Help with Apartment Sky problems

yankinlk · 08-06-2022 11:29am #1

This is a bit of a saga - in short summary - my mother loves sky - nothing else will suffice. IF it was me I would bin Sky and never look back (i did 15 years ago).

She lives in an aprtment that requires a shared dish be used. Its well over 10 years old. She has Sky Q multi-room installed this year. As part of the cabling - there is a little black box with a green light - i think its some sort of a "booster". This was recently replaced.

The problem is recurring daily. The system works for a while - and then eventually she gets a "no satellite signal" message - until i reboot the little black box. I am at a loss on how to fix this - been around the houses with the Sky engineer and the aprartment "sky qualified" engineer that looks after the shared dish. Both say the system is working fine - and no one else has any problems. But the problem has recurred even after all equipment returened and a brand new install occured (dont ask!!)

In the small aprtment she has a very old handheld landline phone. I only mention in the chance that maybe it conflicts somehow? She has eir broadband sitting close by as well - but hopefully irrelevant. She had sky BB at one time and still had issues like this.

Does anyone have any ideas? I am open for ANY sort of fix. Just need her to be happy and fool-proof.

Tenshot · 08-06-2022 11:32am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058249325/help-with-apartment-sky-problems

Depending how frequently the black box locks up, would it be worth putting it on a timer plug to power cycle it every morning around 4-5am for a few minutes?

yankinlk · 08-06-2022 11:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119173568#Comment_119173568

Great minds....Yes this was one idea i had. I have no idea why it needs to be rebooted - and its a task too much for my mother to do... so yeah I could set this up easily.

I was thinking of buying here a different phone as well... but the issues with DECT phones were on Sky forums back in 2010 no idea if this is still an issue with the modern boxes.

Thanks for the suggestion

The Cush · 08-06-2022 12:14pm

Can you post a pic of that box?

How many cables from that box into the receiver?

Some sort of fibre optic/scr setup?

yankinlk · 08-06-2022 12:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119173763#Comment_119173763

Yes I will take pics next time i am there thanks. It must be fiber optic - very thin cabling running to each apartment.

icdg · 08-06-2022 11:33pm

Moved to satellite

Tony · 09-06-2022 10:46am

Sounds like its a virtual LNB that giving the problem

yankinlk · 10-06-2022 8:39am

I took a few images last night. The Sky was down again with "no sat received" error. Pulled out the plug on the "black box" and within 5 seconds the signal is back - never needed to reboot the sky box or anything. (i check the settings and its set to SCR). There is a 2nd multiroom in the mix here - using wireless and it works fine when the main box is working.

This is the famous black box... its one grey fiber in - and one white wire going to the skyQ box.

It may be totally unrelated - but I also am thinking to replace her really old cordless DECT phone (Panasonic KX-TGC220E) . It MIGHT cause interfence is why i was thinking of it but it may have nothing to do with it either.

I also moved the Eir fiber broadband away from the blakc box and the sky box - but not very far - im kinda stuck as the Sateilite grey cable and the fiber are coming in from the same location.

I havent installed a timer yet to poweroff the black box every day - but i do think that is a resonable idea. I dont live there so i dont know how often it needs to be rebooted = im hoping once or twice a day is enough!

If anyone has any ideas on a permanent fix - or a reason it seems like it only affects my mothers apt... id appreciate advice. The issue is telling the techie (either sky or the mgmt company tech) exactly what is causing the issue - they both say its not their issue.

THINGS I NEED TO TRY:

Change the wireless broadband channel? Maybe it conflicts somehow? UNlikely cause the internet, and the 2nd multiroom sky box all work fine... but worth a shot.

The Cush · 10-06-2022 9:02am

Sky Q Digital SCR (dSCR) Gateway Termination Unit (GTU) – Global Invacom (Optical to RF converter)

As Tony posted the fault likely lies in that unit.

yankinlk · 10-06-2022 9:32am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119182568#Comment_119182568

I went down that road already = and the apertment engineer ordered a new one and replaced it. EVEYRTHING bar the fiber cable coming into the house has been replaced. All sky components as well.

The Cush · 10-06-2022 9:41am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119182725#Comment_119182725

And yet when you reboot it normal service resumes, the cable is passive, just a conduit for the laser. I would think if there was a fault there it wouldn't be intermittent and resolved by a reboot.

yankinlk · 13-06-2022 1:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119182765#Comment_119182765

i totally agree. But what can i do when the local engineer says he swapped it out and its the same issue?

I have ordered a new one myself from CPC. Hopefully its just plug and play?

Help with Apartment Sky problems

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