White Sky Card won't activate

[Kirkland]

Hello everybody,

I'd like some advice how to proceed.

This is the situation: We have two Sky digiboxes and a Humax 2000 which is great for watching BBC HD.

We have a Sky subscription for the basic channels at 22 quid per month - no movies, no sport, no HD, no Sky Plus. Just the basic subscription (which is more than a hundred channels, all in standard definition).

We also have a Freeview card from Sky which dates back to the days when ITV was encrypted, but which isn't important any more nowadays.

I'm pretty sure that both cards were originally paired to the old digibox. However, because we just have the basic channels, pairing was never much of an issue. We could easily get all our channels (except ITV 2) on the other box as well. Over the years, we phased out the use of the old box. We still have it, but it is stored in the basement and hasn't been connected to the mains for month.

Neither of my receivers is connected to a phone line and never has been.

I used to have a motorised dish for the international channels and a small dish for Sky, but the motorised dish stopped working years ago (after a storm) and I replaced it with a fixed dish, mutifeed bracket for the international channels and an 8/4 multi-switch.

I actually need five lines from the multiswitch, but have only four, and decided to run a separate cable to the location of the new digibox which carries only half the channels of 28 East (HL and VH).

My dealer sold me a CI module which allows me to use my blue (yellow house) Sky Viewing Card in the Humax 2000 and indeed any other receiver which has a CI slot (We have several older receivers as well; that's why I installed a multiswitch.)

The CI-module is a T-Rex and needed to be flashed just once. A friend did this for me years ago. The software on the T-Rex module is very old. I never bothered to update it.

My blue Sky subscription card spent most of its life in the Humax 2000 which is a great receiver.

However, the CI module doesn't transfer the entitlements to the card correctly. Either I voluntarily put it in the original digibox from time to time, or the entitlements run out. Approximately once a month, all my Sky Channels are gone.

I then put the card in the official box, switch to 501 Sky News and leave the box in use for 24 hours. After that time, I have all my Sky channels back and can watch them once again in the Humax 2000.

I am a 100% sure that I never contacted Sky in the last three years.

I received my white Sky card by mail rather late, in Mid-October. There was a letter with the card which said that it would replace my old card. The numbers were correct.

I read in the forums that there is an annoying warning message which can be disabled by pressing the "Back" button. However, I never saw this warning message.

I left the new white card in the envelope and continued to use my blue card.

Now, my blue card has stopped working, which is nothing unusual, as this happens once per month.

Normally, I would simply put my blue card in the official box for 24 hours and should have my channels back.

I put the blue card briefly into the box for an hour and then tried to insert the new white card.

The white card won't activate. I get a message that I should call Sky at a certain phone number.

I haven't called Sky for years and would prefer if I could activate the white card without doing so.

I have a number of questions.

1.) First, it seems strange to me that both blue cards (subscription card and freeview card) are obviously paired to the new digibox.

How could this happen? I have never told Sky that I have a new digibox. The re-pairing must have happened all by itself. Is that normal?

Sky recently offered a free Movie weekend. I couldn't see Sky Screen 1 on the Humax 2000 although I recall that I entered the box key by remote control a couple of years ago. I went upstairs, noted the box key of the new digibox, entered this key into the menu of the T-Rex, and then I was able to watch Sky Screen 1 for the weekend.

I powered up the old box at that time, and it told me: "This is the wrong card for this set top box". I was, however, able to watch Sky 1 and the Discovery Channel as usual.

Because we normally don't have any premium channels in our subscription package, I don't know when or why the re-pairing has happened.

2.) What does this mean for my new white card? Which is the right box for the new card? As Sky does only have the serial number of my old box in their files, did they pre-program my replacement card for that box? Or is the white card looking for the box which accepts my current viewing card?

3.) Why did I never see a warning message on my new Sky digibox?

3a.) Do I have a firmware issue? Is it possible that I missed the warning message because the firmware in my digibox is too old? Is it possible that I missed an automatic firmware upgrade because only the vertical High-Band of 28 East is connected to that particular digibox? If there are any Firmware upgrades, on which frequencies are they transmitted?

I can, of course, take the box downstairs and connect it to the multiswitch so that it gets all the channels. Would this do any good?

3b.) Did I miss the warning message because I use the official box too rarely?

Maybe, the warning message needs to be enabled, and I missed this signal because I got the last update of my entitlements at a time when they had not yet shipped my white card?

4.) Is it a good idea to put the old card into the official box for 24 hours?

What would happen if I do that? Are there any kill signals sent by Sky which will completely disable my old card? After all, I have my new white card for almost 4 weeks, and Sky possibly assumes that I already activated it.

Will I get new entitlements for my old card? Will it ever work again and give me a picture? Can I use the old card in my Humax 2000 and use the new white card in the official digibox at the same time?

If I leave the old card in the Sky digibox for 24 hours, will I then get the warning message and will I then be able to replace my blue card with the white card, as millions of other Sky subscribers have already done?

This seems to me a likely solution for my problem, but I think it's better to be careful and to ask the friendly fellows in this forum for advice.

5.) Do I have to see the warning message on screen before I can activate the white card?

6.) Is there any way how I can avoid calling Sky?

7.) I am aware that the new white card will not work in my CI module. This means, the days of watching Sky TV with my Humax 2000 are probably over.

I am strongly considering purchasing a dreambox. Is that a good idea?

Would I then be able to watch Sky as I have done for the last couple of years? Switching between Sky subscription channels, BBC HD and various international channels simply by remote control, all channels coming from the same receiver?

Will I be able to watch Channel 4 HD in High Definition with my current white Sky card which doesn't have a HD sub if I put into a Dreambox?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Topper]

Welcome to the forum Kirkland

1.) First, it seems strange to me that both blue cards (subscription card and freeview card) are obviously paired to the new digibox.

How could this happen? I have never told Sky that I have a new digibox. The re-pairing must have happened all by itself. Is that normal?

My understanding is that unless you have sports or movies then there is no pairing to the stb
I would just bite the bullet and ring them, I see no point in messing around what is your objection to ringing them?

3a.) Do I have a firmware issue? Is it possible that I missed the warning message because the firmware in my digibox is too old? Is it possible that I missed an automatic firmware upgrade because only the vertical High-Band of 28 East is connected to that particular digibox? If there are any Firmware upgrades, on which frequencies are they transmitted?

If you are not using the equipment in accordance with the requirements laid down by Sky then anything could be happening and we could only speculate

I can, of course, take the box downstairs and connect it to the multiswitch so that it gets all the channels. Would this do any good?

3b.) Did I miss the warning message because I use the official box too rarely?

So I suggest that is your course of action and if you do not use the official box sufficiently then yes that is probably the cause

I am sorry I am unable to answer further questions as I have never found it necessary to delve into these complexities and do not intend to for the sake of a simple phonecall

[sonic1]

To cut this short the facts are simple.
Your blue card has been or will be deactivated and will no longer receive updates as the new white cards handle the updates in a different way.

Currently no CAM supports the new white card ( Maybe the new Diablo will ? ) who knows!!

The only way you can currently view the new white card is with an original Sky box or with a Dreambox using CCcam or Newcs.

You can only use CCcam or Newcs once the new white card has been activated in the original Sky box.

You have no choice but to ring Sky for activation.