Sky+ Recording Kaput

Bradfield

Hi Folks

A friend of mine has had Sky+ for about eight months. Last Friday he suddenly found that the recording part was not working although he could get a sky picture.

He was on the phone to sky for about an hour and they talked him through a software update and told him how to access the special menu so he could do a planner rebuild. However, when he tries to activate the planner rebuild all he gets is a black screen.

He is pretty clueless about these things and I was planning to go round to see if there was any way I could help. Sky have arranged for an engineer to call to see him on Friday.

Is it likely to be simply a box failure or are there other things to suspect like loose connections and etc. He does have a couple of cats who like to sniff around the back of the set but he says he cant see any loose connections.

Kurtis_Blue

Why mess about with it? let Sky fix it.

Nothing worse than a DIY fix that will only last a few months then when it fails it will be outside warranty, leave well alone.

spike7451

Kurtis_Blue wrote: »

Why mess about with it? let Sky fix it.

Nothing worse than a DIY fix that will only last a few months then when it fails it will be outside warranty, leave well alone.

Yup,sounds like a PSU failure,which means any 'repair' sky talk you thru will only be temporary as it'll fail completely anyway,best get Sky to sort it asap.

Bradfield

Kurtis_Blue wrote: »

Why mess about with it? let Sky fix it.

Nothing worse than a DIY fix that will only last a few months then when it fails it will be outside warranty, leave well alone.

I have no intention of messing around with the box, Just wondered about loose connections or any external problem that might contribute to this kind of failure. Sky quoted him quite a largish call out and box replacement fee before he reminded them that it was still under warranty.

I have a sky plus box that I got off ebay and it has worked fine for about three years. But if it starts to fail then I would want to know what the likely reason for the failure is. I would not be in a hurry to pay sky an arm and a leg to fix it.

I noted that there are a couple of sky "insiders" on this forum who probably know what the extent of the sky+ box failures are and it was really to them that I was directing the question and hoping for some explanation of what goes wrong with these boxes.

Thanks for reply anyway.

Kurtis_Blue

Bradfield wrote: »

I have no intention of messing around with the box, Just wondered about loose connections or any external problem that might contribute to this kind of failure.

It was the short term DIY fix of loose connections I was worried about...

penrhyn

If the box is still working as a receiver then a planner rebuild may help.
http://www.sky.com/helpcentre/tv/sky-plus-hd/recording/guide-to-performing-a-planner-rebuild/

spike7451

Bradfield wrote: »

I have no intention of messing around with the box, Just wondered about loose connections or any external problem that might contribute to this kind of failure. Sky quoted him quite a largish call out and box replacement fee before he reminded them that it was still under warranty.

I have a sky plus box that I got off ebay and it has worked fine for about three years. But if it starts to fail then I would want to know what the likely reason for the failure is. I would not be in a hurry to pay sky an arm and a leg to fix it.

I noted that there are a couple of sky "insiders" on this forum who probably know what the extent of the sky+ box failures are and it was really to them that I was directing the question and hoping for some explanation of what goes wrong with these boxes.

Thanks for reply anyway.

Most likely due to a PSU (power supply) failure,especially if it's a Thompson box,the PSU can be changed for around £30.A PSU failure can induce a lot of 'oddities' on the nox like failed recordings,unable to play back ect,a planner rebuild or software forced download will only be a short term fix.

macman

If it's under warranty, it's Sky's problem. Once it's not, get a replacement on eBay or similar for less than the cost of a Sky call-out.

Bradfield

Thanks for very helpful replies. I take the point that a short term fix might be the very worst thing to do if it only lasts a short while until the warranty runs out.


Useful to know that a common cause of failure is the PSU. Spike got it right when he talked about "oddities" happening. The recording and playback facilities failed and he could not do a planner rebuild, although I believe he did get a software update. At one time the picture went as well but then came back again.

I will let you know what the sky engineer says on friday.

paulday

Have a look in the signal menu and make sure that there is a signal shown on input 2, might just be a problem with the connection on the back of the box, good to check the simple things first!

Paul

Matt_Nixon

I had this with an older Thompson HD Box, rung Sky threatened to cancel, ended up with a free New Samsung Box that's been running fine.