# HR20-700 Tuner 1 goes out every couple of days



## firemandan (Mar 1, 2009)

I have an HR20-700 and for the last month or so, every couple of days I get the "771 - searching for signal" screen on my TV. If I go in and check my satellite signal strength, tuner 1 reads all 0's and tuner 2 is fine. I can get tuner 1 working again if I restart the reciever, but it is getting really annoying when I go to watch something that was supposed be recorded and find out that it didn't record because tuner 1 was out again. 

Is any one else having this problem? Any solutions?

Thanks in advance for any help


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Switch the cables on the back of your HR20-700 and see if the problem follows the cable (moves to tuner 2) or if the problem stays on tuner 1. This will help you decide whether the problem is related to the DISH/Switch installation or if the problem is related to your receiver.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Doug Brott said:


> Switch the cables on the back of your HR20-700 and see if the problem follows the cable (moves to tuner 2) or if the problem stays on tuner 1. This will help you decide whether the problem is related to the DISH/Switch installation or if the problem is related to your receiver.


 Don't forget the BBC [that little thing that is connected to the back of the receiver].
Cables, BBCs, swap each/both and see if it stays with the tuner or not.


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## firemandan (Mar 1, 2009)

Thanks. I'll try that and see what happens.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

firemandan said:


> Is any one else having this problem? Any solutions?


Yes, I've had the problem for several weeks -- just what you describe: HR20-700, tuner 1 gives 771 errors and shows 0 signal strength on all transponders of all satellites. I reset the receiver, then it's okay for a day or two, until tuner 1 loses the signal again. I have no BBCs -- instead a SWM5 switch. I also have an H21-100 which shows no signal problems. I keep sending issues reports, ...


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

This sounds like a hardware problem (LNB, receiver, etc.).


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

Doug Brott said:


> This sounds like a hardware problem (LNB, receiver, etc.).


Even though reloading the software fixes it?


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## vikingguy (Aug 1, 2005)

GregLee said:


> Yes, I've had the problem for several weeks -- just what you describe: HR20-700, tuner 1 gives 771 errors and shows 0 signal strength on all transponders of all satellites. I reset the receiver, then it's okay for a day or two, until tuner 1 loses the signal again. I have no BBCs -- instead a SWM5 switch. I also have an H21-100 which shows no signal problems. I keep sending issues reports, ...


I have given up on my hr20-700 that is doing the same thing. I lost another recording last night because of the 0 signal on tuner 1 issue. I called direct tv and they are sending a new reciever. I just hope for a hr20-100 or hr23 and then try and get them to send me a free am21. I have swapped cables and the issue still there on tuner 1.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

GregLee said:


> Even though reloading the software fixes it?


Yes .. I'd bet restarting the receiver would be equivalent. Reloading the software doesn't do anything other than put the exact same image on the disk.

And besides doesn't the problem come back? That means that reloading the image didn't really solve the problem.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Doug Brott said:


> Yes .. I'd bet restarting the receiver would be equivalent. Reloading the software doesn't do anything other than put the exact same image on the disk.


 Did you have a Tivo flashback? :lol:
The "image" is flashed into the chips, not the drive.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

Doug Brott said:


> And besides doesn't the problem come back? That means that reloading the image didn't really solve the problem.


Too true. But I guess it's obvious, anyhow, that the hardware is implicated somehow, since only a few of us with HR20-700s are afflicted. If the software did the right thing, though, it seems it could work around whatever marginal hardware condition triggers the loss of signal, by doing whatever a reset does on a systematic basis, without making me do the reset.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

GregLee said:


> Too true. But I guess it's obvious, anyhow, that the hardware is implicated somehow, since only a few of us with HR20-700s are afflicted. If the software did the right thing, though, it seems it could work around whatever marginal hardware condition triggers the loss of signal, by doing whatever a reset does on a systematic basis, without making me do the reset.


"Your concept" of what software could do, is way too advanced for these receivers.
It does sound like you have marginal chip performance that a reset "clears" and then fails again over time.


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## taz291819 (Oct 19, 2006)

I have the same issue as well, started about three weeks ago. I had an extra brand-new BBC, swapped it, and still the problems occurs. Signals readings on all satellites are good when both tuners work.

I've even tried setting up recordings at midnight on sat 101 (both tuners) for a couple of days, but that doesn't keep Tuner 1 from screwing up either. It all started with the last NR. I'm currently in the habit of restarting the receiver every morning before going to work, so I don't miss any recordings.

Going to get the newest CE this weekend, to determine if it's definitely a software issue.


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## Tybee Bill (Oct 21, 2008)

Had the same problem this morning with my HR20-700. Lost on tuner 1. Did RBR. Okay.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Folks .. Thanks for the notes on this issue. If anyone else is having this problem, please post here. So far I see four people reporting the same issue (firemandan, GregLee, vikingguy, and taz291819). I'll pass this information on to DIRECTV so that they can review your comments.


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## phlevin (Apr 3, 2007)

Add me to the list, on SWM8. Started on the previous firmware update. Both HR20-700. The latest firmware version is better but still an issue. 

Restart cures for a time. For me at least it's always tuner 1.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

taz291819 said:


> Going to get the newest CE this weekend, to determine if it's definitely a software issue.


That _might_ help. My signal levels are still okay now, the third day after I got a CE on Friday. I haven't had to reset. I'm not very optimistic, but going three whole days without a reset would be a two week record.

Thanks Doug, for your help.


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

Did anyone having the issue have a recent rain fade event?

There is an unresolved issue (that has been reported here for over a year and is still not fixed) where one tuner will not come back after a rain fade event, a reboot always fixes the issue.

For me, the issue is always tuner one, the issue began after a NR around February 2008.

See: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=124412

AND http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=148625


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## mcbeevee (Sep 18, 2006)

Doug Brott said:


> Folks .. Thanks for the notes on this issue. If anyone else is having this problem, please post here.


I was having this problem on my oldest HR20-700 where Tuner 1 would give all 0's, and the DVR would be almost unresponsive (like being stuck in a process loop). It would usually happen after a heavy rain had dropped the signals. I did a "Reset Everything" about 3 weeks ago, and this seems to have helped. Hopefully, it will survive the next big rain event.


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## VegasDen (Jul 12, 2007)

I had the same issue for about a month....got so frustrated with lost recordings I called and they shipped me a new box. I had to laugh that they originally wanted to charge me $20 for "shipping and handling". That thought process ended rather quickly. :lol:


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

mcbeevee said:


> I was having this problem on my oldest HR20-700 where Tuner 1 would give all 0's, and the DVR would be almost unresponsive (like being stuck in a process loop). It would usually happen after a heavy rain had dropped the signals. I did a "Reset Everything" about 3 weeks ago, and this seems to have helped. Hopefully, it will survive the next big rain event.


It will most likely happen every time you have a rain fade event. See my post above and the two threads I link to. This has been an issue for a long time.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

raott said:


> It will most likely happen every time you have a rain fade event. See my post above and the two threads I link to. This has been an issue for a long time.


I don't know if this is a non SWM issue [only] but with a "snow event", I lost signal overnight and simply cleared the snow off the dish, when I woke up to the 771 message on all TVs. No rebooting of anything & no loss of tuners.


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

veryoldschool said:


> I don't know if this is a non SWM issue [only] but with a "snow event", I lost signal overnight and simply cleared the snow off the dish, when I woke up to the 771 message on all TVs. No rebooting of anything & no loss of tuners.


I do not know what specific hardware combinations cause the issue. The issue only affects my HR20-700, it does not affect my R22 and R15.

The issue only started after a Jan or Feb NR back in 08. It happened to me the same time others started reporting the same problem (see the thread I linked to).

My point to mcbeevee, is that, if he has the wrong combination of hardware, if it happened once, it is going to happen almost every time there is rain fade.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

raott said:


> I do not know what specific hardware combinations cause the issue. The issue only affects my HR20-700, it does not affect my R22 and R15.
> 
> The issue only started after a Jan or Feb NR back in 08. It happened to me the same time others started reporting the same problem (see the thread I linked to).
> 
> My point to mcbeevee, is that, if he has the wrong combination of hardware, if it happened once, it is going to happen almost every time there is rain fade.


By that time I'd already moved to SWM, but I've never had problems with tuners "dropping off line" in all the time I've had my HR20-700s, which makes me think it is hardware related [ie replace the DVR and the problem goes away] since I have had both snow & rain fade several [many] times with both SWM & non SWM systems.


