dm800 loop through

[pau1777]

For about 2 and a half years now I have had my two DM800 STB running off one satellite with one LNB.
One dm800 downstairs and one upstairs in the bedroom. They have been working great I have my dish going into the downstairs DM800 and I have a cable run from downstairs via the loopthrough to the upstairs DM800.
Yesterday something strange has happened my DM800 upstairs would not get a signal. I went downstairs to check the signal on the dm800 there and it worked fine.
I ran back upstairs to see that the Dm800 upstairs had suddenly sprung to life! I called down to my wife to switch off the DM800 downstairs (into standby via the remote) and when she did this the signal for the upstairs box disappeared. This has never happened before. I have always been able to get a signal from the box without having to turn the box on.
I tried to move the dish as I had been able to before and nothing happened.

I decided to swap the boxes around to see if there was a tuner card problem, but to my surprise the same thing happened, the box upstairs would only work when the box downstairs was on ( and obviously on the same channel since I only have 1 LNB).

It is almost like the signal now has to have power or does not have enough power to go up to the second box.
Could this be a tuner problem, a problem with my motor or something that I am missing completely?

I have re flashed the image on both boxes (I use nemesis) and this has not helped at all.
Does anyone have any ideas what has happened?

Thanks

[echelon]

sounds like its an lnb fault seeing as they both work from one location and not the other, meaning only one is powering the lnb

my advice ? - change the lnb and test again (if you have 2 feeds)

assuming your post is correct and one is looped through from the other, only one box at a time can power the lnb so the slave box can only power the lnb when the master is in standby (depending on the image used)

the best advice is to get you to change the lnb for a twin or quad output lnb, and have separate feeds to each box, meaning the boxes can then access any channel at any time on their own independent feed and lnb output

using the loopthrough feature is never foolproof and the stanby options of any box affect this in weird ways, especially if the boxes turn off lnb powering when in standby, so sometimes you have to turn off any energy saving features in the settings menu too

[pau1777]

Hi Mate,
Thanks for the reply.
I never watch the boxes together that's why the loopthrough was the best option. (Wife has never worked out how to use the DM800!!)

Ive tried both boxes downstairs and they work fine from the sat feed. Swapped the boxes upstairs and the same thing happens, the box DM800 will only get a signal when the other is turned on. Its never had this problem before. Ive put the master box in standby and I don't get a signal from the slave.
Going to try a different image on each to see if that helps any. Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[pau1777]

Ive also put the box downstairs into deep standby, but then the box upstairs gets no signal! Ive unplugged the box downstairs, no signal upstairs. The only time I get a signal is if I turn the box on and there is power!
So strange!!

[echelon]

as I said before, the loopthrough can be affected by being in standby with energy saving mode stopping the system from working properly, and it was a common theme when it was introduced into the newer spiderbox firmwares

so the best solution is to have each box with its own independent feed, from a dual or quad lnb

if its a sly dish, the quad lnb,s are about £7 for one with a legacy adapter so the costs are minimal
then reroute the loopthrough cable direct to the lnb, or run in a new secondary cable instead

if its a motorised dish like mine is, use an inverto ultrablack dual output lnb with the main feed to your main box and slave feed to the slave box. this will mean only your main box can control the motor which means using the main box to select the required satellite before retiring to the bedroom and both boxes will have access to that same satellite and can view any channel they like

your other alternative is to use a manual A-B switch downstairs with the common from the lnb, then have A to the master box and B to the slave box and manually switch feeds as required. this retains your existing wiring but also needs a small length of sat coax with f connectors to connect from A to your downstairs box

so its lnb feed to common
new coax from A to downstairs box
existing loopthrough feed to upstairs is connected to B

before doing all or any of this, disconnect both cables downstairs and use an F barrel to connect them together, sending the feed to the bedroom box direct. now check the bedroom box works properly. if it doesnt you have a fault on the secondary loopthrough cable. if it does work then an A-B switch will also work and is your best solution to your current troubles

example - flee b@y code 190351592624

[exect]

I would suggest that you check the cable and connections running from downstairst to up, as a high resistance connection would cause this.
exect