please tell me what i am doing wrong with my azbox premium plus

[chaskuchar]

i wanted to clear up some inconsistancies on 99w so deleted all the channels. then deleted all but one tp and did a blind scan. most of the standard channels came up like kwcy and prn such. however, i could not get escapes which i like to listen to. i went to add/delete tp screen and added escapes per the specs on lyng sat. could not get the quality at all. checked antenna and cables. no faults found. then tryed to input tp 3720 for kbrk, fox in osage beach. no luck at all. cannot get the quality. what is strange is that escapes displayed fine before i deleted all the channels. anyway, hooked up the s9 that i thought was broke. maybe something cooled down but it worked. without moving the dish or anything, i switched to escapes and escapes came in clear as a bell with q of 71.

one thing about the azbox. when i am trying to peak the q by using the gbox controller to max the signal, sometimes it does not move and it only starts working again once in a while if i switch tp's back and forth.

are my problems related to using the factory installed firmware? the present system software is 0.9.5309. i think the second coming will be here before i figure out this receiver. brian, i am really hoping for that microhd to play with. charlie

 

[Cham]

Hi Chas, the firmware you have is ok. Try doing a satellite scan again if you are sure the TP data is correct for the satellite (99). What is the signal Q on the PR TP? It should be in the 90's. KRBK can be tricky on a small (6') dish, but if you did have it working it should re-scan as long as nothing has changed. The meter is really slow to respond sometimes. Check the TPs, this is what I have scanned in (your fq may vary slightly depending on LNB etc):
KBRK: 3720 H 7330 1/2 S2 8PSK
Escapes: 3786 H 4848 1/2 S2 QPSK

If still no go try rebooting the unit and try again.
-C.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Charlie,

If a normal satellite scan (not blind scan) doesn't find the channels, then:

Try going to the TP scan option. Select the exact TP that you know those stations to be on and then just wait for the signal level bar graph (upper blue bar) to register. Then the signal quality bar should also register (the lower yellow bar) and then you can proceed to scan. If the signal quality bar doesn't appear, I am not sure what to tell you then. But, that is the way mine has been acting with the 5309 firmware. For some reason, on specific TPs, it just is really slow to lock on.

RADAR

 

[chaskuchar]

ok. a blind scan did not find the tp's. i manually inserted the tp's and even set them to dbs-2. i could not get quality on either 3720 or 3786. but other channels came in ok. right now i would have to unhook the s9 solomend and hookup theazboz again. and i did wait for 5 minutes for quality to come in. i did notice that the quality is slow to come up on the azbox. the solomend has a q70 on escapes and q72 on kbrk. i have to work at the clubhouse at two. will try to exchange receivers again before then. will let you know. chaarlie

 

[chaskuchar]

do either of you have an s9? if i do a loop through, can i do the loop through the s9 to the azbox or azbox to the s9? i don't know what that bottom connector is on the azbox. charlie

 

[chaskuchar]

progressing... evidently i have to reboot the azbox after putting in new tp's the quality on kbrk was 82 this time when it refused to show up before. the dish was in the same place because it is on the gbox and the setting was not changed. i do like the gbox because it has both the settings for the s9 and azbox and doesn't have a problem going to each one. that's what i think right now. remember, reboot after putting in new tp's. too much information in this tiny mind of mine... charlie

 

[Lone Gunman]

i do like the gbox because it has both the settings for the s9 and azbox and doesn't have a problem going to each one. ... charlie

FYI Charlie, I've got two Vbox X controllers on two different systems running both AZBoxes and Openbox S9s and the Vbox X handles them both with zero problems as satellite positions are the same on both receivers! I've got both connected at the coax with an RCA D800 diode protected splitter and NEVER have power on but one of them at a time, ie, make sure that only ONE has the power switch in the ON position at a time and they have worked fine without having to switch the coax. The diode protected splitter prevents current from going from one receiver to the other and having the power switch on ONE of the TWO receivers in the OFF position keeps the Vbox X from getting commands from two sources at once. Just thought you'd like to know because the Vbox X controller is usually half the price of the Gbox and works just as well.

