My Sky+ box just crashed!!!

_Kaiser_

Here I was happily watching the Original Series Star Trek weekend on Sci-Fi (and recording it to the box) when it just turned off!

Now after a few minutes I can turn it on again but ALL my recordings are gone (including the entire 2nd season of Battlestar Galactica.. yes I like my sci-fi , and several other things)

Any way I can get them back, or should I call Sky and shout for a bit?? :mad:

Charles Slane

Ouch !! That really hurts!! I don't know of any way to get the recordings back so you're probably best letting off some steam at Sky (although I have a hunch they won't feel the pain).

_Kaiser_

Rang them up (was very nice about it) and got put through to level 2 tech support.

Spoke to a guy there who had me test the live pause feature (which failed), and then guided me through a soft-reset (also no joy).
Ultimately I had to do a full system reset from the Installer menu, and while everything works again, all those recordings are completely gone

So I pointed out that not only am I being charged to use these features, but that because of their proprietary software and encryption, I can't just pull the box out, stick it in a PC and retrieve the files that way (like I could with a Windows crash for example). I also pointed out that this is a known issue, widely reported online and he agreed with this, but has no idea when/if it'll be fixed.

Only thing he could suggest is that I write into the CS department so I guess I'll do that and see what happens.

_Kaiser_

Update:

Since earlier the box has started to do odd things now. Like being unable to access the EPG or different channels, an uncustomary lag between pressing pause and it kicking in, and errors saying recording is unavailable. :mad:

I've thus far tried a soft reboot, full reset, planner rebuild and (lastly) a forced software update so I'm waiting to see if that sorts it.

Anyone know what's causing this? I'm starting to think the box is on the way out and it'll be at my expense to replace as it's over the 12 months

digiking

your box is showing signs of IMMINANT HARD DRIVE FAILURE...Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

get onto sky and demand a replacement or replace the drive yourself with a larger one...its real easy to do...google it and you'll find info


Digiking

Sparky

My box is fcuked also.
Constant "Please Wait"

Done a full reset and it stalled.

digiking

yeah, the drive is probally screwed - sky boxes take ages to boot if the drive is nackered or if there is now drive present - thats if it'll even boot at all - take the drive out plug it into pc and see if it can be detected...

digiking

Dac51

Kaiser2000 wrote:

Here I was happily watching the Original Series Star Trek weekend on Sci-Fi (and recording it to the box) when it just turned off!

Now after a few minutes I can turn it on again but ALL my recordings are gone (including the entire 2nd season of Battlestar Galactica.. yes I like my sci-fi , and several other things)

Any way I can get them back, or should I call Sky and shout for a bit?? :mad:

I think I'm in the same boat as you. Same symptoms and I have tried everything from switching the power off at the mains to a full system reset. I can view all channels but when I try to use Sky+ it tells me I have a system failure and that Sky+ playback and recording are unavailable.

Will be calling Sky first thing in the morning.:mad:

_Kaiser_

digiking wrote:

your box is showing signs of IMMINANT HARD DRIVE FAILURE...Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

get onto sky and demand a replacement or replace the drive yourself with a larger one...its real easy to do...google it and you'll find info


Digiking

Yep I've come to the conclusion that its a bad drive (I hope) and as it happens I've a spare maxtor drive that's exactly the same model as the one in it apparently so I'll be getting a T10 security screwdriver in the morning and having at it. I'm an IT manager so swapping a drive shouldn't pose a problem

Hopefully that'll sort it, otherwise Ill have to give Sky the €100 for a service call

Will let ye know...

[EDIT:] Came across this software earlier which may be of use to those whose drives haven't completely fallen over yet [/EDIT]

Dac51

Dac51 wrote:

I think I'm in the same boat as you. Same symptoms and I have tried everything from switching the power off at the mains to a full system reset. I can view all channels but when I try to use Sky+ it tells me I have a system failure and that Sky+ playback and recording are unavailable.

Will be calling Sky first thing in the morning.:mad:

Update: called sky. Tried everything, looks like a hard disk failure.

Decided I would make the jump to HD rather than go through the hassle of repairing current sky+ box. Earliest install date is the 19th of September:eek:

_Kaiser_

Well I changed the hard disk this afternoon after getting the necessary screwdriver kit in Maplin (pretty good value if anyone's looking for one.. T6-T30 and flat/philips heads in a kit for €6 )

Installed the new drive (identical to the existing one as I mentioned) and did the full reset again to initislise it. The box seems to be ok so far but there's still a lag of about half a second between pressing the pause key and it actually kicking in.

I suppose I'll just have to see how it goes for a few days...