Gekko Test and Review

I rarely have the Gekko hang on a scan. (Though when I do, it's always at 81.1% or 81.2%) The majority of the scan failures consist of it flying through it without finding anything, then afterward I have full control of the receiver except for the fact that all subsequent attempts at scanning will fail in exactly the same way until a reboot. (It doesn't take a reboot to get out of the hanging either, just persistent pressing of the exit button. But it still takes a reboot to get normal scanning back after a hang.)

I didn't take pictures, but it happens the same way every time: it'll start out the scan as normal, saying "Single LNB with Vertical Polarity", then all of a sudden the progress bar will rush to the end, the mode will change to "L-Band of Universal LNB with Horizontal Polarity", it'll rush to the end of that, then exits saying 0 transponders and 0 channels found. That's not a typo, it starts the scan thinking I have a standard LNB and then suddenly decides I have a universal one. (When I had the universal LNB on, it would start out with universal, but still jump over bands and polarities.)

And yes, I tried a factory reset tonight. I scanned 4 satellites with no issues, in fact, it seemed a little faster than before (but still slow). Then on the 5th one, it blew through it. But I don't know if the factory reset had anything to do with getting 4 good scans in a row. I've seen it go 4 or 5 scans in a row with no trouble before, but then other times it'll only do 1 or 2 before the problem comes up.
 
Had the same issue here, Jim, and when it does it the first time, now, I automatically do a reboot because unless you do, it will not blind scan. Hopefully that is something that will be resolved in the future
 
Exactly the same on my anaconda. It's usually good for about 4-5 blind scans before I need to reboot it.
 
Jim S. said:
I didn't take pictures, but it happens the same way every time: it'll start out the scan as normal, saying "Single LNB with Vertical Polarity", then all of a sudden the progress bar will rush to the end, the mode will change to "L-Band of Universal LNB with Horizontal Polarity", it'll rush to the end of that, then exits saying 0 transponders and 0 channels found. That's not a typo, it starts the scan thinking I have a standard LNB and then suddenly decides I have a universal one. (When I had the universal LNB on, it would start out with universal, but still jump over bands and polarities.)

.
Click to expand...

Exact same problem with my Anaconda.
 
Regarding the Raptor...

The only problem I have encountered with blind scanning was when I had to manually enter the info for KFTL at 72W KU and the fact that it takes a few minutes or sometimes seconds to lock in (assume it's because of low SR 1666). But then again, I scanned EquaVisa from Quito on Cband with a SR 1599 on 45W with absolutely no problems. Could be a C or Ku discrepancy?

When I first received the Raptor, I had problems with a couple of lockups and freezes. I changed my 8x1 switch from Centauri to Digiwave and deleted all info from my sat file and started from scratch and my problems went away, other than the above mentioned. If anyone wants to look at my sat file I can post it.
 
The Raptor does not have the type of blind scan issues described here. If it did, I would not be asking you guys a bunch of questions.

The .fdu satellite files that I have posted here were originally made on my Raptor. Some things that Jim S. has posted makes me think that the Gekko is getting information form another tuner that does not exist. Universal is the standard satellite setting for Europe.

I have sent an email today asking when we might see some sort of solution for these blind scan issues. EB
 
el bandido said:
The .fdu satellite files that I have posted here were originally made on my Raptor. Some things that Jim S. has posted makes me think that the Gekko is getting information form another tuner that does not exist. Universal is the standard satellite setting for Europe.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about a corrupted satellite file after reading about your problem with the one in the Raptor after you set up the second tuner, but I'm still having the problems after doing a factory default. Or was the default satellite list in this Gekko overwritten at some point? I thought someone said that it didn't come with a North American list, but after I did the factory default, it had only North American satellites. Maybe we need to wipe the satellite list entirely and start fresh?

Also, I have the problem even when I use a universal LNB. It still jumps to the end of the scan at random.

