My Sky box has a "no signal message" - what do I do?
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV If you are getting the message "no signal" this would indicate that there is a problem with the signal from your dish into your box. Even without a card inserted into a Sky Digibox, if there is a signal, you will always get Sky Guide and the free channels.
Try powering off your box, remove the card, check carefully the cables, especially the connection to the dish, reapply the power and then when asked to insert your card you should then be able to see (for example) Sky News on 501 and the BBC News channel on 503.
Once you can see any channel, reinsert your card. This should, after about one minute, give you the channels you expect, such as 103, 104 and 105.
There are three ways you can attempt to reset your box. Please see
What can my do when my Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' ?.
If you continue to get "No signal", you dish may have been misaligned, or there may be a fault with the cables and connectors, or a problem with the Digibox. You can see the signal strength by pressing SERVICES, then 4-SYSTEM SETUP and 6-SIGNAL STRENGTH.
All questions
In this section
Saturday, 15 August 2015
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david trevett9:18 AM
Get message No channels have been added yet.
Nothing else works no matter what button I press. Please help!
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Sunday, 16 August 2015
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MikeP7:38 AM
David Trevett:
For any contributor to thos website to be able to help, we would need some more information. Please could you tell us what equipment (TV and/or PVR) you are having the problem with and indicate your location, preferably by a post code or that of a nearby shop/post office. The we will knwo which transmitter you should be using and be able to find out how the TV/PVR should be tuned. You can usually find a User Manual on line for your equipment.
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Thursday, 27 August 2015
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a jadar5:16 PM
only few channel (free View) are showing no signal .Its just recently i,e previously it used to show e.g. channel 802
i have switched off and restarted several time still the same
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John Penry6:13 PM
We cannot understand how both TV sets were working perfectly well yesterday but today at 6.0 p.m. we get " no signal " for Sky . This has happened on previous occasions . Is there a card in the digibox which has to be removed and reinserted after switching off the power for 5 minutes ?
Since writing this it seems Channel 4 News has come on after half an hour of frustratingly trying every button on the remote controls . How can we avoid this problem ?
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jb389:13 PM
John Penry: The viewing card cannot cause this type of problem. If though by any chance you are connected into a communal dish system such as used in apartment blocks etc, then the problem is liable to be caused by an interruption to the mains power supply feeding the distribution amplifier, however, should the system referred to not be applicable, then the problem could possibly be caused by a defect in your Sky boxes power supply, something not exactly unheard of.
If this problem occurs on a regular basis, then you should try disconnecting the box from the mains around 5pm to allow it to cool down before powering it up again about 5.45pm or so and see if anything happens around 6pm, if not, then this is inclined to indicate that the internal power unit is defective, the defect referred to being caused by temperature related component failure, electrolytic capacitors being the component in question, boxes that suffer from this type of problem usually running for days before the problem re-appears.
The only thing I did wonder about being, are you TV's fed from the Sky boxes RF2 output? or I.O port modulator if the box is not fitted with an RF2 socket?
Further info / advice dependent on feedback.
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Saturday, 29 August 2015
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Simon10:18 PM
Hi there, I've been with sky for four years and never had many problems with my signal (even at two separate addresses in four years) and recently my sky box packed in saying no signal is being received. So I spent ages checking all my cables, dish, box, card you name it I checked it. I even soft and hard reset my box to no avail. So I rang sky up they said "oh yes we will help you! But it will cost you £65!" I replied no thanks. So I bought a second hand box from an old man near me and set it up again and it worked fine for about a week and now my second box is displaying the dreaded no signal problem!
This all seems very frustrating seen as sky sent me a letter not long ago reminding me that my warranty is about to expire and would I like to pay extra to cover faults should anything happen. I didn't bother and now look! Not one but both boxes have stopped working! I find it extremely hard to believe that both boxes should suffer the same fault within days of each other and after sky sent me a letter about warranty and now after the warranty has ran out, my sky boxes just happen to pack in.
Now I'm no conspiracy theorist but I mean it is a BIT OF A COINCIDENCE both my boxes stop working with the same fault? Has anyone else had this issue and if you did what did you do to resolve it?
