[Alexg]

Hey,

Turned on my Sky HD box today and all that is showing is that dark blue screen you get when you change channel (you know just that momentary screen blue you get between channels) well its showing just that and nothing else, no search bar, pressing buttons does nothing at all. There is no audio from the unit either. I've tried unplugging it, but when it powers back up again it does exactly the same thing.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[mitchec1]

Have you tried a forced update?

[Alexg]

Originally Posted by mitchec1

Have you tried a forced update?

Thanks for the reply....How do I do that?

[mitchec1]

Switch off at the mains.
Hold the back up button on top of the box and power on.
Wait until 4 LED's light up, the screen should say updating don't switch off
Sit down have a beer and wait for the update to finish upto 10mins
Box will go into standby give it couple of minutes and see if it comes out of standby

[Alexg]

Wow, thanks Mitchec, that has fixed it...

I had completely resigned myself to having to buy a new box, I can spend that £180 on something else now!

This forum has helped me so so much since 2001!

[mitchec1]

No problems, sometimes the boxes can be a little fragile.

Glad to be of help

[Alexg]

Originally Posted by mitchec1

No problems, sometimes the boxes can be a little fragile.

Glad to be of help

Yeah it's always crashing, freezing...but has never done that before

[Alexg]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but it has done the same thing again..I've tried a forced update 4 times, but every time after it has finished the update it goes back to the blue screen.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[jonnee]

Hi Alex, I just had this problem and have another suggestion that may work as the forced update, etc also failed for me.

I've had my Sky HD connected to my plasma using both Scart and HDMI trouble-free for a couple of years (because I watch a lot of older crap and my TV only supports the more pleasing (to me) 'Cinema' aspect ratio mode for RGB inputs).

Allegedly (according to Sky's helpdesk) having the two connections can cause problems. Don't get me wrong - I thought that sounded the biggest load of bullplop, but They had me do this and much to my surprise it worked!

Unplug power lead from Sky;
Unplug Scart from Sky;
Disconnect/connect HDMI from Sky;
Disconnect/connect HDMI from TV [seems surplus to me but...];
Reconnect Sky power;
Wait a minute or two;
Press 'Sky' on remote;

[out of bloody mindedness I reconnected the Scart at that point and all is still ok for now!]

[Alexg]

Jonnee,

Thanks so much for your reply, I've got to admit when I first read what you had written I was thinking nah....that won't be it... but low and behold doing what you said fixed it straight away (I too use both outputs as the scart is fed into a dvd recorder)

Your a star, I've been without sky for 5 days now and was tonight going to buy a new box on ebay, you've saved me some money

All the best,
Alex.

For the record i have just had this issue (blue screen - won't switch off) on a 2 year old Sky HD box.

I tried the forced update, but this made no change to it's state.

I then tried the other instruction, minus the disconnect/reconnect of the HDMI from the TV. This also did'nt work. I then followed the full instruction - Worked first time.

I only use one connection aswell, just a HDMI feed. So don't be put off from this instruction if your only using one feed, top marks!

[GerryH3]

Another big thankyou to jonnee.

My HD box was playing up this morning. It wouldn't change channel and kept giving an error message about 2 recordings at one time although there was only one programme being recorded.

I did the "standard" reboot and was greeted by the blue screem. I could watch recordings from my planner or from anytime but couldn't view any channels - just a blue screen.

So before resigning myself to an engineer call-out, I thought I'd check AVF to see if I could find a solution on here. I read this thread and thought....."surely not....that won't work".

But it did

[Smaug-the-Red]

First time on forum, and tought I would share my experience of upgrading the HDD on my Sky HD box (blue screen experience below).

After seeing that several people had successfully managed to upgrade the standard 300Gb to a WD Green 1TB http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000X4PJG8, I decided to give it a go. Using Copy+ http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/ and the instructions from Morlocks http://www.morlocks.co.uk/disc-change-hd.htm I attempted voiding my Warranty after only having the box for a month....

The Copy went okay using both drives connected internally via SATA to my PC, so I then put the 1TB drive into the Sky unit. I connected up to TV (without adding all the casing and screwing in the drive, just in case). But to my despair I got a blue screen which would not go away. I tried both the suggestions on this board; performing a system update and reconnecting the HDMI and power cables in the order suggested, but no success. After scouring the boards (digiguide) there seemed to b quite a few people getting blue screen in the mornings, and having to turn off there machines for half hour and then starting again. I had nothing left to lose (was expecting to have to get another machine), but after a tense 30 mins I gave it ago and to my relief the Sky channel came up. !yeah! I then shut it back down, swapped the original disk for the new 1TB and this duly came up as well. So gone form 54% free to 91% free, though not without some stress..

Good luck to all those who also attempt the upgrade.

Hi

I had the same Blue Screen problem and tried all the tricks mentioned in this thread.... no joy.
Ended up ringing Sky Tech support... and hey presto they helped.

For the record, I ended up doing much the same as jonnee says, but with the additional step of pressing the "tv" button on the Sky remote after rebooting but BEFORE pressing the Sky button.

I think its some sort of HDMI sync problem - the chap at Sky wanted to know the make and model of the tv (Samsung Series 6 LE40A656 for info...) so don't know whether its a tv specific issue?

Hope this helps someone else anyway!

[Filbert Fox]

Had the same "blue screen" problem on my HD box this morning. Half an hour on the phone to Sky & no joy - engineer booked for Tuesday. Just trying the forced update - got the lights & the message, just got to wait 10 minutes....fingers crossed!!

[Filbert Fox]

It worked!!!!!

I thought my box had given up the will to live, no whirring disc noise...nothing. If your box seems to have packed up do try this fix.