The part about the bug being related to a second tuner does make some sense though, because the firmware seems to be the same in all these receivers. In some of my channel lists, and on the channel info banner, there's a "T1" icon, obviously for tuner #1.
 
You are running a NTSC boot firmware that has a North American sat file installed in it. Fortis installed these two items for us. Let's see if I get an answer to my email before we make any other changes. EB
 
Eastof111 gave me an idea! I have an Ecoda 22KHz switch within my current system that I'm using the Anaconda receiver on. I'm going to try removing the Ecoda 22KHz switch from the system tonight and perform a few blind scans using only my 4' motorized dish to see if the problems still occur. I'll then report the results.
 
Come to think of it the Ecoda 22KHz switch would possibly explain the "L-Band of Universal LNB with Horizontal Polarity" message, because it sees the 22KHz switch and thinks you are using an universal LNB when in fact you are using a standard LNB.
 
Guy's lets please try and keep the thread topic on track and in the correct area.

Gekko discussions in the Gekko area.. Anaconda discussion in the Anaconda area and so forth..
 
Sounds like the Gekko and Anaconda have the same issue though. Funny that the Raptor doesn't. I wonder if it has something to do with the Raptor being faster? Since it's a multitasking OS, I wonder if two processes are trying to access the tuner at the same time or something?
 
I found out something cool that the Gekko does that my Openbox doesn't, assuming that it's working the way it appears. From a location near 77 degrees West, my Openbox won't let me go to 15W with USALS. It'll only go as far as 17.5W before saying it's out of range, even though the motor goes farther and I don't have any limits set. The Gekko doesn't complain when I tell it to go to 15W, although I can't verify it because I can't see that satellite when leaves are on the trees.
 
USALS is designed to work only 60 degrees in either direction of 0 (Due South).
The Openbox was nice enough to let you know when you had gone over the 60 degree limit by giving you a message. the Optibox does not give you an "Out of Range" message but the 60 degree USALS limit is still in place in the Optibox because USALS does not have the capability to calculate beyond 60 degrees. You can verify this by moving your motor to 17.5W, marking the shaft at this location, then try to move on down to 15W. I think you will find the motor does not move any farther East than 17 degrees West using USALS. Diseq 1.2 Does not have a 60 degree limit so you may use the diseq1.2 feature to get the satellite at 15 West.

One thing I have found that the Optibox will do that your Openbox will not is wait for a signal when a recording session starts. You can have your motor parked at 17.5 West and if you have a recording scheduled at 125 west, the Optibox will wait for the motor to move the dish that distance. the Openbox will not. EB
 
Attached is a sat file to be used in the Gekko. Please try it and see if it solves some of the bogus universal lnb scanning problems.
I do not expect this file to speed the blind scan up, but it may eliminate some other scan problems.

Back-up what you have in the receiver before you load this sat file. You can Restore what you had in seconds if you do this.
EB
 
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Sorry, but something seems to be severely wrong with that file.

It won't retain my positioner setting. It's set to None, I set it to USALS, go to do the scan, and it doesn't move the dish, just scans where I was sitting, and when I check again, it's still set to None. Also, if I hit the go-to-position button in the positioner menu, nothing happens. Finally, it won't even retain my LNB settings if I change them from the default.
 
el bandido said:
USALS is designed to work only 60 degrees in either direction of 0 (Due South).
The Openbox was nice enough to let you know when you had gone over the 60 degree limit by giving you a message. the Optibox does not give you an "Out of Range" message but the 60 degree USALS limit is still in place in the Optibox because USALS does not have the capability to calculate beyond 60 degrees. You can verify this by moving your motor to 17.5W, marking the shaft at this location, then try to move on down to 15W. I think you will find the motor does not move any farther East than 17 degrees West using USALS
Click to expand...

I don't know how it's doing the calculations, or if it's accurate because I can't see that low when the leaves are on the trees, but it does really go down to 15W. It'll even go to 12.5W. I haven't tried any farther than that.
 
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