sky card activation problem

[Alan Waddle]

i recently acquired a 2nd hand (amstrad) sky+ HD box, and then i bought a new subscription from sky. they sent me the card and i called them to activate it, however, for some reason, activation failed and i now have to wait for a new card.

just wondering how common this is, and is the card faulty, or could it have somit to do with my box (the box works fine for FTA channels)? also, i live in germany, but the reception should be good enough, so surely that's not the problem?

thanks for any help!

 

[Lazarus]

Where in Germany?

What size dish?

Have you previously had "Sky" working there?

Have you ensured the EPG and O/S software is up to date by carrying out a forced download?

 

[Alan Waddle]

Where in Germany?

What size dish?

Have you previously had "Sky" working there?

Have you ensured the EPG and O/S software is up to date by carrying out a forced download?

in frankfurt, dish is multifocus (about 100cm). i haven't had sky, but only FTA. ITV, BBC etc all working fine.

and indeed no, i haven't done a forced download, how would i do that? does this also have somit to do with the fact that for some reason, there is no Channel 5 in my EPG?

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
if you can receive bbc 1 and 2 and itv the dish is fine.
usualy the box must be on ch 501 sky news for 3 or 5 hours to activate the card.
the card must be mated to the box.
that means you have to call sky or someone to have sky load in their system ,the box's id number as well as the card number.
if they do not have the boxes id nunmer as well as card info it will never activate.
ralph

 

[PaulR]

Channel 5 at position 105 will come when the box is regionalised by inserting a working card.

If the box has been switched off from the mains for a while then the operating software can lag behind any updates. Unfortunately I don't know the procedure with the HD box. This may be the reason that your original card didn't authorise.

 

[wallycharlo]

...usualy the box must be on ch 501 sky news for 3 or 5 hours to activate the card...

I've often wondered about this. Does the box really need to be on a specific channel to activate / update ? i.e. will it not also update if I leave it on ITV?

 

[Alan Waddle]

hello,
if you can receive bbc 1 and 2 and itv the dish is fine.
usualy the box must be on ch 501 sky news for 3 or 5 hours to activate the card.
the card must be mated to the box.
that means you have to call sky or someone to have sky load in their system ,the box's id number as well as the card number.
if they do not have the boxes id nunmer as well as card info it will never activate.
ralph

thanks for all the info.

yes, i have a UK address to which the sky sub is linked. obviously my phone line cable is not connected in germany, but this shouldn't be a problem.

i called sky to pair the card and box, however, when the sky sports channel didn't activate immediately, the sky person said the activation failed and they have to send a new card. i was wondering whether it really should have happened immediately, in any case, the sky service was crap, he didn't even offer an apology.

i found some info on the forced download on the internet; i presume the procedure (switch off mains, hold down backup on box, switch mains on) is the same for an HD box?

 

[ralphmagno]

hello, in all the years i had sky cards they always said to activate go to sky news ch 501.
channel 105 will not work if the card is not active..
ralph

 

[wallycharlo]

...when the sky sports channel didn't activate immediately, the sky person said the activation failed and they have to send a new card. i was wondering whether it really should have happened immediately, in any case, the sky service was crap, he didn't even offer an apology..

I had also thought that it usually can take up to a couple of hours ...

 

[PaulR]

Does the box really need to be on a specific channel to activate / update ? i.e. will it not also update if I leave it on ITV?

Activation I don't know but reactivation can seemingly take place on any channel. Our Digibox in France gets left variously on $ly Info Channel (998), ITV3 and any of the BBC channels for waking up to occur.

i found some info on the forced download on the internet; i presume the procedure (switch off mains, hold down backup on box, switch mains on) is the same for an HD box?

It's certainly the method for the ordinary Digibox but someone with an HD box will have to confirm for HD.

I had also thought that it usually can take up to a couple of hours ...

They can force the message through but I believe that it usually gets put in a queue.

 

[A nonymous]

It is the same method to update a Sky HD box as any other box

As for the activation, that can take upto 24 hrs. It took 15hrs for mine to activate

Nano