*** Sky Q Thread ***

I am not normally one to knock sky. We have been with them over 20 years. But today, we have had no satellite signal on our Q box. I put it down to the high winds and torrential rain. It was fine last night though, so I thought it a bit odd. Anyway, fast forward to 3pm this afternoon. Signal comes back, strength 90, quality 90. All is well. 20 minutes later, we lose signal, and have not had it back since. Just phoned sky who after trying everything I have already done, said they would book me an engineer. Earliest availability, Friday !! Apparently, they are busy in the run up to Christmas. Putting it in perspective, it's not the end of the world, but sky are quick to point out that the eqpt. Is on loan. Surely a quicker turnaround would be expected? We are going to have to become a proper family now and talk to one another. :D
My 5yo thinks sky is the norm. She is going to get a rude awakening this week. !
 
Countcussy said:
I am not normally one to knock sky. We have been with them over 20 years. But today, we have had no satellite signal on our Q box. I put it down to the high winds and torrential rain. It was fine last night though, so I thought it a bit odd. Anyway, fast forward to 3pm this afternoon. Signal comes back, strength 90, quality 90. All is well. 20 minutes later, we lose signal, and have not had it back since. Just phoned sky who after trying everything I have already done, said they would book me an engineer. Earliest availability, Friday !! Apparently, they are busy in the run up to Christmas. Putting it in perspective, it's not the end of the world, but sky are quick to point out that the eqpt. Is on loan. Surely a quicker turnaround would be expected? We are going to have to become a proper family now and talk to one another. :D
My 5yo thinks sky is the norm. She is going to get a rude awakening this week. !
Click to expand...
Engineer numbers are on the rise but this all takes time. Make sure you get a credit and if you have Sky Go use a laptop or desktop and you can connect to the tv for viewing on most channels. Or an Xbox or PlayStation works too.
 
MissChief said:
Engineer numbers are on the rise but this all takes time. Make sure you get a credit and if you have Sky Go use a laptop or desktop and you can connect to the tv for viewing on most channels. Or an Xbox or PlayStation works too.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. I just needed to vent a bit. I thought 6 days was a bit off.
I tested again this morning before setting off for work, and sky is now back working fine. Signal strength of 90 with a quality of 90. :confused::confused:
I don't get it. Any idea what would cause my satellite signal to fail intermittently? I thought maybe the strong winds had moved the dish, but surely it would then be off permanently?
So in the last 24 hours, its lost satellite signal, for hours at a time, and found it again 3 times. Could it actually be a Q box fault? Water in the LNB Connections? Its got me stumped.
Have to book a day off work for engineer, so I don't want to do it twice.
 
Countcussy said:
Could it actually be a Q box fault? Water in the LNB Connections? Its got me stumped.
Click to expand...
aren't there dual wide-band lnbs+cables for horizontal and vertical polarization, so water in both would be unlikely, but if one had water how would that manifest itself ? experts
 
Well, according to the missus, the Sky box is still connected and working fine. At the moment, the upstairs mini is unplugged.
I will reconnect the mini when I get home and see what happens. Signal and quality are still strong, so IMO, something strange is going on.
If it was a cable/dish issue, I cannot imagine it would be intermittent.
Going to re-boot everything again tonight, including router, and see what happens.
 
So, engineer has been today. Turns out it was an update error from Sky.
Basically, an update was pushed overnight on Sunday/Monday which bricked the box. Another update was sent to fix the error, hence the fault appeared to "fix itself"
All sorted.
 
Looks like my boxes have got an update over night and it's moved things around in the menus and renamed certain sections, the one I'm definitely missing is the scheduled recordings section, now I can't see what's queued up to record over the next week, is this intentional or a bug with the update?

@MissChief
 
Maybe, its this new update that's affecting my box. Its broken again. No satellite signal. :(

Getting ready to watch the grand prix last night, around 6.30pm. Picture froze, and we have had no sky since. The missus was watching a recording downstairs, so she did not notice. We went out last night so I just left it.
Going to ring when I get home. According to the wife, when the engineer visited on Friday, he mentioned code 50 and 55, as regards box errors. He seemed sure it was a faulty update process.
He tested the box, cables, dish and LNB and reported no errors.
At this point, I am wondering whether to power off, and force an update. Can you still do that with Sky Q?
I have nothing to lose really. Its seems strange that the weekend has come around and its failed again.
What software version should I be on? Sky Q 2TB box.
 
