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Still having problems with our DirecTv DVR. Contacted the Potomac Edison to have the power to my house checked and it was discovered that one of the lines to my meter socket was burned out thusly reducing power to one side of my house. We thought that this was reason why we've been getting power surges in certain rooms (basically where our DirecTV receivers are)and we were hoping that this had resolved our problems with DirecTV. Guess What??? Despite (now) 4 electricians and my meter socket being replaced at our expense, not the electric company because you would think that with the meter belonging to the electric company that it would be their responsiblity, but it's not. Anyway, the DVR is still constantly shutting down and rebooting it self and my 42" Sony Bravia. DirecTV still insists that I have an electrical problem and that if it's not resolved no matter who we use whether it's DISH or Comcast, the receivers will continue to shut down. Is anyone else experiencing these problems??? I just can't beleive that I'm the only one!!!
the way CPSenergy works out here, anything leading UP TO and INCLUDING your breaker box outside is the responsibility of CPS. AFTER the breaker box, its your responsibility. i can see the sockets INSIDE and wiring INSIDE your house being your responsibility, but your actual meter should be the responsibility of the power company.
RE: direc tv - why havent you cancelled? i sort of agree with DTV though, in that your tv (was mentioning the brand name really necessary? i have a 47" bravia if it matters...) and dvr box rebooting at the same time would make me lean towards an electrical issue as well. OR, it could be that the surge bar (you DO have one hooked up to your tv and not just an extension cord with extra outlets, right?) is going bad.
or, if the TV is hooked up to the aux power socket on the DVR (most have this feature), that would also explain why the tv is rebooting when the DVR is. so to recap:
check the surge bar
ensure that the tv is plugged into the surge bar, NOT the dvr.
insist that your local power company come out and test your lines and attempt to explain why one side of your house (thats what i get from your posts at least..) is 'rebooting' and the other side isnt
on a final note:
are you a tenant or owner? if the former, contact your landlord and ask him to send out his maintenance guy. if an owner, see my short list ^^^ up there.
Just an observation. I have 2 dvr's with my local cox cable company, and have never had an issue with them. Additionally, I pay nothing extra for my HD, and if I EVER have a problem with the box, they will come and replace it at no cost, with a single call.
Still having problems with our DirecTv DVR. Contacted the Potomac Edison to have the power to my house checked and it was discovered that one of the lines to my meter socket was burned out thusly reducing power to one side of my house. We thought that this was reason why we've been getting power surges in certain rooms (basically where our DirecTV receivers are)and we were hoping that this had resolved our problems with DirecTV. Guess What??? Despite (now) 4 electricians and my meter socket being replaced at our expense, not the electric company because you would think that with the meter belonging to the electric company that it would be their responsiblity, but it's not. Anyway, the DVR is still constantly shutting down and rebooting it self and my 42" Sony Bravia. DirecTV still insists that I have an electrical problem and that if it's not resolved no matter who we use whether it's DISH or Comcast, the receivers will continue to shut down. Is anyone else experiencing these problems??? I just can't beleive that I'm the only one!!!
If your TV says you have an electrical problem, have an electrician come out and verify that you don't have neutral and ground reversed.
Reboots could be caused by flaky power. Could be a bad receptacle or the power coming into the house. I put a relatively inexpensive UPS between the wall outlet and my HD/DVR receiver, mainly because it takes forever to boot back up, even when the power drops for a split second. It might be worth a try if you are getting a lot of reboots. If it doesn't fix it, you can always use it on your computer.
yes, we have a surge bar that the TV is plugged into and yes since my last entry we have cancelled DirecTV and now have DISH. Unfortunately DISH is now doing the same thing. The receiver and TV shut down but not as frequently as what DirecTV as doing. Now, the TV sometimes shuts down without the receiver. I know that DISH is using the same wiring as DirecTV. Since we've gotten the damaged meter socket replaced, the power surges have stopped, but now having the same issues with DISH. Sometimes when the garage doors close, the receiver reboots and other times when we activate the alarm system, the receiver will shut down and reboot, but according the the 4 electricians that have been to the house, they all have said that my house does not have an electrical problem. All of them checking the neurals and grounding wires, said everything was secure and tight, no problems with either of them. And yes, we own the house which was built in 1994.
yes, we have a surge bar that the TV is plugged into and yes since my last entry we have cancelled DirecTV and now have DISH. Unfortunately DISH is now doing the same thing. The receiver and TV shut down but not as frequently as what DirecTV as doing. Now, the TV sometimes shuts down without the receiver. I know that DISH is using the same wiring as DirecTV. Since we've gotten the damaged meter socket replaced, the power surges have stopped, but now having the same issues with DISH. Sometimes when the garage doors close, the receiver reboots and other times when we activate the alarm system, the receiver will shut down and reboot, but according the the 4 electricians that have been to the house, they all have said that my house does not have an electrical problem. All of them checking the neurals and grounding wires, said everything was secure and tight, no problems with either of them. And yes, we own the house which was built in 1994.
