I am trying to activate the 942 with a new smart card from dish. I have reception but the unit recycles as it searches for the satelites. I get an error message to check and test the switches. Test says they are ok but the (oo4) error message continues to pop up. Every so often the picture will come on internal to the receiver then error message (004) appears. Then it will start trying to hunt again. Dish says they can send a technition out for $100. Any ideas short of calling in a technition? I feel like I am really close to solving the problem but it just won't happen. Problem seems to be centered around the switching function (oo4) error message. Is theire such athing as a HB signal separator other than a RCA splitter? Thanks!

Rebouche,

I didn't think the 942 used a smart card, but that shouldn't be causing the problem. I'm not sure about the 004 error, but if you have a single run of coax to the dish and are using as regular splitter into the 2 sat inputs, that is part of the problem. The dual tuner receivers need either 2 runs of coax from the dish (or multiswitch), or if you have Dish Pro Plus equipment (either lnb or DPP 44 switch) and separator at the receiver, you could use a single run from the lnb. I'd start by disconnecting the cox to the tuner, restarting the box and running a check switch. Then after pulling the plug, connect 1 coax from the lnb (or switch) to SAT input 1 and repeating the check switch. At this point, the 942 should report what equip you have at the dish end, and that only tuner 1 is connected. If you can get this far and report your results, someone can help out more.

Miner

Miner, thanks for the diagnostic advise. I am away from home right now and it will be a day or 2 before I can follow up. I have 2 leads from the dish 500 a RCA spliter that merges them and a 2nd RCA spliter that separates the signal back to 2 leads for input to Sat 1 and Sat 2 on the back of the receiver. I don't know how to tell if my dish 500is also dish pro. Will Radio Shack be able to sell me the correct multi-switch or will that be a Dish product? My last error message says I only have one satellite input active. I'm wodering if I have one bad lead or if it's a switching problem? Thanks for sticking with me on this!!! Rich

Rebouche,

You can't use the RCA splitter to merge and then separate the signal. Remove the splitter and connect a single coax to sat input 1. Run the check switch and it should tell you what kind of dish 500 system you have, dish twin, dish pro twin or dish pro plus twin. If you have the twin or pro twin, you'll need to run 2 coax to the 942. If you are lucky enough to have the pro plus, one lead to the room with the 942, then split using a dish separator. I don't know if Rat Shack sells the separator. They do have some dish equipment but typically only the high volume stuff.

Also, I'm not sure Dish will even let you activate the 942 as an HD receiver, especially if it is your only receiver. It will work as a nice DVR plus you'd be able to receive OTA Hd, but possibly not the through the sat HD channels, which now number 35+ . The new dish receivers ViP models are able to decode the MPEG 4 compression, while the older dish equip only decode MPEG 2 compression, and apparently Dish is not letting new activation with the older equipment. If you have the HD package already, they have allowed the 942 to be activated for all it will receive and decode. By the way, most of the new HD programming is broadcast from the 61.5 or 129 position satellites.

Miner

Miner

Miner, Thanks again for your helpful guidence! Dish agreed to activate but as you said it will not allow me to view Dish HD. I'll use it as a DVR with many more features than my current 510 receiver. I'm going to run 2 leads and eliminate the spliters from the dish to the receiver and see if that will work better. Will let you know how I come out. Rich

Rebouche,

2 leads of coax from your dish to the receiver should set you up. The 942 is a nice DVR, even if only for SD. I do believe that if you connect an over the air antenna, it will work to pick up the local channels in HD. Depending where you live, that could be a large number of HD channels. I get 6 or 7 local channels in HD over the air.

Miner

Miner, I'm in Texas in the Hill Country North of San Antonio and South of Austin. Austin stations come in fairly well on rabbit ears and my neighbor has junked a nice tall antenna mast that I think I can salvage. As you suggested, I may have to be content with an outdoor antenna until 2009 when I probably will bite the bullet and join the crowd and renew with Dish and add their HD package. This has been an eye opening experience since I had no idea how complicated and expensive HD was beyond just have a HD set with tuners. Have you found more of an advantage to purchase or lease your equipment? By by-passing the dish and bringing the signal in over the antenna does that negate the question of 2MPEG vs 4MPEG? Hope I'm not taking too much of your time? You have been a great help!!! Rich

Rebouche,

Since the 942 has both an analog and digital OTA tuner, it will pick up the locals beyond the 2009 cutoff. The digital OTA is typically in the UHF band, go to antennaweb.org and punch in your address and it will give you info of what stations are available to you. It is very conservative in its estimates, but it will point you in the right direction. I'm not sure how long it will be until Dish completely obsoletes all the MPEG 2 equipment, probably more than a couple of years, though. If you do end up going with the new ViP equipment, your 942 will still work for a good time.

