# 776 Cabling Problem Error Message on receivers



## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Hello -
I'm not even close to familiar with all the ins and outs of Directv and how the setup works anymore. This is the only reason I miss the 1 LNB days :-D. So if I'm unclear or if you need more information from me please let me know. I will try to explain this as best as I can and hopefully it will make sense to you more experienced members.

Before this Last Upgrade - (little over a month ago)

Had Whole Home - 8 Tuners , 4 HD DVR receivers, Nomad connected to Router

* Basement : HR21-xxx ( I believe it was) - wish I could remember specifics but I think this is close
Internet Router ...I had little black Deca box that is connected to router via Ethernet cable. I'm also pretty sure I had an Ethernet cable going into the back of the HR21.

* Main Floor - Had two HR-24's on same TV. 
* Upstairs - HR22-700

Had one cable coming from Dish inside house ...
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After Update -
* Basement - HR24-500
Deca Box
PI-29i,
Nomad 

Next to the basement DVR/Internet Router setup I have two cables coming from the wall jack.
One RG6 Cable from top jack goes into Deca box. Exiting Deca is small Ethernet cable that is connected to my internet router.
Second RG6 Cable From wall Jack goes into input labeled ' Power to SWM' on the PI29i. From the out port of the PI29i a short RG6 connects into Port 1 on the back of the HR24-500. 

* Main Floor (simply put each has a RG6 cable from the nearby wall jack going into the two DVR's.
Genie HR44 
HR24-500

* Upstairs - HR22-700 --- Nothing changed. 1 cable from wall jack into Satellite port 1 back of DVR.

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Outside into House Cabling -

4 Cables now come from dish into House into an SWM16R1-03. There are 6 ports on the shorter/top side of the SWM. it appears that the 4 cables coming in from outside(the dish) are connected to first 4 ports and the other two are left capped. On the side there are three ports. Of these three two are in use where two cables exit the SWM16R1 . Third one capped. One of the two cables from the sWM connects to a smaller splitter (msplit8r1).. The second exiting cable from the SWM goes on it's marry way into another room. From the splitter it appears 8 cables exit and run to their wall jacks throughout the house. Then along one of the long sides of the SWM are like 8 ports all capped (not used)

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A few weeks ago I noticed, periodically, on the Genie and upstairs DVR the 776 Cabling Problem message. I wasn't able to ever notice if I was losing any recordings or if it was just a misleading message. I rebooted the PI, I've checked the connections of all cables coming into the SWM and Splitter, rebooting receivers, etc. etc....the basic troubleshooting stuff. Being summer, I haven't been watching a lot of TV or recording a lot. After a reboot of the PI a few weeks ago I thought maybe i had it licked. I didn't see the error message and from what I could tell no programming was affected. But tonight was the first time I noticed the issue cause a program to stop recording. A 1/2 in to a one hour show that was currently recording, my wife wanted to start watching the show from the begging using the Play List. The show was set to record from 7-8. Looking at the play list at 7:30 it said it has stopped recording because the satellite had lost its signal. Only 19 minutes had recorded of the 30 minutes. I had her go to the guide and try to restart the recording but it is then I noticed the 776 error message again. With fall programming coming up and NFL Sunday ticket I want to avoid any surprises down the road. 

Are their any tests I can run to pinpoint the cause? Anything I can check, any thoughts. I do have the protection plan if that means anything. Before the upgrade I never had any issues. Of course with the upgrade and now 11 tuners in action things are different with my setup. 

Thanks for your time, expertise, and for reading what I hope is a somewhat clear picture of what's going on.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

776 is an error that indicates too many tuners on one or both legs of the SWM. There are two ports coming out of the SWM. Each must have no more than 8 tuners (not 8 receivers... A non-DVR is one tuner, a regular DVR is two, and a Genie is five.) it sounds like all nine of your tuners are coming from SWM1... All you need to to is get a other splitter and run it from SWM2 and connect any of the DVRs to it. 

Look at the outputs... They should be labeled SWM1, PWR and SWM2. The power inserteR can come from SWM1 or PWR. However, neither SWM1 nor SWM2 can have more than eight tuners attached.


