Blocking, Freezing and Sound Dropouts !!

Charles Slane

Well the title says it all.

I'm experiencing quite severe blocking, freezing and sound dropouts on several channels today - E4, Living. Living+1, Challenge, E!, Bravo, Discovery Homa and Leisure+1, UK Style, UK Food, Smash Hits, Magic .... the list goes on.

Is anyone else experiencing this ? I know that bad cloud and rain can have a bad effect on reception, but is it possible that a clear sunny day like today could affect it too ?

Icehouse

If your dish is connected via a particularly long cable, the signal provided by the LNB is not very strong, or if the sun is shining directly on your dish, this can happen yes. Happens to a lot of people even during Irish 'summers'. You have been lucky enough to experience early 'summer' weather ;o)

Charles Slane

Disaster !!!

After improving last night, the blocking and freezing worsened when I got home this evening. Eventually all channels were replaced by "No satellite signal being received". The box seemed to reset itself at some stage, and returned on a very stuttering channel 999. Very few channels are now showing and those that are are freezing and blocking very badly.

I've tried switching to a different cable (which another receiver is working perfectly from) but it's still the same.

It looks like it's definitely a problem with the receiver (rather than the cable or lnb).

So is my receiver dying, or is there anything that can be done to save it ?

Has anyone else experienced this kind of problem and if so, did they get the receiver repaired or did it mean buying a new box ?

Who repairs receivers ?

I've had Sky Digital since October 2000, so it's well out of warantee. Would I have to pay the full (unsubsidised) whack for a new box ? And what is the full whack ?


Help !!!

Tony

What make is it Charles?

Charles Slane

It's a silver Grundig.

Tony

Originally posted by Charles Slane
It's a silver Grundig.

Electroplus handle grundig as do Kesh Electrics in Kesh, the norther guys seem to have lower repair prices but taking shipping into account theres not much in it.

Tony

Charles Slane

Thanks for the info Tony.

Electroplus is a five minute walk from here, so I might bring it over to them tomorrow.

watty

You can't tell if it is Dish alignment, LNB or box without changing or swapping.

Put your box on someone else's LNB cable in their house and if it is OK then your Dish alignment is out or LNB faulty.

Dun

Our silver grundig at home was prone (happened a few times, but not recently though) to pulling up the old "No signal yadda yadda" message. What's the signal strength/quality like? Does the other receiver work ok on the 'faulty' one's cable?

Charles Slane

Originally posted by watty
You can't tell if it is Dish alignment, LNB or box without changing or swapping.

Put your box on someone else's LNB cable in their house and if it is OK then your Dish alignment is out or LNB faulty.

Yep. Did all that already. The other receiver works fine on the faulty one's cable, while the Grundig box has the same problem on the other cable. It's definitely the box.

Rang Electroplus today. they don't do repairs anymore, but if I give them the old box, they'll give me a new box with a year warantee for 315 Euros !! Doesn't seem like a great deal to me.

What if I bought a digibox on Ebay (around £120), could I get Sky to pair it with my card ? Or if I rang Sky and told them that I was thinking of cancelling my subscription because my box was broken, do you think they might offer me a replacement ?

Charles Slane

Okay, there's a SILVER PACE 2600 digibox on sale on Ebay at the moment for £100.

Would I be able to get Sky to pair my card with it ? And does anyone have this model ? Is it any good ?

Tony

Originally posted by Charles Slane
Okay, there's a SILVER PACE 2600 digibox on sale on Ebay at the moment for £100.

Would I be able to get Sky to pair my card with it ? And does anyone have this model ? Is it any good ?

Charles try ringing sky and get thier repair service, new box for around 120 I think, play dumb and say you dont know what the fault is.

Tony

Originally posted by Charles Slane
Rang Electroplus today. they don't do repairs anymore, but if I give them the old box, they'll give me a new box with a year warantee for 315 Euros !! Doesn't seem like a great deal to me.

Wonder what they want with the old box if they dont do repairs???

Tony

Charles Slane

Originally posted by Tony
Charles try ringing sky and get thier repair service, new box for around 120 I think, play dumb and say you dont know what the fault is.

Whoops. Thanks Tony, but I got this a just a tiny bit too late and have already bid on the Ebay box.

Having said that I'm the highest bidder at £102, and the bidding ends in about 10 minutes.

I had already rang Sky and told them that my box was broken. they didn't offer a replacement, but they did say that there wouldn't be a problem pairing my old card with any new box that I'd buy.

I did wonder what Electroplus would do with all those broken boxes if they don't repair them anymore. It's a strange one alright.

Irulan

Rang Electroplus today. they don't do repairs anymore, but if I give them the old box, they'll give me a new box with a year warantee for 315 Euros !! Doesn't seem like a great deal to me

Are you sure you heard them right Charles. I bought a box from them about 9 months ago & it cost me €100.00 .with six months guarentee. I too had to give them my old box. €315.00 would represent a fair Jump in cost.:eek:

PS. Sorry Charles. just re read your post. The box I got from them was reconditioned.

DMC

Originally posted by Tony
Wonder what they want with the old box if they dont do repairs???

Recondition them?

Charles Slane

Well my (literally) last-minute £121 bid was the winner. The seller has a very positive feedback, so hopefully everything will be cool, and I'll soon have my new Pace box.

It's kind of odd that the guy in Electroplus didn't offer me a reconditioned box, but maybe they're not getting very many boxes that they can repair.

Tony

Originally posted by DMC
Recondition them?

Maybe its a way of repairing boxes with instant turnaround. I'm pretty reluctant to take on repairs of boxes as some customers ring you a few hours later demanding to know why its not ready whan it can take up to a week to get the thing right.

Tony