Dodgy STB? - Page 2

th'engineer · 25-07-2003, 15:33

Quote:

Originally posted by Martin
Thanks for that Eng

Might be worth me keeping an eye on the SNR then. Just looked now and its 30.5db whats the average for this?? Am I right in thinking I will have probs if this goes up and down?

Its usually round 30 retrurn path under 55

Lord Nikon · 25-07-2003, 20:29

Quote:

Originally posted by th'engineer
If you have problems with your connection itsa more likely to be the Green BOX on the Street than your STB.

Especially if it is intermitant, Martin you live in the same NTL area as me where the cabinets are not ventalated.

[snip]

With all due respect th'engineer, are the 2000 boxes more fault tolerant then? I ask as I went through 5 DiTV 1000 boxes in a 3 week period, and then switched to a 2000 series box which worked for well over 12 months. During this time no engineer visited the Green cab...

I have been told by multiple sources that the DiTV 1000 boxes can become unstable and that the 2000 is preferable. This would correspond with my experiences.
Please note I am not saying that a cab fault is unlikely, merely that a STB failure on the 1000 series is more likely. Especially with the failure type mentioned earlier, which is loss of BB and a nonresponsive STB, Signal level faults seldom freeze the STB.

th'engineer · 25-07-2003, 22:21

The 2000 is the best, am quite jealous myself most of our family have 2000 STbs, they seem to be better on interactive.

They do not have Broadband on them, so can not comment on Broadband on them but they are supposed to be the best.

Remember there are different 1000 STbs as well 1000 and 1000+.

I have the 1000+ which seems to be very tolerant on BB but not on interactive or TV.

STB troubleshooting is featured on robins site here

bigitup_j · 27-07-2003, 19:13

so 4000 crap and 1000 crap.
i need 2000 box or i'll hit the engineer.

Martin · 27-07-2003, 19:28

Well its been much cooler in Manchester the last few days and no dropped connections or box crashes. There may be something in th'engineers theory.

bigitup_j · 28-07-2003, 09:41

i don't think my problem is because of the heat. as it happens when it is cold(er), and the green box on my street only sees sunlight for about 1/2hour in the evening.
interactive makes my 4000 box loose schedual data, can't use interactive or tv on demand or anything.
then the box locks up, when i sometimes use th broadband and it rebooots itself.
now that is not good. it reboots everyday. so i lose my bb for a few minutes (which is very annoying) everyday.

well see what the engineer does tomorrow...

th'engineer · 28-07-2003, 20:25

The 1000+ works well most of the time for broadband, hope you are not wanting perfection from NTL

bigitup_j · 29-07-2003, 10:11

well i can't see that it that hard to have schedual data always available. as i lose it everyday (the data, not mind).
i hope they can do something

bigitup_j · 29-07-2003, 17:15

engineer visit today. and changed the connector at the back of the box from a 10dB to a 6dB. the 10dB was weakening the signal to the box. and now i can surf the interactive for ages and the data is still there and everything works. (which helps!)
so anyone with the same problem should call ntl (it's not that painful) and an engineer should replace the connector.
by connector i mean the socket were the coax lead goes into before being connected to the set top box. like this:
------- >>>>>>>>[
coax Connector digi box

cjmillsnun · 29-07-2003, 19:19

Quote:

Originally posted by bigitup_j
engineer visit today. and changed the connector at the back of the box from a 10dB to a 6dB. the 10dB was weakening the signal to the box. and now i can surf the interactive for ages and the data is still there and everything works. (which helps!)
so anyone with the same problem should call ntl (it's not that painful) and an engineer should replace the connector.
by connector i mean the socket were the coax lead goes into before being connected to the set top box. like this:
------- >>>>>>>>[
coax Connector digi box

If you read the previous posts, this probably will work until the weather changes again. The "connector" he replaced is an attenuator and it is there to filter out the noise from the signal.

The tradeoff from this is that it also filters out some of the signal.

bigitup_j · 30-07-2003, 21:14

i see now.

but it was too good to be true. and now it has stopped working again. looks like ntl will be getting a call from me again!

th'engineer · 31-07-2003, 07:52

Yes its a cabinet problem from my experience over heating cab again, dodgy analog amps that over heat .

It makes you realise what a bunch of T**** work on the service side if they can not sort a simple amplifier problem out .

The Techs treated the symptom not the fault what a T*** how many truck rolls does it need to get a problem fixed.

Russ · 31-07-2003, 09:16

Bigitup_j I've just sent you a PM with advice on who to contact in NTL about this.....

Jarandco · 31-07-2003, 11:21

My Stb someitmes faisl in hot weather although it seems to do it most of the time the connection just drops on my pc for no reason then sometimes it comes back within a few minutes, otehrtimes i have to restart my pc - i dont alwyuas check the stb but that is usually fine - it has crashed a few times but not that often!

Russ · 31-07-2003, 12:50

In fact if anyone else has problems with their STB, PM me and I'll give you the email address of a manager at NTL who will help