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Thanks for your speedy reply Stuart. Yeah I had come across a few of the other threads where this was talked about but unfortunately I still wasn't sure.
Its really hard to get up there where the cables come from outside into the SWM but from what I can tell one cable comes into the SWM 2 port and the other comes into the SWM 1 port. Nothing goes into the middle PWR port. From the S2 port the cable goes into the spltter and from here 7 cables exit and go throughout the house. From the SWM 2 port one cable goes somewhere throughout the house. Unfortunately, its a little difficult to tell where they all go. Therefore I'm not 100% sure which cable is leaving the SWM / Swtich and going to the wall jack which is connected to the PI29i. 

Questions - Why don't I always see this message on all the receivers? I have 11 tuners Are they not always 'active' if that's the case... if I set every tuner to record one by one would I be able to force this error message by demand once I reached over 8? If that makes sense).


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

Well it definitely looks like your SWM16 is not "balanced" Unless you can tell what goes where, it would be best for you to call DirecTV and have them come back and "install" it right.


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Crap --lights going on in head--- I don't know if this would make a difference and I totally forgot I had done this. And from what I'm seeing from you guys, I might be the culprit (if I'm understanding this correctly).

On the main floor I had two HR24-500 connected to my primary TV with the receiver, and xbox, etc. I wanted to make things simple as possible for the installer so I just had him put the Genie in the basement and I would swap it with one of the HR24's later on. I thought this was easier for him instead of him having to mess with my primary tv / receiver / setup where it's a jungle of cables and wires and two DVRs. 

So I moved the Genie upstairs to go along with one HR24-500 on the primary TV setup. I moved the 2nd HR24-500 to the basement and connected the PI to it the same way as it was to the Genie (being from what I understand this would work the same way as hooked to the Genie). 

I'm guessing moving the Genie I have essentially gained 3 tuners possible on one end of the SWM and unbalanced it myself? I'm guessing the SWM2 is now connected to 9 tuners ? Being I moved the Genie just a few days after the install I can't for sure say I wasn't receiving this error before hand but I have a strong suspicion that's what's going on . If that is corrected....

1. I could move the Genie back to the basement and move that 2nd HR24 back to the primary main floor TV but I would rather not have the Genie in the basement because that is the least used TV in the house.
2. Somehow change the cables on the SWM? 2nd splitter needed?

Ugggg


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

markman07 said:


> Hello -
> I'm not even close to familiar with all the ins and outs of Directv and how the setup works anymore. This is the only reason I miss the 1 LNB days :-D. So if I'm unclear or if you need more information from me please let me know. I will try to explain this as best as I can and hopefully it will make sense to you more experienced members.
> 
> Before this Last Upgrade - (little over a month ago)
> ...


Your problem is the 8-way splitter feeding the whole house. You need to isolate the feed to the main floor so that it is by itself. You will need to figure out which of the eight is the Upstairs feed move it to the Basement feed. You need to run a second coax from the SWiM-16 to that room to either pick up the Main room feed or upstairs feed.


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Summary: SW1 port has cable that connects to splitter which then sends cables throughout the house. SW2 has cable that doesn't connect to a splitter but just has the cable going to some where in the house. So if I want to put more (tuners) on sw2 I need a second splitter to handle moving some of the cables from the Sw1 splitter to SW2, correct? If so can I just get any standard splitter from a hardware store?


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## NR4P (Jan 16, 2007)

No you can't just get any splitter. You need the Directv approved splitters. They are known as Green Label splitters. Be sure to get these and only these or WHDVR and any Genie mini clients won't operate properly.

Ideally its better to use as few ports as possible. Meaning don't get an 8 port splitter and use only 2 ports. For example, say I have a need for six ports in total. Off of SWM 1 I have a 2 way splitter and off of SWM 2 I have a 4 way splitter. This reduces signal loss by using the minimum number of ports.

PS: Ports are not tuners. They are the coax connections to the DVR, Genie or receivers.


