# New R15-100 Problem?



## BlueSnake (Oct 6, 2006)

Sorry if this has already been addressed.

I received a new R15-100 this week. I have it setup in a spare bedroom so it doesn't get used much.

It seems when I have turned off the R15 and go back later that I am not able to turn it back on with the power button or remote. I have to do a reset to get the unit to power back on.

Is this a known issue? Am I doing something wrong? Is it a bad unit?

Any feedback or suggestions are welcomed.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

I had the same issue when I didn't have a sat cable attached to mine. Is your's hooked up with 1 or 2 drops?


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## BlueSnake (Oct 6, 2006)

The installer put a splitter on the cable, then attached one to each input. I didn't know that would work, but both tuners seem to be working that way.

FYI, It works for a while but if I have let it sit a day or two and then try, the R15 doesn't want to turn on.


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## BlueSnake (Oct 6, 2006)

I wondered about the splitter when the installer did that. I even asked him and he said it would work fine.

Maybe I should try taking the splitter off and just using one line (I only have one line coming in that room as we don't use this. It's really only there for company.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

BlueSnake said:


> I wondered about the splitter when the installer did that. I even asked him and he said it would work fine.
> 
> Maybe I should try taking the splitter off and just using one line (I only have one line coming in that room as we don't use this. It's really only there for company.


I would, splitters are not supposed to be on sat feeds. A dual tuner receiver MUST see TWO SEPARATE feeds either directly from the dish or from a multiswitch. Otherwise, there will be a conflict when tuner 1 asks for a feed that is "polarity a" and tuner 2 asks for a feed that is "polarity b". The dish won't be able to respond.


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## BlueSnake (Oct 6, 2006)

sheridan1952 said:


> I would, splitters are not supposed to be on sat feeds. A dual tuner receiver MUST see TWO SEPARATE feeds either directly from the dish or from a multiswitch. Otherwise, there will be a conflict when tuner 1 asks for a feed that is "polarity a" and tuner 2 asks for a feed that is "polarity b". The dish won't be able to respond.


I just went in and took off the splitter. I'll check tomorrow and see if the R15 turns on OK. That just might have been the problem.

You know, I know better than this, but you just expect the installers know what they are doing. The sad part is that he had someone with him in training. Just great if they are training them incorrectly.

Thanks


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## mikhu (Oct 10, 2006)

The installer that came last Saturday to my house to install an R15 was a rookie. He was on about his third week on the job. Ironically we got talking about splitters because he was confused by the one I had on the output of my D11 to feed a second TV (doesn't everyone have a satellite feed to a 27" TV in their garage?  ) He said the trainers repeatedly said "Splitters on sat lines = BAD"

The only splitting your sat feed lines should have would be through a multi-switch if you need it. The 4 lines from the sat must feed directly to receivers or to a multi-switch. 

So yes, your installer was wrong!


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

I had exactly the same problem with an R15-500. Turn it off, come back the next day and couldn't turn it on. I tried all the different resets, including the reformat, and none fixed it. Then I tried a software download and that did fix it. I'm guessing that somehow I got a bad software download or something corrupted it along the way.

To download the software, push the red button, then when the first blue screen appears push 02468 on your remote and nothing else. Then be patient. A minute or two later it will start a software download.

Good luck - that's an exasperating problem.

Carl


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

BlueSnake said:


> I just went in and took off the splitter. I'll check tomorrow and see if the R15 turns on OK. That just might have been the problem.
> 
> You know, I know better than this, but you just expect the installers know what they are doing. The sad part is that he had someone with him in training. Just great if they are training them incorrectly.
> 
> Thanks


I'd call D* back and have an installer come back and finish the job. He should have run two lines in the first place.


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

The only way there should be a splitter there is if you're using a stacked signal (which most likely would not be the case unless you lived in an apartment building or similar with a common dish for everyone).


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## BlueSnake (Oct 6, 2006)

cabanaboy1977 said:


> I'd call D* back and have an installer come back and finish the job. He should have run two lines in the first place.


The installer offered to run another line. I told him I didn't need it then he attached the splitter which didn't make any sense to me. I really like to think they know what they are doing, but of course this just confirms that some of them don't know what they are doing.

Like I said in the original post, I just put this in for company which is only about 2 to 3 times a year, so this receiver is not that important to me. I do have another line available if I ever decide I want to hook up both lines.

