[Robin]

I have an HDVR2 running 6.2-01-2-151

I noticed recently that The Daily Show wasn't recording, and the recording history said it was due to lack of signal. I tried live TV and several adjacent channels aren't coming in either, I just get "searching for signal on sat 1".

I checked the signal strengths and it looks like the odd transponders on 101 aren't coming in at all.

on 101:
1: 0
2: 87
3: 0
4: 61
5: 0
6: 87
7: 0
8: 81
etc.

119 & 110 looked normal, with a few low values on 119 (one 30 and one 40).

It doesn't seem like a mis-aimed dish since it's so predictable which transponders won't come in. Could it be an unplugged cable? I'm 39 weeks pregnant so I can't get up on a ladder to check the dish and it's dark by the time my husband gets home, so I thought I'd throw a line out here before borrowing a ladder and sending him out with a flashlight.

I have to admit, I'm posting without searching since I couldn't figure out what to search on. If this is a FAQ please feel free to break out a wet noodle, just include a link or at least some search terms!

ETA: I'm only using one tuner--the location of the TV v. the dish make running a second cable almost impossible.

 

[rifleman69]

I've been getting that the past couple of days as well on my Samsung 40/40. It also only has one tuner hooked up and sometimes in the morning it'll take a couple of minutes before just about all of the other channels become "active" (but there's no searching for satellite tuner 1 messages). The channel that was originally on works but nothing else does...after about 30 seconds or so, everything becomes active.

 

[Robin]

I have an old non-TiVo DirecTV receiver. To test whether it's the TiVo, can I swap the card to the old receiver?

 

[Mr T-Bone]

What you are having is something called an odd-even transponder problem. When your satellite box get's it's signal from the dish it doesn't get the signal for all 32 transponders all at once. It only gets the signal for all of the odds or all of the evens. Whenever you tune to a channel that is transmitted to you on a specific odd or even transponder, the satellite box sends an electrical signal to the LNB on your dish telling it which of the two groups (odds or evens) to look at to get the signal for that channel. The problem that you are having is that there is an equipment malfunction in either your satellite box, the multiswitch or the LNB that is preventing your LNB from swapping from odds to evens and back to odds. Try this.....

1. Swap the satellite in cables at the back of the box. If the error message changes to "Searching For Satellite In Sat 2" then there is nothing wrong with your box. If the message stays the same then your box is bad and will need to be replaced because it has lost the ability to tell the LNB to change back and forth between the odd and even transponders.

2. If the message changes to "Searching For Satellite In Sat 2", then either your multiswitch or your LNB are bad. depending on how many boxes you have, you may not even have a separate multiswitch. If not, the your LNB probably just needs to be replaced. Your should be able to either get a replacement from a local retailer or just call D* to send someone out to fix it for you relatively inexpensively.

 

[Robin]

Will it work on satellite two even if there's no satellite one? Again, I just have the single tuner and ISTR the second tuner has to be enabled? In my searching on another forum someone said it didn't work, but I have more confidence in the folks here.

I don't have a multiswitch, just an oval dish and a HDVR2, so that eliminates one possibility.

I'm so annoyed by this--I don't have the time, money, or energy (what with the impending baby) to get out there and fuss with the dish or get an installer out here. Heck, even getting to the back of a receiver is a major undertaking at this point!

Thanks for the response though, I'll see what I can get to to test and report back.

 

[Mr T-Bone]

Will it work on satellite two even if there's no satellite one? Again, I just have the single tuner and ISTR the second tuner has to be enabled?

Depends...if you only have one satellite in cable coming in from the dish then the troubleshooting steps I suggested above won't work. In that case, your best bet would be to move the Tivo to another working location in the home (if you happen to have another satellite box active in the home that is working well) and see if the problem follows the box. If the Tivo displays the same problem at the other working location, then it's probably the Tivo. If it works fine at the other location, then your problem lies in the LNB.

If you have two satellite cables coming in from the dish then yes, the troubleshooting steps listed above should work

on a complete sidebar -- if your oval dish has 3 white caps on your LNB, and the LNB is all in one piece then it has a multiswitch built into it. It's not something where you could change the multiswitch without changing the LNB, their both just combined into the same case.

 

[Robin]

Just the one cable, no other DTV receivers in the house (except an old one that's not active.)

I'll try and get a look at the LNB in a bit.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[jangelj]

Is it possible that someething is going on with the satellites? It seems there has been more traffic on this board (and others) the past few days about "Searching for signal" and some channels coming in and some not.

Also, I had this problem this weekend (in Denver) and my mom had it yesterday (in Miami).

Anyway, I just unplugged my HDVR2 for about 5 minutes and when it booted back up all was well. Not sure about mom yet.

So, Robin who is 9 months pregnant, maybe try unplugging the unit for 5 minutes?

my $.02

 

[Robin]

Now that is a level of effort I can get behind.

Sadly, no love. And no PAX. Whatever will I do?! (Actually, it looks like Comedy Central is the only missing channel that I care about. How am I supposed to stay up on current events without TDS?)

I'm trying to screw up the energy to call DTV, and the inevitable rounds of "checking settings" it will undoubtedly entail. *sigh*

 

[Kanyon71]

Now that is a level of effort I can get behind.

Sadly, no love. And no PAX. Whatever will I do?! (Actually, it looks like Comedy Central is the only missing channel that I care about. How am I supposed to stay up on current events without TDS?)

I'm trying to screw up the energy to call DTV, and the inevitable rounds of "checking settings" it will undoubtedly entail. *sigh*

Have you tried shutting the unit down, removing the cable or cables from the back then putting them back in and powering the unit back up? Seeing as it's a single cable it's probably not the problem but figured I might add something to try. Also try the old DirecTV tech support mantra of remove and replace the card in the receiver. Not sure it ever did much for me but figured you might wanna get that out of the way (if they still even use that line)

 

[Robin]

We last left our heroine two weeks ago, nine months pregnant and unwilling to go to heroic measures for the Food channel & Comedy Central.

Fast forward to yesterday, she's still pregnant (they say you can't be pregnant forever, but I'm starting to sincerely doubt that) and the TiVo's still broken.

Then last night my mom (visiting for the impending birth) says "um, TDS is recording." "Huh? What? CC doesn't come in." Nope, the TiVo'd healed itself! All odd transponders were back to their happy, healthy selves, and the evens still worked too. I was elated. Of course I'd just hibernated my machine, so I couldn't come here immediately to crow.

This morning I opened this post, then thought "ought to make sure that wasn't a figment of my imagination." Guess what? No odd transponder love. But last night's TDS recording was there, so I wasn't delusional. But knowing it was intermitent was a big help, so I tasked The Husband with checking all the connections. Nada.

Then he went outside, moved some connections around on the grounding block, and voila! No ladder even needed. Feeling like a dumbass, but now I have Good Eats & The Daily Show back just in time for the marathon nursing sessions, so I'm ok with that.

Thanks to all of you for your help!

 

[Robin]

Apparently the power of prayer wasn't quite enough.

About 24 hours after my success posting it went south again. We ignored it until my husband realized we didn't get sci-fi, and Atlantis, SG-1, and BG were starting back up. All of a sudden motivation blossomed.

We checked the voltages, and they were good all the way up the line. Bought another LNB off ebay, replaced it today, and now all is sunshine and light.

Thanks for all the input!