# 942 with DPP Twin vs DPP44, Acq Sat problem



## netnerdvana (Jul 2, 2005)

For a month now I have had problems with the 942 + DPP Twin (119/110) + Dual LNB (61.5) + separator. When ever I do a reset (hold down power button for a few seconds) or allow the recieiver to update itself automatically the system will hang on the "aquiring sat screen" 0 out of 5, 1 out of 5 back to 0 out of 5, endlessly needing a check switch to get it to go again. Needless to say I disabled the auto update feature.

Over the last few days I replaced the DPP Twin with a DPP44 switch and now I have 942 + DPP44 + DP Twin + 2 Dual LNB (61.5 and 148) + separator. 

And ....

The aquiring sat problem has gone away. It works so well now I reenabled auto-updates at 3am. I tried two DPP Twins and they both did the same thing. Thought someone might find the info useful.

-NN
Dish 942 (L226)


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

I am having no guide updates on my 2/942s and I am using a dishpro plus twin and a side sat dish to 61.5. I got a multi-switch problem screen come up on my main 942 in my living room. I had to run a switch check and I replaced the seperator and diplexor with extra new ones I had. I got no connection on my tuner1. So I had to unplug the satellite cables and rerun the switch check without any connection to the satellites. Then swapped the sat cables and reran with the satellites connected and it all worked fine. But from that day on about a week ago, I am getting no updated guide. 

I can force one by unplugging the 942 for about 15 minutes and it will update. I can run a switch check daily and it will update. I can set the updates for like 15 minutes from now and it will say it needs to shut itself off to update the guide and it will go black and come right back up a couple of minutes later with no updated guide. I have done receiver button reboots and it still won't update. I get only 6-7 days on the guide and when I do a switch check I get one more day, but not the 9 days it is supposed to be. I turn off both receivers daily and they don't update . I even tried to disable the updates and let it update when it is off and it didn't update. 

I talked to the dish techs last night and again this morning, and they ran me through the menus, information screens etc, but it wouldn't update. So supposedly the 942 techs are going to call me back in 24-48 hours. This is going to be a real ***** if I have to do switch checks every moring just to get the latest guide information. It reminds me of when I had to unplug the 921 daily to get it to reboot to make it work.:eek2:


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## deweybrunner (Feb 8, 2004)

On your 3am updates is the guide data holding til the next 3am download? did you lose guide info with your prev setup? Do you just have the one receiver? I have dp twin+dp dual+two dp 21 switches with two lines into one 942 receiver. I have dish 300 for 61.5 and dish 500 for 110 and 119. I am not having problems with the check switch holding and not advancing. You said you tried two dpp twins and they did the same thing. do you mean this setup worked for you? or didn't. Hopefully the next download( if it ever comes) will clear up some of the ota problems!


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## deweybrunner (Feb 8, 2004)

Mike, I think this is common with the 942. From other posts, they recognize this as a software problem. Maybe, one day, we will get an update that will solve the ota guide situation. I have already changed lnb's and switches. That just helped the "slow acquiring signal".


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

I have changed out the seperator and the diplexor not the dish pro plus lnb. As far as the guide it is not updating at all at 3:00am . I am not losing any guide information , but it is not advancing day per day as it is supposed to. This is very annoying and you know that if it doesn't advance then the name based recording and search features will not work. I have 2 - 942s and they are both doing the same thing. 

I guess I could just let them keep going and not bother to do a switch check any more and see if that will force an update. One thing the tech told me is that if you have a timer set to fire in the next 30 minutes or 30 minutes ago , then it won't update the guide at night. I have nothing set to fire on either one of the 942s tonight, so I will see if that helps . Neither tech would acknowledge that this was a known software problem. 

No one from the 942 tech department has called me yet to talk about the problem. I will keep ya'll posted when and if they do.


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## ARM07470 (May 22, 2005)

My 942 never updates it's guide either. However, I've found that I can get it to update by trying to scroll past the end of the guide information. If I do this when there is only 7 days or less then the receiver pops up a message telling me that my guide is out of date and asking if I'd like to wait 5 minutes while it downloads updated information. As long as I do this every 36 to 48 hours then my guide stays up to date. Beats doing a check switch.

FYI, I have a Twin for 119 and 110 and a dual for 61.5. Both dishes are connected to a DPP44 and then a separator. My 942 is always run in single mode. I have tried changing the download time and enabling and disabling automatic updates but nothing makes a difference.

