# Installing R15



## chiefilliniwek (Jan 16, 2006)

After hooking up the requisite cords/cables/wires, I turned on the unit (which was replacing a non-DVR DirecTV unit) and started going thought the setup. Once it got to stage "9 of 9," as it was trying to download satellite info, it started at "0% complete." And it NEVER moved beyond that. I called DirecTV tech support, which tried to help on the phone for 30 mins, but they were unsuccessful and suggested having a technician out.

In the meantime, I re-hooked up my old received and it works fine (downloaded the satellite info in about 5 secs).

Any advice? Ideas?

Thanks Much.

Yours truly,
A Newbie


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

ILL ('96 grad)

Anyway...

Are you using TWO SAT feeds? If not, make sure you are hooking it to SAT FEED #1.

If after that, it doesn't work.... hook it back to the old one... Check your transponder strengths... If they are not high, you may want to consider tweaking those a bit.

If they are okay (80+) then you may have gotten an R15 with a bummer tunner.
Replace it


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## chiefilliniwek (Jan 16, 2006)

Thanks for your reply. Tech Support was fairly useless. I want to get this working before the Illini game that I need to miss tomorrow night :yikes

I am using one sat feed because I do not have a multiswitch yet. Obviously I am fairly clueless--I initially was using a standard splitter to hook the signal into the two tuners, but tech support informed me that that would not work. Yes, once I fixed that error, I had the sat feed going into sat feed #1.

OK, just re-hooked it up. I am getting 80+ on all the odd transponders and all zeros on the even transponders. Normal?

Thanks,
I-N-I ('94)



ebonovic said:


> ILL ('96 grad)
> 
> Anyway...
> 
> ...


:nono: :nono:


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

chiefilliniwek said:


> OK, just re-hooked it up. I am getting 80+ on all the odd transponders and all zeros on the even transponders. Normal?


No that is not right... With values like that... It appears that you still have a splitter in place (that is usually what we see).

Do you have a splitter anywhere else in the line?

Is the line a straight run from the dish to your box?
Do you have any other boxes? Do you have a multiswitch?


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## chiefilliniwek (Jan 16, 2006)

I live in a large building in which several units share a common dish. I do not know what the story is with splitters or multiswitches that they have used upstream before the signal reaches my unit. However, I am running the line that comes into my unit straight into Sat #1.

However, my old receiver worked (and still does work) just fine with that same wire coming into my unit.

Do you think it's a splitter issue or a bad receiver?



ebonovic said:


> No that is not right... With values like that... It appears that you still have a splitter in place (that is usually what we see).
> 
> Do you have a splitter anywhere else in the line?
> 
> ...


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Ahh!!!! 

You have a stacked signal... What kind of reciever did you have before?

I bet it was one with an internal destacker... If that is the case, you are going to need an external destacker.... You may need to check with your building to find exactly what they are using, so you can get the correct part (they may even have one available for sale)


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## chiefilliniwek (Jan 16, 2006)

It is a "DirecTV Receiver D10."

Do you know if that has an internal destacker? Do you know how much an external destacker costs?

Thanks so much for your help! You really know your stuff, and I appreciate your taking the time to help me. Tech Support was clueless about all of this!


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Yep, the D10 has an internal destacker:
http://www.dbsforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?postid=327553

Here is one on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sonora-D575D-Du...ryZ67880QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Further down this page:
http://www.9thtee.com/dssstuff.htm
$70 for single tuner
$154 for two tuners

That's what the Illinois education is good for...


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## chiefilliniwek (Jan 16, 2006)

Yikes! That's more than I paid for the receiver. Thanks again, dude. Time to talk to the building's DirecTV guy and figure out how to get this working.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

chiefilliniwek said:


> Yikes! That's more than I paid for the receiver. Thanks again, dude. Time to talk to the building's DirecTV guy and figure out how to get this working.


Hence one of the problems with the "stacking" method...

Solved problems with MDU's (multi-dwelling units) that where pre-wired, but opened another can of worms... 

There are some tricks, but they would still be a total of $100 or so to implement...

If you can't figure something out... drop me a line.


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## chiefilliniwek (Jan 16, 2006)

Now I think my mgmt co doesn't know what they're talking about. I call with the problem and they say I need a two-way splitter (not destacker, not multiswitch)--that will take care of the odd/even signal problem. They say the R15 has an internal destacker, which makes it better than R10. I was suspicious but tried it. Same problem! Haven't called them back yet. :nono2:


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## chiefilliniwek (Jan 16, 2006)

For those of you playing along at home (or in case you are curious), I did get my building's tech guy on the phone and he seems to know what he's talking about. (yes, I'm an eternal optimist).

