Sky Hd Box On The Fritz

BabyClanger

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
153
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
68
My Satellite Setup
Technomate TM5402CI. TM2600 Motor, Sat Gear 80cm dish, coathanger and Araldite.
My Location
Middlesex
I'm still on my original Sky HD box (a 5 year old Thomson) which i have had repaired only once when it needed a new PSU board. I got an upgraded capacitor one off eBay and a local SatCure guy fitted it for me, and he upgraded my old PSU board with Panasonic capacitiors so i would have a spare.

The box started playing up again about 2 weeks ago, missed recording, not recording at all, and no sat sign being recevied/this prog not avialable/ problem with Viewing Card messages randomly started appearing, and i wasn't able to get certain channels. I had my spare PSU fitted yesterday. After fitting, the SatCure guy tested it and he got all of the channels i could no longer get, so that looked to sort the problem.

When i got it back home and hooked it all up, i'm still not getting 2 of the channels (Anmal Planet HD and Watch HD) which worked
when guy tested it at his place. First i got This prog is not available, then i got No Sat signal being received on both those channels.

As they appeared to work when it was tested, could this be due to something else in my set up? Everything else seems to be fine. I've had the same Quad LNB since going HD 5 years ago, and i wondered if this was anything to do with this and maybe it's time that was replaced as well.

If anyone out there has any ideas, your input would be greatly appreciated...... or it is just time for a new box?

Cheers
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,536
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
The last thng you should do is believe the hype about 'better rated' components fixing every fault that occurs in a Sky box.

Have you tried disconnecting one of the incoming feeds and running the receiver as a single tuner unit overnight ?
 

BabyClanger

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
153
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
68
My Satellite Setup
Technomate TM5402CI. TM2600 Motor, Sat Gear 80cm dish, coathanger and Araldite.
My Location
Middlesex
Hi CH, no.... can't say that i have. This actually hadn't crossed my mind at all. Not entirely sure
what this would change (not as tech minded as i could be!!). What happens?
 

Topper

Amo Amas Amant Admin
Staff member
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
23,991
Reaction score
4,014
Points
113
Age
69
My Satellite Setup
Has gone to a good home elsewhere
My Location
Blackburn, Lancashire
If you have stayed with the same cabling and lnb during this 5 years I would first check that there is no water ingress into the cable and no damaged areas as you appear to be blind on one frequency, this blindness can also often be associated with DECT telephones of WIFI routers emanating spurious radiation completely cancelling the signal. chamnged any of those recently?. If none of these I would look towards replacing the lnb as they are cheap as chips and do have a limited life and sometimes go 'dead' to receiving one frequency range
 

BabyClanger

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
153
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
68
My Satellite Setup
Technomate TM5402CI. TM2600 Motor, Sat Gear 80cm dish, coathanger and Araldite.
My Location
Middlesex
If you have stayed with the same cabling and lnb during this 5 years I would first check that there is no water ingress into the cable and no damaged areas as you appear to be blind on one frequency, this blindness can also often be associated with DECT telephones of WIFI routers emanating spurious radiation completely cancelling the signal. chamnged any of those recently?. If none of these I would look towards replacing the lnb as they are cheap as chips and do have a limited life and sometimes go 'dead' to receiving one frequency range
Got up on the ladder and checked the connections yesterday morning. Both solid, no water damage at all as the pull-down cover (Thomson Quad LN:cool: totally covers the F connectors and down about an inch and a bit over the cable. Wiped the cap of the LNB with a soft cloth and no apparent damange there either.

I do have two DECT phones but these have been here since word go so i'm guessing these are not the problem. Likewise the Wi-Fi router, installed over 3 years ago, so again, probably not the cause. Looking like the LNB is fritzed on a certain freq. I'll get on to Ebay and see if i can get a replacement.

Really appreciate your suggestions - these are two things i'd never even consider. Cheers!
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,536
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
Hi CH, no.... can't say that i have. This actually hadn't crossed my mind at all. Not entirely sure
what this would change (not as tech minded as i could be!!). What happens?

