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Last week, we had a new DirecTV system installed, in place of an old Dish Network system. Three receivers. Two of them are basic D10 units, and one is a DVR R15 (according to the decal on the back). This is a new install, by a crew that came out, unboxed the units new and installed them.
They used the existing coax cables from the Dish Network system, except that they added an additional coax cable for the second receiver on the DVR. They did not replace the other coax cables, though, or the couplers between lengths of cable, even though we'd had to have the couplers replaced earlier on one of the cables, because the signal had degraded badly on that one, and were pretty sure the other cables were moving towards a similar issue. Indeed, it was one of the reasons we'd decided to switch to a new satellite service: the theory that they'd just replace everything as a matter of course. However, when I asked the DirecTV installers if they were going to replace the cables, they just ignored the question as they went on their scurrying about...
(It was a case of the connections between cables out there having been done with indoor-grade couplers, which eventually corroded, After years of service, we'd called them out to fix that, because one cable length was giving really awful signal strength, and they'd discovered the matter of the bad couplers and replaced them. Cut off the ends of the cables and crimped on new, outdoor-grade connectors. In retrospect, we should have had them check ALL the cables as well, but at the time it was only the one cable line giving us the trouble and, as a possible red-herring, we'd also added an extension of our own on to that line when we'd added a covered porch in the back.)
After everything was installed, it all seemed to work fine, though.
For the last day or two, the DVR has been going to the screensaver fairly frequently, as in within 5 or 10 minutes (I haven't timed it) of it last being dispelled. By screensaver, I mean the black screen with the big DirecTV logo bouncing slowly around the screen. When this happens, we can still hear the TV show we're tuned in to.
Another oddity, on some stations we get a rectangular box on the lower right of the screen saying that it is searching for the signal, and there is a line of little rectangles doing a light-tracer effect. This is going on while we're watching the TV show. I suspect it might be that poor-signal issue I was talking about earlier, leftover from the previous Dish system.
Anyway, the searching-for-signal message had a More button on it, so I pressed Select on the remote to see what additional info it might give. It suggested three things to do, numbered 1 through 3. 1 was press the little red reset button behind the small pop-open hatch on the front of the machine. 2 was disconnect and reconnect all the cables to make sure they're connected right, or something of the sort. 3 was check the position of the dish, if one can do so safely.
Bear in mind, this was a brand new install, and so far as I could tell, the cables were all connected firmly to the back of the unit.
Well, I punched the red reset-button, and watched the DVR R15 go through it's complete restart process. It advised me this might take up to 30 minutes. Eventually (well short of that 30 minutes) it came back out of it, and showed that we were still tuned into Fox News Channel (FNC) as we were before I'd punched the reset... but now we were no longer getting a picture or sound!
And it was still showing the searching-for-signal message on the lower right. I punched the Guide button, and it listed the channels available, with the shows currently on, but the little mini-screen that usually showed the current signal was a blank black, saying something about not finding 771. I punched in my local station, figuring maybe if I went to a channel from a different satellite, I'd be able to get a signal, but the Guide failed to list ANY of our locals. It just went to listing channel 100 and below. I quit out of the Guide screen, and tried punching the channel number again, but it just went DonkDonkDonk... Donk at me, and refused to move from FNC.
Before the reset, we were getting FNC, and all the other stations, fine. After the reset, nada. This was even though it was complaining about not finding the signal.
We've turned the unit off and on several times, from the remote and from the front panel, and it continues to just give us a blank black screen with only the searching-for-signal message on it. I can punch the Info button, and it will tell me I'm on FNC, and will tell me the show that's (theoretically) on right now, but... no show!
Any idea what we should do next? This system is less than a week old. Actually, it was installed last Wednesday morning.
They used the existing coax cables from the Dish Network system, except that they added an additional coax cable for the second receiver on the DVR. They did not replace the other coax cables, though, or the couplers between lengths of cable, even though we'd had to have the couplers replaced earlier on one of the cables, because the signal had degraded badly on that one, and were pretty sure the other cables were moving towards a similar issue. Indeed, it was one of the reasons we'd decided to switch to a new satellite service: the theory that they'd just replace everything as a matter of course. However, when I asked the DirecTV installers if they were going to replace the cables, they just ignored the question as they went on their scurrying about...
(It was a case of the connections between cables out there having been done with indoor-grade couplers, which eventually corroded, After years of service, we'd called them out to fix that, because one cable length was giving really awful signal strength, and they'd discovered the matter of the bad couplers and replaced them. Cut off the ends of the cables and crimped on new, outdoor-grade connectors. In retrospect, we should have had them check ALL the cables as well, but at the time it was only the one cable line giving us the trouble and, as a possible red-herring, we'd also added an extension of our own on to that line when we'd added a covered porch in the back.)
After everything was installed, it all seemed to work fine, though.
For the last day or two, the DVR has been going to the screensaver fairly frequently, as in within 5 or 10 minutes (I haven't timed it) of it last being dispelled. By screensaver, I mean the black screen with the big DirecTV logo bouncing slowly around the screen. When this happens, we can still hear the TV show we're tuned in to.
Another oddity, on some stations we get a rectangular box on the lower right of the screen saying that it is searching for the signal, and there is a line of little rectangles doing a light-tracer effect. This is going on while we're watching the TV show. I suspect it might be that poor-signal issue I was talking about earlier, leftover from the previous Dish system.
Anyway, the searching-for-signal message had a More button on it, so I pressed Select on the remote to see what additional info it might give. It suggested three things to do, numbered 1 through 3. 1 was press the little red reset button behind the small pop-open hatch on the front of the machine. 2 was disconnect and reconnect all the cables to make sure they're connected right, or something of the sort. 3 was check the position of the dish, if one can do so safely.
Bear in mind, this was a brand new install, and so far as I could tell, the cables were all connected firmly to the back of the unit.
Well, I punched the red reset-button, and watched the DVR R15 go through it's complete restart process. It advised me this might take up to 30 minutes. Eventually (well short of that 30 minutes) it came back out of it, and showed that we were still tuned into Fox News Channel (FNC) as we were before I'd punched the reset... but now we were no longer getting a picture or sound!
And it was still showing the searching-for-signal message on the lower right. I punched the Guide button, and it listed the channels available, with the shows currently on, but the little mini-screen that usually showed the current signal was a blank black, saying something about not finding 771. I punched in my local station, figuring maybe if I went to a channel from a different satellite, I'd be able to get a signal, but the Guide failed to list ANY of our locals. It just went to listing channel 100 and below. I quit out of the Guide screen, and tried punching the channel number again, but it just went DonkDonkDonk... Donk at me, and refused to move from FNC.
Before the reset, we were getting FNC, and all the other stations, fine. After the reset, nada. This was even though it was complaining about not finding the signal.
We've turned the unit off and on several times, from the remote and from the front panel, and it continues to just give us a blank black screen with only the searching-for-signal message on it. I can punch the Info button, and it will tell me I'm on FNC, and will tell me the show that's (theoretically) on right now, but... no show!
Any idea what we should do next? This system is less than a week old. Actually, it was installed last Wednesday morning.