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## Tybee Bill (Oct 21, 2008)

Had a lot of fatal rain fade on my HR20 when I was in Florida with my old sidecar dish. Stopped when they upgraded me to the SL3.
Never have rain fade in my north Georgia home with the old sidecar dish. The tuner 1 problem I had was new this morning but was working all through 2 days of rain and light snow. I haver never had a 771 problem in GA in either HR prior to today.


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## mcbeevee (Sep 18, 2006)

raott said:


> I do not know what specific hardware combinations cause the issue. The issue only affects my HR20-700, it does not affect my R22 and R15.


What is really strange is that I have 3 HR20-700's, but the problem only happens on the oldest one.  This makes me think it is a hardware problem.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

I will say that I'm not seeing this problem on the 2 (rather old) HR20-700 systems that I have.


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## wolfman730 (Sep 10, 2006)

mcbeevee said:


> What is really strange is that I have 3 HR20-700's, but the problem only happens on the oldest one.  This makes me think it is a hardware problem.


Let me throw this out here. I have 2 HR20-700's the exact same age, and the other nite we had a rain storm and it knocked out tuner 1 on only one box.


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## miles44 (Jan 24, 2007)

I have been having the same issue with my HR20-700 for about a week now. I do a RBR once, nothing. Do it a second time, works, but only for a few hours. Only problem is I bought mine from Best Buy back in 2006, so am I correct that if I have to replace it I have to buy it? I do have the insurance thru D*TV but not sure if it matters.


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## Maui (Feb 17, 2009)

I had this issue on my H21-200 a couple weeks ago. I really struggled with it and reboot the receiver several times. I thought for sure it had something to do with the CE download. I even moved the connection to a different jack on the SW8 to see if the switch was bad. I moved the receiver to another room and it worked fine. After much gnashing of teeth I tracked it down to the cable connection coming through the wall. The little male connector had unscrewed from the cable within the wall. I tightened up the connector and it has worked perfectly ever since. It's amazing how so many problems can be traced to simple little things. Look for the obvious before jumping to conclusions.


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## mcbeevee (Sep 18, 2006)

miles44 said:


> Only problem is I bought mine from Best Buy back in 2006, so am I correct that if I have to replace it I have to buy it?


If you got it at BB, it was probably a lease (unless you paid over $600). If a leased receiver goes bad, Directv will replace it for free. If you have the protection plan, shipping will be free.


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## Eddie L. (Jul 6, 2007)

Doug Brott said:


> Folks .. Thanks for the notes on this issue. If anyone else is having this problem, please post here. So far I see four people reporting the same issue (firemandan, GregLee, vikingguy, and taz291819). I'll pass this information on to DIRECTV so that they can review your comments.


Doug, please add me to the list for this EXTREMELY annoying problem. I've got the exact same issues as the original poster. The problem occurs on my HR20-700, connected to my SWMLine dish (so switching the cables on the back has never been an option for me). Satellite signals are all fine one day, reading in the 90s to upper 90s on all sats on both tuners. Then, completely randomly, one of the tuners completely drops out and reads 0s on all sats for that tuner (has occurred on both tuners, BTW). Another poster linked a thread where some people are experiencing this after a rain fade event, but the last time that this happened to me was within a 36 hour time frame that had nothing but clear skies (last Wed and Thur). If I do a RBR, both tuners come back at full strength immediately after the reset. The signals remain equally high on both tuners, until the problem randomly occurs again.

The annoying part (just like the OP said) is that I usually don't know that the problem has occurred until I try to watch a show that was supposed to be recorded. If the problem has occurred and the HR20 is trying to use the affected tuner to record a show, you get a "blank" recording (i.e., you click "Play" to watch the show, and the HR20 immediately goes to the "Do you want to keep or delete this recording?" screen, because there is nothing there since there was no signal on that tuner).

I've also got an HR20-100 in another room, and the problem has never occurred on it...not one time. I've also got an H20 upstairs that has never had any related problems, but with only one tuner, I'm not sure if that is applicable to this discussion.

Finally, and I'll apologize up front for the rant, but I called to report this problem and get a replacement HR20 under the Protection Plan. Somehow, I got sent to the Case Management group to work on my problem. They are sending someone out to troubleshoot the box today. However, this is after 2 weeks of cancelled appointments and an initial suggested solution of "we will send this to our engineers but you'll just have to wait for a software update, and we don't have any estimated timeframe for a solution". I initially reported this problem in October 2008, which is noted on my account, and I've done every troubleshooting that every CSR has thrown at me. And yet, even being under the Protection Plan, they still are giving me the "runaround" about replacing the box. I've been with D* for 6 years now, and this is BY FAR the worst customer service that I have ever received from them.

So a word of warning to anyone else out there...*avoid the Case Management group if you want to get your problem resolved promptly!*


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## taz291819 (Oct 19, 2006)

Just to note, I'm not using any multi-switches. The two lines coming into the HR20-700 are directly from the LNB. (Slimline 5LNB).

EDIT:
And I don't believe it's a "rain-fade, losing signal issue", since it happens about every 24 hours, even on sunny days.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

taz291819 said:


> Just to note, I'm not using any multi-switches. The two lines coming into the HR20-700 are directly from the LNB. (Slimline 5LNB).


 What you're saying is you don't have an external multi-switch, but the dish has a multi-switch so the four outputs can connect to the 5 LNBs.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

taz291819 said:


> And I don't believe it's a "rain-fade, losing signal issue", since it happens about every 24 hours, even on sunny days.


No, I don't notice any relationship to rain or clouds, either. It's pretty sunny here on east Oahu, but I have been looking in the direction of the satellites for clouds when I lose signal. Sometimes I see a few.

By the way, it's almost 4 days since a reset with the latest CE, and I've still got signal. And right now it's raining.


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## Tusk (Nov 14, 2002)

Eddie L. said:


> Doug, please add me to the list for this EXTREMELY annoying problem. I've got the exact same issues as the original poster. The problem occurs on my HR20-700, connected to my SWMLine dish (so switching the cables on the back has never been an option for me). Satellite signals are all fine one day, reading in the 90s to upper 90s on all sats on both tuners. Then, completely randomly, one of the tuners completely drops out and reads 0s on all sats for that tuner (has occurred on both tuners, BTW). Another poster linked a thread where some people are experiencing this after a rain fade event, but the last time that this happened to me was within a 36 hour time frame that had nothing but clear skies (last Wed and Thur). If I do a RBR, both tuners come back at full strength immediately after the reset. The signals remain equally high on both tuners, until the problem randomly occurs again.
> 
> The annoying part (just like the OP said) is that I usually don't know that the problem has occurred until I try to watch a show that was supposed to be recorded. If the problem has occurred and the HR20 is trying to use the affected tuner to record a show, you get a "blank" recording (i.e., you click "Play" to watch the show, and the HR20 immediately goes to the "Do you want to keep or delete this recording?" screen, because there is nothing there since there was no signal on that tuner).
> 
> I've also got an HR20-100 in another room, and the problem has never occurred on it...not one time. I've also got an H20 upstairs that has never had any related problems, but with only one tuner, I'm not sure if that is applicable to this discussion.


This is my exact same problem. HR20-700 tuner will go out and will get blank recordings that I won't know about until I try to watch something several days later and realize I have lost multiple recordings over the past several days. HR20-100 has never had this problem. Have switched cables between the HR20-100 and the HR20-700 and the problem continues with the 700.

I also had the problem last week where I lost the tuner on the 700 due to rain fade and could only get it back by rebooting.

The first problem is independent of bad weather or losing signal.


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## Eddie L. (Jul 6, 2007)

Well, they didn't necessarily solve my problem, but the technician did all of his troubleshooting today (tested signal strengths, cables, other receivers, etc) and after he couldn't determine the source of the problem, he replaced the HR20-700 with a HR22-100. He did physically see that my HR20-700 had lost all of the signal on one of the tuners, because I had not done a RBR since the problem occurred last week (I can't tell you how many shows I missed!).

I have a feeling that I won't have this problem anymore, but if I do, I'll post an update. Good luck to everyone else that is having this problem. I hope that D* comes up with a solution, because this was very frustrating to deal with!


