Intermittent "No signal being received" and failed recordings on new Sky+ HD box

brophs

Hi,

I had a quick question someone might be able to answer. I bought a new Sky+ HD box from someone on Adverts. I set it up myself and called Sky to pair it and do whatever they need to do on their end. Then yesterday I noticed that I was intermittently getting one of the "No satellite signal being received" messages on all of the Irish channels (though I noticed this morning it also extends to other channels like LivingIt and SyFy) which resolved itself after a few minutes.

I then recorded a few things and noticed that most of the recordings were showing as "Recording cancelled" or "Part recorded" and the message beside that was "No signal" which I presume means it lost signal and stopped recording.

So I rang Sky this morning thinking that the new box I'd gotten was faulty and she told me that they'd wrongly set up the box as a Sky+ box and not a Sky+ HD box as I'd intended. She then mentioned that my serial number was already assigned to someone and that they'd have to reassign it. The box I got was definitely sealed and all of the components were still in their original packaging. I don't really understand the serial number already being assigned, tbh, unless it's a refurb, or something.

Anyway, I've got to wait and see if re-pairing it as a Sky+ HD box will sort it, though she said it could take a couple of days to go through. I'm just wondering if anyone knows if that could even cause the problems I'm complaining of, or is it likely that I've gotten a faulty box and just by coincidence they paired it incorrectly?

I've already powered on and off the box, done a rebuild of the planner, reseated all of the cables (though there were no issues with signal etc. before pairing the new box) and done a reset of the LNB, though I did all of those prior to calling Sky and being told it was set up as a plain old Sky+ box. In system health the signal and quality look very good, though Input 2 is probably at only 60% albeit the quality is at around 90%, as are both values for Input 1.

Thanks.

brophs

One other thing I'd noticed was that when I'm getting the "No signal is being received" message when I go to "Settings" > "Signal" Input 2 Signal Strength and Quality are both completely empty/zero.


As I said, that's an intermittent thing. Most of the time it seems to work okay.

EDIT: I should also say that when I'm getting that error, the other Sky+HD box in the house works fine and has no error.

Liameter

brophs wrote: »

I bought a new Sky+ HD box from someone on Adverts.

What's the make and model number on the label?
When was it manufactured?

brophs wrote: »

when I'm getting the "No signal is being received" message when I go to "Settings" > "Signal" Input 2 Signal Strength and Quality are both completely empty/zero.

What happens if you set the LNB power to off then on when you see these at zero?

brophs

It's an Amstrad DRX-890. How would I go about finding out when it was manufactured?

I can't be sure at the moment what happens as the error has gone for the moment. I'll check next time it happens.

Liameter

No date stamp on the label? This model was introduced at the start of 2010 so yours could be over two years old.

You've done everything I would have recommended and you've pinpointed the box as the likely culprit. If it goes wrong again, I'd be looking for a refund.

brophs

Thanks. One other thing I just noticed is that the signal quality and strength seems to be fluctuating at the moment. On Signal 1 Strength it's hopping from 60-70% regularly. On Quality it's moving between 80-90%. On Signal 2 Strength it's moving between 80-90% and the Quality seems to be holding at 90%.

No idea if that's normal or not.

brophs

Btw, thanks for the replies so far. I meant to say that but forgot.

Brian h

brophs wrote: »

One other thing I'd noticed was that when I'm getting the "No signal is being received" message when I go to "Settings" > "Signal" Input 2 Signal Strength and Quality are both completely empty/zero.


As I said, that's an intermittent thing. Most of the time it seems to work okay.

EDIT: I should also say that when I'm getting that error, the other Sky+HD box in the house works fine and has no error.

Hi Brophs,

Have you tried using your other box where you currently have the new Amstrad one? If your good box also has problems there, then you know your new one is not at fault.

brophs

Hi Brian,

Since I last posted a few things have happened. It occurred to me that I'd done my 'self-install' and the box had then been paired wrongly by Sky. So I did another self-install and, from what I've seen, the problem hasn't happened again, though I haven't been watching tv much this afternoon. Though I did record a bunch of stuff and it all worked fine. Fingers crossed. I'm working from home tomorrow so I'll leave it on the Irish stations and see does the signal drop at all.

