Box Froze and Now Un-Responsive?

[Richy23]

Hi

Wondered if you could help me as I can't work it out! My parents sky+ HD box has become unresponsive, and I'll try and explain as best as I can!

They say the picture froze one night, and then the box completely froze as well. They then unplugged the box and now apart from being able to turn the box on using the remote, it does nothing else. They can't turn it off, there's no picture through the usual source either! I've tried unplugging the HDMI cable and back in etc but no luck!

Hoping someone might have an idea or point us in the right direction,

Thank you!

[bmitie]

you don't say make and model of box, that is important but can you try this.

1. Power the box off at the mains power supply. 2. Locate the left and right arrow buttons either side of the select button on the front/top of the box. 3. Press and hold both the left and right arrow buttons in together, and while holding power the box back on and continue to hold the buttons after the red light comes back on. 4. Continue to hold the buttons, you should see within 60 seconds, the blue/green circle light in the centre of the box light up a full circle. 5. Let go the buttons then press select button on the box twice. 6. You should see the blue/green circle light moving anti-clockwise and the record and play lights in the centre flashing on/off. 7. Once the lights go off, the box will have rebooted and you will now only have the red standby light lit on the box. 8. If you can now wait 3 minutes before switching the box back on from standby to see if the fault has resolved

and if this fails you need to ring sky as its a replacement box issue, and if it has the new epg then you can blame that and get a free box

[Richy23]

Thank you, I'm not sure what kind of box it is I'm afraid - can i check that without having a picture?

Also, will the method you describe wipe programmes or not?

Thanks!

[bmitie]

yes this method is a factory reset it will wipe the drive. if you can press menu and it appears then you can check model etc . otherwise its a case of looking round the back, easier said than done. at the moment the box is dead, you could try a few more options if there are programmes to be saved. a forced software update may bring it back. you could ring sky and they may talk you through a few ideas, you could double check the remote and make sure sky button is selected, the fault you describe usually means a dead duck, sky will take box back and use the rs232 to reset it and then it becomes a re-furb. sky wont allow us punters to use the rs232 trick.

ok

[gymno]

If there's even a small chance a forced update will work, why not try that first?
It won't wipe any of your recordings.

With the box switched off at the mains, hold down the back-up button on the box & switch the mains back on.
Continue to hold the back-up button until all the lights on the front come on.
You should see an 'updating software' message on screen. This takes about 15 minutes to complete.

[MartinP]

Otherwise, we need to know the make & model number, which is either printed on the rear panel or on a label underneath.

e.g. Amstrad DRX890
Thomson DSi8215

[Isitme]

There is a good chance the Enhanced EPG has screwed it up, it will not be the first one.