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## kryscio23 (Sep 4, 2007)

Doug Brott said:


> Folks .. Thanks for the notes on this issue. If anyone else is having this problem, please post here. So far I see four people reporting the same issue (firemandan, GregLee, vikingguy, and taz291819). I'll pass this information on to DIRECTV so that they can review your comments.


I just had an HR20-100 installed today and this was happening to me too. The installer went through the setup process 3-4 times and time after time, the 101 satellite kept losing signal strength. I am a 7-year vet to DirecTV (but today was day 1 with a HD DVR) and have never seen this happen before. It seemed like the second signal strength was constantly in flux. One time we would check and it would be great, even matching the opposite tuner. Other times we would check and we'd get zeroes or a number about half of what the opposite tuner's strength was.

Not sure what to make of it ...


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## intelisevil (Aug 1, 2008)

Doug Brott said:


> Yes .. I'd bet restarting the receiver would be equivalent. Reloading the software doesn't do anything other than put the exact same image on the disk.
> 
> And besides doesn't the problem come back? That means that reloading the image didn't really solve the problem.


I have four HR21-100s. I've never had a 771 error until the last software update. After that, one of my HRs had a constant 771 error. Reboots did not help. I did a forced software update and no more 771!

Good Luck


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

The Thomson models (-100) had an issue that has been corrected in the 0x2D7 software download. I'm not sure that everyone has that yet, but it is in the process of being released now and should be completed of the next week or two.

What I'm interested in is the Pace models (-700). It's not huge, but there are a few people reporting this issue with Tuner 1 (not Tuner 2 as with the -100 models). It's conceivable that there is a fix in for the -700 already but it may not be available to the general public just yet.


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## taz291819 (Oct 19, 2006)

veryoldschool said:


> What you're saying is you don't have an external multi-switch, but the dish has a multi-switch so the four outputs can connect to the 5 LNBs.


Yeah, the dish has a built-in switch, with 4 outputs. The only reason I mentioned it was to rule-out a bad external multi-switch.


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

Doug Brott said:


> What I'm interested in is the Pace models (-700). It's not huge, but there are a few people reporting this issue with Tuner 1 (not Tuner 2 as with the -100 models). It's conceivable that there is a fix in for the -700 already but it may not be available to the general public just yet.


Is it going to fix the one tuner not coming back after rain fade issue as well?


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

raott said:


> Is it going to fix the one tuner not coming back after rain fade issue as well?


I've alerted DIRECTV to this thread .. I have received no comments back. If something is going on, DIRECTV will work towards getting it corrected.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

Doug Brott said:


> I've alerted DIRECTV to this thread .. I have received no comments back. If something is going on, DIRECTV will work towards getting it corrected.


I would add: if you have it networked and can send a report, please do and post it here with your model for them to check.


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## dgobe (Dec 8, 2008)

I can confirm that I had the same issues with my HR20-700. Any rain/snow fade and one of the tuners would not come back.

It got really bad after a windstorm and my dish was knocked somewhat out of alignment. It wasn't so bad that I wasn't getting any signal, but the signal strengths were marginal.

At that time the HR20-700 was dropping a tuner every day, requiring a reset. At the same time, I had an HR20-100 that would get 771's, but I never had to reset it. The tuners would eventually lock back onto the signal. So it seems the tuners in the 700s are more susceptible to signal problems.

I've since had the SL5 LNB replaced with an SL3 and the dish properly aligned AND braced. The grounding block and all of the outdoor connectors were replaced, some of them were corroded on the inside. No problems after a heavy snow event last weekend. I did lose signal but it came back -- same HR20-700.


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## Eddie L. (Jul 6, 2007)

Doug Brott said:


> The Thomson models (-100) had an issue that has been corrected in the 0x2D7 software download. I'm not sure that everyone has that yet, but it is in the process of being released now and should be completed of the next week or two.
> 
> What I'm interested in is the Pace models (-700). It's not huge, but there are a few people reporting this issue with Tuner 1 (not Tuner 2 as with the -100 models). It's conceivable that there is a fix in for the -700 already but it may not be available to the general public just yet.


The problem occurred on Tuner 1 or Tuner 2 on my HR20-700. There was no consistency on which tuner went out.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

I had high hopes that the tuner 1 signal loss might have been fixed in software, but 4.5 days after a reset, I lost tuner 1 again. Same syndrome: each and every transponder for all satellite positions goes to 0 for tuner 1, but tuner 2 is normal. I reset, and now both tuners have normal signal. Judging from the recordings my wife lost(!), it happened to me 12 hours ago, just about (as I say above) 4.5 days after I downloaded a new firmware version.


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## kryscio23 (Sep 4, 2007)

NOTE: My HD DVR is a HR20-100 (unlike-700 for the thread but thought my issues might still be appropriate).

I am getting really frustrated with this loss of signal and "searching for signal 771" error message.

Tonight I come home from work and switch over to WGN to watch some spring training action (game was on at 10 p.m. EST). As soon as I changed the channel, I get the 771 message. I pressed the red button and did a reset and after it came back up it was ok.

I changed the channel to ESPNEWS HD and it changed fine.

I changed back with the "previous channel" button on the remote and when it went back to WGN ... up comes SEARCHING FOR SIGNAL again.

I disconnected the BBC on Tuner 2 and as soon as I did that, the picture came in, I assume on Tuner 1.

I reattached the BBC and the picture stayed in.

I changed back to ESPNEWS HD and the picture came in.

I changed back to WGN and up comes SEARCHING FOR SIGNAL again.

This was pretty much happening yesterday too as you can see in my earlier post in this thread ... Seems like when I switch satellites (HD channel to SD channel) to the 101, it has a hard time finding it. 

All of my signal strengths are really good, too. The installer was just here on Tuesday and he made sure the dish was plumb and tuned them in perfectly. Tuner 1 seems to be fine, Tuner 2 seems to have the issues. Not sure what to do, if there is anything I CAN do!?

I've had enough of this already.


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## firemandan (Mar 1, 2009)

Okay, glad to see I am not the only one having this problem. I am the original poster of this thread, and here is an update on my tuner 1 issue: I swapped the cables/BBC's from tuner 1 and 2 yesterday, and tonight tuner 1 was out again-no change after swapping the cables. 

I will say that I have had my HR20-700 for three years and have not had an issue until about a month ago. I live in Oregon, so I get a lot of rain, but it hasn't been an issue for the three years before this started happening. Because of this, I have a hard time believing that this issue is due to rain fade.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Do any of you use the online scheduler? I noticed today that if I schedule a recording via the web, then my 771 on one tuner occurs.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

kryscio23 said:


> NOTE: My HD DVR is a HR20-100 (unlike-700 for the thread but thought my issues might still be appropriate).


Do you know if your receiver updated firmware overnight last night? The last of the -100s should now have the Tuner 2 Fix in place. I'm just wondering if you were affected by the Tuner 2 problem yesterday but that it may be fixed now after the update.

The current release is 0x2D7, but you may not know whether or not it was updated overnight .. if so, then that's fine.


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## kryscio23 (Sep 4, 2007)

Doug Brott said:


> Do you know if your receiver updated firmware overnight last night? The last of the -100s should now have the Tuner 2 Fix in place. I'm just wondering if you were affected by the Tuner 2 problem yesterday but that it may be fixed now after the update.
> 
> The current release is 0x2D7, but you may not know whether or not it was updated overnight .. if so, then that's fine.


Doug,

You probably didn't see it, I posted my findings in another (related) thread. But yes I did get the software update late last night ...

I received the 0x02D7 software update at 3:36 a.m. ... it took 10 minutes to download and then there was almost 10 more minutes of receiver resetting and checking before the picture came back up again.

I pressed the LIST button, because I had three recorded programs ... and a NEW FEATURE popped up ... "Top Movies"

It says ... "we've updated your receiver so the latest Hollywood blockbusters are now available instantly on demand. Even better, they're all in HD!"

To find Top Movies:
*Press the LIST button on your remote
*Press the GREEN button to display the "Top Movies" tab
*Select the movie you want to watch

(only movie in the tab at the moment is "Zack and Miri Make A Porno")

I hit OK with the select button and it DID NOT delete my three previous recording. Had a feeling it might with new software, but they are still there

I hope this fixes my Tuner 2 "771" issue.