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

I really appreciate it!. Thanks for everyone's feedback as I both try to understand this more and also figure out a fix that I actually could do! (without doing the obvious /easy thing and move the Genie back to the basement-ugg). 

So looking again down in the basement I can tell that the one cable from SWM2 goes directly to the basement wall jack. So from Stuart's first reply I then presume that this drives the PI. The second cable that feeds this basement wall jack comes from the splitter connected to SW!. So it appears that the basement wall jack which has the one jack which connects to the PI and the second port on the wall jack is connected to the HR24-500. 

So more questions - w

1. The SWM1 port, in my setup, is only powering the PI, correct. So no tuners are running off this side ?
2. The SWM2 port - which connects to the splitter where 7 cables exit it and run to all the different locations including the basement. So if SW1 only feeds the PI does that mean I'm trying to use up to 11 tuners off of SW2 ? (which only supports 8 per side) 

3. So if I were to connect the Genie cable to SW2 (essentially moving the 5 tuners to it ) what options do I then to power the PI ? I can't connect that to Sw1 which is connected to the splitter. So to fix this issue do I for sure need a second splitter somewhere in the equation?

4. Is this something my protection plan would cover if I was the one that technically caused the unbalanced MS??


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

the PI cannot be connected to SWM 2. thePI can connect to either SWM1 or the middle port labelled PWR


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

If everything was working before you moved the Genie, the cable on SWM2 is probably going to the location where the Genie used to be.  Put the Power Inserter on the PWR port (or it can be left exactly where it currently is). Figure out which cable off of the splitter is going to the Genie (disconnect one at at time until you lose the satellite signal on the Genie). Move that cable to SWM2 and move the cable currently on SWM2 to the splitter.

You will end up with the Genie on SWM2 and the other 6 tuners from the 3 DVR's on SWM1.


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Thanks Bill I was just going to ask that if that would work! Will try that tomorrow. Makes me start to think it wasn't setup correctly in the first place because from SW1 their is a cable that goes directly to the basement wall jack. A second cable from the splitter off of sw2 also goes to the this same basement wall jack. From the basement wall jack one cable goes into the HR24 and the other into the PI. So if SW1 is powering the PI then wouldn't that mean the 7 cables going out from the splitter would be the connected to the 4 DVR's ? (11 tuners trying to be connected to SW2)...


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Ok I couldn't wait until tomorrow. I also was a little off with the setup in the basement. The two cables from the basement wall jack had one going into the PI which then had a cable coming out of it into the HR24. The 2nd cable from the wall is going into the DECA. So I took the cable from SW1 and connected it to the Power output on the MS. I found the Genie cable from the splitter and removed it and connected directly to SW1. But now this leads to a new problem. Now the cable that basically drives the PI is now connected to the Power port on the MS but now the basement receiver gets a 775. Does the PI need to be hooked up to a receiver? Can I bring it where the MS is and just connect it to the MS power port?


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

If the PI & the SWiM16 are near each other. Just plug the PI into the center DCPWR jack. Then all you got to figure out is how to correctly balance the remaining two jacks SWM2 and SWM1/PWR.

As I stated earlier you got to isolate your main floor with the Genie (5-Tuners) & HR (2-Tuners) and put 'em on SWM2. And you must put the Basement HR (2-Tuner) & Upper HR (2-Tuner) on the other jack - SWM1/PWR


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Thanks Drucifer and everyone else.. I'm a little confused with your statment about isolating the tuners. Why can't I put the Genie (5) tuners on SW1 and the other (6) on SW2??
Second question, if I can plug the PI directly to the SWM power port I use the 'power to swm' port on the PI, ok what would then connect to the Siginal to IRD (being I'm not connecting it to a reciever now?)


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

Answer 1 - Yes you can. If you were running new coax cables, it would make sense to go with Drucifer's proposed configuration because you would just need to run one coax from the SWM-16 to just behind the Genie & HR-xx DVR that are connected to the same TV and install a 2 way splitter there. But, since you already have two cables running to that location, this configuration doesn't really buy you anything over your proposed configuration.

