SD Set top box not working in one location. Just displays 4 dashes in place of the time.
bozey45
Enthusiast - Level 3

At first this Motorola STB just had the lower third program info displayed and no video from the channel itself and in place of that was a screen that said "This channel not available" this on all channels; then screen went blank. I tried a working STB from another bedroom in place of this one and it did not work at this location either. So am not sure what is going on. Any help appreciated, thanks.

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Re: SD Set top box not working in one location - Recommended Tests
bozey45
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks for the suggestions; it actually turned out to be a bad signal splitter; I already had replaced a bad signal splitter on my outdoor antenna array yesterday and I think I can trace it back to a very close lightning strike Saturday unless two splitters went bad by coincidence.

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Re: SD Set top box not working in one location. Just displays 4 dashes in place of the time.
walt178
Specialist - Level 3

@bozey45 wrote:

At first this Motorola STB just had the lower third program info displayed and no video from the channel itself and in place of that was a screen that said "This channel not available" this on all channels; then screen went blank. I tried a working STB from another bedroom in place of this one and it did not work at this location either. So am not sure what is going on. Any help appreciated, thanks.


Sounds like a bad cable.  If you have a splitter at the bad location, try removing it.  I would also try the suspect box in the working location to confirm both boxes are good. Then you have to decide if you want to try fixing the cable yourself or pay Verizon to do it.

Re: SD Set top box not working in one location. Just displays 4 dashes in place of the time.
bozey45
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks, I'll run a coax to the suspect location from a working one first and see what happens.

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Re: SD Set top box not working in one location - Recommended Tests
armond_in_nj1
Master - Level 1

@bozey45 wrote:

... Motorola STB just had the lower third program info displayed and no video from the channel itself and in place of that was a screen that said "This channel not available" this on all channels; then screen went blank ... tried a working STB from another bedroom ... did not work at this location either ...


Since you tried without success to substitute a "working" STB, it does not appear that the original STB is itself faulty.  To verify, try moving the first suspect box to the location where the "working" STB was connected to determine if it operates correctly there.

If it does, then the problem is not with the device but with the location, and that means a cabling issue of some sort is causing the problem.  Either (1) the cables themselves are faulty, or (2) the connections are faulty, or (3) the connectors themselves are faulty.  None of these possibilities usually just "happen" in the normal course of events, so I must ask if you or someone else remembers making any changes in your home network wiring recently.

For example, did someone substitute for any of the cables involved, including the coax from the wall outlet, the cables connecting the STB to the display device, etc.?  Was there a reason to unplug or disconnect any devices (for cleaning, for example) recently?  If any changes have occurred, then there's a possibility that the equipment was not reassembled correctly.  Check this out as a possibility.

If you can run through these tests and report back, we can go from there.  However it it a good idea to make these checks and get data on the issue rather than merely speculating on what's happening.  Good luck.

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Re: SD Set top box not working in one location - Recommended Tests
bozey45
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks for the suggestions; it actually turned out to be a bad signal splitter; I already had replaced a bad signal splitter on my outdoor antenna array yesterday and I think I can trace it back to a very close lightning strike Saturday unless two splitters went bad by coincidence.

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Re: SD Set top box not working in one location - Recommended Tests
armond_in_nj1
Master - Level 1

@bozey45 wrote:

 ... it actually turned out to be a bad signal splitter ...


... which is precisely what Walt suggested.  Don't forget to give him credit for suggesting the correct solution, especially since he came up with his ideas without the benefit of the information that you later reported. 

Good luck..

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Re: SD Set top box not working in one location - Recommended Tests
bozey45
Enthusiast - Level 3

Yes, Walt, thanks for the suggestion; I'd forgotten that there was even a slpitter in line with the cable connected to the wall outlet. This has been connected for several years and this was all hidden in my maze of cables.

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Re: SD Set top box not working in one location. Just displays 4 dashes in place of the time.
bozey45
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks for that splitter suggestion; I forgot there was even a splitter in line with that cable coming out of the wall outlet; it was hidden in my maze of cables; I had already replaced a bad splitter on my outdoor antenna array yesterday as well as a burned coax out of the lightning arrester; this stemmed from a very close-by lightining strike Saturday.Unless this was all coincidence, guess the lightning strike was the cause of all this. At least no equipment was damaged.

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