# Error 771 on ESPNHD Channels 206/209 (HR21)



## DrewM (Feb 11, 2007)

I'm getting a "Searching for Satellite Signal" error 771 on these two channels...DirecTV customer support told me that it was a known problem that engineers were working on, but it took the guy 25 minutes of troubleshooting my receiver before he told me that, so my confidence in him was pretty low.

Anyone else having a problem with 206/209?


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

No. Not at all. Other channels out as well?


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

Those ESPN channels are beamed from 99º(c), so check your signal readings there and let us know what you find ....

Please post back with your signal readings for each satellite's transponders (and both tuners if applicable). You'll find these readings under "Menu" -> "Setup" -> "System Setup" -> Satellite -> "View Signal Strength".

Fill in your readings for each satellite and tuner using these examples. A properly aligned dish will show 80-90s on most of the relevant transponders (although some will be low or zero):

Satellite transponders (32 total at 101º)
[Most of your standard definition channels are beamed from 101ºW]
1-8 # # # # # # # #
9-16 # # # # # # # #
17-24 # # # # # # # #
25-32 # # # # # # # #

Satellite transponders (3 total at 110º)
[Several HD channels are beamed from 110ºW]
1-8 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA #
9-16 NA # NA # NA NA NA NA

Satellite transponders (11 total at 119º)
[A few HD channels, local SD channels, and Spanish package]
17-24 NA NA NA NA NA # # #
25-32 # # # # # # # #

Satellite transponders (6 total at 99º(s)) [or 99º(b)]
[Local HD channels for some cities]
1-8 # # # # # # NA NA
9-16 NA NA NA NA NA NA # #
17-24 # # # # # # # #
[Note: these can be very slow to appear]

Satellite transponders (14 total at 99º(c)) [or 99º(a)]
[New national HD channels]
1-8 # # # # # # # #
9-16 # # # # NA NA NA NA
[Note, these can be very slow to appear]

Satellite transponders (16 total at 103º(s)) [or 103º(a)]
[Local HD channels for some cities]
1-8 # # # # # # NA NA
9-16 NA NA NA NA NA NA # #
17-24 # # # # # # # #
[Note, these can be very slow to appear]

Satellite transponders (16 total at 103º(c)) [or 103º(b)]
[Most national HD channels]
1-8 # # # # # # # #
9-16 # # # # # # NA NA
17-24 # NA NA NA NA # NA NA


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## rtisovec (Aug 31, 2008)

I have had the same problem with these espn's as well as my locals. I am a new intall as of 1 week ago and had the tech out to realign this weekend. The problem seems intermittent and the realign, which he said wasn't off by that much, didn't solve the problem. I have a slimline 5 and the hr21-700. I can get these channels on my nonhd and my other 2 hd boxes, but not on my HD-dvr. Swapping the cables in the back fixed the problem as long as I didn't use the DVR. I am starting to suspect that it is a tuner problem, and they are sending out a new box, which I'll probably get tuesday of wednesday. I'll let you know how it works out. There are other instances of similar on the HD-DVR area, but there doesn't seem to be a solution, but one guy had his LNB swapped out and that seemed to help, but time will tell.


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## Blacklabel (Sep 1, 2008)

rtisovec said:


> I have had the same problem with these espn's as well as my locals. I am a new intall as of 1 week ago and had the tech out to realign this weekend. The problem seems intermittent and the realign, which he said wasn't off by that much, didn't solve the problem. I have a slimline 5 and the hr21-700. I can get these channels on my nonhd and my other 2 hd boxes, but not on my HD-dvr. Swapping the cables in the back fixed the problem as long as I didn't use the DVR. I am starting to suspect that it is a tuner problem, and they are sending out a new box, which I'll probably get tuesday of wednesday. I'll let you know how it works out. There are other instances of similar on the HD-DVR area, but there doesn't seem to be a solution, but one guy had his LNB swapped out and that seemed to help, but time will tell.


i have also had this problem and i have had two techs come out and nothing changed they even moved my dish. My signals are good probably could be better lowest probably in the 70's. 
It seems when i get this 771 its almost always on tuner 2 and the difference between the strength's are as high as ten points if i switch cables the problem goes over to other tuner. For some reason i never thought to change cables and leave the bbc's alone so today i did that and tuner 2 stayed the same so im thinkin the bbc is at the very least part of the problem. i would try that if you havent already to rule out the possibility of it being a tuner problem.


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## rtisovec (Aug 31, 2008)

Blacklabel said:


> i have also had this problem and i have had two techs come out and nothing changed they even moved my dish. My signals are good probably could be better lowest probably in the 70's.
> It seems when i get this 771 its almost always on tuner 2 and the difference between the strength's are as high as ten points if i switch cables the problem goes over to other tuner. For some reason i never thought to change cables and leave the bbc's alone so today i did that and tuner 2 stayed the same so im thinkin the bbc is at the very least part of the problem. i would try that if you havent already to rule out the possibility of it being a tuner problem.