Answer 2 - The power Inserter is powering the SWM, not the IRD's. So, it doesn't need to be in-line with any of the IRD's

Take a look at this diagram of a SWM-16 setup.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Really, the easiest trouble shoot would be to put everything back exactly as it was installed, test it thoroughly, and then call to have it fixed if indicated. If no problem, then continue your quest to balance out the system with the boxes where you want. 

Or, temporarily, you can deactivate one of the tuners on your older boxes.


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Great stuff! Thanks. That diagram was perfect! Gives me a little project for the afternoon to hopefully finally solve my quest of Directv happiness.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

markman07 said:


> Thanks Drucifer and everyone else.. I'm a little confused with your statment about isolating the tuners. Why can't I put the Genie (5) tuners on SW1 *and the other (6) on SW2??*
> Second question, if I can plug the PI directly to the SWM power port I use the 'power to swm' port on the PI, ok what would then connect to the Siginal to IRD (being I'm not connecting it to a reciever now?)


Because I believe you have the Genie & HR24 in the same room. I quote . . . .



> Main Floor (simply put each has a RG6 cable from the nearby wall jack going into the two DVR's.
> Genie HR44 *(5 Tuners)*
> HR24-500 *(2 Tuners)*


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Drucifer said:


> Because I believe you have the Genie & HR24 in the same room. I quote . . . .


Correct! Yes sorry If I wasn't clear but I do have two cables going to two separate wall jacks. I use to have 4 cables coming out of my wall for the 4 tuners back in the day before SWM.

Well I basically followed the diagram shared by Bill Broderick. I connected the PI directly to the Multiswitch power port. From the SW1 port a cable runs directly to the upstairs to the Genie (no splitter anywhere). From Sw2 it connects to the splitter and then and from the splitter 6 cables to the other units and the deca.

But wait, there is more.......
Tonight my wife was watching tv upstairs and daughter downstairs on the Genie. It appeared all (or at least 3 of the 4) rebooted at the same time. Heck, upstairs the tv even turned off. Nothing in the rest of the house lost power or anything! 30 minutes later the upstairs receiver rebooted again. So now I'm a little nervous. On the splitter(msplit8r1) there looks to be label marked area on a few ports DC power bypass which I did have one cable connected to. Hopefully that would be the cause?

Mark


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

So, I take it you never tried post 17?


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

No I felt I was too far down the road to turn around and start over without trying a few other things first per other suggestions before I acted upon your suggestion. If I see any further issue with the rebooting of receivers then your plan is next! Back to square 1. Thanks. I'm thinking having one of my cables connected to the dc power pass on the splitter might have caused the reboots.


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Well after a weekend of TV action it appears I have resolved my issue! Thanks everyone for both educating me and your helpful suggestions! I really appreciate it. Great great resource this DBSTALK is!


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

markman07 said:


> Well after a weekend of TV action it appears I have resolved my issue! Thanks everyone for both educating me and your helpful suggestions! I really appreciate it. Great great resource this DBSTALK is!


Mind sharing your solution?


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

peds48 said:


> Mind sharing your solution?


Sure I essentially moved the Genie to to it's own SWM port - SW1 and then all the other connections went through the splitter connected to SW2 (which drives the 6 tuners/3 HDVRs and the DECA). I then took my PI and connected it directly to the PWR port on the SWM. My last issue after re-configuring the SWM setup was that I had inadvertently connected one of the cables on my spitter to the 'dc power pass' port which wasn't needed and actually caused my DVRs to reboot a few times. Moved that cable to another open port on the splitter and since then things have been working swimmingly! Couldn't have done it without the great folks here!


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

Using the Power Passing Port on your splitter shouldn't have caused the DVR's to reboot. Although, I guess that anything is possible.

I just don't want other people to read this thread and think that they can only use 3 of the 4 outputs on a 4 way splitter because one of the outputs is a power passing port.


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## markman07 (Dec 22, 2005)

Whatever the reason, I haven't any issues with rebooting since then. Not that it means anything but in my case it was a 8 port splitter not 4... Just for clarification.


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