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jb3811:23 PM
Simon: But thats what it is, i.e: a coincidence, as Sky boxes, if of the older variety, although sometimes not so old, can suffer from problems associated with their internal power units, and its possible that the second hand box you purchased was also suffering from a similar power unit defect, this being why it was sold in the first place.
A test for boxes suspected as suffering from this problem is to disconnect them from the mains for around 15 minutes or so (more reliable if longer) to cool down, powering them up again after this period of time and allowing them to go through the usual set up procedure, if this results in all appearing to be back to normal but failing again after a few hours, then this indicates that the box has a temperature related problem, meaning that the power unit is faulty.
It should though be said, that sometimes boxes can run for a few days before failing again, as it all depends on the temperature of the environment that the box is operating in.
You should though carry out a signal strength / quality check on your box, as both should be a minimum of around 70% or so, the quality never at any time being under the strength, as this is caused by the dish being slightly out of alignment.
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Sunday, 30 August 2015
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Simon10:50 AM
Hi JB38,
Thanks for the reply, I can see similar issues with the power supply, I have my dad player and play station on top of my sky box, but the vents on the sky box are on the sides so surely the heating dissipates out the sides?
I've looked online and it requires a few capacitors to be replaced as my 2nd hand box is a DRX890 model (Amstrad) and can only install capacitors as the "fix" which is fine I used to build and repair circuit boards, but i could do with some more information on this particular fault as now after your advise, my sky box is saying that it is still initialising, I left the box off as you suggested for nearly an hour, switched it back on and it has been initialising for nearly half an hour and now it still says it's not receiving a signal.
So do I just replace the capacitors (which will cost £10) which seems a little expensive just for capacitors in my opinion or do I just ring sky and get robbed of £65?
It's a shame because I've just signed up for another year in a new deal they offered, or do I not pay for reasons of I'm not getting what I'm paying for under the service of goods act (this may be incorrect but I'm sure there is a law out there that states if your not receiving a service your paying for then your entitled to a refund, it's like not getting a signal for your mobile phone etc) so I'm not sure what to do.
Any thoughts?
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jb388:29 PM
Simon: Ah! now that its known a DRX890 is involved its brings something else into the equation, that being the possibility of the hard drive having failed, initialising showing for lengthy periods of time being a well known symptom of hard drive failure on any recording device, whether it be Sky, Freesat or Freeview devices.
The problem with initialising is that this can also occur if the voltage supplied to the drive is on the low side, this being where the electrolytic caps come back into the equation, but as the capacitors are relatively low cost items I personally would replace them even although this action is not necessarily guaranteed to resolve the drive problem.
Buying second hand Sky+ type boxes is always a bit risky, but though DRX890's can be obtained from some sources for well under £20.00, and it might even be better to go down that route, or alternatively just disconnect the hard drives edge connector and use the box as a standard non recording device, one of my boxes being used in this fashion.
By the way, if you have been reading up about the problems with electroylitic caps in Sky boxes power supplies, then I wont go over old ground, but when these devices start to dry up through age coupled to heat / leakage etc, their storage properties (capacity) rapidly diminishes, recovering slightly when cold, this being the basis of the test referred to.
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Monday, 31 August 2015
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jb388:49 AM
Simon: Further to that said. Reading your posting over again has now given me doubts as to whether replacing the caps would make any difference to the situation, that is unless the main smoothing cap has either failed completely, or that a dry joint has suddenly shown up where it's soldered into the PCB.
My reason for saying this being, that if the caps were starting to go downhill the effects of would likely have been noticed, such as the occasional warning of "no satellite signal being received", or some other odd problems being experienced like one or two channels disappearing now and again.
If none of has ever been seen, then the caps are liable to be OK, although it wouldn't go amiss to disconnect the box from the mains followed by removing the outer casing to enable a physical check to be carried out on the electrolytic's in question, looking for signs of leakage, e.g: white deposits on the PCB around the base etc, or the top of the cap showing signs of bulging.
On the subject of Sky, although I fully appreciate your thoughts on the matter, Sky cannot really be held responsible for equipment failure, that is unless they supplied it and it's still under guarantee.
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