Is my unit hosed?

[stlfan62]

I've got a Hughes Series 2 SD-DVR40 that I think may have incurred damage from a recent lightning strike. The lightning struck our property ... the actual ground, not a tree or the house. It left a big hole which was pretty cool until I found out what it did (I think) to my TiVo box.

Here are the symptoms:

1. All of my local channels are missing from the program guide.

2. When I change to one of my local channels (actually enter the channel number using the remote), I get a message that reads "Channel not available."

3. When viewing one of the tuners, I get no audio/video on most channels. Instead, there is a constant message indicating "Searching for signal on: Satellite In 1". I actually do get a few channels via this tuner (maybe 7 or 8 .... E!, TBS, Spike, tru, to name a few), but most are dead.

4. When I switch to the other tuner, I get the same message, but I do get audio/video on all channels except my locals.

5. If I test the satellite signal strength, I get no signal on Satellite In 1 for all of the odd-numbered transponders on both satellites. For the even-numbered transponders, I get a great signal (97-99), and for Satellite In 2, I get a great signal for all transponders of both satellites.

6. If I look ahead on the program guide a few days, I'm missing guide data starting around August 25. This coincides with the date of the lightning strike by about 2 weeks.

7. The TiVo features seem to be working OK. It still records as long as I leave it on the right channel, and I can still play stuff I previously recorded.

8. I've got 2 other non-TiVo satellite boxes connected to the same dish, and I can see audio/video and guide data for all channels on those.

9. I have not swapped the cables because they're a little difficult to access, but I'll probably try that while I wait for someone to provide comment.

I've done a hard reboot, I've run through the "Auto-Detect Satellite Information", and I've rerun the guided setup and verified it is configured with the proper dish type setting (oval, 2 cables).

Interestingly, the only other electronics damaged was the main circuit board of our garage door opener.

Any thoughts? I could provide more info if needed. I know I could call DirecTV, but I wanted to educate myself first.

[IminMs]

Well first do you have another unit to test at the same location of the tivo?
Do yo have a multi-switch?
Loosing the odd number transponders, sounds like a multi-swith gone bad or the multi-switch in the dish LNB itself.
What dish do you have? 1, 2, 3 LNB's? Oblong or round? High def or not?


Try these and let us know the results.


Try switch the coax cables on the tivo. Input 1 to 2 and 2 to 1. If the same problems follow the cable, its a switch problem. If the problems stay with the inputs, well its going to most likely be the tivo.

[stlfan62]

I don't have another TiVo unit, but I have 2 other non-TiVo receivers connected to the same dish that are both working fine.

I don't have a multiswitch or any other hardware.

I have an oval dish (non-HD) with 2 LNBs.

I plan to swap the coax cables tonight. I haven't done it yet because it's a little tricky (kind of a tight space, and I have to disconnect some other components to get access to the back of the unit).

[rbtravis]

Call Directv and have them refresh local channels. The guide can take 3 days to reload. Just sounds like the unit restarted. Try patience first. :)

[stlfan62]

Took a couple of weeks, but I finally called tech support. I swapped the cables and that had no effect. Still didn't receive any signal on Sat In 1 for any of the odd-numbered transponders. Local channels still not appearing in program guide, "Searching for signal on: Satellite In 1" message appearing for most channels on 1 of the tuners, etc.

An interesting behavior: If I set tuner 1 to one of the channels it gets, I can access/view my local channels on the other tuner as long as I key in the channel directly. If I set tuner 1 to a channel it doesn't get, I can't view locals on the other tuner.

Anyway, the person who took my call scheduled me for a (free) service call. So now I wait for that.

To correct something I posted earlier, I have an oval dish (non-HD) with 3 LNBs (not 2).

[TVCommander]

Our home took a near direct hit from lightning and even with surge protectors inline, several electronic components bit the dust, including a Hughes HDVR2 unit in the bedroom. Surge protectors work nicely for electrical surges or drops, but stop 3 million volts from lightning like a kleenex stopping a bullet.

Several components like the microwave, telephone system, desktop CPU, and alarm system were revived by hitting an internal reset switch, but others needed repair. I bought a new power supply from weakknees.com and installed it in the HDVR2 and it powered up! A call to D* to reactivate the access card took longer than the install. But, it worked ... for a while. Soon I began to experience what others have, the dreaded stuttering freezing picture, even on the menu screens. After reading several posts here, I decided the hard drive had also been a victim. I tried the C&DE method and gave up after three days of the 'this could take an hour' screen. Another order from weekknees to get a new drive and now all is happy again. Cost - $89 for the power supply, $105 for 140 hour drive, for a smiling spouse, priceless.