I understand what you mean about the added cost. Hopefully before too long the HD channels will be the norm and won't cost $20 a month extra.

How far south of Austin are you? I grew up in El Paso and was living in Corpus from 2000 to 2005. My sister lives in Austin and have spent much time out there. Its 45 here in Seattle and we are pealing off the clothes because it is so warm.

Mark

Mark, we have a place at Canyon Lake about 45 minutes SE of Austin. We were in Seattle in July to catch a cruise ship to Alaska. We have good friends on Wigby sp? Island. Wonderful place! I did find that I have the dish pro 500. I ifound I have 3 leads coming from the dish. I was only intending to hook up 2. The previous owner had coax run all around the house. But when moving cut it and pulled it out of the wall and left it lay in the crawl space. I need to identify three from a group of about 6. Do you know where I can find a diagram of the Dish wiring? I don't know what the 3rd wire does? By the way ask your sister about Canyon it's a beautiful recreational lake! Rich

Rich,

I've been by the area, it is nice. Perhaps someday I'll retire back to Texas.

This link is to Dish Network's tech side. There are tons of instruction and diagrams. There are photos and installation diagrams. If you have a Dish Pro 500 LNB and there are 3 Coax leads, that (most likely) means you have a Dish Pro Quad LNB that will feed up to 4 tuners. There were probably 3 tuners being used by the previous owners. I would hope they run to a ground block and from there to the various rooms (or at least at one time the rooms). You may want to remove the LNB from the dish to verify the connections and coax runs.

Mark

Mark, I'm stumped! I have run 2 leads to the 942 and continue to get a switch error. Local dealer says I probably need a new LNB or DP-34 switch. I have a spare DLB but it didn't come with a switch. Funny thing is the check switch test shows I get reception to both tuners from both sats. But, after it downloads sat. feed it switch errors me again. Reception is still fine through my 300 receiver. No techs are available until after the first of the year so no one can come out. Do you know: Is switching involved in feeding the 300? Could the 942 be causing the switching problem or the result of a problem in the switch? Thanks and have a Great holiday! Rich

Rich,

When you run the check switch, does the it show green for both 110 and 119 on Tuner 1 and Tuner 2? When you run the check switch on the 300 receiver (using the same coax runs does is show green for 110 and 119? If you have a Dish Pro Twin LNB (about 6-8" wide, it has the switch built into it. If your spare LNB is the same size, it should have a label on the front just below the white plastic eyes, and it will say what type of LNB it is, either legacy, pro or pro+. As long as it is a Twin you can swap it for what is on the dish right now and won't need a separate switch. Try running a check switch with nothing connected to the 942. The check switch would report something like a 119 and no switch, but should come through the test. Then unplug from power and reconnect to the 2 runs of coax and retry. You may try this with the spare LNB. Perhaps something went afoul when the splitter was installed.

Mark

Mark, Check switch shows green on both 110 & 119 on T-1 & T-2. Same on 301 Reciever green on T-1 and T-2 over both coax cables tested separately. After test good TV reception on 301 over coax 1 & 2. Tests say I have a dish Pro 500 Quad.
Check switch on individual inputs shows green. Coax disconnected & no inputs reports no switch. Tried unpluging and reconnecting power & got Error screen 502. 1. Problem with switch box. 2. Incorrect connection. Cause: Faulty switch box or incorrect connection. Recommended disconnecting one feed. Did that and made no difference. Don't have the Spare LNB with me. Will try the spare install later. I'll let you know if it works. Rich

I have reception and picture over sat. one but not sat. two. I stll get error message re. check switch but I up click the channel selector and I get progams and guide info. I will switch out the LDB. Thanks!