- Anthony


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## dougmcbride (Apr 17, 2005)

This is a crazy problem. I've got a DPP Twin with a DP Dual plugged into it for 61.5, single line run to the 942 using a DPP Separator. I've had the "Acquiring Satellite" problem daily (it always seems to happen between 10am - 11am) and it seemed to coincide with the installation of the 61.5 setup. I have not disconnected the DP Dual yet to see if that solves the problem as others have reported since I really want to watch the Voom stuff.

A couple of weeks ago I disabled daily updates and the problem has gone away. And, as I've mentioned in other posts, *the guide continues to get updated* even though the daily updates are turned off. Is that nuts or what? In any case, I'm in good shape at the moment.

Doug


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## deweybrunner (Feb 8, 2004)

I do not know if updates occur randomly, however, I have found a coupla times that while on the phone, and watching tv, that a message comes on the screen that I must have my phone line connected to avoid the monthly charge. This message usually will come on during an update if the phone lines are in use. I definitely think there is some interruption in the early am and another later in the day. Whether it's an update or what.?


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

The update process could include _checking_ for a phone connection, but NO type of update comes from the phone line.


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

dougmcbride said:


> This is a crazy problem. I've got a DPP Twin with a DP Dual plugged into it for 61.5, single line run to the 942 using a DPP Separator. I've had the "Acquiring Satellite" problem daily (it always seems to happen between 10am - 11am) and it seemed to coincide with the installation of the 61.5 setup. I have not disconnected the DP Dual yet to see if that solves the problem as others have reported since I really want to watch the Voom stuff.
> 
> A couple of weeks ago I disabled daily updates and the problem has gone away. And, as I've mentioned in other posts, *the guide continues to get updated* even though the daily updates are turned off. Is that nuts or what? In any case, I'm in good shape at the moment.
> 
> Doug


 I wish I had your problem. I turned my updates off as you suggested after the origional multi-switch error came up over a week ago, and for a day or two the guide did update on my back bedroom 942 , but never on the living room 942. Now neither one updates without me running a switch check. I have had my installation for 61.5 since early May and only had a switch check problem since over a week ago. I have since enabled both 942s to update at 3:00am like they were, but neither one updates. I wonder if I turn it back off if that would make it update when it is turned off?


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## netnerdvana (Jul 2, 2005)

Heh, I knew I would not be alone with the silly DPP Twin + Separator + Dish 942 = guide update/Acq Sat problem. I am so glad I upgraded to the DPP44 and now its still working very well days later. Is there anyone that has this setup (DPP Twin + Separator + Dish 942) and it works fine with daily updates & reboots? 

I can't remember if having dual runs out of the DPP Twin caused the same issue (no separator), but for those that can drill holes and run more RG6 cablewire it might be cheaper than a DPP44. Right now I have a couple of DPP Twins sitting in a box. Oh well


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## ToUgHsPoT (May 4, 2005)

I have the DPP44 and I get NO signal on tuner #2. I called tech support and was told that its a s/w problem with the 942's. I asked him if to purchase a different switch, but he told me to hang tight cause a new s/w will be spooling soon that would fix this problem.

All I have is my DPP44 and 3 DP lnb's for 61.5, 110 and 119. Maybe I missed something. But I have to check switch every day. I don't have PIP cause there's no singal on tuner #2.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

That sounds to me like a dead tuner on your 942. Try swapping the 2 cables and see if the dead tuner changes. If so, you have a dead output from your DPP44 switch. I'm currently running 1 942 from 2 outputs of a DPP44 switch, and another 942 from 1 output of a DPP44 switch with a DP separator. Both are working just fine.


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## ToUgHsPoT (May 4, 2005)

Maybe I'm setup wrong. I thought if you use a DPP44 switch you'll only need to run 1 output to the 942.

Also, what is the purpose of the "SEPARATOR?"


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## ToUgHsPoT (May 4, 2005)

Would you believe it?? My setup was wrong. I only had 1 output from the DPP44 switch to my 942. I connected the other coax (as I had an SW64 prior so the line was already there) and performed a check switch. Badda-boo, badda bing...........everything is great. Now I'll leave it as is without DISABLING the auto update to see if I will have to perfrom another check switch tomorrow morning.


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## Bichon (Jun 5, 2003)

With the DPP44 you DO only need one coax. The part that you were missing is that you need to connect the DPP separator (which came in the bag with the 942 accessories), behind the receiver, to split that single coax into two lines, one for TV1 and one for TV2.

The way you have it now should work too, just realize that you could go back to a single cable if you ever need that extra output on the DPP44 for another receiver.