He claims that there is a way to destack the signal by using menus in the R15. [push right arrow and hold down "action" button at the same time; hold until system diagnostics screen comes up; highlight "LNB type"; go to "stacked signal" and change to "destacked."]

I am at work right now, but will try it when I get home tonight. If he's right, then I guess the R15 has an internal destacker. :hurah:

If he's wrong... :nono:

Does this make sense?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Hmmm... that would be a NICE feature to add to the list for the R15...

I will have to check it too.

There is no reference to it in the manuals, or even the hard core "geeks" that have been tearing the unit apart.

Let's us know how it works out.... (and I will check it out too when I get home)


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

ebonovic said:


> Hmmm... that would be a NICE feature to add to the list for the R15...
> 
> I will have to check it too.
> 
> ...


I got an email back from my DirecTV contact....

*The R15 does have a built in destacker*

But the key sequence above is not 100% correct...
So tonight when I go home I will try what I was given, see what is there... as I was warned to be carefull....

I will let you know (maybe I will have to buy a stacker just to test it out...  )

Very cool... A significant feather in the cap of the R15 over the TiVo powered products.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

It also appears to work on the D11 receiver. Just tried it out.

Carl


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## DesignDawg (Jan 8, 2006)

Yep... I was just about to post that the R15 does have a destacker. We actually knew this (via Robert from VE) before it came out.

Ricky


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## chiefilliniwek (Jan 16, 2006)

Eureka!

As Earl said, the instructions I typed out earlier were not 100% word-for-word what I encountered on the screen. I'll let Earl correct it.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Pretty cool... a nice feather in the cap for the R15

The change to the original post is... you can't do it from the remote.

When you have the R15 in full video mode on a live channel
From the front panel hit and hold the RIGHT directional, and then press the active button.

Advanced Feature menu...

In that menu you can turn on the destacker....


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

What else does the Advanced Feature menu have?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> What else does the Advanced Feature menu have?


Some phone settings; where you can setup dialout numbers (like if you need 9 to get an outside line, or call waiting prefixes).. and a place to do a modem test (you fill in the phone number)

Service settings: Normal or Special

LNB Stacked or unstacked

And the base page is a system diagnostic with some values (current tuner in use, signal strength on both tuners, NETWORK ID, Region ID)


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## stupid0g (Nov 25, 2005)

any of the d10/r15 series have access to the sys diagnostics screen as well as some of the older hughes rcvrs.

However finding a tech in a center that knows this is slim to none, espically the r15 as no one in my center knew it until someone ci with that particualr prob from and mdu account and the tech tried to run it like a d10 and found out that the sys diagnostices is there.

dang i'm good. 

(sucks cause that was 2hrs on the phone through)


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

But now we know... and in about two days or so... Google will know too...


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## Malibu13 (Sep 12, 2004)

Great "find" guys!


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

I'm a bit too timid to go into the "special" service settings. Any idea as to what they might be/do?

Carl


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

carl6 said:


> I'm a bit too timid to go into the "special" service settings. Any idea as to what they might be/do?
> 
> Carl


My guess it would be something for IN-STORE displays.. but that is a guess...

And no, I would be "testing" that one....


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Common Earl....No guts - no glory!!!


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> Common Earl....No guts - no glory!!!


I think you ment... Come-On Earl... 
At least I hope that is what you mean... 

:grin: Maybe I will ask what it does first, then try it ...


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## stupid0g (Nov 25, 2005)

Well I get my R15 tomorrow, so lemme get it installed and i'll find out


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

Well, I changed both my D11 and my R15 from "normal" to "special". It did not appear to have any effect whatsoever.

I then did a system reset on my D11 (with "special" selected). It started up just like normal - no noticeable difference during startup.

I then set the D11 back to "normal" and reset it again. Started up just the same.

I did not try resetting the R15 while in "special" mode.

So from what I could observe, there was no noticeable effect of this setting. I did not try checking things that are not part of my normal operation, like the USB port, and I don't have a stacker so can't check that. I'm sure there is something different when in "special" mode, but it isn't obvious and I'm not curious enough to dig deeper.

I have set both back to "normal" and left them there. 

Carl


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Ahh.. Thanks Carl... 

Now back to sitting on my eggs since I am such a Chicken...


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## bigblockmatt (Jun 4, 2006)

Hello, 

I found this thread by searching for some info on installing a D10 I just bought. 