Switching cables for me solves the problem most of the time, but this morning it didn't. I usually move the BBC and the cable at the same time/just disconnect directly from the back of the box. My new Slimline 5 (8 days since initial install) was realigned this weekend and I'm told it was minimally off. One thing that I have caught is that when looking at signal strength, when flipping between tuner 1 and 2, occasionally the first 2 transponder levels are 0 on tuner 2, and in the 90's on tuner 1. I've caught this sometimes, but not always. That would make sense if the stations in question (my locals and espn's) are on the first couple of sets of transponders. The other thing that seems curious is that I can often "fix" the problem by recording live tv on a "working" channel and then go to the 771 error channel, seemingly by changing tuners. I am wondering if there is a tuner software error or some intermittent problem with tuner 2. It doesn't always happen, it doesn't always fix itself by moving the cables (I had to red button reset to fix it this am), and like you, it seems to be on tuner 2. I wonder if somehow the box is getting wrong info on where to find the station and 771's because it is looking in the wrong area.

Direct is sending me a replacement HD DVR "next day" so I'll keep you updated on how the new hardware does.

Also, is there a way to get the dish to not recognize 110 and 119 transponder areas? As I don't use these in my area (locals spot beamed on 103), I wonder if this would be a possible workaround in case there is a bad set of info coming off 119's guide.


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## Blacklabel (Sep 1, 2008)

Im not sure how to make it not recognize certain satellites im pretty new to most of this stuff mostly because with my old sd setup i never had any problems and never had to trouble shoot anything on my own. 

I would try to switch your cables and leave your bbc's alone that way you can rule out the possibility of a bad bbc because even if you get a new reciever it will still have that problem if you have a bad bbc.


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## rtisovec (Aug 31, 2008)

Blacklabel said:


> Im not sure how to make it not recognize certain satellites im pretty new to most of this stuff mostly because with my old sd setup i never had any problems and never had to trouble shoot anything on my own.
> 
> I would try to switch your cables and leave your bbc's alone that way you can rule out the possibility of a bad bbc because even if you get a new reciever it will still have that problem if you have a bad bbc.


The 2 things that fix it temporarily is unplugging the cable and reinserting it on the same input, oddly enough as well as recording one hd channel like 206 and then changing to a local. New box should come by next day air tomorrow, so we'll see if it is related to the box itself. I haven't tried moving the cable without the bbc because even unplugging and plugging it back in at the same input fixes it.


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## rtisovec (Aug 31, 2008)

Received 2 new receivers (one by accident) and no problems so far, may be a bad tuner or batch of hr21-200's. These are 21-100's. It's good to know that I have a spare for a few days before I need to send it back in case the current one goes bad over the weekend.


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## Blacklabel (Sep 1, 2008)

good to hear that the new one fixed your problem, i didnt wanna jump the gun and ask for a new receiver to just find out that it wasnt the problem after all so hopefully when the bbc gets here it will take care of the problem.


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## jestes22 (Sep 12, 2008)

Are there any updates from Directv on this issue? I got my Directv HD installed last saturday and have been having the same problems, but only on ESPN and ESPN2. The rest of my HD channels are fine. The problem is having is tuner 2 also. I've been having some skipping/freezing issues, but it wasn't that bad until tonight.


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## powerplay (Jun 3, 2003)

I am not having this problem with ESPN, but all of my locals and many other HD channels, as well as, AMC which is SD. It is not just unique to one receiver either.


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## jestes22 (Sep 12, 2008)

I played with the dish alignment some this morning and bumped the signal strength almost 15%. My overall signal was 80% and sat 99 was 59, but sat 99 is up around 72-73% now. Should it be in the low 70's or somewhat higher? Tuner 1 and 2 are like 92-93%.


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## compnurd (Apr 23, 2007)

You want to be in the 80's to 90's. With the 99/103, 80's to 90's wont matter too much as both will get knocked out if they are going to. 101/110/119 hold stronger with higher levels


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## powerplay (Jun 3, 2003)

powerplay said:


> I am not having this problem with ESPN, but all of my locals and many other HD channels, as well as, AMC which is SD. It is not just unique to one receiver either.


I have this condition on all three of my receivers, 2 - HR20-100s and 1- HR21-100. I checked the Sat signals on all 3 units and all of my even number transponders are zero, odd numbers are normal on 101 and 99c. This is for both tuner 1 and 2. The other satellites are OK. I swapped cables and BC around individually and it made no difference. Do you think this is a problem with the multi-switch? It has been this way for a few days and the RBR doesn't help.