Late THU night update:
I was getting a LOT of zeroes on my Tuner 2 101 Satellite ... I still get a few now but it is not like it was last night. I have zeroes on 7-10 TPs on Tuner 2 ... the more I let it run & test, some flex to different strengths and change. I think they are still in a constant flux. I can't even tell ya which ones are 0s cause they are constantly changing as the test runs ... All I know is that on Tuner 1, 101 Sat, that TP 28 is the ONLY one that is a 0 and I have 8 TPs with perfect 100 strength.


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## firemandan (Mar 1, 2009)

firemandan said:


> Okay, glad to see I am not the only one having this problem. I am the original poster of this thread, and here is an update on my tuner 1 issue: I swapped the cables/BBC's from tuner 1 and 2 yesterday, and tonight tuner 1 was out again-no change after swapping the cables.
> 
> I will say that I have had my HR20-700 for three years and have not had an issue until about a month ago. I live in Oregon, so I get a lot of rain, but it hasn't been an issue for the three years before this started happening. Because of this, I have a hard time believing that this issue is due to rain fade.


Any other ideas out there?


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

If the problem stays with the tuner as you say, then it might be time to give DIRECTV a call. You may have a bad tuner 1 card in your receiver.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

I can't find the post now but I thought 6 months or so ago there was something about redoing sat setup to cure this.
cannot find it though so I may be way off base.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

David MacLeod said:


> I can't find the post now but I thought 6 months or so ago there was something about redoing sat setup to cure this.
> cannot find it though so I may be way off base.


Ah, yes this is possible and something I forgot to consider. There was a time many months ago in which the SAT may have locked in to the wrong configuration. The cure was to re-run Satellite Setup which takes about 15 minutes. Make sure that the receiver auto-selects the right DISH configuration for your situation during the setup. If it doesn't, then change the configuration as necessary

It's worth a try.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

Doug Brott said:


> ... the SAT may have locked in to the wrong configuration.


That's interesting. My HR20-700 doesn't seem to be saying the right thing. It says Slimline-5, but I have a 1.2 meter round dish with, I think, 3 LNBs and a SWM5 switch. (I don't get any signal from 110/119.) Should I change it to Slimline-3? My H21-100 says Slimline-3.

By the way, after going to the satellite setup page to just look on the dish menu to see what choices there were, I selected Cancel, but then was taken to a page that said program guide information was being acquired, 0% acquired. And there it stuck. I did an RBR. Maybe I'd better report that as an issue.


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## taz291819 (Oct 19, 2006)

Doug Brott said:


> Ah, yes this is possible and something I forgot to consider. There was a time many months ago in which the SAT may have locked in to the wrong configuration. The cure was to re-run Satellite Setup which takes about 15 minutes. Make sure that the receiver auto-selects the right DISH configuration for your situation during the setup. If it doesn't, then change the configuration as necessary
> 
> It's worth a try.


Will give that a shot today.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

GregLee said:


> That's interesting. My HR20-700 doesn't seem to be saying the right thing. It says Slimline-5, but I have a 1.2 meter round dish with, I think, 3 LNBs and a SWM5 switch. (I don't get any signal from 110/119.) Should I change it to Slimline-3? My H21-100 says Slimline-3.
> 
> By the way, after going to the satellite setup page to just look on the dish menu to see what choices there were, I selected Cancel, but then was taken to a page that said program guide information was being acquired, 0% acquired. And there it stuck. I did an RBR. Maybe I'd better report that as an issue.


Does your slimline LNB have 3 spigots or 1 spigot? If you see 3, then it is actually a Slimline-5. The Slimeline-3 will have only 1 spigot and look like a single when in reality all 3 LNBs are close enough to be in the same head.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

Doug Brott said:


> Does your slimline LNB have 3 spigots or 1 spigot?


I don't know. I never went up on my roof to look since the time in September when an installer disconnected my 1.2m dish that was pointed at 110/119. I don't know why he would have replaced the 3LNB in the dish pointed at 99/101/103 with a 5LNB, but it's possible I guess. I'm not too eager to go up there --- maybe I'll send my wife.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

GregLee said:


> I don't know. I never went up on my roof to look since the time in September when an installer disconnected my 1.2m dish that was pointed at 110/119. I don't know why he would have replaced the 3LNB in the dish pointed at 99/101/103 with a 5LNB, but it's possible I guess. I'm not too eager to go up there --- maybe I'll send my wife.


 Can't you see it from the ground?


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

veryoldschool said:


> Can't you see it from the ground?


yeah, that was my point .. Just look up at it from the ground and see if there are one or three spigots .. that should tell you right there.

But if you can't see it, and you are rather certain that it is an SL3, then by all means, you need to make the adjustment in each of your DIRECTV receivers.


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## MarkMac (Sep 4, 2006)

I am having similar issues with a refurb HR20-100 I received as a replacement box last week. My issue is with tuner 2. Funny thing is that I had no issues until yesterday, though. (I received the 0x2D7 update on Wed night.) Maybe I'll try re-running the satellite setup. When I ran through it last week when I received the replacement, I chose Slimline-5 as dish type. I have an older sidecar dish, though (AT9?). Is Slimline-5 the correct choice?


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

The reconfiguring of the dish type does not fix the tuner won't come back after rain fade issue. It correctly identifies the type of dish I have.

I do not know if the won't come back after rain fade issue is related to the issue at the heart of this thread but the symptoms and the fix (a reset) are the same.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

Doug Brott said:


> Just look up at it from the ground and see if there are one or three spigots ..


Okay, I can see it, and there are three. I'll try redoing the setup.

Edit: It's done. My HR20-700 was set to Slimline-5, and now it's set to Slimline-3. Previously, as I mentioned before, when I accessed the satellite setup page and tried to proceed, the receiver hung when attempting to download guide data, but after being set to Slimline-3, this step completed successfully, and I didn't have to RBR. I checked the signal strengths, and they were normal, but now I see no 110 or 119 satellite info (before, it was all zeroes), and now the SWM "satellite" shows signal on 6 of 9 transponders, while before it showed signal on 5 of 9 transponders.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

GregLee said:


> Okay, I can see it, and there are three. I'll try redoing the setup.


If you see three, then you have the Slimline-5 setup. One of the heads actually has 3 LNBs inside and the other two have one LNB each totaling 5.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

Doug Brott said:


> If you see three, then you have the Slimline-5 setup.


Whoops. Well, er, are you sure of that? Since it seems to be working so far on the Slimline-3 setting, I'll try it that way for awhile, as an experiment.

Edit: I found some pictures of the lnb used in Hawaii for 103/101/99 here (see post #8), and it looks like what I have, but I'm not sure. There's a plastic housing with 3 recesses which might or might not be "spigots".


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

GregLee said:


> ...now the SWM "satellite" shows signal on 6 of 9 transponders, while before it showed signal on 5 of 9 transponders.


the SWM screen can be a bit misleading. Those that show 0 are because they're being used by other tuners on your system.
If you were to go to each receiver and go into the setup menu and to the SWM screen, it will "free up" the SWM channels being used for the receiver. So if every receiver is on the SWM screen, there will be no zeros [or shouldn't be with a working system].
As you exit the setup menu, zeros will start to be displayed [on the other menus] as each tuner starts "taking over" a SWM channel.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

GregLee said:


> Whoops. Well, er, are you sure of that? Since it seems to be working so far on the Slimline-3 setting, I'll try it that way for awhile, as an experiment.


wasn't the SWM-5 switch known to have problems like this? if I read correctly you have SWM-5 with the slimline dish.



> I have a 1.2 meter round dish with, I think, 3 LNBs and a SWM5 switch.


when I mentioned rerunning setup I was speaking to the OP and not talking about SWM setups.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

David MacLeod said:


> wasn't the SWM-5 switch known to have problems like this? if I read correctly you have SWM-5 with the slimline dish.


SWM5, I was told, with 1.2m dish. I think the dish is the one referred to as "DTV 1.2m Dish (Alaska/Hawaii)" at The Satellite Shop lnb ad for what might be my lnb. Unfortunately, I don't see a picture of the lnb there.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

David MacLeod said:


> wasn't the SWM-5 switch known to have problems like this? if I read correctly you have SWM-5 with the slimline dish.


