Older Samsung Acting Up

Nice troubleshooting ....
Certainly seems like your Samsung receiver is defective. Hopefully you didn't pay too much for it. You might be able to negotiate a free or cheap replacement with DirecTV.

I had the exact problem with my Samsung receiver. After extensive troubleshooting to verify there were no LNB or coax problems, a call to DirecTV technical support verified that it was "half dead" (i.e., only half the transponders were being received). I was advised to trash it since I didn't subscribe to a service plan that would replace or repair it. I hope it helps to know that you aren't alone with your situation.

TJ in Atlanta

Now get this!

I brought the receiver downstairs and it worked like a charm. So I went to the store and bought a single 100' RG6 cable. Low & behold that fixed it!

I had used 3 shorter cables connected by joiners. So I went to use one of those cables somewhere else I discovered the end of one of the wires had been broken off to just a nub. Maybe 1/16" remained. Just enough to get nearly 90% on odd transponders but 0% on even! :nono2:

I think maybe somebody did it out of unprovoked meaness. Perhaps not. But I fail to see how it could have happened any other way. Oh well!

Besides this lesson about the polarity I learned that I'm no fan of the Samsung receiver for reasons related to my recent experience and other reasons that I won't go into here.