Broken Sky+ Box

[Jack_155Q4]

Hi,

Just found this forum after searching for a fix for my Pace 4.008p Sky+ box.

Its lasted over 3 years so not too bad. On Thursday the box crashed so I did the power cycle thing and tried to recocr a program, it wouldnt lat me, saying:

"SYSTEM FAULT, playback and recording not available, please call us for assistance"

I then noticed my Sky Planner had been emptied (I had a film stored there for over 2 years!!) I called Sky and the fella took me through a full system reset and after that, the recording facility worked. I set up some series links and thought it was ok, but 20 mins later it did the same thing again!

Called Sky today, it needs an engineer to come out and fix it at £65 not the end of the world but it may leave me with a re-con box and only 90 day warranty.

I hear a new box from the high street retailer is only £100 with a 1 year warranty.

What would you recommend? Or what in the box is likely to be broken? I am happy to take the box apart and replace/upgrade the HDD (I have the guide somewhere) if that's what is thought to be the problem but how to check it?

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks
Jack

[dgilbert2]

If the box works apart from recording/playback then it sounds like the Hard Disc has died. (Not too bad after 3 years)

The "Full System Reset", can sometimes bring a disc back to life for a short time! (Will definately delete everything off your disc though so be carefull) (SERVICES 4 0 1 select).

Have you considered changing the disc yourself?

[Jack_155Q4]

Hi, Many thanks, yes all works apart from the recording and live pause.

The full system reset did fix it for about 20 mins but then the same happened.

Happy to change it myself, il borrow an 80Gb Maxtor from a server i have sitting here not plugged in

They are SATA HDDs?

Anyone have a HDD compatible with Sky+ box list?

Cheers

[dgilbert2]

I believe that the Pace Version 1/2 boxes had standard ATA-100 40 PIN IDC type drives.

SATA is the later ones like the HD box.

[Jack_155Q4]

Bugger, il have to go buy one, I just need a way to confirm the fault before spending

[dgilbert2]

Ummmm, a difficult one, but I've had the same failure mode as descibed on 2 Sky+ boxes in our family.

Good luck with your choice!

[Jack_155Q4]

oks, thanks for your help m8, il have a closer look tomorrow

[spike7451]

It's your hard drive.the rest will fail over time.

[Jack_155Q4]

THe rest being....? all the other components?

Anything I need to worry about?

[karaokian]

I had the same problem as the OP, and found this method to bring it all back to life:


Turn off mains

Hold down left & right arrow buttons on front of receiver, and power up

When the green circle lights up (about 15 seconds later), let go of the arrow buttons and press select

After a few seconds either the play or record light will illuminate. If play lights up then everything is ok, if record lights up - bin it!!

You need to leave the box for about 2 - 3 mins after doing this procedure before attempting to turn it back on...