Sky Digital problems

ZrByte · 29-12-2005, 00:20

Basicly we have had a recurring problem with our Sky Digital for sometime. The problem seems to change or even go away every so often but its back with a vengence at the moment. BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four are the main culprits recently, when selected they display the error message that no satellite signal is being recieved. This problem has been reccuring for quite a while and I have even asked on here before about it (though I think that may have been on .com )
We have always made do as we could normally get the channels to display just by selecting a lower numbered channel that is currently working (Sky one for example) then keying in the number of the channel we want to watch wich is not working (115 in this case for BBC three). When we used to do this the channel we wanted would always work but now it just seems to have plain given up.
The bulk of our channels seem to work, its just a few that we ironicly want to watch wich dont work. Ive also noticed that the Digi box crashes a lot these days. Ive heard it suggested that the LNB might be at fault, Is there anyway of checking the current one? I dont want to replace something thats not faulty. Also if it does need replacing, is this something I could do? ( I do have some expertise with this sort of thing though im by no means a proffessional).

Paul K · 29-12-2005, 09:16

If your signal strength is good but the signal quality is rubbish then the odds are that the LNB is knackered. We had the same problem and once we got the LNB replaced it was fine. We got Sky to do ours by stating that if it wasn't replaced we would look elswhere for our TV services lol. They seemed happier to send someone out to do the job than lose a customer.
Within our Sky menu (services) we had a system setup, signal test page which showed the strength and quality of the signal.
One thing though, have you tried completely powering off the box for a few mins and then rebooting it ?

MadGamer · 29-12-2005, 11:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

If your signal strength is good but the signal quality is rubbish then the odds are that the LNB is knackered. We had the same problem and once we got the LNB replaced it was fine. We got Sky to do ours by stating that if it wasn't replaced we would look elswhere for our TV services lol. They seemed happier to send someone out to do the job than lose a customer.
Within our Sky menu (services) we had a system setup, signal test page which showed the strength and quality of the signal.
One thing though, have you tried completely powering off the box for a few mins and then rebooting it ?

I was gonna suggest powering it off. Leave it 5 mins before you turn it on again.

ZrByte · 29-12-2005, 11:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

If your signal strength is good but the signal quality is rubbish then the odds are that the LNB is knackered. We had the same problem and once we got the LNB replaced it was fine. We got Sky to do ours by stating that if it wasn't replaced we would look elswhere for our TV services lol. They seemed happier to send someone out to do the job than lose a customer.
Within our Sky menu (services) we had a system setup, signal test page which showed the strength and quality of the signal.
One thing though, have you tried completely powering off the box for a few mins and then rebooting it ?

Yeah, we have tried powering it down completeley for a few mins before, I even left it powered down over night once, no effect.
According to the signal test page I would say that quality and strength are at about 75%, though quality does seem to fluxuate up and down a bit (as high as 90% and as low as 50%)

Paul K · 29-12-2005, 12:04

Pretty much how ours was, a new LNB sorted it out first time. As to how to get it you could try Sky and say that you can't justify keeping your subscription if you can't get the signal problem fixed (if you are out of the 12 month period of your contract) and failing that any Sat installer should be able to replace it.