Upstairs Getting No Signal

mickie372000

mickie372000

New Member
My Satellite Setup
2x Sky+HD boxes, 1 with Wireless connectivity
My Location
Wiltshire
Hi everyone,

Got an issue that's bugging me at the minute..

Recently my Sky+HD box upstairs displayed the "No Satellite Signal" message randomely. It's been showing about 80% quality and 85-90% strength before. There have been no storms in the area. Checked downstairs and everything is fine as usual.

At first I switched the boxes around the downstairs box was now upstairs, and the switched box also showed no signal, while now the bedroom box now said really good signal. One thing i did notice when plugging the F connectors back in, was a tiny static flash between the connector and the socket on the back of the box.

I switched the cables on the lnb outside, no change.

I replaced the cable outside as I thought maybe there would be a break or corrosion, and also wanted to re-route the cable anyway, but to no avail.

I then thought maybe the lnb is shot so I bought a Zinwell (14345) J4LS lnb. Fitted that this afternoon but still no joy at all.

Meanwhile, the downstairs is still absolutely fine. Signal strength is about 90% and quality is about 80% on inputs 1 and 2 downstairs, and 0% not locked upstairs. I made sure everything is tight and correct. Sods law that a Sky engineer installed the cables for downstairs and I did the upstairs (but he did not replace my existing lnb or install the box when he installed Sky - I did that earlier that year).

Does anybody have any ideas as to what's going on? Thanks!
 
Hmm... very odd. Looks like you replaced everything that could be replaced.

How does the cable terminate from outside to inside? Is it a single run from the LNB to the receiver or is there a wall-plate in between?

It could be some interference getting into the upstairs cable from somewhere. Is it doing the No Signal thing on all channels or just some? DECT phones like to cause troubles on certain frequencies...
 
If you haven't already, check that there are no fine strands of the shielding touching the centre wire at each end of the cables and that they are making a good connection.
 
timo_w2s - I will check the fine strands now. I normally do a tidyish job but i'm no expert and will mess something up!

Captain Jack - The cable goes straight from lnb to the Sky+HD box, and I made sure that the cable isn't interferred with or comprimised at any point.

I'm trying to avoid getting a satellite technician out but at this rate it's my only option haha.
 
Captain Jack said:
Hmm... very odd. Looks like you replaced everything that could be replaced.

How does the cable terminate from outside to inside? Is it a single run from the LNB to the receiver or is there a wall-plate in between?

It could be some interference getting into the upstairs cable from somewhere. Is it doing the No Signal thing on all channels or just some? DECT phones like to cause troubles on certain frequencies...
Click to expand...

I've already replied above this comment, but it's getting no signal on all channels. If I take power out and back in, it fails to initialise because of the lack of signal to it's initial transponder.
 
timo_w2s said:
If you haven't already, check that there are no fine strands of the shielding touching the centre wire at each end of the cables and that they are making a good connection.
Click to expand...
I've checked the fine strands, and although there were a few there on both ends, I've snipped them off leaving the main wire but still same issue.
 
Looks like you've covered everything.Have you got the inner copper core of the satellite cable long enough?I have mine going about .5cm past the F-connector.Failing this I'd try going over what I've already done,swopping boxes,swopping ports on the lnb and see if anything turns up.
I get the static spark you mentioned and I think it's down to the earthing of the dish but all seems to work ok.I assume you've being doing all your changes with the box powered off at the back?Good luck.Cheers
 
I guess you could check the cable continuity and ensure you're getting power from the upstairs receiver at the LNB end. You should get 13 or 18 volts depending on polarity. ...don't test it with your tongue!
 
If you have easy access, to your dish, I would try changing the cables round, on the LNB, so that the current outputs, feeding downstairs, now feed upstairs, and the the other 2 outputs feed downstairs, then check the signal quality readings again, on both receivers, each upstairs, and downstairs, to try to isolate the problem.
 
Thanks for the advice guys! Sadly i have already tried everything, including changing the lnb but no avail.

I rang sky earlier and wanted to cancel the upstairs, but instead they are getting a technician out for free, so someone else can try and decyfer this one.. between 8am and 1pm... on friday... when we have the solar eclipse lol. I wish them luck!
 
You can't get a better answer than that if they're doing it for nowt. Asking them to cancel the upstairs was a smart move - asking to cancel frequently gets them to do almost anything rather get less money in.

Let us know what he finds and has to do to fix the problem as we're always interested in a happy ending.
 
PaulR said:
You can't get a better answer than that if they're doing it for nowt. Asking them to cancel the upstairs was a smart move - asking to cancel frequently gets them to do almost anything rather get less money in.
Click to expand...

Not sure about that. The 'engineer' could traipse all manner of dirt into the house, find (or leave) toenail clippings on the carpet, knock over that ming vase at the top of the stairs. Even then, if they find the fault is something to do with the hardware, chances are only the callout charge was free.
 
You take the risk of dirt ingress with anyone coming into the house. And I can't recall the last engineer who went bare footed.

If the box needs changing then I'm fairly sure that if they want to charge for it then something along the lines of "Oh, it's not worth it. Please cancel my second card" will elicit the required response.
 
Channel Hopper said:
The 'engineer' could traipse all manner of dirt into the house, find (or leave) toenail clippings on the carpet, knock over that ming vase at the top of the stairs.
Click to expand...

Wow...those Sky guys can really multi-task....
 
Try a SW update, take the power out the back of the receiver, then put back in whilst holding the back up button, keep holding until you see updating SW.
 
mickie372000 said:
Thanks for the advice guys! Sadly i have already tried everything, including changing the lnb but no avail.

I rang sky earlier and wanted to cancel the upstairs, but instead they are getting a technician out for free, so someone else can try and decyfer this one.. between 8am and 1pm... on friday... when we have the solar eclipse lol. I wish them luck!
Click to expand...
So,what happened then?Cheers
 
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