 I think this will rule out a SWM5: "...now the SWM "satellite" shows signal on 6 of 9 transponders,"


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

veryoldschool said:


> I think this will rule out a SWM5: "...now the SWM "satellite" shows signal on 6 of 9 transponders,"


I've looked at the SWM signal strength on both my HR20-700 and H21-100. They don't display the behavior you describe. HR20-700 always has signal on 6 of 9, regardless of whether I'm accessing the H21 SWM page, and the H21 page always shows signal on 5 of 9. These are all the boxes I have: HR20 and H21.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

veryoldschool said:


> I think this will rule out a SWM5: "...now the SWM "satellite" shows signal on 6 of 9 transponders,"


thats what caught my eye and made me want to mention that I was not referring to swm setups when I posted about rerunning sat setup to the OP.
I had not read about this needing to be done on swm setups so I did not want to waste someones time or cause issues with it.
we've got 2 people with different setups posting here and I didn't properly quote to show who I was replying to.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

GregLee said:


> These are all the boxes I have: HR20 and H21.


 The HR20 will use two and the H21 uses one, so you should "only" have three zeros, but depending on which receiver you're using to check, only one [if you're using the HR20] or two [if your using the H21] should be seen.
I have 3 DVRs & 1 H21, so "I'm using" seven, but when using the H21, and putting all of the others into the setup page, I can get no zeros displayed. Then as I exit a DVR out of the setup page, zeros will start to be displayed on my H21, for each tuner in the DVR(s).


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

veryoldschool said:


> The HR20 will use two and the H21 uses one, so you should "only" have three zeros, but depending on which receiver you're using to check, only one [if you're using the HR20] or two [if your using the H21] should be seen.
> I have 3 DVRs & 1 H21, so "I'm using" seven, but when using the H21, and putting all of the others into the setup page, I can get no zeros displayed. Then as I exit a DVR out of the setup page, zeros will start to be displayed on my H21, for each tuner in the DVR(s).


Yes, I understood what you said. But mine are just not working that way, regardless of whether I have SWM5 (as the installer told me) or SWM8. I've 15 minutes ago put up the SWM signal displays on both my HR20 and H21, and they both show signal on TP 1-6. TP 7-9 are 0. I just looked at the displays again -- stable at 6 and 6, no additional or fewer zeroes are appearing.

Before today, I checked the SWM signal strengths on my HR20 many times, and it's always been TP 1-5 with signal, TP 6-9 zero signal. After I made the change this morning for the HR20 from Slimline-5 to Slimline-3, I started seeing TP 1-6 with signal on the HR20, and now I see that on the H21 also.

PS: I just noticed that the Azimuth values reported by my HR20 and H21 differ -- they're 104 and 93 degrees.

I've got 3 tuners in all. Not 5 and not 6. No signals go to zero when one box is on the SWM signal display page.

If I've hijacked the OP's thread with all this stuff that may be peculiar to Hawaii and turn out to have nothing to do with the tuner 1 loss of signal, I apologize.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

GregLee said:


> If I've hijacked the OP's thread with all this stuff that may be peculiar to Hawaii and turn out to have nothing to do with the tuner 1 loss of signal, I apologize.


I don't consider it that, they seem very similar. the fault was mine for not quoting right. I just didn't want you to think my thought pertained to the swm setup.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

GregLee said:


> Yes, I understood what you said. But mine are just not working that way, regardless of whether I have SWM5 (as the installer told me) or SWM8. I've 15 minutes ago put up the SWM signal displays on both my HR20 and H21, and they both show signal on TP 1-6. TP 7-9 are 0. I just looked at the displays again -- stable at 6 and 6, no additional or fewer zeroes are appearing.
> 
> Before today, I checked the SWM signal strengths on my HR20 many times, and it's always been TP 1-5 with signal, TP 6-9 zero signal. After I made the change this morning for the HR20 from Slimline-5 to Slimline-3, I started seeing TP 1-6 with signal on the HR20, and now I see that on the H21 also.
> 
> ...


The 104 & 93 degrees sounds like a software problem and I'm betting you're running the national release software, which I'm not.

If you have a SWM5, then you have a "non standard" SWM, since they never made "full production" before they were discontinued, in favor of the SWM8.
The firmware in the 5 isn't the same as in the SWM8 & SWMLNB.
With a five, you wouldn't have the last three "TPs".
The "TPs" also don't start @ 1 for the first tuner and go from there for each additional tuner.
"With my SWM", the higher "TPs" seem to get used. Right now: 1, 2, & 9 are all in the 90s, and 3-8 are zero. This is using my H21, so 3-8 [six] are being used by my 3 DVRs.


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## vikingguy (Aug 1, 2005)

I got lucky and got a HR20-100 just like I wanted. Will let you guys know if that fixes the problem in a few days.


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## jal (Mar 3, 2005)

I had the same issue tonight 771 error on Tuner 1 on my HR20-700. Had to reset. It's hooked up to wb616. I'm really growing tired of these software errors after so many years. New HDTIVO, here I come!


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

veryoldschool said:


> ... I'm betting you're running the national release software, ...


No, I was not, and I downloaded new software again last night.
I just checked the SWM TPs again. Both my HR20 and H21 show signal on 6 TPs and three 0s. However, occasionally an additional TP goes to 0, without any system to it that I've yet noticed.
I checked some sites that calculate D* satellite data, and 104 degrees azimuth, as my HR20 has it, appears to be right.


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## taz291819 (Oct 19, 2006)

Ok, so I went to redo the Sat setup, and noticed that it showed "Round" dish for a second, before it automatically changed to 5-lnb dish. This may have been the cause of it, guess I'll find out in a day or so.


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## CouchTater (Dec 19, 2006)

Add me to the list. Mine is doing the same thing. If I do a signal test it comes up in the 90's on each tuner and works for awhile but then goes out again. I switched cables and the problem switched to tuner 2.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

CouchTater said:


> Add me to the list. Mine is doing the same thing. If I do a signal test it comes up in the 90's on each tuner and works for awhile but then goes out again. I switched cables and the problem switched to tuner 2.


 Which would point to things like the cable, multi-switch, or dish, and not the receiver as the cause.


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## CouchTater (Dec 19, 2006)

I might add that only the HD channels go out. I still receive the SD channels fine if that helps identify the culprit any better.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

CouchTater said:


> I might add that only the HD channels go out. I still receive the SD channels fine if that helps identify the culprit any better.


What model receiver do you have? Do you have the BBCs attached?


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## CouchTater (Dec 19, 2006)

I have the HR20-700 and the BBC's are attached. I also have a HR-21 and its working fine.


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## dexjaz (Jul 24, 2007)

I had the same problem on my HR20-700. I have 2 -700 and one HR21-100. The original -700 and HR21 works fine. It started happening 2-3 months ago every 5-7 days on my newest HR20-700 I had for a little more than a year. I swapped the antenna connections and it still happened on tuner 1 (i would even swap it before doing a RBR and tuner one would still be down and 2 would be fine). Called DTV and got a refurb HR20-700 (presumably because I had the OTA tuner-they specifically asked if I used it) and it has worked fine ever since (almost a month). Should have lied about the OTA tuner--maybe I would have gotten an HR23! I use BBCs.


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## taz291819 (Oct 19, 2006)

Ok, after redo'ing the satellite setup, it's been 3 days and all is well.


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## vikingguy (Aug 1, 2005)

It has been 6 days and still have not lost signal on either tuner on my new HR20-100. I wish the rest of you good luck in getting your problems getting fixed.


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## CouchTater (Dec 19, 2006)

I'd love to trade mine in but I have tow much doggone stuff recorded on it I'd lose. I'd be happy just getting it to work. Thankfully this is more of a back up than my main DVR


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## ahab (Aug 15, 2007)

Joining this late, but the HR20-700 in the bedroom is having the same intermittent tuner 1 problem (national software release). When I restart the receiver, it fixes the problem...so does that imply it's a software issue? We've missed half a dozen recordings in the last few weeks due to this.


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## breevesdc (Aug 14, 2007)

HR20-700 using eSATA drive on an SWM-8. Tuner 1 seems to go out every few days. RBR brings it back. Started with the last NR. The HR21-700 and the H21-100 in other rooms have worked flawlessly.

Brian


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## bills976 (Jun 30, 2002)

I am also hitting this problem. HR20-700, SWM-line LNB. Tuner 1 just goes to 0 and leaves recordings blank. Rebooting the box fixes the problem, implying to me that it's a software issue.


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## buckeyez1 (Aug 10, 2007)

Experienced rain fade last evening and none of my scheduled recordings worked later last night or this evening. Just did a reset and it seems to be working now.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

bills976 said:


> Rebooting the box fixes the problem, implying to me that it's a software issue.


