actjve sky card not being read by replacement panasonic box

nbulos

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When we moved to Jordan from the UK a few years ago, we brought our sky box and sky viewing card along with us and installed and activated the card using a 2.5M dish. With this setup, we were able to watch several channels (no BBC, ITV, but sky one and sky sports, which was the important thing for my husband).

Our original Amstrad digibox blew out last year (stopped receiving signal even though signal tested strong),so we purchased a used Panasonic DSB30 on ebay. The box works fine (I can receive all the free to air channels) but it cannot read our old sky card, which we have tried to activate and pair with the new box by calling sky. Even though sky has sent through the activation pulse three or four times now, we still get the message that there is a problem with the viewing card and when we look at the system details in the service menu, the line for card number reads "no card". I have tried forcing a software download, taking out card and putting it back in again, cleaning the slot with a lintfree cloth, turning box off at the mains, all to no avail. Sky insists there should be no problem with the card but are now sending us a new card. Not sure this is going to solve anything as I have tried hooking up the old Amstrad box and checking the system details on that and it seems to read the card number fine (when I pull out card it says "no card", then when I put it back in the card number shows up again).

My husband is dying to watch England v. Israel, so urgent suggested solutions would be great!

thanks,
N
 

2cvbloke

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Sounds like a faulty card reader to me if the card is in the correct way and the correct slot but the box says "No Card"...

Try another box if you can get hold of one to double check this.... :)
 

PaulR

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I think 2CV is right. There's quite often a secondary reason that digiboxes are sold on Ebay...
 

dxsat

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You almost certainly have a faulty card reader.
Most Panasonic DSB 30 receivers are coming to the end of their useful lives. You'd do well to buy a secondhand Pace 430n on e-Bay. They usually go for about £45 and you should have a good chance of finding one in near-new condition, as they were only discontinued a year ago, and are better than the current flow-shape models out now.
 

nbulos

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thanks for the responses. I don't suppose there is any way to fix the card reader? I do have an old Amstrad box which I could get a card reader from.

Otherwise, could buy another box as suggested but how will I know its not also a dud?
 

Topper

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nbulos said:
Otherwise, could buy another box as suggested but how will I know its not also a dud?
There is no way whilst buying from Ebay
The card reader may very well be OK but the circuitry that allows it to read the card may very well be blown thus swapping readers (assuming you had the skills) would not be a realistic option
 

nbulos

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My dad's an electrical engineer so he should be able to do the replacement. In any event, if that doesn't work, is the Pace 430N the best box to buy? I've looked on Ebay and there seem to be a lot of Pace 440's on offer as well. Are they as good?

thanks,
N
 

dxsat

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nbulos said:
Are they as good?
The new Pace is very poor compared to the 430n.
 
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