[JimSpence]

That's great. Even though a UPS probably wouldn't have helped with a direct lightning hit, I'd still suggest that you put one on the TiVo.

[dtremain]

Rbtravis gave you excellent advice. Call Directv and specifically ask them to re-set your local channels.

It really does sound like it could be that simple.

[JimSpence]

Rbtravis gave you excellent advice. Call Directv and specifically ask them to re-set your local channels.

It really does sound like it could be that simple.You do know that you replied to a 4 month old thread, right? :)

[rbtravis]

Jim:
Better late than never. He was just trying to help. Not like there is a lot of action. :D

[JimSpence]

So true. You did see my :), right?

Anyway, it alerts others that the original thread is a little old. :D

[dtremain]

You do know that you replied to a 4 month old thread, right? :)That's funny. Obviously TCommander used the search engine (before we told him to) and brought up an old thread, instead of just starting his own.

Let's forgive him this time. LOL.

[JimSpence]

He's forgiven. :D

Now that we have taught people to use the search engine, we need to teach them to look at the thread dates as well. :D

[shredhead]

I'm frustrated...

Seems like all of my Dtivo's are hosed up in one way or another...

Two of them don't seem to work well on the second tuner. Lots of artifacts. It's fun when something recorded on the second tuner and it's all messed up.. Hard to explain to the wife. Could be the dish needs to be re-aimed?? When booting or during guided setup it always tells me it can't get some of the satellite data (it eventually works). Says it can't locate the third transponder (119 I think) but support told me that doesn't matter.

The third one decided today that it didn't want to respond to the remote or the buttons on the front until about 1-2 minutes after each button I pushed. A reboot doesn't help. Bad hard drive maybe? It eventually does decide to respond... Maybe it's tired. :confused:

[rbtravis]

shredhead:

over 70% of TiVo problems are hard drive related. If the drive has died and you need a new image you can get instantcake from www.DVRupgrade.com. If some other part of the hardware failed it can be fixed by http://www.ccscorporation.net/ (they fix all Directv Tivo's)
Do you have a three or five satellite dish? If not it probably does not need reaiming. Go through guided setup and select the correct dish type and number of cables to the TiVo. Good Luck :):)

[shredhead]

shredhead:
Do you have a three or five satellite dish? If not it probably does not need reaiming. Go through guided setup and select the correct dish type and number of cables to the TiVo. Good Luck :):)

Been there done that. triple lnb / two tuners. like I said it eventually works but the reboot process always goes through the error screen then about 5-10 minutes later it starts working. obviously I avoid rebooting if possible but today it rebooted when I wanted to record by title. the units are old so I am not surprised if it's hard drives, but, why all three of them going bad at once (the third unit is by far the worst so I'm deleting shows off of it and that seems to help since the unit won't access the bad sectors (maybe) that way. No point in sending these to get them fixed since I can get another one off ebay for like $50 shipped.

[rbtravis]

Shredhead:
Try cleaning out the recently deleted and season passes folders. After cleaning restart the computer using the messages and settings folder at the bottom.
this should clean up the slack and stack space.

[unclemoosh]

[QUOTE=shredhead;7020157]I'm frustrated...

Seems like all of my Dtivo's are hosed up in one way or another...

Two of them don't seem to work well on the second tuner. Lots of artifacts. It's fun when something recorded on the second tuner and it's all messed up.. Hard to explain to the wife. Could be the dish needs to be re-aimed?? When booting or during guided setup it always tells me it can't get some of the satellite data (it eventually works). Says it can't locate the third transponder (119 I think) but support told me that doesn't matter.

[QUOTE]

Many times the second tuner problems are power supply related. You might want to look at the caps to see if they are swollen. Many have reported successfully solving the problem by replacing the caps. YMMV

[tivoupgrade]

Been there done that. triple lnb / two tuners. like I said it eventually works but the reboot process always goes through the error screen then about 5-10 minutes later it starts working. obviously I avoid rebooting if possible but today it rebooted when I wanted to record by title. the units are old so I am not surprised if it's hard drives, but, why all three of them going bad at once (the third unit is by far the worst so I'm deleting shows off of it and that seems to help since the unit won't access the bad sectors (maybe) that way. No point in sending these to get them fixed since I can get another one off ebay for like $50 shipped.

You might want to take a look at this article (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=416062) to see if you can narrow it down to the hard drive and consider replacing. Ordering units from ebay involves other risks that might complicate things further. If it is just a hard drive, you can probably keep that repair to something less expensive than replacing the unit altogether.