Unable to acquire Satellite Info

[John Wilson]

My HR10-250 made its last recording off of a Season Pass last Thursday the 27th. Sometime overnight the receiver lost its satellite signals. I am getting 0% signal on both inputs on all transponders. I am only using Sat A and receiving SD programming on both tuners. I don't have a 3-digit error code, just a message screen saying that it cannot acquire a satellite signal. I also checked my System information screen and it says that my account is closed and the DVR service is inactive. I am paid up on my account so I don't know why it says that on the system info screen. I rebooted the receiver with the same results. We have had no issues weather-wise other than some stronger winds on Thursday night but I 've checked the dish and nothing appears to have moved.

I called DirecTv and the CS agent confirmed that my receiver is activated. She also asked me to reset the receiver by unplugging with no change. She then deactivated and reactivated the reciever on her end but it did not help as well. I guess "no signal" means no update. :confused: She then said that I would have to have a technician come out to look things over and I would be charged $49.95 for the call. I don't want to do that yet until I've tried all of my options as far as self-troubleshooting is concerned.

My set up is an oval dish with a single LNB feeding a 4x4 multiswitch to both tuners. Do LNBs just fail abruptly? I've tried connecting the 13v line from the LNB directly to the Sat 1 input on the receiver with no change.

Anybody have any ideas as to what is going on here? I don't want to swap receivers as I only have need for an SD recorder but with TiVo software.:)

[JimSpence]

The first thing I'd do is bypass the 4x4 multiswitch with F/F barrel connectors. If the multiswitch has failed, you should get a signal. If not it could be the LNB.

[John Wilson]

Well, color me embarrassed.:o I guess I didn't check the dish carefully enough. My son had done some raking Friday morning and had bumped the dish (it's on a 5-foot pole in the yard). He didn't think anything had moved so he neglected to tell me and went back home soon after. I didn't learn of the bump until last night so today I went back out and sure enough the bracket wasn't tight enough on the pole and the azimuth had changed just enough to drop the signal. I turned it slightly with my wife watching the strength meters and we were able to get it back. I REALLY tightened it this time and made 2 marker marks as a visual guide in case it moves again.:up:

I'm back in business. Thanks Jim for your reply.

One more question: do you have to power down the receiver to safely switch around the leads on the dish and/or multiswitch? I did see few "sparks" in a dark room when I connected the 13v line to an F-F barrel connector.:eek: