Okay, been a long CONFUSING morning around my house.

Directv was nice enough to replace the living room Directv receiver. The old one was 10 years old (worked fine) but was not programable and I explained that my husband was disabled and could they please replace the receiver. They were nice enough to do so.

So it arrived last night and I figured "tomorrow morning, just switch the connections from the old receiver to the new one, and if I have any questions, call them up".

So I have them on the phone (thank god I did this because you have to SET UP THE NEW RECEIVER (something you don't do with the old one (you'll understand this as I go on).

So she tells me "unplug everything from the back and just reconnect it to the newer box. I did so.

The only important co-axial cable was the satellite in. I just did the switching (a no-brainer as far as I was concerned, I've been doing co-axials for 20 years).

So I connect the new receiver, put in the new Access-card. I give her the model number and all pertinent info on the access card and I should be good to go, right?

NO!!

She said: "what does it say on the screen"? I replied "It's setting up the receiver". She says "just click on "continue". which I did.

Then it gets to a screen where it says 'Aligning the transponders". Now I know all about transponders from when we had the initial set up with the Directv people.

So now on my screen there are numbers on the left that says

1-8
9-13
14-etc. etc.

Next to all these numbers were all the n/a
It looked like this.

n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a etc. etc.

It was supposed to be seeking out the transponders and all the n/a's should have been changing to 8, 10, 11, etc. etc.

Well, it just said 0.
all 0's.
She says to me "uh oh, this is not good, there is a problem with your Satellite in connection".

I said "no there is not, I jus had my previous cable box on and I got a perfect picture." She said "go and take it out, check the pin inside the coaxial cable and put it back in."

I did so, Still 0's.

She said "the only way to check if it's the box, is to take the new box, go into another room, and see if it works in the bedroom.

So Melody goes into her bedroom, disconnects and unplugs my receiver on top of my tv, and I connect the brand new one.

When it came time to the transponders changing, THEY DID.

All the 0's changed to numbers.

She said "okay, the box works. it has to be the satellite in connection."

I said "wait a minute, the only difference between these two rooms is that in the living room (where the 0's did NOT change), my son had previously connected everything with the red white and yellow things. And I did exactly the same. So I changed NOTHING in the living room. I just unplugged all the connections and re-plugged them into the brand new receiver, making carefully sure that the sattelite in cable was securely plugged in.

So I marched into the Living Room, re-connected the new box, hoping to see the 0's change to numbers. Nothing changed.

I said "let me show you that IT'S NOT THE SATELLITE IN CABLE".

I disconnected the brand new receiver and re-connected the previous one (the one that Alan can't program).

It doesn't have to be set-up, it doesn't have to load, I just put all plugs back into the old receiver and BAM, all the channels came up clear as can be.

So I said "Aha, I told you, it's NOT the Satellite in connection, because I now am getting a perfect picture (which I did before).

I then suggested "put me on hold, get a hold of one of your tech people, tell them that the brand new receiver works in the other room, but not in this one, and we don't know why, because the old receiver is working just fine" and see what he says"

She did so, then came back on the line and said "the only thing we can do is replace the new one. So we are sending you a return label and just send it back and we'll send you another one".

She was very nice.

the thing is I'm very logical. This makes no sense. to me, 1 plus 1 always equals 2.

So why would all my connections be just fine (hence my receiver is now getting a picture).

Why would the brand new one work in the bedroom? But not the living room".

Same connections. If it worked in the bedroom, it should work in the living room, right?

The only difference between the living room and the bedroom is the red white and yellow things and I asked her about this and her reply was:

The red yellow and white things are video and audio inputs and they have nothing to do with the satellite in and transponders and the signal to your tv. For some reason the new box is not getting the signal from your satellite in co-axial cable'".

Well, my friends, this about sums it up.

I'm just trying to imagine Alan sitting there with the remote and she's telling him to try the transponders. Alan would have thrown the remote on the couch, gotten up and said 'i'm going to bed".

lol lol

Any suggestions as to why this box won't work in the living room.?

