Sky Box switches itself off on some channels

[RichardinSpain]

Hi All
My trusty Pace 2600 seems to have gone on the blink. It works fine on some channels but when i switch channels, on some it just turns the receiver off. I have investigated further and found that it seems to do it on horizontal channels only. At first i thought it could be a wiring / lnb problem but i have tried with my old amstrad and everything works fine. Has anyone come across this problem before..is my Pace on it's way out
thanks
Richard

 

[Hughes]

Does it still do it even with the cable to the LNB disconnected at the receiver end? If so, this would definitely rule out for example an LNB drawing too much current

 

[RichardinSpain]

Hi Hughes..Thanks for your quick reply
I have just tried what you said and it still does it..So it's definatley something to do with the box. Do you know what it could be?
Cheers
Rich

 

[pgh13]

I'm not an expert but it seems the majority of Sky box problems are power supply related. You may be able to pick one up a S/H box for less that a PSU repair

 

[Hughes]

It doesn't sound too healthy, does it? If you think it's had its chips, you can find replacements on eBay, or at a push I could offer mine for sale as I've just switched to Sky HD very successfully. (That's another possibility you have!). My fears that the HD digibox would prove inferior to the Pace 2600 were totally unfounded, but that's another story...

 

[RichardinSpain]

Hi thanks both of you for your replys
It's workable at the moment..as i can still view bbc1, bbc2 , itv, ch4+1 etc the only one i cant receive is ch4 but i was having a problem with reception on ch4 before this problem. One good thing thats come from this is that i fiddled around with the lnb and this morning i had 11778 epg background (only for a couple of hrs on the morning though) which i hadn't been able to get for years..It's good to know though what you said about sky hd box and you being happy with the reception, what model do you have? and what size dish is it hooked upto? i still have my amstrad as backup but it's a bit slower and as you know not as good tuner wise as the pace. I'm also going to buy a black ultra lnb as i've heard good reports on them so may work better with the amstrad...no harm in trying!!

 

[PaulR]

It does sound like power suply problems to me. The PSU can supply (just about) enough power for 13v when the LNB needs a vertical channel but when you change to a channel that's on a horizontally polarised transponder the 18v required causes the PSU to trip out.

Least, that's my best guess.

 

[Hughes]

My HD digibox is a Samsung, the model I saw recommended on these pages. I haven't tried an Amstrad or any other. My dish is 150cm, which means I can hardly see BBC3 and 4 or Film4. I should really have a 180cm, but then if I had 24/7 reception of everything then half the fun would disappear! I use the HD box on single feed mode and it really is on a par with the Pace 2600 and my Humax Foxsat. Also there are some channels which I can't get on SD but can on HD, such as Channel 4.