hard pressed to say it is a cable modem issue. The cable modem is way more sensitive then that receiver is so if that is working fine then the problem is somewhere else that is related only to the satellite and not the modem.

Basically, odds are that it rules out the cable itself being the culprit.

All the channels you quoted as "not working" happened to be populated onto even transponders. All the channels that you said the problem hardly happens on happen to be on odd-numbered transponders.

So... 18 Vdc selects even transponders, 13 Vdc selects odd... the default polarization absent voltage from a given LNB is 'odd transponders' blah, blah blah...


My guess is that the 'SAT' port of the diplexor being used to combine the satellite and the cable- on the outside of the house is so corroded ~+15.5 Vdc is unable to pass to the LNB or switch- thus creating your problem. If I'm right, taking the diplexer out of line inside your house will not fix this issue because the real issue is a) not with the cable modem component of the signal, and b) with the "upstream" diplexor- not the "downstream"/inside one.

Lucky for you, odds are that this particular diplexer is not up at the dish, but instead is down near where your cable box. You should easily be able to check this for yourself without needlessy going up to the dish.

There are other likely causes as well, but this is just my first thought based on the information you provided.

Please, post back if this did or did not fix the problem.

Thanks for the advice. When this started happening a few weeks ago, the first thing I did was buy 2 new diplexers and replace the old ones. I just swapped in another one (I bought 4), with no luck. I was buying $19 terk ones, but this time I Bought cheaper RCA ones. D920. Is that the difference?

I swapped all the cables up here in the room to make sure they were not shot. The cable modem is being delivered on the one in the wall, so I can't imagine that one is shot, can you?

My other thought was to take the line from the dish that goes into my guest room and swap it with this one, and see if the problem moves ot the guest room, or it stays in here. That should tell me something, shouldn't it?

 

[aec4]

FIXED!

The installer took the coax from the roof into these male to male things, and ran a small cable to my diplexer. .... Turns out that small cable, when I checked all outdoor connections today, had rust inside one of the connectors. I took it out of the equation, and bam, it worked.