Sky+ stuck in standby

[magic_shrek]

Hi,

I have a Pace Sky+ box which is stuck in standby. The standby light keeps blinking, I don't know if that is supposed to signify something.

I have tried a reset by holding the left & right buttons then pressing select when the green ring comes on, but the red record light comes on for a moment then the box powers off then back into standby again. I also tried to update the software by holding the backup button. The green power light comes on and it tells me not to disconnect it from the satellite or power, after a few minutes it powers off and then goes back to standby.

This is very frustrating, I don't have any warranty on the box so will have to pay an engineer to visit. Can anyone suggest anything else to try before I resort to a call-out or just buying a new box?

[BGonaSTICK]

Mmmm, those are the two main tricks to try and breath some life back into your box

It sounds like it might be a power supply problem, but the box does try and reboot when the firmware update is complete AFAIK (don't have one myself...).

Perhaps it has actually performed the update, but it's not quite 'taken' properly.

The only thing I can suggest is to leave it unplugged from the mains for a few hours, and then power it up again.

It might also be worth trying the forced firmware update again after that, as it does sometines take several goes to get it sorted.

Do you/did you have good reception from your dish before you had the problems?

What happens when you just try to turn it on normally?

[magic_shrek]

Reception was excellent before this problem. I was away for the weekend so turned the power off to my TV / VCR / Sky+ / Hifi etc.. and when I came back this was the problem I was faced with. We have a SkyHD box in the front room and that still works fine, I tried taking the Sky+ box downstairs and using the dish inputs from the HD in the Sky+ box, but it still had the same problem. The Sky+ box has a free to view card inserted which means I don't get any support from Sky and I can't threaten to cancel my subscription so think I'll have to pay a visit to e-bay for a new box.

If I did get an engineer out, will the call out charge cover any costs associated with repairing or replacing the box or is the £65 just the call out fee with extra charges for whatever needs doing? I want to know which is going to be the cheaper option.

I don't know what you mean by turning it on normally, if you are reffering to the remote it just stays in standby, as does trying to press the power button on the front. It just sits and refuses to do anything. Does the fact the standby light blinks indicate any problems? Is it a code of some sort like the beep during a PC's POST?

[BGonaSTICK]

As I say, I don't have one, so I'm not sure.

Have you tried leaving it unplugged for a few hours?

I suspect you're right about the blinking LED. Sounds like it's mid-update and/or has a boot failure. Either that or the power supply has gone west.

AFAIK the £65 is a one-off fee to either repair/replace the box. It's a shame you can't threaten to cancel your HD subscription!

Sorry, don't have any other ideas. Please let us know the outcome if you manage to get anything useful out of Sky though.

You can call Sky Customer Service free on 0800 731 6965, then option 2 then option 4.

STICK

[Analoguesat]

There has been some problems with the latest sky+ software updates especially where the hdd has been upgraded. Ring Sky CS if a later upgrade hasnt sorted it.