# Can't acquire signal



## javaman (Sep 26, 2004)

I turned on my 522 this morning and its endlessly trying to acquire the signal. It was fine when I went to bed. This happened for about 10 minutes several weeks ago but that was during a rain storm. Currently its bright and sunny outside. I've tried a soft and hard reboot already. Please, any suggestions or things I can check?


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

Go to the dish pointing screen, (menu, 6, 1, 1) and check to see if you are getting any signal. While you are on that screen check your cables (inside and out). A loose (or bad) cable, bad connector or faulty LNB, switch (if you have one) or a bad receiver could be causing your problem.


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## javaman (Sep 26, 2004)

Weird. It came back finally. After about 45 minutes. It's been working fine for several hours now but I have a feeling it won't be the last time this happens.

Thanks for the tips. I didn't think it was possible to access the menu when it was in the process of finding the signal. I'll try that next time.


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## robert koerner (Aug 20, 2005)

You can use playback while it tries to lock on to sat signals.

I've discovered that my 522 seems to find the sat signals faster if I uplug it when wx drops the signals. If my unit is trying to record from a weak signal, it seems to spend a lot of time tryin to lock back onto the signal. Could be my imagination as I don't have a lot of experience with the 522 and signal loss from wx.

This time of year, we have our monsoon storms, storm cells with intense winds and intense bursts of rain. The cells can tower above 30,000 feet. As a result, storm cells south of me can disrupt sat signals.


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## boba (May 23, 2003)

While you have signal go to menu 6-1-1 and check signal strength on transponders above 11. Odds are very strong that water has gotten into a connector and the center conductor is corroding. Check at ground blocks and at the dish.


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## robert koerner (Aug 20, 2005)

boba, is there any down side to using electrical grease on F connectors?

I still shudder when I think about greasing any electrical connector. But, electronics people on the BMW K1200LT site promised me I wouldn't have any problems using it on any of the 12 volt electrical connectors.


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## javaman (Sep 26, 2004)

boba said:


> While you have signal go to menu 6-1-1 and check signal strength on transponders above 11. Odds are very strong that water has gotten into a connector and the center conductor is corroding. Check at ground blocks and at the dish.


On sat 119 the strength is around 110 for transponders above 11. On sat 110 it varies between a low of 86 and high of 110 depending on the transponder.

I noticed in the diagnostics page something called "FSCK Cause 1" and it happened about 5 minutes after the nightly phone out. Any special significance to that?

The equipment and wiring was installed about 2 years ago. Is there much involved to checking the connectors or do I just unscrew them?


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## javaman (Sep 26, 2004)

Dang it happened again and now its been out for hours. 

I checked the connections at the LNB and both look brand new. The ground connection is in the basement and well protected, looks new too.

The test details are confusing to me. The check switch is telling me that there is a problem with Satellite 2.

When I test for signal strenth I am seeing green with Tuner 1 with sat 119 and 110. When I change it to Tuner 2 it says no signal.

If one of the Tuners or Satellites is working why am I unable to see at least some channels?

---update

This is weird. During a brief time when the channel number and name of the show appeared (but no picture or sound) I was able to set the 522 to dual mode. On TV2 all of the channels are coming in fine. I look back at TV1 and its still trying to acquire with Satellite X. Bizarre that the test shows signal on TV1 and not TV2. Like its reversed or something. 

So you think this must be the 522 going belly up?


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## javaman (Sep 26, 2004)

Wondering if anyone might be able to share their thoughts on this. Still having that acquiring signal problem but I think I understand a bit more about it.

I have the 522 with 2 cables running from one dish, the connections say sat 110 and sat 119. The equipment has DishPro on it. I read that with the DishPro system, the switches are in the receiver. Is that correct?

Now when I run the switch test in my setup menu, it is telling me there is an error with one of the switches. "Satellite Input 2" shows connection good, no signal. Sat Input 1 is fine. I have a DP Twin switch according to the menu.

I am able to see all of my channels on one TV while the other TV of my dual tuner 522 keeps struggling to acquire the signal. It doesn't seem to matter which TV. It can be TV1 or TV2 depending on which one tunes first.

Would the experts agree that the problem is with my 522 and it has nothing to do with the LNB? Would Dish send me a replacement? I don't want to pay the service fee. Just wanted to get some feedback before I call. Thanks.


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## bigted (Jul 5, 2006)

Just had my 622 install last weekend and it worked fine on both tuners for 5 minutes while the installer was here, Tuner 1 could no longer get signal. Switch test indicated no signal at all on one tuner and other tuner tested good. He switched the coax inputs on the tuners on the back of the 622 unit and then re-did the test, the failure now changed tuners on the test results. He said it is the switch in the LNB. He went up on the roof again, swapped it out and all is good now.


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## javaman (Sep 26, 2004)

bigted said:


> Just had my 622 install last weekend and it worked fine on both tuners for 5 minutes while the installer was here, Tuner 1 could no longer get signal. Switch test indicated no signal at all on one tuner and other tuner tested good. He switched the coax inputs on the tuners on the back of the 622 unit and then re-did the test, the failure now changed tuners on the test results. He said it is the switch in the LNB. He went up on the roof again, swapped it out and all is good now.


Thanks for the reply bigted. I tried swapping the cables on the back of mine too but the problem stayed the same. Signal strength page shows no signal for TV2 and reception error on Satellite Input 2.


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## bigted (Jul 5, 2006)

javaman said:


> Thanks for the reply bigted. I tried swapping the cables on the back of mine too but the problem stayed the same. Signal strength page shows no signal for TV2 and reception error on Satellite Input 2.


Well if it stays on the same Tuner then I would pretty much say you have something wrong with Tuner 2 in your Unit.


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## marcopolo (Jul 13, 2006)

Hi, I am an installer in the Det. Area and just thought that I would mention the following. I have been on several trouble calls with the same symptoms and ended up swapping receivers. I tested LNBF, cabels and such then swapped receivers....bingo; one half just plain wasn't working....sometimes. I know that you don't have the luxury of grabbing a different receiver off the van to see if it works so I thought that I would mention my experience.


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## eastern oregon (Dec 6, 2004)

We had a 522 bail in exactly the same way last week. Input to feed 2 just dead. Didn't recgnize switch configuration. Checked all switches cables connections, etc.
Service tech ended up with the last resort being to swap receivers and all is well.
Weird huh?

cheers.


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## javaman (Sep 26, 2004)

Well I called Tech. They seemed kinda baffled by the whole thing but I got a replacement for the 522. I had to talk them into waving the $25 shipping charge. 

Got it hooked up and everything is A-OK!  Recognized both Sat inputs right away. So it was the receiver with a dead input.

I just hope this new one lasts more than 2 years. Thanks everyone for the feedback! Really appreciate it.


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