Background:

I live in an apartment complex. They have a sat. dish that the whole place uses. there are 4 receivers in my apartment. we were all given D11's (for a great $10/month each rental charge) Bought D10's cause that is what the guy said i could use for my situation. 

I did the whole stacking thing that was talked about above. Now, i have the problem of my access card not being good. Error message says, "You have inserted the wrong access card. (message 764) " I took the card from my d11 and put it into the d10. I wasnt given any other access cards. am I missing a step or something? 

I was finally able to see some tv listings (not the actual shows). I can watch the directv setup channel or what ever it is called. but nothing other than that. Thanks for the great thread and all the help!!!


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

bigblockmatt said:


> I took the card from my d11 and put it into the d10. I wasnt given any other access cards. am I missing a step or something?


The part you are missing, is that you can't do that.

Access cards are "married" to the reciever. 
You will need DirecTV's assistance to get the other reciever to talk to that Access card (if it can). They normally don't do that and have you purchase a new access card for $20

So why again are you switching from D11's to D10's ?
The D11's are the newer model.


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## jonaswan2 (Oct 29, 2005)

Earl Bonovich said:


> The part you are missing, is that you can't do that.
> 
> Access cards are "married" to the reciever.
> You will need DirecTV's assistance to get the other reciever to talk to that Access card (if it can). They normally don't do that and have you purchase a new access card for $20
> ...


Because that's what he bought? He probably didn't want to pay the extra $10 per reciever and that's what they happened to have at Best Buy/Circuit City/Ect.


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## bigblockmatt (Jun 4, 2006)

the reason why we switched is because we will save about 60 bucks on each receiver. we are in a 1 yr service contract. we had to rent the receivers for 10 bucks a month. or buy the d10s for ~60 bucks. so $60 vs $120 times 4 is a little bit nicer. 

the company i bought the d10s from didnt tell me it would be a pain to get them to work. i figured it would have been more of a plug in and go type thing. (ive never delt with directv before, or sbc home entertainment or what ever we get a stuff through.)

***Edit***

I wanted to get d11's but the company i got them through told me that the d11s would not work with my system because it isnt directly through directv.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

bigblockmatt said:


> the reason why we switched is because we will save about 60 bucks on each receiver. we are in a 1 yr service contract. we had to rent the receivers for 10 bucks a month. or buy the d10s for ~60 bucks. so $60 vs $120 times 4 is a little bit nicer.
> 
> the company i bought the d10s from didnt tell me it would be a pain to get them to work. i figured it would have been more of a plug in and go type thing. (ive never delt with directv before, or sbc home entertainment or what ever we get a stuff through.)
> 
> ...


Well, as others have pointed out on this forum, be prepared for the problems/resets you may run into with the D10 versus the D11 as they seem to be a less stable receiver.

None the less, what Earl stated is true. Call DTV and tell them you...downgraded to D10s and need to have the access cards married to the receivers.


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## bigblockmatt (Jun 4, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> Well, as others have pointed out on this forum, be prepared for the problems/resets you may run into with the D10 versus the D11 as they seem to be a less stable receiver.
> 
> None the less, what Earl stated is true. Call DTV and tell them you...downgraded to D10s and need to have the access cards married to the receivers.


Cool, thanks. Would i call directv directly or the service provider we are going through? Im fine with not perfect service since we dont watch too much TV. we have the most basic service anyways. Thanks for the help!! also, i read somewhere else about activating it or something like that...is that needed?


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

bigblockmatt said:


> ***Edit***
> 
> I wanted to get d11's but the company i got them through told me that the d11s would not work with my system because it isnt directly through directv.


There should be absolutely no reason that a D10 would work and a D11 would not work (or vice versa for that matter). Once you get the access card properly associated with the receiver you want to use it in. If you purchased four D10's and got them without access cards, then you may have to buy new access cards from DirecTV (I think they will charge you $20 each for them).

One thing is not clear in any of your messages so far. Are you a DirecTV customer? Do you have an account with them? If not, who do you have an account with, and what are you paying for monthly service?

Carl


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

bigblockmatt said:


> Cool, thanks. Would i call directv directly or the service provider we are going through? Im fine with not perfect service since we dont watch too much TV. we have the most basic service anyways. Thanks for the help!! also, i read somewhere else about activating it or something like that...is that needed?


As carl6 states above, if you have a DTV account you should be able to call them and give them the info and they "should" be able to "remarry" the old cards to the "old" D10 receivers.

On thing I don't know is anything regarding an internal stacker. Does anyone know if the D10 or D11 have internal stackers like the R15? Possibly you have external stackers.

