Sky+ and Power Cut

Does anyone else with a Sky+ or SkyHD box ever have trouble getting their box to work again after a power cut?

We had a power cut last night and since then the Sky+ box won't switch on. When I plug it in the red standby light comes on but I can't switch the box on and it doesn't respond to the remote control or buttons on the actual box.

Reading through a few forums I've collected a number of suggested methods to try and force it to start up again.

A, Power Reset

The first method is to try a power reset (I think everyone tries this first).

1. Make sure the box is in standby(red power light)
2. Wait 1 minute.
3. Turn the box off at the mains and wait 1 minute.
4. Turn the box back on. The power light turns red.
5. Wait 30 secs, then press the power button
6. The box comes out of standby and the power light turns green.

B, Forced Software Update

The next is to try a forced software update. To do this:

1. Switch off the unit.
2. Hold the "Back Up" button on the Box down, Then at the same time, Plug the power cable in - But don't release the "Back Up" button.
3. After a short time you should get a message on the TV a screen saying that it is upgrading/updating.
4. After waiting for a short while (10 min) the box should then be updated and if this has worked it you can switch it on and it will be working again.

C, Force Switch on via remote recording

Another method suggested by some for a sky + box stuck in standby mode is to try and make the box remote record.

This will only work if you have already registered your sky + box to allow you to remote record. Otherwise you will just have to wait until a scheduled recording starts that is already in your planner.

1. Sign into the Sky website and go to the TV Guide and then TV Listing section.
2. Select a TV program (any one on any channel you subscribe to and preferably one that is going to start in about 15 mins time) and click on the link to remote record the program.
3. Go back and wait by your sky+ box and you should see the red recording light come on, even though the box is still in standby.
4. When the box is recording, press sky on your remote control and the power on button and the box should come back on.

D, Reinitialize the Sky Plus box

The most drastic one and the last resort is to force a HD reinitialization.

This will format the HD and reinstall the software using a similar forced software update.

1. Unplug box from the mains.
2. Press and hold the two buttons either side of the select button, then plug back in while holding the two buttons in
3. Wait until the lights on the front of the box begin to spin backwards, then press the select button on the box
4. The record light will come on. The box will then perform the reset, and will go back into standby when finished. This procedure will wipe off all recordings.

E, Rebuild the Planner

Another useful tip if the Sky+ box is having issues but you can access it is to rebuilt the planner. TO do this:

1. On your Sky+ remote press: Services -> 4 0 1 Select and then select "Planner Rebuild" from the hidden "Installers Menu".
2. After a planner rebuild your box will turn off automatically. Wait a few minutes, before turning on and you are all done!

I've so far tried A and B with no luck. I'm going to now try a remote recording to see if that tricks it into starting up. Failing that It will have to be D and lose all of my current recordings. Bit annoying as I have some films on there I wanted to watch, plus last nights Battlestar Galactica episode :cry: Although that is repeated tonight so I can still catch it if I can get the box working again so I can set it to be recorded!

@H

From what i have read, would it not be better to try method E and then D ?

It would but my Sky box is stuck in standby mode so I can't switch it on to access the service menu. Therefore the only options I have are the ones that you can force the box to do by holding down combinations of buttons on the front of the box as you power it on from the mains.

Very annoying.

I must say though that until now this Sky+ box has been pretty reliable. Until now it has only locked up once and required a power down to reset it and everything has reported perfectly on there. But as with any harddrive based technology, if the HD is currently being accessed with you get a power cut there is always the danger of corrupted data or a damaged disk.

Sadly after attempting all the other things I had to go with D and force a reset of the box. I've lost all of my recordings but the box is working again, which is the main thing. :)

Sky+ boxes can be funny at times - they are by no means bug free, even though your issue was a powercut (still shouldn't cause a deadlock if it had been designed better).

I've had to rebuild the planner twice in the past, when we lost half of the drives capacity or a program wouldn't play correctly. Then it started to have issues on Movie premiers, skipping and stuttering both on normal watching and recording, but not other movie channels???? Very strange. Throw in the occasional lockup and failed recording and you have Sky+. Still the best paid service however compared to others.

Anyway, you didn't miss Battlestar - it wasn't on as Sci-Fi asked Sky to miss one week as we'd managed to creep ahead of the Americans! Last week we had the world premier of a Battlestar episode, which caused a few angry faces across the pond. :D

Really? That is great news. I wondered why the usual repeat of Tuesday night's episode wasn't on tonight. That has pleased me greatly as this episode is the one where we find out what has happened to the renegade Cylon base ship and all of the BSG pilots that were on it. I've been really looking forward to that since the last episode.