By the way, after I took off the splitter, original problem went away.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

BlueSnake said:


> The installer offered to run another line. I told him I didn't need it then he attached the splitter which didn't make any sense to me. I really like to think they know what they are doing, but of course this just confirms that some of them don't know what they are doing.
> 
> Like I said in the original post, I just put this in for company which is only about 2 to 3 times a year, so this receiver is not that important to me. I do have another line available if I ever decide I want to hook up both lines.
> 
> By the way, after I took off the splitter, original problem went away.


I got you, but you still might want to run that other line. The R15 has been know to be 'quirky' with out the other line but if your not counting on it for records then I wouldn't worry that much.


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## mikhu (Oct 10, 2006)

I knew the second line for my latest R15 would be beyond the scope of a basic install for the installer, so I knew I would have to do it unless I wanted to pay him. No big deal to me since I wired my whole house myself when we built. Anyway, I didn't get the second line ran before he got there for the install so we just hooked it up with one line. 

Hooking it up that way gave us the "Searching for satellite on tuner 2" banner non-stop. It would NOT go away. And then, it would go to the screen saver after a short while as well, even though there was a signal and a picture showing from tuner 1. I was able to run the wire later that day and then all was fine, but from my experience I don't think you want to run an R15 without both lines.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

I believe others have said here that in that (1 line) situation, resetting the box and going through the guided setup will let the box see that there is only one line and disable the second tuner. And no more message. Then, if in the future, a second line IS installed, then going back through the setup again restores everything.


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## mikhu (Oct 10, 2006)

sheridan1952 said:


> I believe others have said here that in that (1 line) situation, resetting the box and going through the guided setup will let the box see that there is only one line and disable the second tuner. And no more message. Then, if in the future, a second line IS installed, then going back through the setup again restores everything.


Hopefully that works for others, it didn't work for me. We did the full reset (reset everything) twice and it still wouldn't not get rid of the message.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

Did it take you through the guided setup?


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## mikhu (Oct 10, 2006)

Sure did.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

Mike Huss said:


> I knew the second line for my latest R15 would be beyond the scope of a basic install for the installer, so I knew I would have to do it unless I wanted to pay him.


The normal config for the R15 is with two lines, so it is in within the scope of a basic install.


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## mikhu (Oct 10, 2006)

qwerty said:


> The normal config for the R15 is with two lines, so it is in within the scope of a basic install.


It is, but to do it right I had to run it from the multiswitch, which is in my basement, back outside, up the outside wall, up the eave, in to the attic, and, at the time I thought, fish it through the wall. Turns out I had a line already in place I could use that I forgot about (former antenna run from back when before D* offered locals) so I didn't have to fish, but at the time I thought he would have to. That would have cost me extra by the sounds of it. And I"m not paying someone to run wire, something I can easily do myself.

In hindsight he probably could have done it as it only took me about 15 minutes, but oh well. I don't mind doing that stuff, I think it's kinda fun actually. Wouldn't want to do it for a living though.


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## sheridan1952 (Mar 16, 2006)

Uhmm, that line left over from an antenna, is it RG-59 or RG-6? These are supposed to be run with RG-6. There are some that have used RG-59 with some success, but it isn't recommended.


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## mikhu (Oct 10, 2006)

I wired my whole house with RG-6. No problems there.

Here's a story to give some of you a laugh. When I first wired my house for satellite I ran everything through the attic. That was when I had two boxes and the original dish (2 outlets). Then I added a box and got the Phase III dish with the 4 outlets. Then I replaced a box with an R15. Then I added an HD receiver. Well, if you add all that up I was up to 5 lines (I'm up to 7 now), so I needed a multi-switch. The corner of the basement underneath where the dish is mounted on the roof was the most logical place to put the multi-switch, so I ended up RE-wiring my whole house with new satellite lines before I got too far with my basement finishing. Unfortunately I didn't think to run a second line to the master bedroom when I did that run, and that part of the basement is all finished now. Hence the reason I had to make that oddball run outside like I described earlier.

Needless to say the coax manufacturers love me. I should have bought stock. I think I went through three 500 ft spools so far in my house.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

Mike Huss said:


> It is, but to do it right I had to run it from the multiswitch, which is in my basement, back outside, up the outside wall, up the eave, in to the attic, and, at the time I thought, fish it through the wall. Turns out I had a line already in place I could use that I forgot about (former antenna run from back when before D* offered locals) so I didn't have to fish, but at the time I thought he would have to. That would have cost me extra by the sounds of it. And I"m not paying someone to run wire, something I can easily do myself.
> 
> In hindsight he probably could have done it as it only took me about 15 minutes, but oh well. I don't mind doing that stuff, I think it's kinda fun actually. Wouldn't want to do it for a living though.


Just didn't want any nebies thinking they would need to pay extra to have both tuners hooked up.


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