sky digital amstrad drx 100

largeinnit

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Hi,



My sky digibox is playing up.



Whenever I turn it first on, it displays "there is a technical fault with this channel" and there is no sound, then after 30 seconds, it goes through the usual boot sequence. It's not plugged in the phone.



It will work ok on a single channel for a while, but every 5-10 minutes it may go through the "there is a technical fault with this channel procedure" for 5-30 seconds. The problem usually occurs when I channel hop from one digital channel to another.



I'm using an Amstra drx 100 with a sky subscription card for their sports world package (£33 a month). Sky said it would cost £60 for an engineer to investigate.



What I am wondering is :



1. Does anyone have any suggestions to fix this?



2. Can I buy another drx 100 digibox from elsewhere and simply plug it in and expect it to work?



I'm not sure if Sky will refuse or charge me. I'm also wondering if I'm to get another digibox should I just go to a newer model?
 

rolfw

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Just tell them that the box has given up the ghost and you cannot afford a new one, so wish to cancel, they will then offer a new/refurbished (but a lot newer than your box) replacement.

You present box is on borrowed time and veeeeeeeery Slowwwwwwwww anyway, any other box will be an improvement, doesn't need to be the same type. :)
 

largeinnit

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rolfw said:
Just tell them that the box has given up the ghost and you cannot afford a new one, so wish to cancel, they will then offer a new/refurbished (but a lot newer than your box) replacement.

You present box is on borrowed time and veeeeeeeery Slowwwwwwwww anyway, any other box will be an improvement, doesn't need to be the same type. :)

Really? Even if I've already mentioned to them its problematic? You think they'll give me a free replacement?

I'll try it. What I'm thinking is whether its cheaper for me to buy a digibox from ebay or get sky to replace it and send an engineer in (and charge me).
 

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Ive already answered your question over at the satcure forum. Buy a modern one at a price you like, swap it over, and ring Sky to pair the card.
 

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It could be a software problem, in which case you might try a forced off-air software reload before getting another digibox.

(DRX100 is an old model, but there's still lots in use, so a software update is probably beigng transmitted at the moment. Worth trying, can't do any harm).

Disconnect completely from mains, then repower while holding down "backup" button on front panel (NOT on remote!), wait until all 4 lights come on, release backup button, wait 30 mins, then see if it works any better.

Otherwise, you cab connect any digibox to exisiting dish, no problem.

Guaranteed 2nd hand receivers from www.dcsat.com, but more expensive than ebay!
 

Analoguesat

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Cant do any harm?

If the tuner is on the way out it could well stuff it completely! :D

Never try a forced download unless you have a strong signal :D
 

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The signal strength doesn't matter. If the received new software is gibberish ( SNR so bad that error correction fails), then the receiver ignores the update, and continues with the existing software.
 

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spiney said:
The signal strength doesn't matter. If the received new software is gibberish ( SNR so bad that error correction fails), then the receiver ignores the update, and continues with the existing software.
I think you'll find that this is definitely NOT the exoerience of people down in the Iberian peninsula who now have loads of useless Panasonics which half loaded new software.

PaulR
 

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Well, certainly the Pace models all store 2 copies of the software, present and previous versions. I know this, because I've talked to Pace! I would also have though this is a requirement for all digiboxes,
 

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I'd like to say a bit more (which I only thought of after above post).

When the software update is first made available, for a particular digibox type, then ALL digiboxes of that type automatically load it (you can't stop this happening!). If there were a general update problem, then ALL digiboxes in fringe areas would suddenly stop working. Which doesn't happen.

The software is in MPEG data stream, so carries the usual error correction, and I think software has extra embedded CRC checks, so should be ok if picture is. Note, if the sotware blocks are corrupt, this is detected, and they shouldn't load.

The Pace certainly has 2 copies of software, Panasonic have a reputation for high quality and I would be surprised if they didn't too, it would be rather stupid to have only 1 copy!
 

largeinnit

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I rang up sky and asked to cancel my contract as they wanted £60 for new equipment and ntl offer a free install, i said I'll swap - the first woman I spoke to wasn't helpful, but she put me onto someone else who said she'll send an engineer around free of charge.

The engineer said box was fine, but receiver unit on dish was slightly bent, he fixed problem and its ok now.

spiney said:
I'd like to say a bit more (which I only thought of after above post).

When the software update is first made available, for a particular digibox type, then ALL digiboxes of that type automatically load it (you can't stop this happening!). If there were a general update problem, then ALL digiboxes in fringe areas would suddenly stop working. Which doesn't happen.

The software is in MPEG data stream, so carries the usual error correction, and I think software has extra embedded CRC checks, so should be ok if picture is. Note, if the sotware blocks are corrupt, this is detected, and they shouldn't load.

The Pace certainly has 2 copies of software, Panasonic have a reputation for high quality and I would be surprised if they didn't too, it would be rather stupid to have only 1 copy!
 

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Glad it got solved, but I'd like to say a bit more .....("doesn't he ever shut up"?).

When Paul R says there's a specific problem with Pace in fringe areas, I accept what he says, but also don't think there's a general problem, for reasons given above.

Software is extremely unstable, obviously, since just one corrupt bit makes it competely useless! So, even the most powerful error correction occasionally fails. Presumably, this is one reason behind the dire warnings - often seen -about failed digibox updates. In fact, several manual attempts may sometimes be necessary. Presumably, when the update happens automatically, there's a mechanism to ensure the new version is corrrect (on top of error correction, etc).

It would be interesting to have more info on this, does anyone possess it?
 

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Spiney

It's not Paces which have a problem in fringe areas, it's the Panasonics. I haven't any personal experience of this (no Pannies at all you see) but it's just what I've observed written both here and on other boards.

IIRC it arises due to the slight differences between the software for the different boxes. On the Panny the SW update takes up more than one bank thus taking away the backup of the previous version. If the update doesn't go perfectly then you end up with a useless box which needs the EEPROM to be removed so that it can be flashed properly.

This is the reason why Pannies are no longer popular in fringe areas. Which is a shame as they are reasonably sensitive and quite fast.

As I say, this is all second hand so I could be being led down the garden path on a wild goose chase (to mix a metaphor or two). :D

PaulR
 

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Paul R, thanks for that info, but it's a puzzle to me, I'm surprised Panasonic did that!
 

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largeinnit said:
Hi,


well you could try a factory reset (not forced download)

hold left & right button on STB as you switch the mains on
(a bit like force dowload) only this can take about 45 - 60 seconds

It will light up the green the round Sky+
press select and leave till it goes into standby
leave for a few mins and re-bootup

It sometimes can fix faults. (don`t worry will not harm anything)
you might loose saved/unwatched items.
 

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Think that only works on Sky+ boxes bigkenny, largeinnit has an old (very old) normal Sky box. :)
 
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