Unable to find valid channels in your lineup.

ovitman36 · 11-05-2008, 06:26 PM

I got home today and tried to watch live TV and my Tivo came up with "Error tuning Live TV" in the heading. The message said "DIRECTV was unable to find any valid channels in your channel lineup!". It made the drum sound when I pushed the live TV button. I went to messages and there was one message with the heading "Please activate your DVR service". Underneath it said "Your service is not currently active. To activate, please call DIRECTV Customer support at 1-800-DIRECTV. (Message #81). I checked my Now Playing List and can watch all my prerecorded shows. I called the service number. She had me 1) reset 2) Check signal strength (one was great, the other good) and 3) Remove and replace the satellite in wires to remove any possible static electricity. Nothing worked and now I have an appointment for a tech to come out in 2 weeks. Nothing has changed been changed by me or been moved since I went to bed last night and it was fine then. I just checked the "Pick Programs to Record" and I can't click on anything. I get the drum sound, same sound as when trying to go to live TV. At the bottom of that page it says "No program guide data acquired from satellite. Please check your satellite dish setup." I'm betting I can get a better answer here. I've had 2 Directv plus units fry but this doesn't seem anything like this. Oh and also I have 2 other units working fine right now, another TIVO and a Directv plus unit. Thanks.

litzdog911 · 11-06-2008, 01:05 AM

How did you reset the Tivo? Be sure to disconnect power, wait 5-min, then reconnect power.

You say you checked the signal strength and "one was great, the other good". What does that mean? Be sure to check BOTH satellite tuners on several transponders to ensure they're both working properly.

stevel · 11-06-2008, 10:47 AM

Did the agent say they would "resend the authorization" over the satellite (or something to try a remote fix)? That I think is the basic problem - that the bad TiVo thinks you do not have DVR service.

patonenow · 11-06-2008, 12:59 PM

I suspect a bad access card or access card reader in your unit. The trouble with that is trying to get DIRECTV to even acknowledge it and when proven then they want to charge you for a "new" card. And a new card won't help IF it's actually the access card reader. Then you need to try CCS.
http://www.ccscorporation.net/dss.htm

UnbiasedOpin · 11-21-2008, 10:03 PM

My Tivo unit did that two days ago (Nov 19th) while my wife and son were watching TV... all of a sudden they got the "Unable to find any valid channels in your channel lineup" and now we can watch recorded shows only.

I called tech support and they are sending another unit. I told them I didn't want a new unit if it meant requiring a programming commitment or leased DTV unit (we have been customers for eleven years). She told me that there was a "free" unit with no programming requirements on the way. Tonight I logged into DTV account and they had all screwed up my account yesterday (when I called about the problem) showing disconnects and reconnects and even adding a "leased unit charge" and "sports pak" that I had never had. Arrrrgggg!!!

Last night they said I would have a receiver Saturday, tonight when I called to get all that crap straightened out, they said it was set for delivery on Monday.

I have done everything... powered off (pulled plug) two times for fifteen minutes each. Tried to send reset from the web page four times, had them reset the account two times (where other DTV unit went out briefly), pulled the power plug and removed and reinserted the access card. The only thing I haven't done is reset the entire unit (delete all content).

I personally think this is a bit weird (perhaps an intentional shutdown on DTVs part) -- there was no pixelation or anything going on with this unit so I don't think it just up and went bad or I wouldn't be able to play recorded programs.

Our unit is a "stock" SD DVR80 (Hughes Series 2) that we BOUGHT a couple of years ago -- not LEASED.

Could an automatic upgrade have gone bad? Our other unit, an original 11 year old Sony Sat receiver, is working fine.

BTW, under Sys Info, ours now says "Account Closed" where it used to say "Account in good standing" but I am able to log into my account online, verify the access card number, and even had two reps look at our account!! It shows a $ 0.00 balance -- well, it did until they messed with it last night. Now even after she supposedly credited everything back the way it was supposed to be, it now shows $0.35 balance so I guess they are getting a free 35 pennies out of us when all I called for was this error message.

Tonight hse told me that the work order was for a "free receiver" with not programming requirements so I guess we will see.

snowfox · 12-30-2008, 11:55 PM

Any updates to this? I've got a Hughes SD-DVR40 which quit displaying any channels in late November after multiple "Please activate your DVR service" messages. (I didn't get the "Error Tuning Live TV" message, in fact both my guide and channel info appear to be current, just no content.

Similarly though, in System Information I show "Account Closed" even though multiple DirecTV reps have confirmed otherwise. (The delay in posting is due to my Tivo being out of commission for a month. The multiple reboots in November apparently fried a capacitor in the power supply, it's replaced and the Tivo is running, but I can only watch content previously recorded.)