No satellite signal is being received - 29

[nectarine]

That's what I'm now seeing on the screen for the last two days, just seems to have gone kaput overnight.

Our house already had the dish and cable installed, and the dish hasn't been moved (it's on an upstairs balcony and hasn't been touched), and I have checked the cable joins from there to the digibox and they are all fine.  A couple of days ago we couldn't get Channel 4 - message said there was a "problem with this channel" - could that be connected?.  Then, two days ago, Mr. Nectarine switched off the digibox at the plug rather than at the box and it hasn't had a signal since - would this have affected it?.  The box (pace DS430N) and FreeToView card were purchased about six months ago from Ebay and have worked fine, so I am unsure whether it is a problem with the box but don't know anyone else who has Sky to whom I could attach the box and see it it is working there.  Or is it the FreeView card, might it have been cancelled somehow?  Or could it be the bad weather and rain we have had?

There's so many variable 'what ifs' but I'm reluctant to purchase a new digibox if the problem is perhaps linked to recent heavy rain ... might Channel 4's disappearance have been the start of some overall deterioration?

I'm a novice at all this, so any easy ideas would be much appreciated on what I could do.  Many thanks.

[Clair]

Even without the card, you should be able to view the BBC, ITV, Channel4 and Five, as well as a few others.

If you are getting a message on the screen, the problem is not with the receiver, but with the dish.

[nectarine]

Clair, thanks for your reply.  Nope, I have nothing except the message on the screen, so it cna't be the card, either the box or the dish.  I'm unsure what to check next.  Does anyone know a satellite dish engineer or someone who checks these sorts of things, in Dept 47 Lot et Garonne, please?

[milkeybar kid]

[quote user="nectarine"]

Clair, thanks for your reply.  Nope, I have nothing except the message on the screen, so it cna't be the card, either the box or the dish.  I'm unsure what to check next.  Does anyone know a satellite dish engineer or someone who checks these sorts of things, in Dept 47 Lot et Garonne, please?

[/quote]

Fingers crossed nectarine this does the trick! We are in dept 47 same problem 4 days ago, so what we did was -at the buttons  turn off video, turn off tv, unplug out of socket the digibox ( do not turn off digibox on the actual box.) Wait a couple of mins ( in effect so that you lose all signals , especially the weak signal u had that gave u that message). Simply plug back in , put telly on but for us it is less complicated if we leave video off - maybe not for u. Press "TV " on the diddly diddly, then u are asked to press back up, after u will see the TV menu in that time it is making a new search for a strong signal - just wait and when u here music go into menu as normal. Whew, it really works cos u have forced it to find a stronger signal. Good luck . Mrs MBK[:)]

[Tim]

What you are suggesting, itseems to me, is to perform a software upgrade on a Sky box. Unless the box has been left unplugged for some considerable time - e.g. months - this should not be needed. Also it has been known to damage the receiver when receiving a poor signal. ( although, under your circumstances you've possibly not got much to lose)

Nectarine - unless you can try to narrow down the problem - i.e. swap your box with another or take your box to someone who also has UK TV via satellite, you're going to have a hard time trying to narrow down the problem. Have you had a lot of rain recently, if so, then I would inspect, again, the cabling and connectors. Ensure all the connectors are done up properly.

One thing I would consider as well is to get a cheap satellite receiver from your local brico and try that - this will help you figure out where your fault lies - if it turns out not to be the box, then at least you've got a spare for the future. Just a thought.

Tim

[Keith CHANNING]

I have had this problem about four times. Twice it resolved itself by going through the unplug etc. procedure described, once the dish had been moved marginally by freakishly high winds (it happens sometimes in this region) and once the SCART plug on the Sky box had been disturbed by our cat trying to catch a mouse!

The dish we use for Sky has a quad LNB and gives good signals in four rooms. There are no joints between the LNB and the decoder boxes. The other dish feeds into a "system" built into the house which involves two distribution boxes and a total of five joints between LNB and decoder box. Drops out in drizzle!

[Anton Redman]

Are you in 29 =  Finistere ? or Lot & Garonne.

Cheack the connections and the LNB for cracks and moisture

Next cheapest option is probably buy a 2 metre cable with the right F type connectors wait till it stops raining and take TV and digibox onto balcony and connect digibox using 2 metre cable and see if that works.

Next cheapest post nearest town and ask if there is anybody local you could take your box to to see if it works. Then ask if you can try their box with your dish.

[Gyn_Paul]

Nectarine - nobody has asked you to check the satellite signal strength and quality yet (services 4/6).

The reason I say this is that the middle of the afternoon my technical o/h changed channels while working on a bit of artwork for a exhibition (don't you just love living in France ??) and got the same "no satellite being received" message. Since she was surrounded by all her paraphinalia, she didn't get up to kick it, so it stayed like that until I decended from the building-site en haut. I checked the signal, which said OK, (60% of one and 80% of the other) but it simply refused to display any channels. Pulling the mains plug restored normal service when it re-booted.

So you see, software glitches can sometimes persuade anyone to get the ladder out!

Another odd thing at the moment is that my Pace box won't come out of standby. The box is responding to the remote (the other little red light flashes) but it refuses to wake up. Again - the only solution is yanking the mains plug.

This and all the other ludicrous faults (which make you think you are losing your mind like "there are no programmes of this type" when you press 'TV Guide / all channels) are usually as a result of over-the-air-software upgrades/patches/fixes/bugs.

Though to be fair to Sky, they are trying run compatible software on boxes with chipsets which are anything between 6 months and 10 years old

paul

[nectarine]

thank you for all suggestions, which we shall try today.  I did, however, go into the 'Signal Test' mode and found nothing being received!!!  We shall do all the test today and report back and see what happens.  We are in Lot et Garonne, so it would be useful to know if there is a satellite specialist in this area anyway - we didn't instal the dish or cabling and it might be useful to have someone instal some further points in the future.

Thanks again for all your replies.

[Bilbo]

Be systematic...

 Check signal  Services 4 6  If no bars showing and you see things like Not locked then the fault is with the signal to your digibox.

If the signal looks OK then unplugging the box and restarting it should do the trick. If not....

Check connection to the box. These do come loose if not well fitted in the first place as you have to turn clockwise to attach the plug which can then undo the way in which the f-plug is attached to the cable.

Next think about the dish. Have there been strong winds and rain which might have moved it ? Or might have allowed rain to get into the cable. Is it an old dish? It is possible that the LNB has gone and needs to be replaced. You can buy replacements quite cheaply and, as it seems you can reach the dish from your balcony, you may be able to do this yourself. However you will probably need to realign the dish. If you can't find someone locally to do this for you, buy a signal finder and fiddle yourself. It is not too difficult.