But if you have an account with DTV call them. If you don't, you may be forced to go through the blood sucking company that's renting the D11's to you. In which case they may or may not help. Some of those MDUs with outside companies are worse than cable companies. IE, no regulations at all.


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## jonaswan2 (Oct 29, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> As carl6 states above, if you have a DTV account you should be able to call them and give them the info and they "should" be able to "remarry" the old cards to the "old" D10 receivers.
> 
> On thing I don't know is anything regarding an internal stacker. Does anyone know if the D10 or D11 have internal stackers like the R15? Possibly you have external stackers.
> 
> But if you have an account with DTV call them. If you don't, you may be forced to go through the blood sucking company that's renting the D11's to you. In which case they may or may not help. Some of those MDUs with outside companies are worse than cable companies. IE, no regulations at all.


I know the D10 does not have an internal destacker and I don't believe the D11 does either.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

jonaswan2 said:


> Because that's what he bought? He probably didn't want to pay the extra $10 per reciever and that's what they happened to have at Best Buy/Circuit City/Ect.


The reason I asked, was that the poster said he already owned the D11's, so I was curious to why you would downgrade to the the older unit


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

The D11 does have an internal destacker. Push Right Arrow and Active button at the same time, and a special menu will appear. Go to LNB setup, then select destacking. Same as on the R15.

Carl


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## jonaswan2 (Oct 29, 2005)

carl6 said:


> The D11 does have an internal destacker. Push Right Arrow and Active button at the same time, and a special menu will appear. Go to LNB setup, then select destacking. Same as on the R15.
> 
> Carl


That and the USB port must be the reasons why they decided to make the D11.


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## bigblockmatt (Jun 4, 2006)

thanks again everyone. We get our service through AT&T Home entertainment . I finally got the receiver set up, just cant watch anything... It shows me what shows are playing on all the stations (on the top info area). 


So, should I A. Call directv and try to get them to "Marry" the card from my d11. B. Call AT&T Home ent. and have them do the marry thing. C. get some new access cards from....???

Thanks a million for all the help!!1


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

I am just puzzled with the D10 requirement.

Your D11 should work fine with the Destacker turned on (I would take a few minutes to try that route first)

After that... I would first call AT&T Home Entertainment and work through them, since they are the ones requiring the D10s.

Then proceed to DirecTV


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## techNoodle (Nov 15, 2005)

jonaswan2 said:


> I know the D10 does not have an internal destacker and I don't believe the D11 does either.


Both the D10 and D11 have an internal destacker. The only real difference is the USB port on the D11.


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## jonaswan2 (Oct 29, 2005)

techNoodle said:


> Both the D10 and D11 have an internal destacker. The only real difference is the USB port on the D11.


Really, that Active + Right thing doesn't work for me. It's probably just the -300 recievers that don't have internal destackers. DARN YOU PHILLIPS!!!!


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## bigblockmatt (Jun 4, 2006)

jonaswan2 said:


> Really, that Active + Right thing doesn't work for me. It's probably just the -300 recievers that don't have internal destackers. DARN YOU PHILLIPS!!!!


It worked for me on the d10. try doing hold right, then hold active. 
one thing i noticed was that the screen has to "be on a channel". not on any type of menu screens.

here is a link to an explanation

http://www.sbcatest.com/installers_help_d10.pdf


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## jonaswan2 (Oct 29, 2005)

So you have to hold them down on the box! Awesome, I've just leard I'm a dimwit.


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## techNoodle (Nov 15, 2005)

jonaswan2 said:


> Really, that Active + Right thing doesn't work for me. It's probably just the -300 recievers that don't have internal destackers. DARN YOU PHILLIPS!!!!


The D10-300 has an internal destaker. Momentarily press the right and active button at the same time, then select LNB Setup. If you press the right button just slightly ahead of active, I think it will work every time.


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I am just puzzled with the D10 requirement.
> 
> Your D11 should work fine with the Destacker turned on (I would take a few minutes to try that route first)
> 
> ...


Earl, he was RENTING the D11s...he gave them backand bought D10s!:

"I live in an apartment complex. They have a sat. dish that the whole place uses. there are 4 receivers in my apartment. we were all given D11's (for a great $10/month each rental charge) Bought D10's cause that is what the guy said i could use for my situation. "

"the reason why we switched is because we will save about 60 bucks on each receiver. we are in a 1 yr service contract. we had to rent the receivers for 10 bucks a month. or buy the d10s for ~60 bucks. so $60 vs $120 times 4 is a little bit nicer. "


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Reading is a skill... 

My apologies


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