# Advice regaring SKY Box req'd



## gilboy (24 Nov 2009)

Hi

My sky stopped working during the bad weather. Not sure if this was coincidence or not.

I am on the basic package with them, 21.50 a month with the regular box. They have said they can send an engineer out to look at it for 100 bucks. I am thinking he aint going to do a whole lot with it other than say its knackered and I need a new one. BTW The old was is 18 months old but out of warranty!

On the other hand I can upgrade to Sky + for 250(100 installation & 150 for the box). However, cannot do this until mid December.

I don't have a huge knowledge of SKY etc. Just wondering can you buy these boxes anywhere else? How difficult would it be to switch to the Free To Air services? Would people recommend moving from SKY?

Thanks


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## Towger (24 Nov 2009)

If you define "stopped working" we can give more advice. Chances are dish is out of alignment or water in the connection to LNB, although I have never seen this happening if properly sealed with self amalgamating tape. If box is dead you can easily pick on up second hand.


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## SparkRite (24 Nov 2009)

As Towger said tell us if the box is powering up or not.
Tell us what message, if any, is appearing on screen.
Is the the box even showing a power light or even attempting to boot up.
Also what make and model of box are we dealing with?

Loads of help here with a little more info given.


BTW "Freesat" is very easy to change to, just buy a box and swapout with your old Sky box.


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## gilboy (24 Nov 2009)

Sorry I should have elaborated on what I meant by "not working".

Basically about 2 days ago I started getting the following message on the screen "No satellite signal is being received".

I rang sky and they went through their troubleshooting/diagnosis and concluded their was a problem with the box. I am not sure if it is linked to the bad weather over the last number of days.

The box starts up fine, this error message begins to appear when you click on TV Guide and then All Channels

Thanks in advance!


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## serotoninsid (24 Nov 2009)

Bring the box round to someone elses gaff to determine if its the box or the dish/cabling.


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## gilboy (24 Nov 2009)

Will do thanks!


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## DrMoriarty (24 Nov 2009)

gilboy said:


> Basically about 2 days ago I started getting the following message on the screen "No satellite signal is being received".
> 
> [...] I am not sure if it is linked to the bad weather over the last number of days.


If your box tests alright in someone else's house then it's very likely that your satellite dish has been blown slightly out of line. I would have thought that if you're in contract, Sky should fix that f.o.c.?


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## SparkRite (24 Nov 2009)

DrMoriarty said:


> If your box tests alright in someone else's house then it's very likely that your satellite dish has been blown slightly out of line. I would have thought that if you're in contract, Sky should fix that f.o.c.?


 
No, Sky will do nothing for nothing, once you are outside the guarentee period.

If the box works elsewhere then as said before may just be a misaligned dish or a faulty LNB.
Both easy and cheap to fix.


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## within29 (25 Nov 2009)

This happened to us & discovered that the cable's top at the back of the box
was slightly bent. We put a new one on & it has worked fine since.


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## GarBow (25 Nov 2009)

We had the same issue a couple of times. Borrowed another box from a friend, plugged it in and worked fine. Connected ours back up and worked fine again. 

The second time it happened i just diconnected the box completely and reconnected a couple of mins later. Problem solved.

Sky will most definately not come out FOC to fix anything out of the 1 year warrenty.


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## emmylou (15 Dec 2009)

Hi   just got a present of a gorgeous new tv.  I have a sky dish and box but cancelled sky about 3 yrs ago.Was told today I could get free to air with my sky dish and box.  Plugged it all back up but no satellite signal...box working..lights on...nothing happening.  Message also come up that there is no telephone connection when in fact my phone is connected.. any help out there..our local tv man is snowed under with work and can't see himself getting to me this side of christmas and I would love to  have it working for christmas.  I've tried all the advice given in previous threads.


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## SparkRite (15 Dec 2009)

What make/model of box are we dealing with?

Check ALL connections are good and tight esp. the LNB lead, make sure there is approx. 10mm of the centre core exposed at the F connector.

Then re-set the box and try again.


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## Towger (16 Dec 2009)

The telephone does not matter, you may even be better off not having in plugged in. Just press the BackUp button to clear the message, you can then check for program listing etc. But as per SparkRite, re check the connections, if it is not them chances are the dish is out of alignment.


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