EDIT: So I'll see if this has resolved it and if not I'll try the boxes in the opposite locations.

Also, another issue popped up and I'm not sure if it's my box. Earlier I had something recording in the background and was watching Channel 5, which I'd manually tuned in. I was checking the frequency was right and 'added' the channels again. I just realised after a bit of checking that this caused my recording to fail. Does that happen to anyone else?

1. Record something
2. Watch a different channel
3. Do a scan for channels under the add channels option (eg. 10.964 H 22 5/6, which is Channel 5).
Press select to confirm when you have selected the channel (I don't actually think it matters if you select the channel, once you press select - or maybe it might even be the original scan for channels).
4. It should then have cancelled your recording without any warning etc.?

Not a big deal and unlikely to happen again, but could someone try that so I know it's not an issue with my box please? I'm guessing it's just because I only have two inputs but am trying to do three things at once?

Thanks.

brophs

D'oh. I forgot we have another Sky+HD box downstairs to test my theory on. It does cut off the recording as I described above. No idea why.

brophs

Arrrggghh. The no signal problem returns, though Sky+ recording seems to be working. Sky took me through all of the same steps I'd done myself and then wanted to send an engineer out to check cabling that was fine until I installed my new box. I told them I didn't fancy paying them a fortune to come out and say everything's fine and that the box is at fault (Not to mention the fact that they originally installed the dish above the garage roof. When they last came out they wouldn't go on the roof and said they'd have to fit a new dish elsewhere on the house, which would look much worse. I obviously told them to feck off).

Thankfully though I rang the seller on Adverts and she said she'll replace it first thing Monday morning. Fingers crossed it's just a dodgy box.

brophs

Okay, so I've gotten a new box and for the most part it's been flawless. But I have had the message 'No satellite signal is being received' a couple of times which usually went away by changing the channel. I don't believe it's the box as I got another brand new one so am I right in saying:

1. As we have two Sky+ HD boxes in the house and the one downstairs isn't exhibiting any issues, that it's not the LNB that's at fault? If it was both would suffer the same issue, wouldn't they? Or am I wrong? Replacing the LNB would be easy enough anyway, I'd assume?

2. It may be the cabling, though it worked fine with the old Sky+ box. If the problem persists I'll strip the cables and reconnect them to see if that helps.

3. Could it be interference from a DECT phone? Our cordless phone is a couple of feet from the box. Normally the interference we get is the sort you get on C4/E4 where the picture is all scrambled etc. Could interference be the problem? I think the best way to test it is to wait until the no signal message appears and then unplug the phone. If that's the issue it should restore the signal?

Thanks.

Liameter

1. You can't make that assumption. The LNB Local Oscillator may be fractionally off-frequency, causing the AFC (automatic frequency control) in the Digiboxes to work very hard. One box may cope with this better than the other.

Equally, it could be a connection problem. If the connections have never had silicone grease applied, one or more might have microscopic corrosion.

2. Old cable could attenuate the signal.

3. As you say, you don't need to ask about DECT. Disconnect the power from it.

brophs

Liameter wrote: »

1. You can't make that assumption. The LNB Local Oscillator may be fractionally off-frequency, causing the AFC (automatic frequency control) in the Digiboxes to work very hard. One box may cope with this better than the other.

Equally, it could be a connection problem. If the connections have never had silicone grease applied, one or more might have microscopic corrosion.

2. Old cable could attenuate the signal.

3. As you say, you don't need to ask about DECT. Disconnect the power from it.

Thanks for the reply, Liam. In that case:

1. Is that a replace the LNB job or reposition it? As for the silicone grease, do you mean under the connector when it's put onto the coax? I'll have a look for that.

2. It's all relatively new cable (5-6 years or so).

3. Will do.

Liameter

You can only "test" an LNB by replacement.

Five years is a good life for unprotected cable outside.
See http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=904492
Cable outdoors should be protected by paint or conduit if you want it to last.

(Obviously most of the manufacturers and sellers aren't going to tell you this!)