[MurrayW]

I have 2 HR20's, 1 HR21 and some DirecTiVo's hooked up to a Zinwell WB16 multiswitch hooked up to the 5-LNB Multi-Satellite Dish and everything has been functioning fine for over a year. Monday night, I lost the 101 satellite on all receivers. I live in Austin and hurricane Ike passed us by on Saturday without any rain and at most 10 to 15 mph winds. 101 was working fine on Saturday and Sunday, so I am sure that my problem is not due to weather. Also there has been no construction or rapid tree growth in the past 2 days.

I swapped out my multiswitch with another one (Zinwell WB8) and still got no signal on 101. I then bypassed the multiswitch and tried each of the 4 cables from the dish directly into tuner 1 of my HR21 one at a time and each one gave me good signals on all the satellites except for 101 (all 0's). So I think I have a bad 101 LNB (the earliest date for a service call was next Monday so I have to wait until then to get this fixed!)

Last night when I noticed this, I could watch TV on channels that are on the other satellites but not 101. Thank god, they are still broadcasting ESPN on both 73 and 206 or else I would have missed the MNF game last night. No signal on channel 206 but it was fine on 73.

Anyway, I called DirecTV last night and as part of the troubleshooting they had me disconnect the power on the WB16 multiswitch, wait 30 seconds then power it back up again. They also had me reboot my receivers. When the receiver was going through the boot up process it got stuck on searching for signal on 101 and I cannot get it to move out of this screen so I can watch channels on satellites other than 101.

Is there anyway to bypass this so I can watch the other channels not on 101 or get to my recorded shows?

thanks,
Murray

 

[Grentz]

Sounds like a bad LNB.

It is pretty hard to lose only 101 alignment as it is one of the easiest ones to get a signal from.

 

[MurrayW]

Sounds like a bad LNB.

It is pretty hard to lose only 101 alignment as it is one of the easiest ones to get a signal from.

Yes, I am pretty certain it is a bad LNB. I was just hoping for a way to bypass the "searching for signal" upon boot-up so I could watch shows on channels coming from satellites other than 101 or get to my recorded programs. I don't want to miss a whole weekend of football waiting for the Monday service call. Apparently, only orders and installation (not service calls for repairs) show up on the DirecTV webpage so I can't even keep checking and try to reschedule for an earlier date.

 

[texasbrit]

Yes, I am pretty certain it is a bad LNB. I was just hoping for a way to bypass the "searching for signal" upon boot-up so I could watch shows on channels coming from satellites other than 101 or get to my recorded programs. I don't want to miss a whole weekend of football waiting for the Monday service call. Apparently, only orders and installation (not service calls for repairs) show up on the DirecTV webpage so I can't even keep checking and try to reschedule for an earlier date.

I don't think you can. All the startup data comes from a 101 transponder so if you can't see 101 the receiver won't start up. Rebooting a receiver if you can't see the 101 satellite is a big mistake.

 

[MurrayW]

Being not so patient and not wanting to wait until the tech can come out on Monday, how hard is it to replace the 101 LNB? Do the LNB's come in sets or can you replace one at a time.? If so, how can I identify which one is the 101 LNB?

I know that it might not be an LNB problem, but if it is and I can climb up on my roof and easily replace one, I am willing to take that chance in order to possibly be able to watch the Sunday ticket.

Also from searching this forum, it looks like you either have to buy a complete dish or find a direcTV truck and talk the installer into selling you an LNB...are there any other options?

thanks,
Murray

 

[azarby]

Being not so patient and not wanting to wait until the tech can come out on Monday, how hard is it to replace the 101 LNB? Do the LNB's come in sets or can you replace one at a time.? If so, how can I identify which one is the 101 LNB?

I know that it might not be an LNB problem, but if it is and I can climb up on my roof and easily replace one, I am willing to take that chance in order to possibly be able to watch the Sunday ticket.

Also from searching this forum, it looks like you either have to buy a complete dish or find a direcTV truck and talk the installer into selling you an LNB...are there any other options?

thanks,
Murray

You replace them all as a group. It is very easy. Remove two screws to detach the head from the arm. disconnect the coax. Reverse the process to put on the new arm. You don't even need to re-align it as long as youjust remove teh head.

Bob

 

[mcbeevee]

Also from searching this forum, it looks like you either have to buy a complete dish or find a direcTV truck and talk the installer into selling you an LNB...are there any other options?
thanks,
Murray

You can find LNB's for the Slimline on ebay.

 

[MurrayW]

You can find LNB's for the Slimline on ebay.

I'm looking to find them locally since I want to try to replace them this weekend before the service call on Monday, so EBay is not going to work for me.

thanks,
Murray

 

[litzdog911]

I'm looking to find them locally since I want to try to replace them this weekend before the service call on Monday, so EBay is not going to work for me.

thanks,
Murray

I doubt you'll find any local suppliers, unless you can get one from a local DirecTV installer.

 

[MurrayW]

I'm looking to find them locally since I want to try to replace them this weekend before the service call on Monday, so EBay is not going to work for me.

thanks,
Murray

I checked Austin's craigslist and found an installer who had one to sell for $50. Plus he will charge me $50 for the install. Well worth it to me to keep my old, fat body off of my roof or maybe even worse, the ground!. I know I could wait for Monday and get this done free (I have the protection plan) but it is worth it to pay $100 and have it done this afternoon instead of waiting until Monday. I just hope that it is a bad LNB!

Thanks for the everyone's help on this.

Murray

 

[Grentz]

It is a pretty quick replacement if it is indeed the LNB that is bad, so best of luck!

 

[MurrayW]

It is a pretty quick replacement if it is indeed the LNB that is bad, so best of luck!

The installer I contacted on craigslist was in the area, replaced the LNB and $100 + $20 tip later, I am back up and running! Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions. Now to see if I can get DirecTV to give me some credits to help offset my cost and the money I saved them by not waiting until Monday.

Murray

 

[Grentz]

Congrats! Glad you are back up and running.