Check "Details" for LNB!

[Bogey62]

Lately, when I check the System Info on my VIP-722 it always says Check "Details" for LNB!

When I go to the Details page, I see this:

LNB Drift Detected...

0x0d, 0xa1, 61.5 (e -7)


Is this a skew issue or something going wrong with the LNB?

Can I adjust this myself?

I really don't want one of the "kids" that Dish sends out messing with it if I don't have to. The last "kid" made a mess of things and the work had to be redone by a couple of guys that knew what they were doing. That's the problem, I never know who I'm gonna get coming out to the house on the rare occasion I have service done that I can't do myself.

[Kent Taylor]

Lately, when I check the System Info on my VIP-722 it always says Check "Details" for LNB!

When I go to the Details page, I see this:

LNB Drift Detected...

0x0d, 0xa1, 61.5 (e -7)


Is this a skew issue or something going wrong with the LNB?

Can I adjust this myself?

I really don't want one of the "kids" that Dish sends out messing with it if I don't have to. The last "kid" made a mess of things and the work had to be redone by a couple of guys that knew what they were doing. That's the problem, I never know who I'm gonna get coming out to the house on the rare occasion I have service done that I can't do myself.

You have an LNB going bad. Dish will replace it at no charge. Dish replaced one of mine when it was -7. It should be an easy fix.

[ChuckA]

I think Dish wants +/- 8 before they will replace the LNB, but I could be wrong on that. You have -7. There is not really much to replacing the LNB on the dish. No new cables or re-pointing should be needed so there's not much they should be able to mess up.

[Bogey62]

Thanks guys. Heck I could replace it myself if they'd send it to me.

I'll call and see what they say.

[BattleZone]

If your receiver was plugged into the phone line, your receiver would automatically report this problem to Dish, and that would trigger a phone call to you to verify the problem and to set up a free service call to replace the LNB.

[Bogey62]

If your receiver was plugged into the phone line, your receiver would automatically report this problem to Dish, and that would trigger a phone call to you to verify the problem and to set up a free service call to replace the LNB.

It is and it hasn't.

[koralis]

So at e-11 It should be a gimme? My 61.5 is there, and my 119 satellite is just bad right now... lousy signal and I'm loosing signal all the time since about a month ago. Ideally I'd like to get on Eastern Arc with a good LNB and call it a day.

[Bogey62]

I called today and a "technician" is coming out Friday to swap out the LNB on the 61.5 dish, free of charge. It's a no-brainer work order, so hopefully he can handle it. :)

[MrC]

I just called dish tech support. I'm being charged $49.95 for replacing the LNB. I wondering if you all are getting the "free" service call because you have the dish warranty program (at $5.95/month I think). Can anyone confirm?

[Jim5506]

The free replacement was 18 mos ago when Dish determined they had a bunch of defective lnb's from a particular manufacturer.

I guess they have determined that current failures are ordinary failures withih the MTBF of the device.

Yes, sign up for DHPP.

[Bogey62]

I just called dish tech support. I'm being charged $49.95 for replacing the LNB. I wondering if you all are getting the "free" service call because you have the dish warranty program (at $5.95/month I think). Can anyone confirm?

Long ago, when I first had a 721 receiver that I bought outright along with the Dish 500 with twin LNB, I had the warranty for $1.99/mo.

They kept me grandfathered in for years, but last year or so they decided that everyone had to pay $5.95/mo. I installed everything myself and since nothing ever went wrong with my outside equipment for years (plus they would swap out the DVR for $14.95 if it needed repaired), I dropped the warranty program and have never looked back.

Dish came out and installed a second dish for the 61.5 feed when I switched to the 622 and now 722 receiver. It's the LNB on the second dish that has gone bad! Meanwhile, the dish and LNBs I've had for the past 6 years have never had a single issue... go figure.

The CSR waived the $49.95 fee as a one-time-courtesy to a long time customer -- probably the fact that I pay Dish $125/mo. in programming weighed into that decision too. Besides, if I added up all the $5.95/mo. fees I've saved since dropping the warranty, it comes out to waaaay more than the $49.95 I might have had to pay this time.

In my personal opinion, for someone like me that installed their own equipment and has no problems re-tuning the dishs if they go off a little and don't need a service call to hook up a TV, VCR, reprogram a remote, et al, it's a no-brainer for me to save the money. My decision isn't necessarily the right one for other users, though.

[Kevin Brown]

If your receiver was plugged into the phone line, your receiver would automatically report this problem to Dish, and that would trigger a phone call to you to verify the problem and to set up a free service call to replace the LNB.

This is not true. I had a bad LNB on my 522 for over 8 months, I knew it, I never had Dish contact me even though I had a phone line connected continuously, but I never bothered to get it "fixed" because I didn't see any issues with video or audio quality either. But I finally did get it "fixed" when I upgraded to a 722.

[Michael P]

LNB drift is the problem. When you have LNB drift your system acts as if there is rain fade, i.e. short annoying signal dropouts. I get them infrequently and my drift is -7.

I purchased my DPP LNBs myself from a web vendor and installed them myself when I moved here 4 years ago. I guess I'm on my own since I don't have any leased equipment.

[MrC]

Our LNB was replaced; drift is now gone.

Incidentally, until I saw this thread, I didn't know to contact Dish re: replacement. I noticed the Check Details... message ages ago and as far as I can tell, Dish was unaware of the problem. So I'm doubting the box auto-notifies Dish.

[P Smith]

For sure, connecting DVR to Internet thru Ethernet port ( for new models) will produce weekly reports to Dish ( search for "STB health" keywords). Check under Counters when it's happened last time .

[Stewart Vernon]

I just did this myself over the weekend.

Actually, sometime earlier in the year I had noticed "-5" on the drift... then more recently "-7" and, ultimately, "-8" just before I made the LNB swap.

Everything seems fine now.

[reddice]

I had a drift last year. Never got a call and I had my 612 hooked up to Ethernet. Also I had to pay I think 30 or 40 dollars for the service. Believe it or not when the service guy came and he saw that I was getting a signal he did not want to replace the LNB because it was working. I said you better replace them since I am paying for this service call. He got his lazy butt on the roof and replaced the 110, 119 and 61.5 LNB's.