What can I do when my Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fau
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV How to Reset a Sky Digibox when 'No Signal' appears.
Reset method 1 - Delete and Rescan
- Turn the power off at the mains socket. Either do this by pulling the plug from the socket, or using a power switch if there is one.
- Remove the viewing card from the machine. Using a dry cloth or kitchen roll, clean the gold connector on the reverse of the card. Do not use any cleaning products.
- Check cables and connectors are in good order.
- Wait for at least 30 seconds.
- With the card still out of the machine, plug the Digibox back into the mains.
- Ignore all the messages, and wait for around a minute.
- Try 101 for BBC One, 102 for BBC Two and 103 for ITV-1.
- Insert viewing card, wait a few seconds.
- Check 104 for Channel 4 and 105 for five.
Reset Method 2 - Reset the LNB
If the above method does not work, the LNB may have a fault.- Press the [SERVICES] button and then press [4] [0] [1] then [SELECT]
On Sky HD, press the [SERVICES] button and then press [0] [0] [1] then [SELECT]
Press the buttons in the sequence above exactly - do not atttempt to use [UP] or [DOWN]. Note that when you press the second 0 and 1 nothing happens on the screen until you press the final [SELECT]. This is a "hidden menu".
- Then press [1] to go to the RF output menu.
- Press [DOWN] three times to highlight the line 22Khz Command and then press [RIGHT] to change the value to [OFF].
- Press [DOWN] and [SELECT] to select Save New Settings.
- Press [SKY].
- Again press [SERVICES], [4], [0], [1], [SELECT]; then [1] again for the LNB Menu. (SERVICES 0 0 1 SELECT for Sky HD).
- Now press the [RED] button (reset all settings), then [DOWN] until you can select Save New Settings again.
- Press [SKY].
Reset Method 3 - Upgrade the system software
If there are still problems:- Turn the Digibox off at the mains again and remove the viewing card.
- Whilst holding down the BACKUP key on the Digibox - NOT ON THE REMOTE - turn the mains power on.
- Keep hold of BACKUP until the screen displays a "UPGRADING SYSTEM SOFTWARE" message – this will be white text on a black screen. On some boxes this can appear as a half screen.
- Wait 10 to 20 minutes for the software to download and install. The box will restart when the process is complete.
- Ignore all the messages, and wait for around a minute.
- Try 101 for BBC One, 102 for BBC Two and 103 for ITV-1.
- Insert viewing card, wait a few seconds.
- Check 104 for Channel 4 and 105 for five.
All questions
In this section
Monday, 17 December 2012
J
jb381:32 PM
Mike: Sky cannot turn off your ability to view non subscription channels as the box is basically a standard satellite receiver but with an added facility of being able to access encrypted channels via a card, also the fact of you not being able to receive anything on the Humax HDR proves that the problem exists with either the dish alignment being out / the LNB having developed a fault / or a problem with the coax from the LNB to your receiver.
However the fact of Sky news on 501 apparently working can be used as a verification that the coax cable to LNB1 input is OK, so test the coax that feeds LNB2's input by taking the coax out of LNB1 and trying LNB2's "F" connector into the LNB1 position and check if Sky news returns, if it does then that cable is also OK.
I suspect though that the problem is caused by your dish having been moved very slightly out of alignment and this aspect can be verified (or not) via the signal check screen using the following procedure, the reason I say "slightly" is because nothing would work if it was more than this.
Sky HD box - signal checking.
1:- Press "Services" on your Sky remote control and you will see the main menu with "Options" highlighted.
2:- Highlight the Settings menu using the right arrow button and press select.
3:- Using the arrow button scroll to "Signal" and press select.
4:- The grey bars displayed will show you the strength of the signal to your Sky+ HD box.
Any strength / quality seen indicated "has" to be around 60% or more to produce a picture (especially the quality) because if its under this then that points to the dish being slightly out of alignment and with this usually always being in its horizontal plane and "sometimes" being rectified by giving a slight nudge on either the left or right side of the dish, as should the dish have been slightly moved by a strong wind or even hit by a bird or ball, this is the direction it would move in.
