sky+ upgrade - problems

alastair

Just got a sky+ box today. While it initially failed to throw up a few channels (RTE and movie channels), a couple of calls to sky sorted that out. Sky+ functionality (record/live pause, etc) seem to work fine, I've developed a couple of problems:

1. Favourites button doesn't work. It did initially, but after a few reboots to sort out the missing channels, it stopped. Favourites are checked in the favourites menu.

2. Next/Previous channel/time banner scrolling (as opposed to +/- channel button) doesn't work

3. Channel banner (i button) gives time/prog details, but no channel ident

4. Widescreen switching isn't working. If I set 16:9 in the preferences, I just get compressed images at 4:3 ratio on widescreen broadcasts. (was fine for a while, but again didn't work after reboots).

Settings are 16:9, scart on, rgb. Double checked the scart lead and connected it directly (bypassing dvd).

I did a software backup after a series of shut-downs/disconnects, upside-down card trick etc, but it just won't work normally. Very frustrating. Previous (rare) widescreen switching problems on a panasonic box were cured by unplugging for a minute and restarting.

Anyone encountered this? Have any clever suggestions? I'm hoping it's not a duff box.

Charles Slane

Hi Alastair,

In response to question 3, the i button doesn't give the channel ident, so that's not a problem.

As regards the first two problems the only thing that I can think of that may help is the old reliable - a forced download. I'm not sure whether you have tried this, or if the software update you mentioned was just the more usual one of unplugging the box and reconnecting it after a while. An actual forced download is a bit more complicated but may help if the software is somehow corrupted.

To do a forced download -

I have heard before that it may be a good idea to remove your card from the box before you do the download and put it back when you bring the box back out of standby.

Disconnect the digibox form the mains.

Press the back up button on the front panel of the digibox and while keeping the button pressed, reconnect the digibox to the mains.

Keep the back up button pressed for about 30 seconds, until a message appears on the TV screen saying "Updating system software" (or something like that). Release the back up button. The download should take about 10 or 15 minutes. When the update is finished the digibox will go into standby. Leave the digibox for a minute. You can then switch the box back on.

The box should then have the latest software re-installed.

As I say, this may help with problems 1 and 2.

As for the wide-screen switching, I don't know. If it is a software problem the forced download might help. If not, all I can say is that I have several Scart devices attached to my TV and it took ages to find the right combinations and sequences to get everything to work properly.

Best of luck, and let us know how you get on.

alastair

Thanks for that. The favourites/buttons problem sorted itself out (!). I left the telly on and went off for a half hour, when I came back they were working again. I'd previously done a forced download to no avail.

The widescreen swithing problem remains. The annoying thing is that the scart lead (a decent quality one at that) is connected directly (rather than through to dvd) to the telly to eliminate any possible 'muddying of the waters'. The same scart leadworked just fine with the Panasonic digibox that sat there the day before, and indeed, the sky+ box was switching aspect ratios just fine earlier in the day.