I have a Fortec Lifetime Classic NA that I've had for several months and it worked fine until recently. It appears to now have a problem and I have a troubleshooting question since I'm fairly new to FTA. I've tried it on 2 - 30" dishes that were working fine on 87W and 129W. During troubleshooting I've tried both dishes (individually), and even realigned both to multiple birds for the tests. I'm doing a full power scan with networks, and I get similar results every time. That is, during (full power) scanning the receiver appears to lock onto multiple transponders/channels and they show up in the window on the left. At the end of the scan however, no transponders/channels are saved and I get a message to that effect. I've done this with at least 4 different birds using 2 dishes, each with dual LNBs (that were working fine until recently), and the results are always that no channels/transponders are shown at the end of the scan. They only appear during the scanning process and then disappear (I do get multiple locks over 65% ). I'm left with a blank channel menu at the end. BTW, I've tried using spare DISEqC (4-in-one) switches, bypassing the switches (going direct), and hooking up directly at the dish with a short RG-6 test cable. Nothing changes. I suspect a hardware problem in the receiver. My question is this; with so many "lock-ons" during the full power scan (w/networks), wouldn't I normally get at least something - even if the transponder, rates, etc were set incorrectly "up top"? I need to be sure that I'm not missing something obvious before I send it in for warranty work. Feedback appreciated.
Troubleshooting question - Fortec Lifetime
- Thread starter alteng
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That sounds like the "transponder overload" problem. When scanning satellites, transponders are saved in the receiver memory. Eventually, that memory becomes full, and odd behavior such as this may result. The solution is to delete unused transponders (or in an extreme case do a factory reset on the receiver).
Aha! Makes sense .....
Thanks for the heads-up Tron and Corrado! I'll check that tonight. I thought I had tried a reset, but maybe not. I did try a lot of power scans when troubleshooting, so that makes sense. Too bad the manual doesn't seem to mention that, but that's most manuals for you...... sorely lacking. It may have started with something as simple as one of my dishes knocked out of alignment, and the numerous power scans may have filled up the memory, as you say. I'll report back on what I find.
Cheers,
alteng
Thanks for the heads-up Tron and Corrado! I'll check that tonight. I thought I had tried a reset, but maybe not. I did try a lot of power scans when troubleshooting, so that makes sense. Too bad the manual doesn't seem to mention that, but that's most manuals for you...... sorely lacking. It may have started with something as simple as one of my dishes knocked out of alignment, and the numerous power scans may have filled up the memory, as you say. I'll report back on what I find.
Cheers,
alteng
Do channels show up during the scan, or only transponders? I'm not sure I understand when you write "transponders/channels".
I can certainly scan some sats and have tp's show up during the power scan, but nothing gets saved, because there were no FTA channels found. Or is this a different issue?
I can certainly scan some sats and have tp's show up during the power scan, but nothing gets saved, because there were no FTA channels found. Or is this a different issue?
Clarification attempt
Sorry TiminMB, I guess my terminology leaves something to be desired, being new to FTA. During power scan on the current test satellite (AMC-5 ?) around 28 transponders show up on the screen during scan. More than 7 are in white letters and others are in blue. I just did a scan and some of the locked-in transponders are reading around 77% signal strength. Others, as low as 63%. After the power scan (w/networks) is completed I always get the no channels available prompt (from both dishes and multiple satellites). I began using AMC3 and White Springs birds, but later moved the dishes around to other birds that gave a strong reading on my (external) signal meter. That was in an attempt to get the receiver to lock on to (and make available) any channel at all - just for test purposes. I figured that out of several birds I should get at least one channel of something if the receiver is working properly. I haven't been able to get a single channel of anything from either dish, and several different birds, despite having no problem when I installed these two 30" dishes a while back. Tonight I went back in and removed all channels via the menu, and did the software reset to factory settings - 3 times. I just finished 4 more power scans as described above, and nothing has changed. Still no channels available after the scan is complete. I would DL and install the factory software, but that would invalidate the warranty according to Fortec. Maddening for someone who is very experienced with electronic hardware and PCs. I hope that explains the situation better.