Rich,

If I understand the latest status is you are receiving programming (reception) on Tuner 1, but not tuner 2, where you get the error message to check the switch. Sounds like some progress. The next thing to try would be to swap the coax leads between Sat 1 and Sat 2 and see if the problem moves to Tuner 1. If the error moves to tuner 1, I'd be almost sure that ether the coax or LNB is bad. If the error is still with Tuner 2, there would appear to be a problem with the 942. There are some stories (not with the 942, but could be) about the length of the center conductor being too short on some of the switches. It doesn't really explain why the box passes the check switch during setup, but not during operation.

Do you have the 942 in single or dual mode? I believe you can tell by the left pair of lights on the front, if the one that is lit is the single tv you're in single mode, which is how you want to be while troubleshooting. The button to change, if necessary is behind the trap door on the right side. I'd hate to think the 942 is the problem, but if so, you could use it as a single tuner dvr, but wouldn't have gained much.

Mark

Mark, I'm away from the 942 until the 24th. Thae I'll have the other LNB to install and I'll also try switching the leads as you suggested. I'll send a progress report. Have a great holiday! Rich

Mark, other LNB installed. Get reception on Check Dish test from both Sat input 1 & 2. Exited all install & got blank screen. Clicked up on channel selector got old check switch error message. Clicked up again and got picture. Don't know how to tell if reception is through tuner one or two.

TEST SEQUENCE FOLLOWS: (AFTER NEW DUEL LDB receiver installed) in single mode:
Check Switch: Recption verified on both 110 & 119 Sat 1 & Sat 2.
Point dish: Tuner 01 - 110 =81%, 119 = 103%
Tuner 02 - 110= 91%, 119 = 103%

Install Summary:
Sat. in one - 119 OK 110 OK, Sat. in two 119 OK 110 OK

Cancel out: Blank Screen, click up on channel selector and I got Check Switch Error again, clicked up on channel selector and got picture. No more error messages?
LIGHTS: Yellow Far Left, Green third from Left.
Anything make sense? Are there tests to run in duel mode?
Thanks! Merry Christmas to You and Your Family!! Rich

Rich,

Merry Christmas to you as well. Sorry about the delay. I'm in El Paso for the holidays and have been running around all week.

If I understand and can remember, it sounds like your box is in single mode which puts both tuner 1 and tuner 2 as one unit. After you came out of the check switch and had the blank screen, the channel up and error message, then channel up and a picture, which channels were you trying to watch? The reason I ask is sometimes if I'm watching an over the air channel and it loses reception and I change the channel it will present a switch error that I press cancel. Perhaps the problem you saw was similar. If I understand, it seems to be working now?
If you were to put the box into dual mode, what you see on the TV1 output would be tuner 1 and what you see on the TV2 output (RF is easiest) would be tuner 2. From single mode, you can use the PIP (and swap) function to see both tuners changing channels on the primary view tuner.
Mark

Mark, I tuners in duel mode now and am running a second tv. So I believe I have occupied the PIP function with the 2nd TV. Haven't gotten that error message again for s couple of days. I wonder if it just took some adjustment time to get used to the new LNB. It's a duel instead of a quad unit so I eliminated the 3rd cable. I noticed when I installed the new LNB that the old cables were stiff and there were more splices in the line than necessary. I'm going to change them and reduce the splices/connectors and see if that doesn't help the installation. My main problem now is understanding the manual on the various ways you can record and view programs. Thanks for all your help! Stay Warm! Rich

Rich,

It could be the splices in the cable contributing to the problem, but I'm glad to know it seems to be working. I run my boxes in single mode so I can use the PiP, and it does make recording easier because there is no primary and secondary tuner for recording, but either way it takes a few days to get used to everything. I'm glad to hear you have it working.

Mark

Miner, my box doesn't want to shift between duel and single mode by the button on the front. Is there another way? Also, do you know what would cause an error message by clicking through the channels but correct itself when going to that channel from the guide page? Do you record on 1 and 2 both or when 1 fills up does it switch to 2? Thanks! Rich

Rich,

I think you may have to hold the button on the front panel for several seconds and then it may even reboot and then back into single mode. If I'm in single mode, recording is automatically going to happen on the tuner you are not watching; in dual mode, it is a setting to try and record to tuner 2 so that TV1 can watch TV. Both (all 3 including the over the air) tuners save data to the same hard drive so the capacity shown is the total space available. I need to think about your problem a bit, I'm not sure at all.

