Testing Sky+ hard drives

Finne1993

Hi all, perhaps this has been asked before but I could'nt find an answer doing a quick search on the web.
Is there any way that I can test whether a Sky+ box is functioning properly or not (mainly to find out whether the hard drive is knackered or not) without pairing it up to a Sky card? Reason I ask is that I recently I got my hands on a number of Sky plus boxes, all are working fine, taking in all the FTA channels, up to date software etc but I'm at a loss as to whether the hard drive is working and i'd like to be able to pass these on as fully working boxes.
Thanks for any replies.

Darth Maul

you could take the hard drives out and put them in a working box. Thats how I used to test them.

If they are working I might be able to take a couple off you.

steveon

Or if u have an FTV card that was once paired with a sky plus box..then its likely the sky plus features may be still active. You could then record the ftv channels and play them back..


However the sky plus box will usually not boot up unless the hard-drive is dected in a certain time period I think its about 10seconds so its likely there ok if booting up but not always the case..

John mac

you could open the boxes and hook them up to a pc.

Finne1993

Thanks for the answers folks, was kinda hoping there would be something simpler!! Thought the sky plus features would'nt work unless you subscribed to Sky, is it not highly unlikely the boxes would work with a FTV card? I have about 20 FTV cards lying about the place so maybe I'll give it a blast and see what happens

steveon

If the FTV card was originally for a sky plus box then there would be a good chance it will stick work for the recordings...i ididnt belevie it myself until I read it here and now I have 1 myself its great....or was great until they turn them off grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Finne1993

Many thanks for that info Steveon, would never have bothered trying out the FTV cards, thought as soon as a sub was cancelled the Sky+ features would be cancelled along with it. After a quick search in the mess of a van I have I found 19 FTV cards, the first 17 were a big no no and i'll be honest I was losing faith in you by that stage!! low and behold the last 2 worked, a great job, I was delighted to be able to test out the boxes, all are working fine so I'll have a couple of happy customers with very cheap Sky+ now!! Thanks again.

steveon

Wow cant beleive you had 19 cards lying about lol....and u really are a patient man to try them all out but glad your perseverance paid off and that you managed to find out if they were working....

Keep up the good work +1

Finne1993

Well I only ever had 3 or 4 at a time but recently when buying in second hand Sky boxes from England the sellers ever so generously said they'd throw in a few FTV cards!! Getting rid of them was all they were doing! Worth nothing now, hence why they were lying round the van.
Thanks again

John W

Finne1993 wrote: »

Hi all, perhaps this has been asked before but I could'nt find an answer doing a quick search on the web.
Is there any way that I can test whether a Sky+ box is functioning properly or not (mainly to find out whether the hard drive is knackered or not) without pairing it up to a Sky card? Reason I ask is that I recently I got my hands on a number of Sky plus boxes, all are working fine, taking in all the FTA channels, up to date software etc but I'm at a loss as to whether the hard drive is working and i'd like to be able to pass these on as fully working boxes.
Thanks for any replies.

I am also looking for a replacement sky + box, mine is on the way out - wadda you want for one?

Finne1993

Sorry, they're more or less gone now, I held on to a few for more installs.

Check out Ebay, adverts.ie, buy and sell etc. You'll pick up one handy enough on them.