Totally out of my element...

[waimeagirl]

ok guys, and gals too, i am way out of my element here but have to believe if any help for my problem can be found it will be here.
i am a dish network subscriber and have been for a few years now. on sunday afternoon i stopeed getting a signal. went through all the phone trouble shooting and such with no luck. they are sending out a repair guy....
in two friggin' weeks.
is there not that i can do?? i am not the most savvy when it comes to repairs but if it is just a part that needs to be replaced as the tech on the phone "suspects" give me a break it is not brain surgery...or maybe it is and i am totally clueless.
any advice would be appriciated.
i have reset the receiver, tried different transponders and satellites, tested and retested the swithbox, all that happens is the 015 message screen comes on and says it is aquiring the signal, flips throughtransponders never making any progress.
it used to scan using satellite 119 now it just says default. i have tried to set it to 119 again with no luck. I think it is a dish 300?
mahalo in advance,
dishless in hawaii

 

[jcrandall]

Either the dish is misaligned (wind or something moved it from the position of the sat) or the LNB is failing. You would not have a switch to fail on a dish 300. The check switch function actually is checking the LNB.

If you have no experience with this stuff it may not be easy. To adjust you can use the signal meter on the screen to see if you can get anything, but if it is a bad LNB you will get nothing. A new LNB probally costs $30-40.

Call local retailers and see if anyone can come out sooner, and pay them direct rather than through dish. Usual service call is $100, unless you have the Dish warranty, then it is around $30, but you will have to wait.

If it is a simple repoint, many retailers may do it less than $100.

 

[Dirtydan]

Did Dish Tech have you disconnect the cable or cables from your Dish Receiver and then run a 'Check Switch"?

 

[bk63ross]

Welcome to SatGuys

If no one has given you the official welcome yet, welcome to SatGuys! It sounds like either your switch matrix needs to be cleared or your dish somehow got mis alinged from your satellite line of sight. The first check you can do either with Dish Tech Support or direction from the pros here. The re aiming would have to be done by either a local sub maybe someone you know out there or by Dish. When you say Waimea Girl as in Big Island or Kauai?

 

[waimeagirl]

yeah they want to charge $45 for the service call...i sapose that it would be in my best interest to just let them do it...if i do anything it voids all coverage. since the part is the same as the service call, so be it. i guess we will have to do with out prison break and house for two weeks...much thanks for your time.
i will try the cable disconnect thing..what am i looking for? as of right now the receiver is not detecting anything.

 

[dfergie]

look on the back of the receiver (unplug first!) there will be a satellite in (coax) unhook it power up go menu 6>1>1 to point dish then check switch and see what happens... it should read no switch detected and some x's. Unpower receiver again and hook coax back up , power up, repeat menu 6 > 1>1 and see what dish point says... if 0 you have a problem, if signal go to switch check again and see what happens... if same results as before dish is off, cable or lnb bad. You might look at the dish and see if any thing looks wrong (cable loose, dish doesn't look like it used to) Good luck! and Welcome to SatelliteGuys

 

[waimeagirl]

did the cable disconnect and ran switch check and am having the same error messages and lack of detection...just spoke w/ hubby about the cable connections running from the dish to our attic and into our wall...he said he was up in the attic on sunday rummaging around for an old sub woofer....hmmm coincidence, i don't think so.
am off to check connections in the attic once it cools down abit. i am willing to bet something got disconnected.

 

[skyviewmark]

I saw almost everyone jump to failure of equipment first and I my first thought went to some sort of cable failure ie. broken line or bad connection on the cable. I find in 9 out of 10 service calls that the cable itself is the usual problem