Off now to ring Sky & tell them how to fix their boxes.....must cancel my card transaction too, can't let them have my £65!!

Thanks to you clever people out there

[blackpooll]

have a simalar problem and i have tried everything listed. I have a blue screen on all the pay for channels but all the freeview channels work fine. I have had the box for about a year with no problems. rang sky and they have no idea. has anybody had the same problem and resolved it?

I have been messing myself as well b re-building the planner, running the new installation etc.

ps everything that has recorded in the planner works fine but i reset the anytime and the programs are listed but when you press play the lovely blue screen re-appears.

also which is wierd is that on sky sports i have the red button icon (on top of the blue screen) which works fine.

HELP

[shuggy]

I'd gone to tesco for a new HD box due to the dreaded blue standby screen but no luck all out of stock- A stroke of luck. I'd previously tried all the solutions here but in frustration at 2 am after 5 pints I found an old thread with this tip.
Plug out at the wall. Replug
Force reboot
Off again
Then On again at plug
BUT
Hold down tv button before pressing Sky button
Hey presto alls fine- Hooray
I really had given up.
Cant find the old thread to thank them as Im now sober. Will try again next Friday

[shuggy]

Originally Posted by CivEngCambs

Hi

I had the same Blue Screen problem and tried all the tricks mentioned in this thread.... no joy.
Ended up ringing Sky Tech support... and hey presto they helped.

For the record, I ended up doing much the same as jonnee says, but with the additional step of pressing the "tv" button on the Sky remote after rebooting but BEFORE pressing the Sky button.

I think its some sort of HDMI sync problem - the chap at Sky wanted to know the make and model of the tv (Samsung Series 6 LE40A656 for info...) so don't know whether its a tv specific issue?

Hope this helps someone else anyway!

Brill it worked. i found you on the very thread I was on. Clearly still hung over.

[stevieb2905]

Hi,
Experienced my first blue sky screen last night. Did the forced reboot, disconnected the scart and hdmi and everything worked fine - thanks for the tip. I'm curious though - the last time I had blue screen problems was when my laptop's hard drive began to deteriorate ( needed replaced eventually ). Is this an early warning that the sky hard drive is about to pack in as well?
cheers
S

[sameerabedi]

Outstanding advice!

Came home to my first blue screen this evening, knew there'd be some suggestions in AVF!

Forced update didn't work, but then disconnecting everything and re-booting did the trick! Now, was the forced update necessary, or would it have worked without?

Also, like the previous post, is this a sign that the hard disk is faltering?

[jamesking]

This disconnect everything method just worked for me. THANKS!

[Rakey]

Once again AV forums and its users come up trumps!!!

Was about to call Sky out, but thought I'd check on here first, followed the instructions about unplugging everything and hey presto blue screen problem gone

[sam_c_west]

Hope someone can help - I'm suffering the blue screen syndrome & have tried all the suggestions posted to no avail.

I subscribed to sky hd, I have a tv I brought over from Australia which has a dvi, av & video component input but no hdmi input. I got the hd box set up - initially using scart to av. All has worked fine. I bought an hdmi to dvi cable to make use of the HD (with audit through any audio cable), however when I switch the telly to the DVI/HDMI input I get about 1 minute of sky and then the blue screen. As I've said I've tried all the suggestions made previously (forced re-start, cables in & out) but still the blue screen. Any ideas? All gratefully received - thanks

[ithorne]

Originally Posted by sam_c_west

Hope someone can help - I'm suffering the blue screen syndrome & have tried all the suggestions posted to no avail.

I subscribed to sky hd, I have a tv I brought over from Australia which has a dvi, av & video component input but no hdmi input. I got the hd box set up - initially using scart to av. All has worked fine. I bought an hdmi to dvi cable to make use of the HD (with audit through any audio cable), however when I switch the telly to the DVI/HDMI input I get about 1 minute of sky and then the blue screen. As I've said I've tried all the suggestions made previously (forced re-start, cables in & out) but still the blue screen. Any ideas? All gratefully received - thanks

Is this an HDMI copy protection issue? Do you know if your Australian TV supports HDCP?

When you get the Blus Screen problem talked about here it is usualy on all outputs - not just on the HDMI out.

[sam_c_west]

Thanks for the reply Ian - I don't know if the TV supports HDCP, I'll look into the documentation I got with it. Would this be critical?

Cheers,

Sam

[ithorne]

Originally Posted by sam_c_west

Thanks for the reply Ian - I don't know if the TV supports HDCP, I'll look into the documentation I got with it. Would this be critical?

Sam

Very. HDCP is designed to stop you doing the dicital equivalent of plugging the HDMI output from your Sky box (or other source) and stuffing it into a digital recording device. The signal on the cable is scrambled using codes known to the box and teh TV. Without it - and older (3-5yrs?) TV's didn't have it in the early days - no watching the source!

[sam_c_west]

Ah. Thanks for the response. Looks like I have an excuse to buy a new telly....

Thanks very much - Sam

[cobwebscavern]

Originally Posted by sam_c_west

Thanks for the reply Ian - I don't know if the TV supports HDCP, I'll look into the documentation I got with it. Would this be critical?

Cheers,

Sam

Can't be a HDCP issue AFAIK if it was then it wouldn't show anything at all ...not sure but it sounds more like a setting on the TV itself.

If you have a Thomson box try using component outputs to see if that gives HD feed to your telly.

[ithorne]

Originally Posted by cobwebscavern

Can't be a HDCP issue AFAIK if it was then it wouldn't show anything at all ...not sure but it sounds more like a setting on the TV itself.

If you have a Thomson box try using component outputs to see if that gives HD feed to your telly.

I didn't think component was HDCP protected? He gets a pciture on SCART. It's just the HDMI/DVI link that is giving him problems.