This was discussed earlier in the thread. There could be a software fix for a hardware problem. My tuner 1 is still okay after 7 days without a reset, so I'm hopeful my box is in better health. If it is, I might never know why. I redid my antenna setup to say I receive from three satellites and not five (which is true), I downloaded new system software, and, finally, my HR20-700 reports its internal temperature is down to 108 degrees, which is cooler than it has been in the past. I think any of those things might have helped, or all of them, or none.


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## herkulease (Jul 29, 2007)

I want to join in on the fun too. cropped out after the last NR. 

RBR would "fix" it for few days to a week before I have to do it again. 

2 more weeks and I'll have time to whine to Directv to ship me a replacement.


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## trex021 (Aug 16, 2007)

OK another late comer here. I've been having the exact same problem as the OP too. I have an HR20-700 and tuner 1 has been going down for weeks. A reset fixes it temporarily but 1 to 4 days later, I come home from work and my recordings are blank. Tuner 1 is down and it's time for another reset.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

I got through a whole week with no resets without losing tuner 1, and the previous week I only lost signal on tuner 1 once. Before that, for several weeks I lost signal on tuner 1 about every 2 days (which seems to be typical for those of us with the problem). So what was different this last week? It's been very cool here in Hawaii, and once last week, my HR20-700 reported an internal temperature of 100F., which is at least 15 degrees lower than a year ago, when I gave it a laptop fan. It might well be something else, but lowered temperature is my current favorite candidate for why I'm not currently losing my tuner 1 signal.

So I suggest that others with this problem take note of their HR20-700 internal temperature.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

GregLee said:


> I got through a whole week with no resets without losing tuner 1, and the previous week I only lost signal on tuner 1 once. Before that, for several weeks I lost signal on tuner 1 about every 2 days (which seems to be typical for those of us with the problem). So what was different this last week? It's been very cool here in Hawaii, and once last week, my HR20-700 reported an internal temperature of 100F., which is at least 15 degrees lower than a year ago, when I gave it a laptop fan. It might well be something else, but lowered temperature is my current favorite candidate for why I'm not currently losing my tuner 1 signal.
> 
> So I suggest that others with this problem take note of their HR20-700 internal temperature.


May or may not be "the problem", since my HR20-700 is currently showing 127 degrees and never lost a tuner in the past 2 years.


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## trex021 (Aug 16, 2007)

trex021 said:


> OK another late comer here. I've been having the exact same problem as the OP too. I have an HR20-700 and tuner 1 has been going down for weeks. A reset fixes it temporarily but 1 to 4 days later, I come home from work and my recordings are blank. Tuner 1 is down and it's time for another reset.


Four days later and it's time for another reset. I came home and my recordings were blank and tuner 1 was dead. I'm really getting sick of this. I haven't called them yet but if DTV sends me a new receiver will it be an HR20? I really like having OTA built in.


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## MarkMac (Sep 4, 2006)

trex021 said:


> Four days later and it's time for another reset. I came home and my recordings were blank and tuner 1 was dead. I'm really getting sick of this. I haven't called them yet but if DTV sends me a new receiver will it be an HR20? I really like having OTA built in.


I've received 3 replacement receivers over the last 3 weeks and they have all been HR20s.

When you call customer service, just be sure to tell them you are using an antenna.


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## bills976 (Jun 30, 2002)

Another reset for me... is DirecTV aware of this problem?


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## chrisc909 (Aug 17, 2007)

Another latecomer to the party. Been dealing with this for about 2-3 weeks. Its driving me mad. Tuner1 just like all of you. Of course my other HR20-700 (wife's) is not doing it and its the one that is leased. Mine is owned, and assume out of warranty. I tried the dish re-setup today to see if it will help. How disappointed I am with this crap is unbelievable. If I have to miss one more program with the black screen of death, I will pull out whats left of my hair.


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## chrisc909 (Aug 17, 2007)

Okay. Called DTV and actually got a rep that seemed to know what he was talking about. However, I have not tried this since I have way to many shows to watch and my wife would kill me. He said there was some kind of software issue that caused this problem in a small percentage of units. According to him the fix is to reformat the drive. Skeptical? Yes, I am too. The instructions were to RBR, and then hold down the "down + record button" on the front of the DVR (not the remote) after the " Almost there..." screen goes black. Keep holding until the system says that its reformatting the drive. Should take 2 hours. I told him that I have forced the download of the current NR, but he said its checking the version and not overwriting something on the disk. Any thoughts? Maybe I should wait till a CE is released to see if that works better.


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## MIMOTech (Sep 11, 2006)

I was having the same problem, with tuner one going to all zero's. I talked D* into sending a tech with a new HRxx DVR and now the prblem is fixed. By the way I was using an SWM8 for distribution and it still lost tuner one every couple of days. So it was internal to the DVR. When I showed the tech the problem he did not hesitate to swap me a new one. The new DVR is a HR23-700. Now all my DVRs (3) are perfect and have not lost a signal in weeks, no reboots, or loss of signal even in the heaviest rain. 

P


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## MIMOTech (Sep 11, 2006)

Reformating the drive will not fix the problem. if it is software, it ia more in the line of a memory leak that eventruly screws up the machine. Also I think it is most likely a component issue, some thing that is out of spec on some units.


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## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

I'm joining late to this party too. I have a SWM-Slime5LNB dish and HR20-700 and a HR21-100. Tuner 1 on my HR20-700 never comes back after Rain-Fade until I reboot the hr20-700.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

trex021 said:


> Four days later and it's time for another reset. I came home and my recordings were blank and tuner 1 was dead. I'm really getting sick of this.


Here's a thought: Reset after 3 days. That's what I've been doing. It's not that much trouble, and my wife and I are not ready to lose all the stuff we've kept on the esata drive, so we don't want to swap out the HR20-700. Two resets a week keep tuner 1 at peak.


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## MurphieNB (Sep 13, 2006)

veryoldschool said:


> I would add: if you have it networked and can send a report, please do and post it here with your model for them to check.


Late-comer to this thread, I'm having same issues with my HR20-700, but I thought all mine was tuner 2. I'll have to check my firmware release, and post relevant information later.

My immediate interest is in how you send a report to DirecTV through the internet.


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## aramus8 (Nov 21, 2006)

Diagnostics report: 20090405 280D

I too am still having problems with tuner 1 on my HR20-700. The 101 and 99C only work about a quarter of the time on tuner 1, yet 103C never has a problem and there is never a problem with tuner 2. I've even run tuner tests and LNB tests several times from the guided tests menu at bootup and they always pass. The odd thing is today for the first time in a week tuner 1 was working fine all of the time. Of course, I think I have to look at signal strengths and when I exited the signal strength menu, it stopped working again. Is it possible that this is tied to the signal strength menu and the reason more people aren't reporting this is because it is caused by the signal strength tests and they never run them?


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## MIMOTech (Sep 11, 2006)

My solution was to get D* to give me another one. but you have to play their game. Make sure to have it in it's failed tuner mode when the tech arrives. When talking to the CSR make sure you tell the CSR to have the tech bring a replacement just in case. I know lots about this stuff and how to trouble shoot it, but still had to play the I know nothing game. but now I have three DVRs that are working perfectly. Good luck....

P


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## DogLover (Mar 19, 2007)

aramus8 said:


> Diagnostics report: 20090405 280D
> 
> I too am still having problems with tuner 1 on my HR20-700. The 101 and 99C only work about a quarter of the time on tuner 1, yet 103C never has a problem and there is never a problem with tuner 2. I've even run tuner tests and LNB tests several times from the guided tests menu at bootup and they always pass. The odd thing is today for the first time in a week tuner 1 was working fine all of the time. Of course, I think I have to look at signal strengths and when I exited the signal strength menu, it stopped working again. Is it possible that this is tied to the signal strength menu and the reason more people aren't reporting this is because it is caused by the signal strength tests and they never run them?


If you haven't done so already, don't forget to log this diagnostic report in the issues thread above. That is the one that will ensure that DirecTV sees it and can use the info in the diagnostics report.


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## aramus8 (Nov 21, 2006)

DogLover said:


> If you haven't done so already, don't forget to log this diagnostic report in the issues thread above. That is the one that will ensure that DirecTV sees it and can use the info in the diagnostics report.