Sorry TiminMB, I guess my terminology leaves something to be desired, being new to FTA. During power scan on the current test satellite (AMC-5 ?) around 28 transponders show up on the screen during scan. More than 7 are in white letters and others are in blue. I just did a scan and some of the locked-in transponders are reading around 77% signal strength. Others, as low as 63%. After the power scan (w/networks) is completed I always get the no channels available prompt (from both dishes and multiple satellites). I began using AMC3 and White Springs birds, but later moved the dishes around to other birds that gave a strong reading on my (external) signal meter. That was in an attempt to get the receiver to lock on to (and make available) any channel at all - just for test purposes. I figured that out of several birds I should get at least one channel of something if the receiver is working properly. I haven't been able to get a single channel of anything from either dish, and several different birds, despite having no problem when I installed these two 30" dishes a while back. Tonight I went back in and removed all channels via the menu, and did the software reset to factory settings - 3 times. I just finished 4 more power scans as described above, and nothing has changed. Still no channels available after the scan is complete. I would DL and install the factory software, but that would invalidate the warranty according to Fortec. Maddening for someone who is very experienced with electronic hardware and PCs. I hope that explains the situation better.
What scan options do you list on that one? Isn't there one Fortec that doesn't have regular blind scan?
Edit: When you scan AMC5 do you get NYN 1-9 channels and a bunch of news feed channels from CNN, or the Sinclair
News color bars? You should be getting those if you have good signal quality. And if there is no firmware glitches. I read the manual for your box, it says Power scan searches for transponders first, then downloads channels, so it does have blind scan.
Edit: When you scan AMC5 do you get NYN 1-9 channels and a bunch of news feed channels from CNN, or the Sinclair
News color bars? You should be getting those if you have good signal quality. And if there is no firmware glitches. I read the manual for your box, it says Power scan searches for transponders first, then downloads channels, so it does have blind scan.
Last edited:
scan options etc
I'm using a full power scan with networks included, Turbosat. All I get is a list of transponders as it finds them. Many lock on. When it goes back to check the listed transponders it comes back with no channels at all - zero. None from any satellite I've tried, despite the fact that the transponder list was quite full during scan. This only began recently, and the system worked fine before that. Even during initial setup and testing (months ago) I was getting channels from multiple satellites. I never saw it act like this until a few weeks ago.
I'm using a full power scan with networks included, Turbosat. All I get is a list of transponders as it finds them. Many lock on. When it goes back to check the listed transponders it comes back with no channels at all - zero. None from any satellite I've tried, despite the fact that the transponder list was quite full during scan. This only began recently, and the system worked fine before that. Even during initial setup and testing (months ago) I was getting channels from multiple satellites. I never saw it act like this until a few weeks ago.
Ok if it worked in the past, factory default doesn't clear it up, I'd guess the firmware has gotten
corrupted somehow. I'd reload the newest firmware , it isn't much good to you as is. Follow their directions on fortecs site you should be fine (if software IS the problem). Good luck!
corrupted somehow. I'd reload the newest firmware , it isn't much good to you as is. Follow their directions on fortecs site you should be fine (if software IS the problem). Good luck!
warranty time..
I agree and I would have done that long ago, being a PC/electronics tech type person, but Fortec has a big warning saying that doing so will void the warranty. Go figure....
I'm about ready to turn it over to them under warranty since I've exhausted all possibilities. Thanks to all who have helped me rule out something I might have missed before going warranty.:up
I agree and I would have done that long ago, being a PC/electronics tech type person, but Fortec has a big warning saying that doing so will void the warranty. Go figure....
I'm about ready to turn it over to them under warranty since I've exhausted all possibilities. Thanks to all who have helped me rule out something I might have missed before going warranty.:up- Status
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