Oh, guess what I'm thinking of doing? because this box works in the bedroom, I'm thinking of putting it in the bedroom, and taking my bedroom receiver and I'll try hooking it up in the living room. If it then works, I'll call them back and say "forget about picking it up, I just changed the rooms'. I ran this by her and she said "fine, do it".

And in case that doesn't work, they'll just replace the one that they just sent me.

Hope I didn't confuse all of you.

lol

well you can try this....

if the new reciever worked in the br and not the lr then, look at the cable in the br. does the middle coax copper wire in the bedroom stick out further than the one in the lr, i have noticed in the past dealing with coax that this can sometimes interupt service. thus meaning the coax in the lr might need to be readjusted for better fit. some of the ollder boxes have a shorter coax-in nipple than the newer ones with longer ones.


check that out and see if thats the case.


roger.

let us know how it goes Mel.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT SOMEONE REPLIED TO ME ON THE DIRECTV FORUM MESSAGE BOARD.

I had asked the same question and they replied that it might be the pin length.

Okay, let's say it's the pin length. How on earth do I change the pin in the middle of the co-axial cable that goes into the Satellite In section of the back of the NEW cable box.

I don't know anything about changing ends of co-axial cables.

And I'm not going to switch boxes now because the brand new box is exactly the same as the box in my bedroom.

So if I take the bedroom box it won't work in the living room (that is if it is INDEED the pin length in the coaxial cable).

AND THE PLOT THICKENS.

lol
check that out and see if thats the case.


roger.[/QUOTE]

There are little kits for the ends
- but i think if that is the case with the pin length difference, that the cable co would fix it for you or replace the cable.
Can you look at them and tell any differences ?

Ahh darn...I was waiting to find out about if the bedroom one would work in the LR or not??
{just me being the way I am I would test it just for the heck of it}

I just checked both pins (living room and bed room). They look exactly like the ends of co-axial cables are supposed to look. And the picture in the living room is perfect. So all connections are good to go in the living room . But then again, I always had a good picture. I just wanted a cable box that Alan could program.

So I gather the only way to test this is to switch the boxes and then I'll come back here and say "WOW, IT WORKED",

Or, NO, JUST SHOOT ME!!!

lol

These are the same people who told me the new DTV box wouldn't work because the co-ax cable turned a corner! They honest to pete tried to tell me that my co-ax couldn't have any bends in it at all, not even a 5% bend! I asked them just exactly how do they get ALL the thousands of cables in households all over the country that use DTV to go to the TV in a straight line from the satellite dish???

I sent the box back, got 6 months of free Sho/HBO/ Starz, a credit on my bill for three months and a new box for my time and trouble. Sometimes you have to wonder where they find the people who answer the phones.

Okay, I hooked up the box in the bedroom. It worked just fine. I came back and told her so. They are sending a man to my house in a few weeks. He'll either change the tip of the co-axial cable so it will fit into the new box, OR I HAVE NO IDEA what comes next.

I now have the plan where, if anything happens that has anything to do with Direct and they send a guy out, I don't pay anything, so that's what we will do.

I did speak to another cable guy (outside, and he worked for Cablevison). I told him what happened. He said "when the guy comes to your house, it's a simple matter of putting a new tip on the co-axial cable".

That's all I had to know.

So now we wait.

Just wanted to update.

mel

I know where some of them are LOL! My niece just went to work for a call center here where we live. She has zero technical experience, and makes about 8 bucks an hour. They read from the manual and a script for each different model they handle hahahahaha!

She was telling me the other day on black friday that walmart had sold a bunch of LCD TV's that were defective. The phones were ringing off the hook and they were not allowed to tell people to return the TV to wal-nuts. They were told to tell everyone to send the TV's in for replacement or repair LOL.

They were getting calls from where you lived Mel, and as time passed the phone callers were further and further west.