Troubleshooting no signal on sat 2 problem

[George G]

I checked the past posts but my problem seems to be a bit different.

I have an Oval dish, 4x4 multi switch, 2 outputs being used for one directivo.

Hughes directivo hvr40 started having pixellation problems lat last year.
Replaced the hard drive but problem wasn't fixed and got worse.
I thought it was a bad tuner on the hvr40 so I pulled out my old sat-60, installed a new hd, and activated it. Both tuners on the sat-60 worked fine for about a week, then some pixelation started and then a "searching for signal on satellite 2" message. All channels appear fine without pixelation on the working input.
So no signal from the second input.
I tried reversing the satellite inputs and the searching for signal moves to satellite 1.

Hooked up the hvr40 again and find that it has the same problem "searching for a signal on satellite 2". All channels work fine without pixelation on the working input on this unit as well.
So I think this rules out a bad tuner on eithter unit.
Would a bad multiswitch or lnb cause this problem? How would I test to pinpoint the cause of the problem at this stage?

If I understand correctly, since I have an oval dish, I have two dual lnb's for a total of 4 outputs correct? Is there a way to bypass the multiswitch for testing?

Any advice would be appreciated.

THank you

[OLdDog]

The problem is either a bad cable or a bad multiswitch.

Switch the wires at the MS. If the problem switches then it is the MS if it does not then it is the cable or connectors on that cable.

From what you have already tried there really is no other possibility.

My guess would be cable as those fail in a way to produce the problem like you describe more often than multiswitches.

[JimSpence]

Since the problem moved when you swapped inputs, this suggests that you have a coax problem or the LNB. There is no way to bypass the integrated multisiwtch. Have you tried a different output from the dish multiswitch?