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

Well my 942 in the bedroom has guide data till Tuesday, 7/12 at 6:30 pm. My 942 in the living room has guide data till Tuesday,7/12 at 630 am. I turned off the guide auto updates since they wouldn't update at all when they were on. I don't know why the bedroom 942 has 12 hours more than the living room one. Going to keep the auto updates turned off and see if they will update on their own. I am tired of doing switch checks everyday. Maybe if the guide drops down under 7 days it will force a pop up screen : " your sat guide is outdated , want to update now". I haven't noticed this screen come up in over a week.


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## deweybrunner (Feb 8, 2004)

Thinking of replacing dish pro twin with dish pro plus twin so can run single line to 942. Is dish pro dual on 61.5, compatable. If so can one line be fed from the dish pro dual to the dish pro plus twin on the 500?. Then put in separator with one line to 942. No other receivers, just 942. Thanks, just cannot find elsewhere.


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## Bichon (Jun 5, 2003)

deweybrunner said:


> Thinking of replacing dish pro twin with dish pro plus twin so can run single line to 942. Is dish pro dual on 61.5, compatable. If so can one line be fed from the dish pro dual to the dish pro plus twin on the 500?. Then put in separator with one line to 942. No other receivers, just 942. Thanks, just cannot find elsewhere.


Yes, that configuration is a common one and should work fine.


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## vahighland (Mar 29, 2005)

netnerdvana said:


> For a month now I have had problems with the 942 + DPP Twin (119/110) + Dual LNB (61.5) + separator. When ever I do a reset (hold down power button for a few seconds) or allow the recieiver to update itself automatically the system will hang on the "aquiring sat screen" 0 out of 5, 1 out of 5 back to 0 out of 5, endlessly needing a check switch to get it to go again. Needless to say I disabled the auto update feature.
> 
> Over the last few days I replaced the DPP Twin with a DPP44 switch and now I have 942 + DPP44 + DP Twin + 2 Dual LNB (61.5 and 148) + separator.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info. I've been running into the same problem with the DPP Twin and considered switching to the DPP44 setup; however, Dish Network has stated that the acquiring sat/check switch problems are software-only. I'm waiting on the next software update (hopefully this week) before changing my hardware setup. It's nice to know that this is an option that works.


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## dougmcbride (Apr 17, 2005)

netnerdvana said:


> Heh, I knew I would not be alone with the silly DPP Twin + Separator + Dish 942 = guide update/Acq Sat problem. I am so glad I upgraded to the DPP44 and now its still working very well days later. Is there anyone that has this setup (DPP Twin + Separator + Dish 942) and it works fine with daily updates & reboots?


I have two friends (referrals as well) that have DPP Twins + Separator + Dish 942 (as well as DP Dual on a 61.5 wing) that are having no problems. The one difference between them and me is that they also have an 811 in the loop where I only have the 942.

Who knows. My plan is to replace the 942 if the next software release doesn't cure this.

I also have the occasional annoyance of the box dropping Authorization which requires a call to Dish for a rehit. Starting to wonder about this box.

Doug


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

Well good news! Today I got an update on both of my receivers till Wednesday 7/13 till 6:30 pm. I quit doing any switch checks and I had disabled the auto update feature. It will only update when I turn it off. I don't know when it did it, because this morning at 3:15 am it hadn't updated , so it must have happened when I left for work around 5:00 am after I turned it off. As long as it keeps updating and I don't suffer any more switch check problems, I am good to go now.


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## dathead2 (May 17, 2005)

i fought with my 942 for over a week with acquiring signal issues for 110/119,
i checked all the cables inside and out and at least at the connectors seemed solid,
we had had a lot of rain so i also trimmed the trees again. 119 went out,
could check switch it back in sometimes, then 110 went out and could do same
trick sometimes.

finally got fed up with this trimmed the trees a whole bunch and still had it,
61.5 was working fine (and it points directly at a fully leaved tree!!!). so
requested a new LNB and bingo everything is back in action.


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## Bichon (Jun 5, 2003)

dathead2 said:


> 61.5 was working fine (and it points directly at a fully leaved tree!!!).


I'm sure it doesn't. Remember that the look angle of a dish is NOT 90 degrees perpendicular to that face of the dish. Instead, draw an imaginary line from the center of the dish to the LNB. Note how much lower than perpendicular that imaginary line points. The difference between perpendicular and that imaginary line is the "offset". Now imagine that same offset only above the perpendicular line. That is where the dish is really looking. Better still, punch your zip code in on the Dish aiming screen, and it will give you the elevation in degrees, which you can then check with a protractor. I'm sure you'll find that the dish is looking OVER the tree. I know (from personal experience) that a fully leaved tree will block reception.


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