Wanda; if you'd like; I can email my son. What model receivers did you have? We have 3 different types & have no problems at all.
What I'm reading; it does sound like you have an electrical problem somewhere in the house. This is why I feel this way-
DirecTV still insists that I have an electrical problem and that if it's not resolved no matter who we use whether it's DISH or Comcast, the receivers will continue to shut down &
we have cancelled DirecTV and now have DISH. Unfortunately DISH is now doing the same thing. The receiver and TV shut down but not as frequently as what DirecTV as doing. Now, the TV sometimes shuts down without the receiver
My guess is that it will start doing it more frequently as your electric issue starts burning the boxes out.
When you say it's using the same wiring; the only wiring it should be is I think called co-ax cable which is only carrying a signal. The other wiring they would share is electrical. Do you have a neighbor that will let you run an extension cord from their house to one room of yours? This is the easiest way to rule it out. Plug the box & TV into the extension cord & see if it still happens. Chances are it will not; unless your electric problem has started burning the new boxes out
We came from a house that was built in the early 70's. We know that someone added an addition (or 2) at some point. The wiring was screwy. We'd have parts of 2 rooms on one thing & parts of other rooms on another; electric made no sense. At one point we decided to sell the house instead of rewiring. We started having a lot of issues until one day my front room & part of my bedroom went out. The issue turned out to be the outside outlet where my hub plugs the boat into. Another was the outlet our fridge was plugged into fried. Another time we were emptying the attic into storage & found more wiring issues. The other thing is the outlets or light switches can be wired wrong. I'm almost positive there is a $15 plug thing that you can get from Depot that plugs into the outlet & will tell you if it's wired right.
What can happen is mice; squirrels will nibble it just enough so that it does weird things like what you're seeing until it finally fully zaps. Outlets can also weaken over time depending on how well they were installed to begin with.
I don't see a home electric section; but you need to figure out where to turn before something happens in your home. Do you know if you have a local community facebook group page? If so; you may try asking a question on it to see if anyone else is having the same issue. Possible you share the same builder or electrician that wired the house.
Say you picked one room to rewire; the one with the expensive TV. If that solves the problem in that room; then you know your wiring has been compromised in the rooms. How old is your breaker box? Do you ever throw switches? We have an over load issue in our new home where the basement & garage are on the same wiring. If we plus the garage fridge in plus my hubs compressor; both areas lose electric. We're told we have to upgrade something in the box to hold a higher load.
Yes, I believe that they do share the co-ax cable and unfortunately, our houses are on two acre lots so we would have to use a lot of extension cords but according to our electric company, two other homes besidess mine share the same electrical unit and they have no problems. All the homes were built by the same small local builder but electricians, who knows because he used subcontractors and once he didn't pay them, they'd leave and wouldn't finish the jobs.
Prior to the issues we had with DirecTV, the only issue we had in the house was only in the basement. Anytime the vacum cleaner would start, the power would go out and I would have to go inside the breaker box and reset the breaker. This would happen everytime unless the lights were out. As long as the lights were out, the power wouldn't blow. Another issue we have also in the basement is that the blue electrical light switch going down the stairs (our basement isn't finished) that actually turns on the light crackles and the lights flicker when the actual light switch is touched. Now, it pretty much doesn't turn the basment light so once I'm in the basement, I have to stumble in the dark and go across the room to use the other light switch inorder to turn on the basement light.
I'll try going to Home Depot or Lowes and look for the plug in that you're making reference of
Our breaker box is the same age as our house, going on 17yrs old which the electricians say is still solid and tight, showing no problems. Again, the only switch it throws is the basement and as long as the lights and humidifier is off it won't trip. A friend of mine also suggested having the electric comapny place a surger on the outside of my house. She told me that it's only an additional $5.00 per month added to the bill. Another friend suggested adding a dedicated line strictly for DISH so that DISH is the sole thing on it.
It's obvious that something is majorly wrong with the power in your house. I hope you didn't cancel DirecTV just because of the power issue, because it sounds like they told you exactly what was wrong. If anything DirecTV alerted you to something that could potentially cause your house to catch fire. Anytime you are having breakers flip just because you are using a vacuum cleaner something isn't right. It might not be something that an electrician can find with a basic assessment. It will most likely take them getting all the way into rewiring the entire house before they would stumble upon the problem, which is probably somewhere behind a wall on the side of your house that has all these problems. This could potentially be extremely expensive, but it's probably also a safety issue. I'm not sure about this, and it may depend on the laws in your state, but it sounds like something wasn't done up to code. The cost could possibly fall back on the builder or home inspector that didn't find the issue when he inspected your home before you purchased it. That is their job, so you may have grounds for a lawsuit. I'm not a lawyer and have no idea if I'm correct about that, though. I'm just trying to offer any possible solution other than you having to pay to rewire your house.
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