Give this a try followed by an update on results
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Tuesday, 18 December 2012
M
Mike5:46 PM
Just tried your suggestions, thanks for this. Input 2 would not find the channel listings and 501 did not work. When I put the "F" connector back to input 1, then channel 501 came back. I note also that channels 498 (Primetime) & 506 (CNN) also work. On the the channels that work, the signal strenth & quality are approx 60% but on those that don't, (101 etc), the signal strength & quality are zero.
Thanks again for your help
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J
jb389:12 PM
Mike: Outlets from an LNB are technically identical, and so if the one used in the LNB2 position did not work when tested in the boxes LNB1 input then a defect exists in this feed and most likely being caused by one of aforementioned reasons, plus though another possible one not actually mentioned, and being that water has entered the LNB2 feeds "F" connector (on the LNB) this requiring it to be unscrewed from the block and then further unscrewed from the coax for purposes of drying out with a tissue.
However this is only really important when these feeds are being used with the Humax HDR box as a Sky boxes LNB2 input is effectively redundant when no contract is in force, and so as far as the Sky box is concerned just leave the feed that works (in a fashion) connected into the boxes LNB1, and then either (1) disconnect the boxes power supply lead for about 30 seconds or so before reconnecting it again and allowing it to go through the "searching for listings" procedure, or (2) use the following procedure which is dedicated to a Sky+ HD box, although slight variations might be encountered as Sky menu's are not exactly the same dependant on the version of box used.
Press SERVICES on the remote control then press the right arrow once to navigate from OPTIONS to SETTINGS.
Press SELECT and a tab showing PICTURE should be highlighted.
On the remote control type in 0 - 1 then press SELECT and the SET UP tab should be highlighted.
Press the RIGHT arrow 5 times to navigate to INSTALL (this changes to NEW INSTALL once selected) and press SELECT.
Follow the on screen instructions until INSTALLATION COMPLETE is displayed and press SELECT to continue.
Ignore any warning messages that might be seen referring to LNB2's input, but when dealing with a reception problem on a Sky box the thing to remember is, that if the box did not find listings because of a feed from the dish problem then should the fault be subsequently rectified the box has to be allowed to search for listings again to enable the EPG to be populated.
By the way a 60% indication for strength and quality is fine in a lower sense as 75% is the ideal norm.
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Wednesday, 19 December 2012
M
Mike9:25 AM
Hi JB,
Tried this, thanks again. Still no signal on the free to view channels. EPG seems complete. I think that the LNB single feed mode should be 'on'. Is this correct? I'm assuming that it's the dish or the LNB at the dish which is seemingly at fault.
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M
Mike Dimmick10:20 AM
Mike: You say 'accommodation'. Is this a shared dish? If so, you should contact your landlord, agent or residents' association, whoever manages the property. My guess is that there is a fault on the multiswitch. Can your neighbours get the free channels on satellite? If so, it's likely just a fault on your link, but if others are having problems it's probably a problem with the low-frequency output on the LNB.
You should be aware that you CANNOT split a satellite feed, to feed more than one input or more than one box. Each input sends control signals to the LNB or multiswitch, to select the frequency range (LO or HI) and the polarization (H or V). If you split a feed, clashing control signals can be sent to the LNB/switch and you get unexpected results. The exact behaviour depends on what each signal is controlling.
If you only have one feed into your accommodation, you should plug that into the LNB1 input, and leave the LNB2 input disconnected. This does mean you can only record a programme and watch another, or record two programmes, when the programmes are on channels with the same frequency range and polarization (both LO or both HI range, and both H or both V polarization).
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J
jb386:34 PM
Mike: Well nothing is lost by trying the single feed mode, although this should not make any difference (in theory anyway!) as far as your particular problem is concerned as that mode is only really for use in situations where the Sky box is capable of recording and yours isn't!
