Buggered 2 bskyb satellite boxes up..Help!

[deano71]

Hi, Have had my set up now for 3 years using my Pace DS440N in my apartment in Majorca with no problems with the exception of ITV going at 6pmish. To my suprise when we where there last week, ITV kept is signal and was still going strong at midnight which pleased the missus.
We decided to buy a new Flatscreen TV as a treat to replace our old CRT. Everything was going great for about 3 days when all of sudden we had not Sat Signal being displayed when we went to turn on box. I done the usual stuff which was to check the cables and all was good. I tried the box reset as suggested on this forum with no luck. I got hold of a another Box and tried it and hey presto I had TV again so assumed old box was knackered! My joy was short lived as after about 10 minutes the problem repeated itself again with this box.

Does anybody have any idea what it could be? Both boxes are now telling me no sat signal being received.

The TV is new and is being connected by SCART. Could this cause a problem even though it was fine for 3 days until it first happened?

I did notice during my investigations that the LNB where it points in to the dish, the cap has dissapeared(hope that made sense) leaving a gaping hole.

Any advice would be great as I dont want to bugger a 3rd box up when I go back out.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Lazarus]

The damaged LNB has to be favourite.

Can you take some pics and post them up on our server?

 

[timo_w2s]

Check for spiders or other things that may have crawled down the hole. I've once found bread stuffed down my LNB after the cap went missing...

 

[deano71]

Hi Thanks for the quick replies! I'm back in the UK now so would not be able to post pics. I'm not sure how the cap missing on the LNB would damage the both receiver boxes so it will not get a signal? I can understand a spider or a leaf getting in and messing the signal up.

 

[Lazarus]

Well the boxes probably aren't bu**ered ................

They are just getting no or intermittent signal from the LNB.

Apart from stuff getting into the feedhorn, whatever caused the cap to become detached may have caused other damage.

 

[deano71]

The 1st Box was displaying no Sat signal for about 24 hours before I swapped them over. I tried original box one more time, then swapped boxes straight away and the second box imediatly operated fine for 10 mins before same prob occured. After that I could not get either boxes to receive a signal. The LNB cap appears to have detoriated in the Sun and fell off and is about 3 years old.
I was wondering if there was some electrical leak somewhere or static that could be blowing a component that receives the signal in the box?

 

[Lazarus]

As stated, I very much doubt the boxes are damaged at all.

Try them on a known working dish when you get back.

If there is a short circuit in the cable or LNB, then the boxes do have protection against that.

Once connected to an operational cable/dish and rebooted, they should be fine.

 

[deano71]

Hi Thanks. What do you think would cause it? Obviously not a signal blockage as the second box worked fine when plugged in for a short while.

 

[Lazarus]

Poor connection at the LNB which would connect/disconnect as the temperature varies, nick in the cable insulation, incipient LNB failure .............. lots of possibilities.

You really need to check the cable end to end for insulation resistance and for continuity, for physical damage (and, less likely at your location, water ingress), check that the F connectors are firmly and correctly attached to the cable ends and that they mate firmly with the LNB and the Receiver and you really ought to replace the LNB.

It's very unlikely the cause lies with the receivers or the new TV.

 

[Zorba]

Did it rain by any chance ,as water in the LNB doesn't help.

 

[007.4]

I've once found bread stuffed down my LNB after the cap went missing...

Yes, I have had that as well. A chunk of Mother's Pride stuffed right down the feedhorn. Not sure what put it there. I guessed a bird? Anyone know what actually does this?

 

[deano71]

We did have a bit of rain one evening so could be a possibility. I am pretty confident if I take another box out on my next visit, I will have a repeat of what happened a second time.I will get a picture for it to fail a short time later. I spent hours trying to get the 1st box to work with no luck for only the second to work straight away and fail in 10 mins. I then could not get the second to go either.
I am really apreciating the help guys.

 

[Analoguesat]

If possible bypass the existing cable with a temporary run to check if the cable is failing

 

[Lazarus]

I say again, it is very unlikely indeed that the boxes are damaged.

The worst that is possible is that the short-circuit protection at the LNB In socket has operated.

As stated, this will reset when you connect too a known working system and reboot.



Believe me, if I am talking out of my derriére, the boys won't be slow in coming forward to say so!

 

[RichardinSpain]

Just my 2 penneth worth...Could be a booting issue....If the box is booting on 11778 then it wont boot at all if it cant get a signal...but i think you have a 1.5 dish in Majorca so may not be an issue...anyway worth a try booting on 12207...i had this problem all the time on a 1.2 dish during a power failure etc

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
the chance that 2 or 3 boxes are giving you the same problem are not likely.
if you have 2 boxes do you have a dual output lnb on the dish and 2 lines running to 2 places in the house?
there should be no breakes in the line and there should be no signal splitters as well.
if the cap on the lnb is gone rain or spiders may have gotten in and made a new home.
if you can post some pictures we can have a look.
also the skew of the lnb is important as well.
then all your channels sould come in no problem.
ralph

 

[deano71]

Unfortunatly back in UK so cant take pics. It does have 4 outputs with just one straight feed to my apartment. The other two neighbours were not out there to see if they were experiencing a similar proplem. I did try the cable in a differet LNB output but that did not work. Tivu I am listening and really appreciate what you are telling me! How do I do a reboot as suggested by richardinspain as I think it is definatly a short circuit issue. I did try a boot by removing power and I switched it on holding the back button down until 4 lights flashed and a screen came up with it saying dont touch will take 10 mins.
I did forget 2to mention that there is a 1.25m dish on the roof which I did plug into (I used to be on this dish before moving to the larger one) as when I saw the LNB cover was damged I assumd it to be that. I tried my original box on this and had the same problem with no sat signal. i did leave unplugged from mains for 5 minnutes 1st, but I did not try a reboot the box in the 1.2m dish.

 

[RichardinSpain]

Hi Deano...If you were using the 1.25 dish then this may be where partly your problem is..When a sky box boots up (when you switch it on) it boots to transponder 11778 (where the epg comes from) This transponder is very weak in spain and i can never get it on my 1.25 in murcia...so i get the 'no signal being recieved' ...when this happens you can set the default transponder on boot up to a stronger transponder (i use 12207)..this enables the box to boot correctly...(when you havent used the box for sometime or if you have a power cut then the box will revert back to the weak default transponder of 11778) If you get a good signal on the default transponder 11778 on your 1.5 dish then this most probabaly is not your problem you will have to look at the lnb etc as already suggested and just trying to cover all bases for you..
Also just another comment...i bought a sky+ hd box a few weeks ago and for the life of me couldnt work out why i wasnt getting a signal...in the end i found out that it was set to dual tuner mode..i changed it in the menu to 1 tuner and it worked perfectly...Not an issue with your old box as you said it was working perfectly but could be an issue with the new box you tried if it was set 2 tuners and you had only 1 cable plugged in...but from what you say i still think it is the lnb or aligning of the dish

 

[timo_w2s]

Since the LNB on the 1.5m is damaged, bits/insects/water in the LNB could be degrading the signal and as a result perhaps 11778 isn't being received so well any more 24/7.

It's also a bad idea to try and flash the box with new firmware (switched it on holding the back button down) if you have a dodgy signal!!

 

[deano71]

Thanks for that. I assume a reboot is just a case of turning off from the mains then? I'm still not convinced both boxes are not now buggered. If it was not the box then it should have worked in the other dish I plugged into? The cable is 100% fine as were the connections.