Mark, you were right! I was not holding the mode button down long enough. The Hard Drive had to completely reboot then it went to single mode. As I understand if you have a recording capacity reading on any tuner that reading reflects all the time you have left? Fortunately those error messages are few and far between now and I can bypass them by going through the program guide. Thanks again for your help. Hope you have a great new year! Rich

Rich,

You are correct about understanding recording capacity. The time shown is for the entire box, tuner's 1 and 2 and the OTA tuner.

As for the error messages, they aren't normal, but I can't think of what is causing them. You had mentioned there are many splices to the coax and perhaps there is a bit of marginal coax that is, when direct tuning a channel, causing a delay in the signal to the switch to change polarity. It is a bit of a long shot, but at this point it could explain the problem. I assume all the coax is RG-6, and none is RG-59 which can cause signal problem.
Mark

Mark, I don't know the difference between the 2 types of cable. Is one visibly different than the other. I mostly get error messages when I can't access certain channels, even though they do not appear blocked on the guide.
Is there a marked differnce between the Dish 1000 and the 1000.2?
I'm considering trying to access some HD progrsms. I'd like to get a HD dish before the demand goes up in 2009. Rich

Rich,

RG-59 is about 1/4" diameter and RG-6 is about 3/8" diameter. With Dish Pro equipment one is not supposed to use RG-59 because it attenuates the signal at the higher frequency the Dish Pro LNB sends the signal. That being said, I have used RG-59 coax in my house when I had my 942 connected in my living room. It worked although the signal was a bit lower than with RG-6. If the channel shows up in the guide as blue (not red or green) it should be tunable, and the error message about the check switch shouldn't appear. You would get a message about not subscribing to the channel instead.

The 1000.2 is a newer dish and LNB than the 1000. It is a much cleaner looking install as the LNB is a single unit that receives signal from all 3 positions and will feed 3 separate boxes (single or dual tuners). The original 1000 was sort of a cludge, using a twin LNB and a single LNB on the same arm using a 3 position plastic bracket. In your area they both work equally well, out here in the Seattle area they don't work for the 129 position because of the "footprint" of the transmitters. I have a dish 500, and a 24" dish dedicated to the 129 and I still lose signal every once in a while. If at some point you decide to add one of the current HD receivers (ViP 211, 222, 622 or 722) Dish would come out and install the newer dish as part of the upgrade. As a benefit so to speak (paying the extra $20 / month for HD), your 942 would most likely then receive the MPEG 2 HD channels like TNT, Discovery HD Theater, HDNet, HDNet Movies and ESPN; possibly even more. Supposedly as part of the price increase coming in Feb, Dish is going to create 2 or 3 tiers of HD programming so perhaps a base tier would be less than the current $20. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) starts next week in Las Vegas and Dish usually announces something big. It could reveal the tiers and / or additional HD channels or even an improved upgrade program. When I upgraded my 942 to a 622, the cost for me was $50 after rebate, and I was able to get the upgrade without the 18 month commitment. I still have my 942 although it is not currently active. I was using it in my bedroom and the extra HD channels are not as important there as in the Living room. Food for thought.

Mark

Mark, from your decription all my cables are RG-6. I had no error messages for a week or better now. I do have annoying blank spots in the audio. It's onlya microsecond or so and it is irregular and occurs on prerecorded or live programs. I didn't know about the Dish price increase. Thanks! I may go ahead with the upgrade. I wonder if all the folks know how much this HD switch over will cost and how much the providers will collect for the service? I know I was caught by surprise. Rich

Rich,

Audio dropouts shouldn't happen, and could be hard to troubleshoot. It could be something wrong with the box. The announcement at the CES so far is a newer, less costly HD package for $10 a month. It is all the newer HD channels that are HD complements to SD programming and the full package including the original Voom packages for $20 a month. There is also a new HD DVR called the 612 that doesn't have a TV 2 output. I'm pretty sure it will be a no cost upgrade (after some kind of rebate). The transition to Digital TV is not cheap. The $40 gov't vouchers will help those who don't want or care for HD. I made the jump into HD 4 years ago and have spent more money than I'd like to think about. But for me it is a luxury that I'm willing to pay for.

Mark