Works for me but, as usual, your mileage may vary! ;-)

 

[chaskuchar]

thanks for the info lone gunman. that what i need to do on my dish positions. the az box lost escapes again. and i think kbrk also. after i had the azbox shut off for a while and i used the s9 watching escapes, i switched back to the azbox. escapes was fine. left it on. after 45 minutes escape started getting a few hits and the q dropped a bit. then finally sound died and picture was locked up. switched to kcwy and it was fine but when switched back to escapes i hand no signal. just left it on for now on escapes and see if it comes back or kcwy dies. charlie

 

[Cham]

Very weird. I wouldn't expect the signal to drop off like that unless the dish was moving slightly somehow. Not really sure how the Vbox works, wonder if there might be an interference issue causing the V-box to pick up an erroneous signal from the reed sensor making it "think" the dish has moved, causing it to re-position itself to compensate. Something like a lightning strike might cause enough of a pulse to do that, especially if your sensor cable between the V-box and the positioner is not shielded. Lightning might not have to be close, maybe 10 miles away to induce a small spike in voltage. If this were the case, likely switching to a different satellite and then back again might fix it... but then all your satellites would be off by the same amount... Then again maybe I've had one too many beers this evening!
C.

 

[chaskuchar]

ok, i've done it 4 times now. sun morn, turned azbox on at 5:50. at 0700, had spotches of interference in the pix. at 0710, much interference with sound dropping out. we're on our way to church now. afterwards, i will check which signals drop out with which polarity, etc. both of the freqs that drop out are dbs-2 but don't know which polarity because i saw yesterday that on of the tp's was dbs-2 and had good signal. maybe a diffent polarity. will check that... charlie

 

[Cham]

Maybe connect your S10 and make sure dish is aimed to the right satellite etc. Then turn it and the G-box off and replace the s10 with the Azbox and leave the G-box off. See if the channels disappear again. (just eliminating the dish mover as a potential issue).
C.

 

[chaskuchar]

already tested that. hook up the s9, signal ok. gbox is on count of 30. (my true south i set at 0). same with the azbox is 30. mysterious thing to me is that kcwy is coming in loud and clear all the time. i checked dbs-2 and polarities and there is no consistency there. next step is to delete all channels on 99w and let the box cool down and then powerup and do a blind scan with the tp's already existing. kcwy is the first channel listed and escapes is the last of 22 scanned on 99w. charlie

 

[Lone Gunman]

Hummm, with degradation of the signal over time, that would make one "think" there is an electronics problem with either the LNBF or the receiver itself? But both KCWY and Escapes are horizontal polarity so they are using the same voltage signal from the receiver to the LNBF? The only major difference I see between KCWY and Escapes is that KCWY is 4.2.0 whereas Ecapes is H264?

I'd go looking for another Horizontal polarity S2 feed in H264 and park on that one to see if the problem appears there and if it does, then you might have a problem with that AZBox receiver when it's in H264 mode. Don't know if H264 requires any different voltage at the LNBF or not but the fact that the S9 works fine on that feed means that it's not the LNBF.

 

[chaskuchar]

kbrk also dies. i haven't timed it for time to fail yet but whenever escapes is dead, kbrk is also no signal. i just went through every channel on 97w. 228 channels and all of them were ok. will check out the h264 thing. thanks for the update. charlie

 

[chaskuchar]

found a dvb-s2/8psk feed on 95w. 3760h30000. it's not fta but when i went to it it was no q. shut the receiver off for 30 minutes. then tuned that tp back in and had s75 q91. over twenty minutes watching it q dropped from 91 to 90 to 89 to 88 to 86 to 85 and then dropped to 0. this was in a 25 minute time frame. so far, a dvb-s2/qspk is ok. i just found an fta on 125w. first k band signal. it's oeta dvb-s2/8psk 12112v8703. have no q and i usually get oklahoma pbs ok. better than montana pbs but montana pbs is lots of q right now. am shutting system down and will check it in half hour or so. charlie

 

[chaskuchar]

turned it back on and 125w, 12113v8703 is ok now. will call rick tomorrow and ask him what to do about the receiver. charlie

 

[Lone Gunman]

KBRK is 4.2.0 so that's not it. Sounds like you've got a receiver that's going, or gone south!!

 

[chaskuchar]

receiver is only two weeks old. charlie

 

[Cham]

Power supply?
The + is known for issues but usually the p/s dies completely from what I've heard. That's actually why I picked up an Ultra instead of the +, was afraid of the p/s issue back then and I don't want the wifi, house is wired with cat5 stp.
Charley, is the cooling fan working when the Azbox is turned on? The CPU is right there and would get really hot in short order if not. Just a thought. Not that you would want to try fixing it if it doesn't work, that's what warrenty is for. Good that you have a spare receiver!
C.

 

[chaskuchar]

opened case up and took out sata drive and set on top of unit so air could get into the interior of the case. fan starts up when power switched on but quickly quits turning. maybe it is heat enabled. will check that. right now it has been working an hour on 12113v8703 is still working. will leave it on this way and see what happens. charlie