Recent 771 errors.

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ray9898

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Jul 17, 2015
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Georgia
Hello everyone....I have been browsing the forum looking for tips on fixing some recent 771 errors. I have a Slimline 3 dish going to a Zinwell 6x8 multi-switch. It then goes to a HR24 DVR and to a standard SD receiver. The system is 3 years old or so at this point. The problems started a month ago with some scrambling or freezing when watching live TV, this occurred on both receivers. It then escalated to 771 errors when watching live TV, you would also have recorded programs on the DVR error out by saying it didn't record due to reception issues.

I started by checking the satellite strength, everything still looked good with virtually all transponders being over 95 and a good signal strength on both tuners of the DVR. The problem then got worse about 2 weeks later, I checked and found all the even transponders on the 101 and 99 were showing zero on the SD receiver and tuner 1 of the DVR, for some reason tuner 2 still showed a great signal strength. When I tuned to the test channels 9501 said 13v and 9502 gave a 771 error, 9503 was good, 9504 failed.

My next step was to check the cabling, everything looks good as far as I can tell. I tried to test things by swapping the cables at the switch for the 13v and 18v inputs on the 101/99 inputs . The problem briefly fixed itself completely, I had good transponder numbers on the SD receiver and on both tuners of the DVR. I checked all the test channels and got a passing on both 13v and 18v.

I found this morning the problem was now back and worse than ever with 771 errors on multiple channels. I checked the signal and found 0's on all the odd transponders for the 101/99 on both tuners of the DVR and on the SD receiver. When I scrolled through signal strength on the DVR it showed no signal on both tuners on all transponders, not just the odd ones. The transponders on 103 seemed to have good levels at the time. I went back through dish setup and it failed on odds for 99 and 101 and evens on 103.

I initially assumed since the problem has moved from the even transponders to the odd transponders on 101 that the problem was simply with the RG6 between the switch and the LNBs. However, I still can't explain why when I originally had the problem with the even transponders tuner 2 on the DVR still showed excellent signal. I also don't understand why the DVR had no signal on any transponders on 101 today and why it now has an error on 103. Any advice?
 
since the problem keeps moving around, it could be your multiswitch or LNB. first thing I'd do is try different output ports on your multi switch and see if the problem persists. afaik the receivers aren't locked into any particular cables from the LNB side. since you said it has happened on both boxes at the same time i'd guess more than likely its the LNB. but if its at all possible, take off all the connecters from the LNB to the receivers and check for water damage on the cables and connecters for LNB/switch.
 
I should have a little more time today so I will definitely check all the connections and look at the LNB a little closer. I am trying to round up a RG6 cable that is long enough so I can at least temporarily swap out the one that had the most errors to see if that changes anything. I will see where that gets me I guess.
 
Also with 2 receivers why are housing a switch, you should be able to bypass the switch and send the lines directly to the each receiver with a line to spare.
 
Well....just to update the post....I ended up having a bad cable. I had swapped the cables during earlier testing and the problem later moved from even to odd transponders on the 101. I took a chance and replaced the RG6 on the run that was initially on the even transponders. No idea why I only had an error on one tuner initially if the bad cable supplied both tuners and I have no idea where the 103 errors came from. Replaced the cable, reset the DVR and everything is back to normal for over a week.
 
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