This final series is turning out to be great. I can't see how they are going to conclude it all with just a few episodes to go. I hope they don't rush the ending or leave it completely up in the air.

Regarding my Sky+ box. I think it might have been recording something when the power cut happened. Therefore it was writing to the HD when it lost power and we all know what can happen then. Not really something the developers of the box could do much about, although some short term UPS system that quickly stops the recording and powers down the HD before losing it's charge might have fixed that.

I actually had more problems with the standard Sky boxes I had before the Sky+ box. My first box lasted a couple of years before finally not working and just displayed a no satellite signal error message all of the time. But before that it would often lock up or lose its signal and require a power off to reset it.

After that one went wrong it was replaced with a horrible Grundig box which started to smoke and overheat to the point of nearly catching fire just 10 minutes after the Sky engineer had installed it and driven off! I'm sure that one was a dodgy box the engineer had in his van from a previous call out and he tried to palm me off with it. But a week later I finally got another box which was new as the engineer unwrapped it. And I do still have that one in the other room as I've got multiroom. Although it is a bit temperamental. It sometimes breaks up and pixelates on certain channels, and on some of the lifestyle channels it loses the sound and you have to move to another channel and back again to get the sound back.

Yeah, Battlestar has been good. Last weeks episode felt a little rushed and off to me though. Many things seem contrived and characters out of place.

Romeo with his imaginary cat, that turned out dead. After he'd pulled a gun and we had some of the most nonsensical lines ever delivered; it left me bewildered. It was like:

Apollo: Help me please. Daddy won't talk to the rightful President, Zarek. We need new (and Adama dictatorship hehe) cos civil laws are not for my daddy to follow. He (we) above that.
Romeo: Ok. I help for a fee - you pay me yes? Last time I got room with view.
Apollo: Let's see, who shall we choose? Because somehow it's now my decision and not the entire quorums??? Erm, names are no good. I cross them out (cos they are not mine)
Romeo: Oh look, Apollo cross names out cos they not his. Apollo the man for president! I agree, so must be correct as I am cool! I go and kill him now with my dead cat as witness.

Hallway Meeting:

Romeo: I kill you now, see dead cat!!!
Apollo: We all lost family. I talk you round with great moral speech now.
Romeo: Yes, dead cat and family same as everyone. We all hurt. You right.
Apollo: Great, we're done then? I'm president! No one else gets say! My daddy rules!
Romeo: AHEM. Payment???
Apollo: Oh yes, your payment - here have a dog. *Skips off happy.....*

Zarek surely wouldn't just step aside after the fight he went through to get into politics and be in the position of VP, just for another Adama that's been a politician for all of a month or so to step in and push him aside because his daddy said so???

That's insane! I hope we see Zarek kick off now and cause a huge problem, or his character is just a waste. Somehow though, I don't think we will.

Then we have an angry Adama fighting with Tigh who he just found out was fraking a cylon prisoner (awful plot line right there) and could be compromised......to being the most trusted person to lead the fleet a few hours later??? Eh?

Just how many Cylon babies are we going to have on the show?

There were some great scenes also though. The fight and Adama's ship getting wrecked was fun and I loved the shot of Galactica jumping in the background as seen through a window. I too am looking forward to Adama's lone quest and finding out what happened on the base star. Roll on next Tuesday!

I agree. It definitely felt very flat and slow compared to the previous one that contained a lot of fast paced sequences and interesting ideas/story. In comparison it was suddenly very slow and plodding with very little going on and a lot of character self pity. I got the feeling it was a filler in episode before a big special effect based episode which I'm hoping will be the next one.

That episode felt wrong for a number of reasons. The renegade base ship had suddenly jumped taking loads of the BSG pilots (ie the fleets defence), and instead of Adama taking immediate action to try and find them and fix the situation, plus get the President back, he instead wallowed in self pity and resigned his commission. For me that seemed very out of character. Based on his previous actions he would have gone straight into combat mode. As did the actions of Zarek as you mentioned.

Although in Zarek's case I expect he already has another agenda in mind to benefit from the situation.

You're spot on about Adama, never thought of that.

I hope you're right about Zarek too, or all those episodes devoted to his cause in the past are a waste.