Buggered 2 bskyb satellite boxes up..Help!

[Lazarus]

No, not if it couldn't find 11778 V when plugged into the other dish.

See Post #18.

What tests have you done to substantiate your belief that the cable is ok?


Also, you can set your mind at rest about the viability of those two boxes by connecting them to a known working system ie friend or neighbour with big enough dish for reliable 28E reception using BSkyB receivers.

 

[RichardinSpain]

You have to manually change the transponder from 11778 to a stronger one via the menu...you have to go into the installers menu...details widely available on the web..This happened to me quite alot...after a power cut, not being used for a while or even just switching it off over night..But as i said before if you receive 11778 ok on your larger dish then this wouldn't be the problem...i cant receive it here on a 1.25 in Murcia..How long have you used it for in spain? if its along time and you have never needed to do this when you have come out then i don't think its your problem..Its just worth trying before you start playing around with the lnb etc..i think it wise though to replace the lnb if your old one has no cap on it

 

[deano71]

Hi Sorry for my delay in replying.
Post 21. I ran a full detailed check of the cable as I have full access across the roof and there is no joins and its a straight run from LNB. The cable is about 3 years old. It would also be one hell of a coincidence if I spent all those hours working on trying to get the original going only for me to plug another one in and that worked straight away before loosing the signal a few minutes later. Unfortunatly I dont have the luxury of plugging into a known working dish to test. I did however plug it into another satelite dish that is being used by a neighbour that is receiving sky and the box did not work. Unfortunatly the neighbour was in the UK so was unable to verify if it was ok.
Post 22. I have not had to do that in the past and the dish this time was left for 6 months and was working fine when we went out for the 1st few days. I think the LNB is an option but I kind of discounted this when I could get no signal when I tried in another dish.
I will probably take another Sky Box Out and a LNB but the idiot I am I did not photograph it, so I am going to have to work off memeory to try and match the LNB up.
I probably have been more convinced of a cable issue or LNB if the second box did not work when I tried it for a period of time before developing same problem. I am wondering how likely it would be for the NewTV purchased a couple of days before to blow something in the box?

 

[PaulR]

Could you have had a lightning strike nearby?

I was sitting in a chair in our house in France during a thunderstorm last year when there was a loud clap of thunder and there was a spark inside the modem and a puff of smoke. We were fortunate that it was only the modem that got fried but our English friends the other side of the village ended up having to replace a couple of Digiboxes, several CCTV cameras, modem, computer and computer screen when they copped a lightning bolt!

 

[timo_w2s]

Did you check for spiders or other objects nesting in the LNB?

 

[RichardinSpain]

Hi Deano
My suggestion of booting to a stronger transponder is only a suggestion for you to try when you are next out there..If anything it just rules that problem out..An easy way to see if you get 11778 is to check if you have a full 7 day epg and also back ground music when you are viewing the epg...If you get only 6 hours worth of epg then you are having difficulty receiving this transponder (11778..default boot transponder on all sky boxes) thats why you have to boot on a stronger one (i.e12207)..As i said before i had to do this on my sky boxes when had a power cut or hadn't used them for a few days..If you've never had to do this before then its most probably not the problem but if your dish has slighty moved then it could be that you are not getting 11778 anymore
Just thinking about it....assuming that the box is perfectly ok and assuming that your dish and your neighbours is ok (aligned ok. lnb good. wiring ok) then this would definately be a good contender for the problem that you have.

 

[timo_w2s]

If you've never had to do this before then its most probably not the problem but if your dish has slighty moved then it could be that you are not getting 11778 anymore

Or something has moved in to the LNB blocking the weaker transponders. ;) From past experience this is a very common problem on my parent's setup, it only takes a few days for the spiders to find the LNB after the cap falls off (but then this is in Finland so they are probably looking for some warmth!).

 

[Channel Hopper]

A bit of spaghetti (not cooked) is what I use to 'coax' them out

 

[deano71]

Hi
Post 24 Could be a possibility and I did consider this. But I did try a second box in good weather.
Post 25 yes I stuck my finger down their and had a rummage! And my second box had no signal probs for about 10 mins when plugged in.
Post 26. Richard I do hope this is the problem and would most likely explain why the second box worked perectly when plugged in for 10 minutes. I assume there is some instructions somewhere on this forum how to do do this?
Do you think I should take a 3rd box ( go out in 2 weeks) and see if the same happens again? Or do you think its pretty safe to say they are not being blown up by my new TV?

 

[RichardinSpain]

Hi Deano
Yes it's fairly straight forward to change the default transponder
1, Press services on remote
2, press 4
3, press 01 then press the select button, this should take you into the installers menu
4, press 2...here you will see the default transponder...should be 11778..you need to change this to a stronger transponder...like sky news 12207..leave the rest the same...should be V, 27500, 2/3
5, scroll down and press select for 'Save new settings'
6, Press back up once and scroll down and select 4 for 'add channels'....scroll down and press select on 'find channels'...you should hopefully then get a list of channels that are on transponder 12207..(if you do get a list of channels then this shows that your box is working and you are getting a signal...happy days)
7, scroll down until you get to 'sky news' and press the yellow button to store channel then press select...it should say channel line up complete...Then press select then press back up 3 times...Wait 30 secs to a minute and hopefully it will find the signal
These instructions are for the old type box...the instructions for a hd+ box are similar, let me know if you need these..
You can have a practice at home just to make sure you are doing it right...I very much doubt that the tv could bugger up your boxes...hope this works for you Deano

 

[deano71]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for that I will print that off and have a go. I'm on VM here in the UK so wont be able to play. Fingers crossed this will work. Will keep you informed how it went when I go out late next week.

 

[RichardinSpain]

Yes let us know how you get on..hope you get it working...pack your sun cream...it's nice and warm here at the moment

 

[deano71]

I am still thinking it may be wise to take another box. A couple on ebay in my local area are Sky + HD Boxes. Do they still work ok with the freeview without subscription and are you able to record programmes?

 

[Mickha]

From memory I don't think you can use the record/playback function without paying Sky, but they should be fine for FTA channels, on freesat, freeview is the terrestrial package.

 

[deano71]

Many thanks.

 

[RichardinSpain]

Hi Deano
I was thinking about you the other day and hoping you would get your sat working...when are you out in majorca?
I have a amiko alien 8900 linux recever duel boot (can use 2 operating systems, spark & enigma2) although it doesnt have a built in hard drive..it has a usb socket which i can put in a usb stick or a hard drive...i have a 1tb hard drive connected and i can record all channels on it via a timer or 1 press of the record button..It only has 1 tuner though so cant record and watch another channel..hope this helps

 

[deano71]

Hi Richard, I go out on Sunday night so will have a look at it then and try the set up you advised. I have saved this forum to my Kindle so I can update on my progress online.

 

[RichardinSpain]

Good luck for Sunday..just remember that the instructions are for a normal sky box and not for the hd+ box..let me know if you need these

 

[deano71]

Well I tried it lastnight and everything so far is working fine so I can only conclude the fault must lie withwith the lnb as the box worked as soon as I switched on. Maybe it will happen again over the next couple of days.

 

[Lazarus]

Hmm. Interesting.

Still consider the integrity of the LNB connection ............. in warm climates you can get differential expansion and contraction which can have the effect of altering the effectiveness of the connection.