Thanks for the advise. I have now copied the post to the issues thread.


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## cover (Feb 11, 2007)

kevinwmsn said:


> I'm joining late to this party too. I have a SWM-Slime5LNB dish and HR20-700 and a HR21-100. Tuner 1 on my HR20-700 never comes back after Rain-Fade until I reboot the hr20-700.


Welcome to the club. Both of my HR20-700s had Tuner 1 non-responsive this morning after a little rain last night.


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## skapeta (Jan 26, 2008)

I had similar problem with HR20-700 and Tuner 1. Had the problem for weeks, and tried all the suggestions I had found here. I'm not on a service plan, so I was reluctant to call DirecTV. When my wife threatened ME with Comcast, I finally called a CSR.

I had to do some basic troubleshooting with the CSR, which resulted in a service call with a tech coming out to the house. I've been a DirecTV customer for 10+ years, and since I haven't requested a service call since my HR20 and new dish were installed, the CSR gave me a credit so the service call is FREE. 

Tech came out yesterday. He noticed the dish wasn't grounded properly, so spent an hour working on wires and such. He also told me they've had a ton of reports on the 771 Error with the HR20-700. He swapped mine out for a brand new HR23. 

It's only been a day, but I have yet to see the 771 Searching for Satellite.


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## cover (Feb 11, 2007)

skapeta said:


> He also told me they've had a ton of reports on the 771 Error with the HR20-700. He swapped mine out for a brand new HR23
> 
> It's only been a day, but I have yet to see the 771 Searching for Satellite.


Which makes me wonder why they can't/won't fix the software problem that is causing it.

I, for one, don't want a different box because

a) I have a ton of stuff recorded that I don't want to lose

and

b) I like my built-in OTA tuners, thanks.

So I just want the HR20-700 that I have to work properly. I've been dealing with this for months, although the problem now seems to have changed with a recent software release. Before, it seemed random whether tuner 1 or tuner 2 would be affected. Now it seems to consistently be Tuner 1. Maybe they have "standardized" the issue somehow and made it affect more people. I hope that is a step on the way to fixing it for real.

P.S. I have not always had this issue - it was introduced by a software release months ago, so I remain convinced it can be fixed by another software release.


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## wholes (Mar 9, 2008)

firemandan said:


> I have an HR20-700 and for the last month or so, every couple of days I get the "771 - searching for signal" screen on my TV. If I go in and check my satellite signal strength, tuner 1 reads all 0's and tuner 2 is fine. I can get tuner 1 working again if I restart the reciever, but it is getting really annoying when I go to watch something that was supposed be recorded and find out that it didn't record because tuner 1 was out again.
> 
> Is any one else having this problem? Any solutions?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any help


I had the same problem, then about 10 days ago I could not get any satellite signal. After talking with DT they could not solve the problem and sent me a new Hr-22 receiver. It seems to be working fine and is quieter and runs a lot cooler although it does not have the built in over the air antenna like my HR-20 had.


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## dodgeboy (Sep 15, 2007)

I've also been having this issue since early March (I think when the last NR was pushed out). I tried an experiment 3 days ago, and disconnected my external SATA drive. I then booted up the unit on its own. I didn't watch the bootup process, but a few hours later I checked on it and it was at the latest NR version of software. Both tuners were still alive. I recreated all of my series recordings (the drive was already full of stuff from before I added my external HD). It's been almost 72 hours now, and Tuner 1 is still fine. Tuner 1 would die within 3-6 hours with my external drive attached, as long as at least one of the tuners was viewing MP4HD content. 

I have been using this external drive for over a year, and it never caused an issue until early March. I don't know if there is something wrong with the drive, or something with the latest NR that doesn't like my particular external HD. Either way, it certainly was interesting to me that the HD would cause this issue. It may be worth an experiment of your own, if you feel like messing around with it.

Dave


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## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

dodgeboy said:


> I've also been having this issue since early March (I think when the last NR was pushed out). I tried an experiment 3 days ago, and disconnected my external SATA drive. I then booted up the unit on its own. I didn't watch the bootup process, but a few hours later I checked on it and it was at the latest NR version of software. Both tuners were still alive. I recreated all of my series recordings (the drive was already full of stuff from before I added my external HD). It's been almost 72 hours now, and Tuner 1 is still fine. Tuner 1 would die within 3-6 hours with my external drive attached, as long as at least one of the tuners was viewing MP4HD content.
> 
> I have been using this external drive for over a year, and it never caused an issue until early March. I don't know if there is something wrong with the drive, or something with the latest NR that doesn't like my particular external HD. Either way, it certainly was interesting to me that the HD would cause this issue. It may be worth an experiment of your own, if you feel like messing around with it.
> 
> Dave


Welcome aboard, I saw this post and was trying to remember when the heck I posted it.....


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## dodgeboy (Sep 15, 2007)

dodge boy said:


> Welcome aboard, I saw this post and was trying to remember when the heck I posted it.....


 Don't see too many dodgeboys or dodge boys on this forum.


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## dodgeboy (Sep 15, 2007)

dodgeboy said:


> I've also been having this issue since early March (I think when the last NR was pushed out). I tried an experiment 3 days ago, and disconnected my external SATA drive. I then booted up the unit on its own. I didn't watch the bootup process, but a few hours later I checked on it and it was at the latest NR version of software. Both tuners were still alive. I recreated all of my series recordings (the drive was already full of stuff from before I added my external HD). It's been almost 72 hours now, and Tuner 1 is still fine. Tuner 1 would die within 3-6 hours with my external drive attached, as long as at least one of the tuners was viewing MP4HD content.
> 
> I have been using this external drive for over a year, and it never caused an issue until early March. I don't know if there is something wrong with the drive, or something with the latest NR that doesn't like my particular external HD. Either way, it certainly was interesting to me that the HD would cause this issue. It may be worth an experiment of your own, if you feel like messing around with it.
> 
> Dave


Scratch that.. I spoke too soon. Just lost Tuner 1 while recording Deadliest Catch on DSCHD. I have no idea why it lasted over 3 days with the internal hard drive and barely 3 hours with the external. Either way, the problem is not fixed.


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## herkulease (Jul 29, 2007)

the only solution is to get a newer one via directv. the reset becomes a pain. Sometimes I was lucky for it go a week, other time it would disappear within a few hours of resetting. I bit the bullet and lost my recordings but now I don't have to deal with hoping tuner 1 doesn't disappear between when I last reset and a show a want to record. 

The TV season is almost over, I say hold out till then with resetting if you can then insist on getting a replacement.


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## CouchTater (Dec 19, 2006)

Add me to the list as well. When I do a signal check it shows in the 90s on both tuners and it clears the problem for the moment but the next time I try to record problem reappears. I don't want to exchange DVRs because I have too much recorded I don't want to lose. I also don't want to lose my OTA tuner. My HR22 works fine no problems at all.


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## cover (Feb 11, 2007)

And once again this morning, Tuner 1 on both HR20-700s was non-responsive - zero signal strength on all transponders on all sats. As usual, menu reset brought it back to life.


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## chrisc909 (Aug 17, 2007)

Ok, so I did not re-format the drive since I agree with you guys and thought the service rep was full of crap. I did upgrade both of my HR20-700's friday evening with the latest CE software release, and as of today, I have not lost tuner1 (which used to be a daily occurance). The real reason for the upgrade was that I wanted to play with the new MRV feature (which by the way is awesome). Will keep you guys tuned, but at this point I believe its software related with the last national release.


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## Lancelink (Feb 6, 2007)

raott said:


> Did anyone having the issue have a recent rain fade event?
> There is an unresolved issue (that has been reported here for over a year and is still not fixed) where one tuner will not come back after a rain fade event, a reboot always fixes the issue.


Yep, happens to my HR20 700 frequently after rain fade. Add me to the list.
Ignoring this known issue is just another of the little things D* does to show me they could care less if I go somewhere else.


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## skapeta (Jan 26, 2008)

dodgeboy said:


> Scratch that.. I spoke too soon. Just lost Tuner 1 while recording Deadliest Catch on DSCHD. I have no idea why it lasted over 3 days with the internal hard drive and barely 3 hours with the external. Either way, the problem is not fixed.


Me too! :shrug: DTV replaced my HR20-700 with a new HR23 last week. Everything was working fine until Tuesday night when we got another 771 error on Tuner 1.

