D1400N pace STB dies often

kanagarajanc · 04-06-2005, 20:16

I have pace D1400N STB. I do have a bad problem of switching of all electrical appliance in the house when not in need as I feel the LED is still sucking up some juice. So when I switched of my STB and tried to turn on next morning (sunday), it doesn't boot up. It just shows PACE and nothing happens. Tried many things and called up NTL (missed the Monacco Grand prix that week).

Poor NTL customer service, did not turn up on monday as promised. Next day he turns up and says "oh don't switch of the power supply these boxes has problem". As my wife was there, I'm not clear whats the reason behind this.

Now after couple of mistakes, I see no program listing in any channel. From previous experience turning off and back on solved this issue. Oh..........no its gone again. it doesn't boot up anymore.,,,,,,,,,,just displays PACE.

Do anyone know about this problem? Should I ask for a replacement STB this time. Or anyone knows how to get around?

I guess we are beginning to live without TV, may be I should cancel the subscription if NTL says I can't switch off the STB at night!!!!
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It seems pace got changed some frequency settings and the technician changed it back. I'm not sure what this frequency settings are...
Anybody knows?

Jules · 04-06-2005, 20:20

As long as you do not leave it in stand by it is not useing any electric as far as I know ...but there again what do I know

paulyoung666 · 04-06-2005, 20:37

it will use a small amount of power on standby , very little though , it sounds to me as though the box is borked tbh , a call to c.s. is in order

kanagarajanc · 04-06-2005, 20:43

Guess I need to check their Technical support that will be open in Sunday as well..........starting tomorrow..............

10AM tomorrow then and another 0.5 day away from work...............
They don't even tell me exactly which hour they will come around.......its either 8 to 1 or 12 to 6............

sollp · 04-06-2005, 21:01

When it show's pace and does nothing else the usual problems are the STB is on it's way out or dead completely or the signal levels are to low going into the STB so when you turn it off it struggles to start the reboot tuning process if at all. Or it needs the default frequency in the engineering pages putting back to 643mhz,(langley).

paulyoung666 · 04-06-2005, 21:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by kanagarajanc

Guess I need to check their Technical support that will be open in Sunday as well..........starting tomorrow..............

10AM tomorrow then and another 0.5 day away from work...............
They don't even tell me exactly which hour they will come around.......its either 8 to 1 or 12 to 6............

to be fair , no company i know of will state an exact time , it would cause more problems than it solves , i believe they are still open now if you want to try them

Jules · 04-06-2005, 21:04

Are you not meant to leave your box plugged in at night because NTL send signals to it? I know it doesn't help with this problem but it may come in usefull later

sollp · 04-06-2005, 21:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by whyme38

Are you not meant to leave your box plugged in at night because NTL send signals to it? I know it doesn't help with this problem but it may come in usefull later

Well they do software updates mostly during the early hours if your STB is on stand-by, but to be honest if you don't have it on stand-by it will at somepoint get the software updates.

kanagarajanc · 04-06-2005, 22:06

Sollp, does this mean I cannot switch off my STB at all? I saw another thread where similar problem was seen and NTL replaced the box. Is this happenning for lots of people? Should I insist on getting the box replaced? Does NTL has right to tell me that I should not switch of the box when it is not in use? I understand its their box, not like Sky where user owns it....

I tried calling them today and a husky voice said saturday open from 9 to 5 only and on sunday 10 to 4...........

spiderplant · 05-06-2005, 11:09

Turning any electronic equipment on and off regularly does it no good. It's the heating up and cooling down that does the damage.

And as others have said, ntl talk to your STB overnight. It really would be better if you left it on (or in standby) all the time.

fudge · 05-06-2005, 14:19

I had the same problem with my pace top box , like you i turn off all power supplies at night. The first day i had ntl i turned the box off when i went to bed and when i turned it back on the next day my box got stuck on PACE. I phoned cs up and was talked through rebooting the top box , all worked well then the chap asked me to turn the telly and box off and switch the telly back on to see if it starts up ok, but no it again got stuck on PACE, so he sent someone out to have a look and apparently he did something to signal and this seemed to have cured the problem.
Since though i do now keep the box on as i have been told most do and its safe to do so and it stops any start up problems.
The other day i came down and my box was dissplaying 124 and i could not change channels, so i switced off at mains and started it up again and all was well, i was told that happens when ntl send out an up grade to software. I dont know if thats right but it has not happened since.

Swipe · 05-06-2005, 14:28

When a STB goes into standby does it actually consume less electricity? As far as I can tell the only thing that changes is the channel number display goes off. On the PACE boxes the channels are still fed through RF.

Graham M · 05-06-2005, 14:28

Even with signal problems the box ought to get passed "PACE" and "NLT" with no problem im sure?

fudge · 05-06-2005, 14:35

I think my problem could have been that i turned mine off after about 7 hours of it being installed, cs said it can take 24 hours to get all your programes, so may have been better to have left it on for the first 24 hours. But the chap who installed it dident advise me to keep it on.

nfs6600 · 05-06-2005, 14:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by fudge

I think my problem could have been that i turned mine off after about 7 hours of it being installed, cs said it can take 24 hours to get all your programes, so may have been better to have left it on for the first 24 hours. But the chap who installed it dident advise me to keep it on.

The hites sent to the box should take that long. THe most I've known them to be was 6 hours.
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Quote:

Originally Posted by kanagarajanc

10AM tomorrow then and another 0.5 day away from work...............
They don't even tell me exactly which hour they will come around.......its either 8 to 1 or 12 to 6............

That's impossible on the new harmony system. Your in Bracknell it appears so the technicians who would come to your home are routed by the Harmony system. Basically the closer you live to a techncian the earlier in the morning you will get a technician to you. If you are booked in for a PM, you will get him later in the afternoon. They can't give you narrowed down appointment times either as this messes with the technicians daily route of jobs thus reducing his productivity.

P.S. Don't ask the agent you talk to where the technician lives as they won't have the foggiest I'm afraid. The best way is to request a courtest call when he/she is on the way