fortec star lifetime ultr signal

[srour]

i keep loosing the signal every time i turn reciever off from the back, as well i lose it every about 2 hours, every time i have to blind scane it, to get sig and channels back,, so i wonder if its software issue or electroinc? if any transistor need to be reblaced please let me know?

[wejones]

Originally Posted by srour

i keep loosing the signal every time i turn reciever off from the back, as well i lose it every about 2 hours, every time i have to blind scane it, to get sig and channels back,, so i wonder if its software issue or electroinc? if any transistor need to be reblaced please let me know?

Are you saying that you lose your whole channel list, etc, or that the channels are still there but just don't work? I think you need to explain the symptoms better. However, whenever ANYTHING strange happens with an ULTRA, the most likely thing is that you've exceeded one of the memory items, usually transponders or active transponders. The best way to find out if this is the problem is to hook the receiver up to a computer via the serial line, and run the Gtool program. When you run Gtools, and upload the channel data, you will see a block of info at the bottom left, which lists the number of channels, transponders, active transponders, satellites, etc, etc. It tells you the maximum number, and the number you have. If you have more than the maximum in any category, then the Ultra will go beserk, and do things like you describe. If that's not it, generally inexpensive electronics like this often use cheap electrolytic capacitors, and often when the capacitors go bad, strange things happen. But generally, problems with the Ultra are usually exceeding the memory. If that's the case, it's best to start over from scratch. Ie do a complete reset to factory conditions, and then, before you re-program it, delete all the un-used sats and transponders. Ie an Ultra starts out with something like 500-600 transponders default, most of which are on sats you can't see or are obsolete, and the maximum number of transponders is something like 1300. It doesn't take many blind scans to get up over 1300, and from the sound of what you're describing, you're doing multiple blind scans every day. Typically, when my Ultra went beserk, it would change the LO freqs and DiseqC port numbers, etc on the sat, so when I'd do a blind scan, things would come up at different freqs, so you'd get even more transponders.

[srour]

actualy the channels reamin there but with no signal at all for all channels, if i just rescan it, i get no channels found message, so i have to do blind scan to get it back, but it dose not last for long then i start to get no signal while i watch,,,,
another concern if i do have signal and every thing work fine, then i swithc the ultra from the back switch then on again i get the same no signal message,,, can you please direct me to the Gtool so i can start from there, thank you so much in advance

[wejones]

Originally Posted by srour

actualy the channels reamin there but with no signal at all for all channels, if i just rescan it, i get no channels found message, so i have to do blind scan to get it back, but it dose not last for long then i start to get no signal while i watch,,,,
another concern if i do have signal and every thing work fine, then i swithc the ultra from the back switch then on again i get the same no signal message,,, can you please direct me to the Gtool so i can start from there, thank you so much in advance

Gtools is the channel editor that comes from the Fortec site, Download and is specific to the Ultra. However the more you describe it, the part about it going to no signal while watching sounds like either the receiver or the LNBF is drifting badly. With the Ultra, it would have to be VERY bad, because it can lock when WAY off frequency. I guess my question is, when you do the new blind scan, do the frequencies of the newly found channels come out the same as before? Ie when watching a channel, hit the " i " button to see the freq/SR, and see if the channels come out with the same parameters. I'm guessing that they're different, by more than 20 MHz. However, it's still possible that it's that memory overload thing. However if you're doing this every time, you must have a boatload of channels now. When you do do a blind scan, what number do the new channels you find have? Ie something low like 800, or something higher than 2000? Ie I just looked at Gtools, and the maximums are: TV channels 2001 Radio channels 999 Transponders 1300 Active transponders 500 Satellites 60 For some reason, the Ultra lets you exceed these numbers, and once you exceed one, it overwrites data randomly and the receiver goes beserk. The first time my Ultra went beserk, I had something like 1500 transponders, ie a couple hundred over the limit. After that, I kept a close watch on the transponder limits, but didn't realize that there was also an active transponder limit (ie transponders that have stored channels), so my Ultra went beserk a second time. Also, check to see if the satellite parameters are staying the same in the antenna setup window. When my Ultra went beserk, every time I'd go into the antenna window, something had changed, frequencies, SRs, lnbf type, etc. I had lnbf types that weren't even in the normal list of types available according to the manual (which suggests that the firmware has lots of things in there that aren't being used, or there are secret keystrokes for technicians to get into hidden menus or something). Perhaps the best thing for you to do at this point would be to reset the receiver to factory conditions and start over. I guess I should also ask what version of firmware you have in the receiver {ie System Information in the System Setup screen}, and verify that it is indeed official Fortec firmware.

[srour]

actualy every time i do blid scan i get the same channels number, no duplicate or any thing over than 150 channels that i get from 97w,
i did deleted all defult TP so i only have the G25 TP there, what makes me wonder that when i do switch it off from the back, i lose all the signal, once i turn it back on after 5 minutes i get no signal message i have to wait at least 10 minutes before the signal come back by it self, but if i turn it off for about a day i will never get a signal at all but by blind scan, actualy by signal i mean the quality, the level never changed but the quality what i do lose,,

[rainman]

It sounds like some in the receiver is getting hot and not working from time to time if you have access to another receiver give it a try that way you can elliminate all the other equipment as being a problem.

[srour]

oh yeah i am using another reciever right now, i have fortec mercury II wich i do not have any problem with it on the same dish and same settings, i guess i will stick with it at this time, one more q. do u think guys is there any battery inside there?, i never opened the case

[rainman]

Originally Posted by srour

oh yeah i am using another reciever right now, i have fortec mercury II wich i do not have any problem with it on the same dish and same settings, i guess i will stick with it at this time, one more q. do u think guys is there any battery inside there?, i never opened the case

they should have some kind of power supply. never had one a part so can't say for sure.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by srour

one more q. do u think guys is there any battery inside there?, i never opened the case

Originally Posted by rainman

they should have some kind of power supply. never had one a part so can't say for sure.

I don't think there will be a battery. I have a Mercury, a Lifetime, and a Lifetime Ultra. I've had the top of at least 2 of these, and maybe all three, and at least 2 of them don't have batteries that I could find.

[srour]

well in this case, i guess i need new one, cause its hard for me to find why this is happening, it might be a capacitor, transistor or a bower supply

[rainman]

Originally Posted by srour

well in this case, i guess i need new one, cause its hard for me to find why this is happening, it might be a capacitor, transistor or a bower supply

sounds like it since another receiver works ok and it would probaly be cheaper to get a new receiver than fix the old one.

[Ghassan]

I need to get the arabic channels, I will appreciate your help.

[rainman]

Originally Posted by Ghassan

I need to get the arabic channels, I will appreciate your help.

You will need to state the type of help you need.

[BYX]

Have you tried doing a complete reset of the box or go to the manufacturer website and get a factory default bin to reset the equipment.
You may have a firmware corruption.