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

powerplay said:


> I have this condition on all three of my receivers, 2 - HR20-100s and 1- HR21-100. I checked the Sat signals on all 3 units and all of my even number transponders are zero, odd numbers are normal on 101 and 99c. This is for both tuner 1 and 2. The other satellites are OK. I swapped cables and BC around individually and it made no difference. Do you think this is a problem with the multi-switch? It has been this way for a few days and the RBR doesn't help.


Switch (external) or the switch (in the LNB) most likely.


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## fikuserectus (Aug 19, 2006)

I'm having this issue with my hr20-100 and h20-100 receiver. Directv moved my dish to a much better location. It has helped a bit. I might end up asking for a new receiver.


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## ceagan (Nov 3, 2008)

I am having the same problems and my values for 99a are all zeros. Do I need to get Directv to come out and re-align the dish? They seem to want $80 just to come out and see. Personally, I think this is stupid since I've never had the cable company charge that much to come out for anything. Is there something I can try myself to get this working again?

I have already checked and rechecked all the connections from the receiver to the dish and I have reset the receiver using the red reset button numerous times.


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## ansky (Oct 11, 2005)

I get random 771 issues (usually tuner 2). It is definitely not an alignment problem for me - I get 95+ on all sats. I usually just change the channel and the problem goes away. And it usually only happens on certain channels.


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## ceagan (Nov 3, 2008)

ansky said:


> I get random 771 issues (usually tuner 2). It is definitely not an alignment problem for me - I get 95+ on all sats. I usually just change the channel and the problem goes away. And it usually only happens on certain channels.


I have not seen either channel come in for 3 weeks now. What do you mean when you say tuner 2? I have an HD receiver and I only see one coaxial input labeled Sat on the back.


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## ansky (Oct 11, 2005)

ceagan said:


> I have not seen either channel come in for 3 weeks now. What do you mean when you say tuner 2? I have an HD receiver and I only see one coaxial input labeled Sat on the back.


I'm talking about the HR20 DVR. It has 2 tuners (2 coax inputs).


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I'm moving this to the HD DVR forum.


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## smimi10 (May 22, 2006)

Just as another data point, I too, have this problem. However, I am using an HR20-700. I didn't experience it until 0x290 was released. Anyway, DirecTV is telling me the same thing they are telling the OP.


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## MartyS (Dec 29, 2006)

DrewM said:


> I'm getting a "Searching for Satellite Signal" error 771 on these two channels...DirecTV customer support told me that it was a known problem that engineers were working on, but it took the guy 25 minutes of troubleshooting my receiver before he told me that, so my confidence in him was pretty low.
> 
> Anyone else having a problem with 206/209?


I had the same problem last night on 206... during the Redskins game. I went to 73 and everything was fine.

This morning all is OK.


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## Podkayne (Nov 1, 2007)

Here's a workaround I posted on another thread:

The workaround mentioned earlier works fine for me:

1) Try to view a channel while on Tuner 2 and get the "771" message.
2) Change channels to any one that you can get. I usually just go to Fox News on 360 because that one is unaffected.
3) Start recording it. This locks Tuner 2 on that channel.
4) Change channels back to the one you were trying to view or hear, in the case of XM music. You're back on Tuner 1 and you're fine.

This is a bit kludgy, but at least regains ability to view channels that are "intermittently" blocked, but poses another issue if the HR20 is already busy recording a show on Tuner 1. You would then have to go to the recording, stop and save it, back out to Tuner 2, change channels to the one that was recording on Tuner 1, and then go to step 3 above.

I wish this could get fixed somehow.


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## a k (Jan 1, 2008)

I have all "0"s on sat 99c and I get ESPN HD but sometimes Fox news 360HD gives me 771. What's up?


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## a k (Jan 1, 2008)

power said:


> I have this condition on all three of my receivers, 2 - HR20-100s and 1- HR21-100. I checked the Sat signals on all 3 units and all of my even number transponders are zero, odd numbers are normal on 101 and 99c. This is for both tuner 1 and 2. The other satellites are OK. I swapped cables and BC around individually and it made no difference. Do you think this is a problem with the multi-switch? It has been this way for a few days and the RBR doesn't help.


I had this problem and thought it was the switch but a Chipmunk ate thru one of my 4 down leads from sat going to the switch.


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## ansky (Oct 11, 2005)

Podkayne said:


> Here's a workaround I posted on another thread:
> 
> The workaround mentioned earlier works fine for me:
> 
> ...


You don't even need to go through all that. I just change the channel 1 or 2 times and then back to the original channel and the problem goes away.


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