I was watching local network in HD. Second tuner was set to record Deadliest Catch on DSCHD at 9pm. As soon as that show started to record, I got a 771 error on the local show that I was already watching. Funny thing is, once I cancelled the Deadliest Catch recording, the 771 went away on HD Local. I was able to reproduce the issue at will by recording on Channel 278. Any HD Local would show 771 error, however I could still watch non-HD local channels without any issue.

DTV is coming back tomorrow to replace my LNB, multi-switch, and all the connectors on the lines. Case Management tech thinks its a hardware problem within the house.


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## dodgeboy (Sep 15, 2007)

skapeta said:


> Me too! :shrug: DTV replaced my HR20-700 with a new HR23 last week. Everything was working fine until Tuesday night when we got another 771 error on Tuner 1.
> 
> I was watching local network in HD. Second tuner was set to record Deadliest Catch on DSCHD at 9pm. As soon as that show started to record, I got a 771 error on the local show that I was already watching. Funny thing is, once I cancelled the Deadliest Catch recording, the 771 went away on HD Local. I was able to reproduce the issue at will by recording on Channel 278. Any HD Local would show 771 error, however I could still watch non-HD local channels without any issue.
> 
> DTV is coming back tomorrow to replace my LNB, multi-switch, and all the connectors on the lines. Case Management tech thinks its a hardware problem within the house.


That is interesting. I record many shows on 278... I wonder if there is some connection? DirecTV is shipping me a replacement unit as we speak. I'm not looking forward to having to reconfigure all of my series passes, and losing my recordings. Especially if it isn't going to fix my problem! I'm very disappointed to see someone had their box replaced and still has the same issue. I was hoping it was limited only to the HR20s. I'll update with my findings after I replace my box.

Dave


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## herkulease (Jul 29, 2007)

dodgeboy said:


> That is interesting. I record many shows on 278... I wonder if there is some connection? DirecTV is shipping me a replacement unit as we speak. I'm not looking forward to having to reconfigure all of my series passes, and losing my recordings. Especially if it isn't going to fix my problem! I'm very disappointed to see someone had their box replaced and still has the same issue. I was hoping it was limited only to the HR20s. I'll update with my findings after I replace my box.
> 
> Dave


I dunno his problem looks more like some wiring or something else not related to the dvr/software itself.

I dunno about you but I was never able to reproduce the losing tuner 1. it was completely random. I'm very sure others in this thread haven't had any luck reproducing it or it would've been address or atleast had someone take a look at it. I assume dodgeboy was able to reproduce it every time for DTV to come out and pretty much replace all the wiring.


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## tivoboy (Aug 16, 2006)

Yeah, I started having this issue today, trying to record something on 552. Not sure which sat that is, but I get the 771 error. I reset the box, HR20-700, but it still doesn't come in. I haven't had a problem like this in a while, and the weather could not be better.


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## cover (Feb 11, 2007)

Well, I got a blank recording today. It rained hard at some point this afternoon while I was not home. Naturally, one of the tuners on my HR20-700 failed to come back after the rain while the other tuner continued to work. But, since both were needed to record, one of my recordings was blank.'

Thanks, DirecTV.

I left Dish Network years ago for DirecTV precisely because they had an unreliable DVR. For years, I was blissfully happy with the DirecTiVos until I was more or less forced by DirecTV onto the HR2x platform. Even that was OK, until this issue was caused by a software release something like a year ago and has never been addressed.

Please, get this fixed.


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## greg11a (Aug 21, 2007)

I have been experiencing this same issue for about 2 weeks with my HR20-100, not related to weather, but just that Tuner 1 cant tune any HD channels(the SD channels work fine). I have swapped cables with my other HR20-700 in the same room as well as across sat inputs and swapped the BBCs as well. No matter what I do Tuner 1 always has the problem. It seems to me like this must be a hardware problem, I was hoping to wait it out and see if its software, but since Desperate Housewives failed tonite, the wife has thrown the gauntlet, and now I must call our favorite CSRs.


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## bills976 (Jun 30, 2002)

Yep, just got this problem again after a couple weeks of trouble-free recording.

Perhaps this is related to the guide stream or something?


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## dodgeboy (Sep 15, 2007)

The replacement HR22-100 arrived today (I don't need/want OTA tuners)... I was pleased to see that my series passes and most of my recordings remained on the external HD when I booted it up. I suspect that I may have been able to retain all of the recordings if I had upgraded the software before plugging in the external HD. It shipped with an older version of code on it.

I'll report back in 5-7 days on whether or not my issue has been resolved. So far the unit seems slower than the HR20, but it is still acquiring guide data, so I will chalk it up to that for now.

Dave


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## greg11a (Aug 21, 2007)

dodgeboy said:


> The replacement HR22-100 arrived today (I don't need/want OTA tuners)... I was pleased to see that my series passes and most of my recordings remained on the external HD when I booted it up. I suspect that I may have been able to retain all of the recordings if I had upgraded the software before plugging in the external HD. It shipped with an older version of code on it.
> 
> I'll report back in 5-7 days on whether or not my issue has been resolved. So far the unit seems slower than the HR20, but it is still acquiring guide data, so I will chalk it up to that for now.
> 
> Dave


All your previously recorded programs on your external drive were available with your new box? Have you actually tried to view them? I thought this was not possible to move an external drive to a new box without losing all the recordings.


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## fpd917 (Aug 16, 2006)

I have started having the same problem. Mine goes out and sometimes the tuner will come back on, and sometimes, I have to do a RBR. It is frustrating. If if even slightly rains mine will sometimes show 771.


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## FriscoJoe (Mar 22, 2007)

Same here. Had to menu reset last night to get it back. Hasn't rained since last week. FW 0x2CB.


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## dodgeboy (Sep 15, 2007)

greg11a said:


> All your previously recorded programs on your external drive were available with your new box? Have you actually tried to view them? I thought this was not possible to move an external drive to a new box without losing all the recordings.


Not all... The drive had about 20% available on the old box, and showed 81% available on the new one. A good portion of the programming went away.

All of the series passes were there, though. I did not have to re-setup all of my recordings.

Dave


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## ShrikeT (Jun 3, 2008)

This happened to me yesterday, except it was both tuners and I had to reboot to get rid of a 771. Previously it was happening only tuner 1 and I got my DVR replaced over it. I had an HR20-700 and they sent me an HR20-100. Obviously didn't fix the problem.

I also have an HR22 connected off the same SWM LNB that has never had this problem.


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## dodgeboy (Sep 15, 2007)

Well, it's been 5 days and I haven't seen any sign of a dropped tuner on my new replacement HR22. It is, however, significantly slower than the HR20. It seems to be getting slower, as well. Button pressed and menus are very laggy. If I had known about this, I would've tried to get another HR20.


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## Mescalito (Dec 17, 2008)

I've been having the same problem with my HR20-700, and it seems to be completely random. Channel wise it has happenned OTA and satellite 1 on many different channels. When the problem is occurring I am able to reproduce it on satellite 2 by reversing the wires. As stated though, it will do it one hour, but the next hour will be fine. DirecTv is sending out a "technician" this Wed. to fix it. When I referenced this thread they said they were aware of this problem with the R15?, but not my model DVR.
For me, it may be time to go Dish, even if they can fix the problem, my confidence in DirecTv is at an all-time low. I still have regular audio drop-outs after two boxes, four "technician" visits, and they blame my Fujitsu P50/40 even though through the same HDMI in from both my Toshiba HD-XA2 and PS3 there are 0 audio, video, or handshake issues.
My 771 issue began approximately two weeks ago. After the first call they required me to write down every occurrence for 48 hrs., and then call them back with the info before they would agree to send out someone.


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## greg11a (Aug 21, 2007)

OK, I finally had time to get on the phone with a CSR to get a new box shipped to me. They contend it is a tuner problem with Tuner 1 and are shipping me a new box, most likely an HR21-700, or possibly an HR20, according to the CSR. It sounds like these may be better than the HR22 based on some comments above, as I dont care about internal hard drive since I have an Esata. I do not have the protection package but there was no charge for shipping. Hopefully I will have the same luck as dodge boy and have some of my recordings accessible when I make the switch.


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## MIMOTech (Sep 11, 2006)

If you swap receivers you will see the program listings but you will not be able to play the programs. No way around it. You have to format the drive and go on from there. It all has to do with copy protection and this marries the drive to the receiver.


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