LNB incompatible or defective card?

[jmah98]

Hi all,

I've just bought a 6981 card to use with a home-built HTPC based on a Zotac ION Synergy G motherboard. While setting it up, I've run into a really odd problem which I'd appreciate some thoughts on.

I initially connected the card to my Sky single-feed dish and LNB (pointing at 28E, for non-UKers). This dish works fine with two different Sky boxes and an FTA receiver; however, when connected to the 6981, on either tuner, the 6981 will only tune to or scan transponders on or above 11720 MHz. This has been confirmed using both TBSviewer and DVBDream, under both WinXP and Win7, using driver versions 2.0.0.11 (on the CD) and 2.0.0.14 (on the website). (NB: I have not tried everything under both OSes, just enough to convince me the OS & driver aren't the issue.) This initially led me to believe that the card is faulty (possibly a low/high band switch issue).

However, I also have a second small separate dish which feeds into another room. If I move the HTPC to that room and connect the 6981 to that dish, everything works fine: I can pick up FTA channels across the entire frequency range

I therefore wonder whether the 6981 is simply incompatible with the LNB on the Sky dish, which is not serious in itself as I intend to replace the LNB with a quad LNB so I can run the 6981 and the Sky box simultaneously, or whether the 6981 is somehow deficient/faulty, in which case I need to get it back to Amazon UK ASAP for replacement. Is it even posible for an LNB and tuner to be incompatible these days? The LNB is quite old -several years I guess.

Any thoughts? Ideas for other tests I could try or workarounds/fixes would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

[cody]

hi, at least based on the tests you have run it seems more reasonable to assume that there is some problem/incompatibility with the LNB on your Sky dish and how its band switching is controlled, because with the LNB on your other dish everything seems fine, which rules out problem in 22 kHz tone circuit of your TBS 6981 hardware for sure, because that circuit is responsible for switching between low and high band (respectively frequencies less than 11700 MHz and greater than 11700 MHz). so, if the 22 kHz tone circuit of your TBS 6981 hardware is faulty it won't work with any LNB and also 22 kHz tone control is done via one of the main chips on the board. anyway, please, try with exchanging the LNB and don't worry Amazon UK - in case it turned out to be hardware fault and doesn't work with your new LNB we can assist you to get replacement - either directly from us or from UK re-seller of TBS hardware.

[jmah98]

Thanks for your reply cody. I agree, and I need to get the LNB upgraded anyway, so will get that sorted. If there are still problems then I will come back to you. I will probably have other questions once I try to use the system fully anyway . Thanks again for your advice.

[cody]

no problem, if you have additional troubles or upgrading the LNB doesn't help, just let me know.