"Sky+ recovery failed"

Westin

I have had a Sky+ box for several years but over the last month it's been playing up. Upon turning it on and going to "TV Guide", Sky works but the red Anytime button is not lit and if you press the green button a message saying "Sky+ recovery failed" displays. Any recorded programmes are not shown. I then go through the process of turning the unit off, waiting 10 seconds, turning it back on again. Sometimes it all works correctly the next time around but on a few occasions a third on/off/on is needed.

Anyone have any ideas as what's wrong or more importantly how to cure it. Thanks.

macman

PSU may be dying.

brewerdave

I'm no expert on Sky+ boxes ...but from my PC experience a fault like that,sound like the hard drive is on the way out

Heinz

Sorry to say (I have Sky+ too) that Sky+ and 'several years' appear to be mutually incompatible.

Two or three years appears to be about the standard life-expectancy of these boxes with a failing power supply - which can cause all manner of strange symptoms like loss of some, but not all, channels - being the most common fault.

I bought my first Sky+ on ebay for £32 and, touch wood, it's still working well but, having read of the likely problems, I kept my eyes open and now have an £8.50* ebay purchase in the cupboard as a back-up.

* I collected it locally

Westin

Thanks for your replies. It doesn't however sound good!

I don't recall seeing SKY+ boxes for sale in electrical stores - is it just E-Bay where I am likely to find a replacement?

Sky only seem to be interested in flogging their SKY+HD boxes. I wouldn't mind paying for the HD box but I begrudge paying another £10 a month for HD programming - which seems limited anyway at the moment.

Heinz

Westin wrote: »

Sky only seem to be interested in flogging their SKY+HD boxes. I wouldn't mind paying for the HD box but I begrudge paying another £10 a month for HD programming - which seems limited anyway at the moment.

That's the only box they offer now. Even if a new customer only wants SD because they don't have an HD TV, they get a Sky+HD box.

I've heard calling and saying (truthfully) that your Sky+ box is failing so you want to cancel your subscription will result initially in them offering a £65 call out (which will fix any fault - in fact will get an old Sky+ box replacement) and, when you say you cannot afford that at the moment, will result in that £65 being waived.

ijb

I've had similar issues with my 3-4 year old box for the past few months. Phoned sky a while back and no joy other than offering to send out an engineer for £65.

Phoned cancellations yesterday and said the box was so intermittent it wasn't worth having the subscription. Initially tried to transfer me to tech support but there was a queue and I wasn't prepared to wait. I asked how I went about cancelling and was offered free HD box and free installation. Tried to get a further package reduction to go for HD pack too but they said only one offer at a time.

Strange thing is that I asked if I could do self install but they insisted on coming out and fitting it. SHould be here on the 2nd Jan.

Good luck if you try the same.

Ian

Tupperware_Queen

I have sky plus with an HD box...no way I would pay for the HD bits, can't see any difference on the BBC (free) HD!!