Motorola QIP7100 - No Guide or Network

[johnsmith511]

I have a Motorola QIP7100 and it says there is no guide or network, but all my channels play. I do have a long run from one corner of my house to the garage, its like 400 feet of cable. I put a powered amplifier on the line from radio shack. What do you think can be done to fix the issue?

[Hubrisnxs]

powered amp's should rarely be used, and may in fact be the cause of your woes, especially if the amp isn't rated to handle the 1000mhz and higher range (that is where the guide comes from if I am not mistaken)  so TRY to take it out, and reboot the cable box.   

you might also have to reboot the router.  the guide is internet based, so it might need a reboot so it can connect to your cable box and allow it to download.   I would only do that if the reboot on the cable box wasn't enough.

[johnsmith511]

I added the power amp because of the loss of signal streagth over the long run, how do i counteract that with out the power amp.

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[Hubrisnxs]

Well do u know what your signal strength without the amp was vs with the amp. U might in fact need it but instead of a regular amp you might need a new one that is rated 1000 mhz or higher. Can you take a look and see if it handles those. If it does then you might be able to get away with just rebooting the router and them the cable box so they can start talking to one another again.

[lasagna]

The cable amp is definitely the problem ... these are not  equiped to properly pass the MoCA signal needed to pass the internet over the Coax which the STB's use for the guide data.  

Something you could try would be ...

1. Keep the garage box and router as close together  (minimize splitter count) as possible.

2. Get a pair of digital rated diplexers (these look like splitters but actually split/combine the signal such the 5-860mhz comes out port 1 and 950-2300mhz comes out port 2 and three short pieces of coax.  TV is on the lower frequencies and MoCA is on the 1000mhz-1150mhz range).

3.  Take coax from ONT (actually from first splitter after ONT) and connect it to first diplexer.  Connect low frequency output to cable amp input.   Connect output of cable anp to low frequency side of second diplexer.  Connect together the two high frequency connections on the diplexers.  Connect garage cable to combined signal of second diplexer.

This should allow the cable amp to work for the TV frequencies but pass the MoCA frequencies without any issues.   Hopefully the MoCA signal will be strong enough without further need to monkey with it.

Diplexers can be gotten at the local home store for about $3 a piece.   They're typically found where the Satellite TV stuff is located.

Also, it should go without saying that a good high grade coax is essential over this amount of distance.    RG-6 should be sufficient -- but over that distance you'll be losing at least 8db or so, so it's important to have good terminations.

There's another option available as well, but it would require the purchase of two MoCA adapters (about $80/ea) and running a Cat5 ethernet cable in parallel to the coax to the garage.   If this first suggestion doesn't work, post back and I can provide details on how to do the second setup.   

While I have no experience with the brand, here's an example of such a diplexer.  There are numerous different brands, just make sure you get one that splits the frequencies correctly.

http://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Aspen-Single-Diplexer/dp/B0018BS728/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1294034289&sr...

[johnsmith511]

The guide is not important to me, do you think i would be fine with just getting the converter box Verizon offers? Pay a couple bucks less and no guide errors.  I feel like i ran the cable without the powered amp and i didn't even get the TV channels, i got the error message saying that i wasn't subscribed to the channels... so i think the powered amp helped but it is hindering the guide and VOD and widgets.

I wouldn't know how to check my mhz signal. 

[lasagna]

No need to check what Mhz various things are using -- the setup I describe is the same for everyone.   TV is always in the 5-860mhz range and MoCA is alway about 1000mhz.   The diplexers for satellite TV all split at exactly this range.  

A "Not Subscribed" message is different than "Not Available" ... which was it?   If it was "Not Subscribed", you may have been having a different error and the amp is not necessary.   ""Not Available" is a symptom of a weak signal.

You could go with a digital adapter, but understand that these are not HD.   So depending on your requirements, this may or may not be acceptable.

[johnsmith511]

I took the adapter out of the equation and just used the bare ends. I am now getting the guide and some channels but not all of them. II put twist connectors on the end, do you think i should use crimped connectors? Are the connections I made not good enough with the twist on?

[Keyboards]

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@johnsmith511 wrote:

I took the adapter out of the equation and just used the bare ends. I am now getting the guide and some channels but not all of them. II put twist connectors on the end, do you think i should use crimped connectors? Are the connections I made not good enough with the twist on?

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You should use COMPRESSION fittings, not crimp or twist.

Also, see my reply to your other post regarding the long run of coax you have.

[lasagna]

If the guide is coming thru without the AMP in the picture .. the the diplexer scenario I outlined earlier should solve the problem without needing to monkey with the cable terminations.    The AMP would still boost the TV signal levels while leaving the MoCA signal alone and unimpeded.   For $6 and a couple short pieces of coax, the solution could be readily at hand.

Of course a bad or poor termination could still be creating a lot of interference which the AMP might not overcome, so using the compression type connector isn't a bad thing to do as well.