Sky+ Box playing up

M

martincooper

Guest
My Sky+ box has begun playing up - I try to record and I get a message saying please call cutomer services. I try to list my recorded programs and it says there are none. I have to do full a system reset to clear the problem, but then of course I have lost all my recordings ... This has happened 3 times in 10 days. The box is 18 months old so out of warranty. What are my options ?
I don't want to spend too much money as I intend to get an HD sky box as soon as they come out, so I think I'll just have to put up with it for 6 months... :(
 
My Sky+ is also playing up. When watching a recording, the said recording just pauses, no pause symbol on screen though and the green play indicator on front of unit goes off. I phoned Sky 2 nights ago and their engineer said that the recording in question is corrupted, and that I should delete it. Later that night I tried watching another recording and the same thing happened. So yesterday I phoned Sky again and went through a full reset and lost all of my recordings. I thought, hoped, this would fix it. This morning I managed to watch one whole recording and thought that it was fixed but later when we went to watch something else, again the recording just pauses.

I have just phoned Sky and these are the options he gave me :-
Refurbished PVR2 for £65
Brand new PVR3 for £99

I am tempted at £65 for a replacement unit but for the extra £34 I would get an extra 40GB, correct me if I am wrong.

Bearing in mind I was hoping to get SkyHD when it comes out next year.
Cheers.
Phil
 
It may be part of the recent problems that have plagued Sky+ boxes over the last couple of weeks.

They have been caused by the latest upgrade and it could be worthwhile having a look through some of the other threads about this on here to see if your box is suffering from similar problems before hading over any cash for refurbished boxes.
 
The above problems are also happening to me. It's totally bizarre, and I thought it was due to the upgrade. Engineers came out and replaced box with no upgrade on, same problem. Box replaced again - same thing happens. LND changed on dish - same thing. All cabling replaced - same thing still happening.

I've now replaced the power lead myself - and lo and behold it's working a lot better, although it did pause itself again last night and seemed to power down. All this in the last three weeks with no changes to my system, and with it all working perfectly for 14 months. Strange how these things always happen just out of the warranty period. If I were a cynical man I'd wonder if Sky didn't have a little team all ready to corrupt people's software and charge £65.00 for the privilage just out of warranty.

Totally doing my head in as to what the problem is.
 
Tony Aydiner said:
If I were a cynical man I'd wonder if Sky didn't have a little team all ready to corrupt people's software and charge £65.00 for the privilage just out of warranty.

Don't say things like that on here...there are some forum members who will not hear that Sky could even contemplate such a thing ;)

It seems strange that you have had the problems in the last three weeks though which is roughly the time that the upgrade has been around.

When you say that your new box does not have the upgrade...does it have the old dark blue style EPG still or the newer light blue version?
 
Still has the dark blue style. Problems originally appeared shortly after my box changed to the light blue sky. It has left the engineers totally baffled as well. Must say the last engineer is a great guy. He has left me his own number and seems to be taking it very personally that it keeps going wrong and is bending over backwards to help. He has even got a brand new box PV3 or something to give me for free. I've told him that it's going okay for the moment. He's off on holiday today and away for two weeks, but he says he'll change it over anyway when he gets back. What a guy!! But I can't believe three different boxes have all suffered the same fate. SOmething definitely wrong.
 
Call me sceptical then but it has become a pain in the proverbial lately
 
If changing the power cable fixes my problem i'll eat my hat (happily !) . but I have changed it anyway. Box failed again last night. It was on standby in the morning so perhaps the power did cut in the night,( I leave it on 24x7). The clock on the video told the correct time so there was no power cut. Plenty of people seem to be having glitches with their boxes since the software upgrade, but not my problem I don't think. Specifically I tried using live pause and it works fine. I think I'll have to shell out for a new box - I just tried using the video to record a program - it's like making fire by rubbing two sticks together.
 
Tony Aydiner said:
Still has the dark blue style. Problems originally appeared shortly after my box changed to the light blue sky. It has left the engineers totally baffled as well. Must say the last engineer is a great guy. He has left me his own number and seems to be taking it very personally that it keeps going wrong and is bending over backwards to help. He has even got a brand new box PV3 or something to give me for free. I've told him that it's going okay for the moment. He's off on holiday today and away for two weeks, but he says he'll change it over anyway when he gets back. What a guy!! But I can't believe three different boxes have all suffered the same fate. SOmething definitely wrong.

If programmes stop suddenly half way through, and you're not getting firmware updates, then it sounds like something is interfering with the reception from your dish. Since you've already had the dish, LNB and cabling replaced, then it must be something else. Before you start believing the conspiracy theorists, it might be better to get a good aerial technician to look for something closer to home. DECT phones and car alarms have both been known to interfere with Sky reception. Cheaper to call in a technician than it is to buy a box that you probably don't need. Another check would be to connect your box to someone else's dish, or get a friend to bring their Sky+ box over to you.
 
My box has been doing all of the above for a while. Last week it failed completely and nothing can get it back to doing anythign beyond a bog standard non plus box. So that is £65 for a call out. But to be honest since it has been givein me grief on and off for ages (and its almost 24 months old) I was thinking of replacing it - what is the cheapest option?
 
As far as I'm aware, the cheapest option for Sky+ is £159.99 from Simply Digital or £169.99 with a quad LNB.

You can get them cheaper on Ebay, but a few people have ended up with "lemons".
 
...just to look like an idiot on 2 fronts - what is quad LNB and can I set up the thing myself?

And come to think of it is it worth it given the £65 call out charge as the other option?
 
The LNB is the electronics in the centre of the dish that the cables connect to.
 
...but is it easyu enough to set up and is there anythign else I have to do - ie call SKy about it?
 
If you're careful, you shouldn't have to do any dish realignment, but you will need some self-amalgamating tape to make the connections water-tight again. You will also need to phone Sky to get the new box "paired" to your viewing card when the installation is complete.
 
...or its cbale then can I just take a new box and plug into exisitn cables then call SKy to get it paired? And is it just a case of plugging it in or is there anything else I ened to do? Sorry to be a PITA by the way.
 
If you're positive that the box is at fault, yes, you can replace just that, and get it paired.
 
For mtngoat,

When you pay the £65 for a call out, they will replace your old sky+ for a refurbished one.
Or you can get a new one for £99.

Phil
 
Nick_UK said:
Before you start believing the conspiracy theorists, it might be better to get a good aerial technician to look for something closer to home.

That would be the same 'conspiracy theorists' that said there was a problem with the latest Sky+ software upgrade but were told that was not possible as more than six people would have complained about it if it were the case.......


...now what was the count on the thread of people with the same problems last time I looked :rotfl:
 

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