Installed SWMline now having issues with 1 HR21

[GeoffL]

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Here is my config:
SWMline to SWS-4 mounted outside very sheltered under roof eve
HR21 to PI-21 to SWS-4 port 1(Problem receiver)
HR21 to SWS-4 port 2
H21 to SWS-4 port 3
Port 4 is terminated (using a radio shack rg6 terminator)
All runs under 50 feet

This past Saturday I installed an SWMline with a PI-21 and SWS-4. Everything was working great for about 2 days then we turned on our main HR21 and we get no picture. The receiver is working I can play recorded material fine. It doesn't give any searching for satellite error or anything just a blank screen. I did an RBR and everything came back up. I check the other HR21 and H21, they both had feeds.

A couple of hours later the picture freezes on the same HR21. I check the other receivers and they have solid feeds. I run a Satellite signal test and get no readings on the problem HR21. The SWM signal strength is also zero on the problem receiver. Exit out of tests and picture feed comes back.

5 minutes later it freezes again. Check the H21 and feed is good to it. Check the SWM levels on H21 and they are all 91 and above, noticed that there were 7 levels instead of the normal 6, not sure why, I should have 5 tuners plus Guide feed, I think. I unplug the H21 feed comes back on problem HR21 then freezes again a couple of minutes later. So, I switched out the RG6 between the problem HR21 and the PI-21. So far it has been running ok for about an hour.

I am think maybe the SWS-4 might be defective?
Has anyone else had this issue?

My next thought is to switch the problem HR21 with another one of the receivers. It seems like the receiver is getting confused on the SWM channels, it doesn't say that it isn't getting a satellite signal, it just dispalys a blank screen on all channels.

Thanks,
Geoff

[carl6]

Swapping two of the DVRs would help you narrow it down. Easier first step I would try would be to move the PI. Try moving the PI to a different location (and making the necessary connection changes at the splitter). You don't even have to connect a receiver to the output of the PI (PI to port 1 of the splitter and receivers to the other 3 ports).

The SWM channels seem to be somewhat random at times. You may see fewer or more active than you have actual tuners connected. You can't really tell anything based on how many unused channels there are at any given time.

[Incompetent]

With what you have posted as your setup, you currently are trying to utilize 5 tuners off of a switch that only supports 4 IIRC.

[GeoffL]

I am going to move the PI when I get home from work today. That was my first thought, but, it was after midnight and I didn't want to climb up on the roof to switch the inputs. The HR21 that I am having issues with is the oldest I have, but, it is all updated and it is the most used.

[jpitlick]

With what you have posted as your setup, you currently are trying to utilize 5 tuners off of a switch that only supports 4 IIRC.

SWM and SWMLine support 8 tuners. You only need to make one physical connection per receiver or DVR.

[veryoldschool]

With what you have posted as your setup, you currently are trying to utilize 5 tuners off of a switch that only supports 4 IIRC.
As posted : "four DVRs", but eight tuners.
I'm running three DVRs and a receiver off my SWM [with the last port terminated]

[GeoffL]

On second thought I may wait to move the PI until tomorrow. I want to see if replacing the cable between the PI and the problem HR21 has any effect. That was the only cable I added to the configuration all the rest of the cables that I used were the ones that DTV installed originally.
That particular cable I grabbed out of my spare wire box and it was a AR Research one or something like that. It was a good cable when I purchased it, but, it may have not been able to handle the frequencies of the SWM.

[Sharkie_Fan]

On second thought I may wait to move the PI until tomorrow. I want to see if replacing the cable between the PI and the problem HR21 has any effect. That was the only cable I added to the configuration all the rest of the cables that I used were the ones that DTV installed originally.
That particular cable I grabbed out of my spare wire box and it was a AR Research one or something like that. It was a good cable when I purchased it, but, it may have not been able to handle the frequencies of the SWM.

As Carl6 suggested, moving the PI or a receiver will help narrow down the problems.

Just because a cable "always worked" doesn't mean it still will. I learned this the hard way. I reused cabling when I installed my SWMLine, and I had one receiver that wouldn't work.

I could get the receiver to work in certain configurations, but not the configuration that I NEEDED in order to make that location work.

I ended up replacing a section of cabling that had been reused from my original DirecTV installation, and everything was good.

I struggled for days trying to figure out why the same cable would work hooked up one way, but not the other. And why it only failed on one receiver when hooked up the "bad" way.

I went round and round with people smarter than I, trying to figure out what ELSE it could be, because the cable HAD to be good if it worked one way and not the other. When I finally listened to the advice I was being given and replaced the cable that was suspect, everything worked perfectly in the configuration I needed and I haven't had a problem since!

[veryoldschool]

On second thought I may wait to move the PI until tomorrow. I want to see if replacing the cable between the PI and the problem HR21 has any effect. That was the only cable I added to the configuration all the rest of the cables that I used were the ones that DTV installed originally.
That particular cable I grabbed out of my spare wire box and it was a AR Research one or something like that. It was a good cable when I purchased it, but, it may have not been able to handle the frequencies of the SWM.
Something like this has bitten me before.
I have a "good cable", but it's RG59 and doesn't make good connection with my SWM, where the larger RG6 works fine.

[GeoffL]

Since I replaced the "good cable" from the problem HR21 to the PI-21 it has been running solid for 6 days now. veryoldschool is probably right that the cable I had in there was probably RG59, I can't see any label on it that says it is RG6.

Thanks for all the help.