However what Mike D has mentioned regarding the LNB's lower frequency (as well as other things to observe) could be a factor, as the programmes that you can view are on the high band albeit that there are others up there that you cant, and so although I do realise that you have already said in your original posting that you had tried all three reset procedures (hence why I did not mention them) you should carry out another check on the High & Low frequencies to ensure that they are indicated as below, except that is for the single feed mode being set to ON.
The correct LNB values should read:
LNB Type: Standard
1:- Low Band LO Frequency: 9.75
2:- High Band LO Frequency:10.60
3:- LNB Power Supply: ON
4:- 22 KHz Command: ON
5:- Single feed mode normally off.
Press the red button to reset them to default values "even although they may already be indicating them" (important!)
The other thing to check is that the default transponder values also match up to below.
Default Transponder values should read:
1:- Frequency: 11.778
2:- Polarisation: V
3:- Symbol Rate (Mbaud): 27.5
4:- FEC: 2/3
Another point to note being, that although the signal level test indicated OK this only represents the default transponders frequency and not necessarily what you are trying to receive, plus that even although the High or Low band frequencies might well be correctly set that's all it means, i.e: that they are set, and not that all is OK because the LNB could still be defective.
However all these procedures could be cut short if you could find a way of testing your box on someone else's installation or alternatively trying their box on yours as that would instantly indicate whether its the LNB or box at fault, because when dealing with certain types of odd faults sometimes substitution of equipment is the only way forward as I cant really see the problem being solved using the Sky box for testing, this being the case I think that you should revert to using the Humax box for your experiments as the LNB settings above are not dedicated to Sky boxes and you can use both feeds from the dish, but before taking the "F" connectors out of the Sky box mark the coax lead that's used for LNB1 so that this can be coupled into the Humax's LNB1 input.
However should the Humax box also respond in a similar fashion to the Sky box then that is inclined to point to a fault on the LNB.
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Thursday, 20 December 2012
J
jb3811:57 PM
Mike: Although the content of my previous reply still applies, but if you haven't as yet managed to try your box out on another persons dish or alternatively their box on yours, I would really be interested in the result if you could find time to carry out this simple test associated with the LNB settings, and being, carry out the test procedure as before for checking the LNB values, then on No 4 down where it normally indicates "22Khz command ON", purely for a test I would like you to switch this off then save the setting.
Once this is done I would like you to check if the channels previously received such as CNN 506 / Primetime 498 or Sky news has vanished, because if they have (which they should) then disconnect the box from the mains and wait about 30 secs or so before powering it back up again and allowing it to search for listings followed by checking if the low channels have returned, although if they have it will only be the low channels that's received and nothing in the high band.
My only reason for requesting this test is to take the "auto" aspect out of the tone controlled band switching system, because without the tone the LNB reverts to being permanently on Low and where the missing channels are located, although if it still doesn't receive them it could still be the LNB or box at fault albeit that it points more to the LNB.
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Monday, 24 December 2012
M
Mrs khan11:00 PM
Hiya just moved in new house and it already had
Sky dish and cables downstairs and to the upstairs
Room so I subscribed to sky they fitted sky hd box
Which is working but I had I spare one put it
On upstairs and it says no signal what can be the
Problem plz help me
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J
j_imrie@yhoo.co.uk11:25 PM
sky box is displaying no signal help fix problems as i have family and have just upgraded and i am now reconsidering your services as there seems to be endless faults occuring , which no other service has . need a responce tonight not in 2-3 days or i am considering changing server
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J
jb3811:49 PM
j_imrie@yhoo.co.uk: This site is an advisory one and is not connected in any way with service or programme providers, however a "no signal" message can be caused by a variety of reasons from the dish being out of alignment (very possible) or the cable from being defective due to the "F" plugs on either end having an internal short circuit, or even that the box itself is defective (not that uncommon) and so all of these possibilities require to be checked out.
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