No satellite signal being received...

[adamuk]

Hello guys,

I have searched the internet and this forum for a long time trying to find an answer to this but to no avail. I really do not want to call Sky customer care as every time I have done so, I have actually known more than them! So I'll see if you can help me...

Every day/other day, my Sky Plus box will not get reception. I receive one of the two messages:

"No satellite signal being received",
"Technical issue with this channel".

This happens on any channel, and the reception never comes back if I just leave the box. The only way the reception will return is if I unplug the box, or do a Sky Planner rebuild. Both of these always fix the box. Although today, the box crashed when, 'housekeeping' was displayed on the screen.

I have tried the update of firmware, by holding the 'back up' button. This doesn't seem to have fixed the issue.

Also, every few hours the picture and sound will stop for around 5 seconds, start for another second, and then stop for 1 more second, before returning to normal. This is always for the same amount of time, never for longer periods.

I don't think, in fact I am nearly 100% sure it's not an issue with the dish. This problem was occurring at my old apartment, just as it is now in my new apartment.


Any ideas guys? I don't really want to call Sky. I called them a while back and they did this system health check, which apparently gave good results.

I am a Computing student, so have a fair understanding about HDDs, and know that the ticking/grumbling noise the box sometimes makes possibly isn't really a good thing! I have a spare Samsung SATA 80GB HDD, that if you guys see no other alternative, I could try and install.

[StarmanUK]

Sounds more like an internal tuner fault rather than a fault with the HDD itself but who knows I think you are going to have to get a Sky engineer round.

[adamuk]

I feel like I am getting nowhere when speaking with Sky CC! I'll see if anybody else has any suggestions, and if not, i'll give Sky a call.

[adamuk]

I have just called Sky, and they have told me that the 2nd input isn't good enough. I know this is the case, but I never record on Sky Plus. Surely only the 2nd input is required if recording? They have told me it's going to cost £65 to call them out. Obviously, I would prefer to fix it myself!

[StarmanUK]

Good luck with that.

[Sam Radford]

Make and model number? If it's a Thomson, my money is on the Power Supply Unit.

[spike7451]

Adamuk,
Both the RF inputs are used for recording,the RF2 being the primary one. I used to get the same thing when I used my Sky+ for freeview.When the programme alert comes up,the Transponder in the STB selects the LNB feed &,if you are using it as freeview,then it could be selecting the input 2 which is offline.
The whirring & grumbling noise on the Sky+ is normal,When Sky+ came out,the amount of call outs we got for noisy HD's was astranomical!