Before going up the ladder (which I see you already have ) try out my suggestion. You will need to unplug the receiver before disconnecting the cable, and reconfiguring the box temporarily to single tuner mode will make some watch/record parameters impossible, but this is just a test to see where the issue lies.
 

BabyClanger

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
153
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
68
My Satellite Setup
Technomate TM5402CI. TM2600 Motor, Sat Gear 80cm dish, coathanger and Araldite.
My Location
Middlesex
Before going up the ladder (which I see you already have ) try out my suggestion. You will need to unplug the receiver before disconnecting the cable, and reconfiguring the box temporarily to single tuner mode will make some watch/record parameters impossible, but this is just a test to see where the issue lies.
Hi again CH, just tried this and sadly, to no avail. Did both inputs separately changed the settings to single view and tried the errant channels. Diddly Squat i'm sorry to say!!

Looking more and like a Mutton Jeff LNB.

I ran this problem past Sky earlier this afternoon and even though i did a home install with a new HD box from eBay, they are going to send me new one - totally free of charge. Are they going soft in their old age?? LOL! So i'm going to wait for that to arrive and see what happens. If i can't these channels on a new box, it's going to be the LNB.

As always, appreciate everyone's input and ideas. Cheers.
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,536
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
Did the PSU man tell you what channels were available on his system before he replaced the supply unit ?
 

BabyClanger

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
153
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
68
My Satellite Setup
Technomate TM5402CI. TM2600 Motor, Sat Gear 80cm dish, coathanger and Araldite.
My Location
Middlesex
I told him which ones i wasn't gettng. Animal Planet HD, Watch HD and Eden HD. This evening, Nat Geo HD started going
the same way. These were all checked literally minutes after the new PSU was fitted - all were fine. We never tested it before
the PSU was replaced.

Curiouser and curiouser eh? :)
 

Channel Hopper

Suffering fools, so you don't have to.
Staff member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
35,536
Reaction score
8,554
Points
113
Age
59
Website
www.sat-elite.uk
My Satellite Setup
A little less analogue, and a lot more crap.
My Location
UK
Sort of confirms the work carried out were not linked - or effective once carried out - on the faults you reported.
 

Hixxy1

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2012
Messages
457
Reaction score
111
Points
43
My Satellite Setup
DM800/7020Si/7000S, VU+ Duo, Skybox F3 & F5, TM1000D, Skystar 2 DVBdream, Triax TD110, Darkmotor, Inverto Black, Hotbird 13 Zone 2 MK 4, 28.2 Zone 1 MK4
My Location
East Midlands
Those HD boxes can be really dodgy at times. It seems as if your reception fault is mildly related to the psu.

Perhaps the tuner is on it's way out and the reconditioned psu is giving it the extra umth/smoothing that it needs to clear the digital threshold.
If the caps have gone inside the tuner it may be attenuating the signal or not supplying enough voltage to the lnb.

Have you tried to rec. any of the missing channels whilst watching another good one at the same time?

I haven't got a circuit diagram but it sounds suspect. Perhaps if you test the box on a bigger dish it'll push more signal into the tuner and the channels will clear.

Also both channels (Watch HD & AP HD) are both on the same transponder.
Have you got a cordless phone base unit near/wifi router nearby? They used to have a tendency to interfere with my system.
 

BabyClanger

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
153
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
68
My Satellite Setup
Technomate TM5402CI. TM2600 Motor, Sat Gear 80cm dish, coathanger and Araldite.
My Location
Middlesex
Hi There Hixxy,

thanks for the input. I've not tried to record any of the missing channels while watching another, but it's an out there idea!!
Hooking up to another dish maybe something to do on the w/end as i don't really ahev enough time when i get home of an
evening to start clambering up ladders swapping co-ax around..... nice out of the box thinking it is though!!

All ths said, ParcelForce left a note today and it looks like my +HD new box is almost with me - missed the delivery as i was
at work, but i can pick it up before the end of the week. I'll try hooking this new one up first and see how far we get. Will i still
have to update the software before i activate the box like i did when i first went HD? Presuming so...... Cheers
 
Top