Countcussy said:
Maybe, its this new update that's affecting my box. Its broken again. No satellite signal. :(

Getting ready to watch the grand prix last night, around 6.30pm. Picture froze, and we have had no sky since. The missus was watching a recording downstairs, so she did not notice. We went out last night so I just left it.
Going to ring when I get home. According to the wife, when the engineer visited on Friday, he mentioned code 50 and 55, as regards box errors. He seemed sure it was a faulty update process.
He tested the box, cables, dish and LNB and reported no errors.
At this point, I am wondering whether to power off, and force an update. Can you still do that with Sky Q?
I have nothing to lose really. Its seems strange that the weekend has come around and its failed again.
What software version should I be on? Sky Q 2TB box.
Click to expand...
Which box is reporting the NSS message? And you can force an update through the box itself, but check the main box first. I believe the latest update is Q080. Press home (the house button) then scroll down to settings. Make sure you have four ticks here. If not then highlight the one with the cross and see what it suggested.
 
MissChief said:
Which box is reporting the NSS message? And you can force an update through the box itself, but check the main box first. I believe the latest update is Q080. Press home (the house button) then scroll down to settings. Make sure you have four ticks here. If not then highlight the one with the cross and see what it suggested.
Click to expand...
Thanks MissChief.
Its both boxes (Main & Mini). The wife has just called to say Sky is back up and running fine again. It was broken when I left for work this morning, but I had no time so I just left it be. Got her to go into settings and all ticked. Signal is locked, 70 strength, 90 quality, LNB wideband. This has fixed itself again with no reset or power cycle on our behalf. Nothing else has changed. Clear view to the sky.
This morning, we had a x against satellite signal, unlocked, 0, 0.
Does this sound like a box/update issue to you?
 
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Countcussy said:
Thanks MissChief.
Its both boxes (Main & Mini). The wife has just called to say Sky is back up and running fine again. It was broken when I left for work this morning, but I had no time so I just left it be. Got her to go into settings and all ticked. Signal is locked, 70 strength, 90 quality, LNB wideband. This has fixed itself again with no reset or power cycle on our behalf. Nothing else has changed. Clear view to the sky.
This morning, we had a x against satellite signal, unlocked, 0, 0.
Does this sound like a box/update issue to you?
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Doubtful TBH. If it happens again it could be a box issue, but it's unlikely that it's been caused by the update.
 
MissChief said:
Doubtful TBH. If it happens again it could be a box issue, but it's unlikely that it's been caused by the update.
Click to expand...
Understood. I will phone them later. Another day off work.:(
Better get the wife to do some binge TV watching. When she loses all her recordings, all hell will break loose :D:D
Thanks for the help. Its appreciated.
 
Spoke to Sky again last night. Thought whilst the box was working, they could at least do some diagnostics. Person I spoke to last night (Maria) was excellent.
They believe it has nothing to do with the update. They are concerned that the signal strength the box is reporting is a little low.
Also, the intermittent nature of the fault means something is moving or failing slowly.
So, a "next level" engineer is visiting my property on Wednesday to do a full Dish/LNB/Cable check and or swap.
 
Countcussy said:
So, a "next level" engineer is visiting my property on Wednesday to do a full Dish/LNB/Cable check and or swap.
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Sky had installed the Q+cables+lnb themselves ?

More generally, is there ever any liability of a call-out charge with sky, if, say, your cables were considered at fault (like BT say if the problem is your side of the box, or virgin). ... Unless you have hybrid LNB I guess you cannot plug in an old HD box to diagnose it yourself.
 
I've just taken the plunge on Sky Q. I had a 50% off offer that was coming to a close next month, so my bill was about to double.
I have taken a Q 2TB box, Multiroom (as dictated) and a single mini-box. I've also transferred my Fibre across as well.
I was paying Vodafone £28/month for my Fibre and Sky £20/month for my TV. For £10/month more than I was paying, I'll be on Q and have the ability (although rarely the opportunity) to watch sky on a second TV. Installation booked for November 9th - I'm assuming that is for the TV side of it only and the Fibre move will happen at a separate day/time.
I utilised my VIP offers, so I've only had to pay £20 for activation & Setup, which I cannot complain about.
 
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jpaul said:
Sky had installed the Q+cables+lnb themselves ?

More generally, is there ever any liability of a call-out charge with sky, if, say, your cables were considered at fault (like BT say if the problem is your side of the box, or virgin). ... Unless you have hybrid LNB I guess you cannot plug in an old HD box to diagnose it yourself.
Click to expand...

Yes, Sky installed Sky+hd five years ago when we moved in. 2 x twin cables from quad LNB. Upstairs and downstairs. 2 x HD boxes.
Last year, we got an email that because we had been with them for so long, we could upgrade to Sky Q. The engineer came, changed the LNB, but used the old cables already in situ. Not sure about liability. But with Sky Q, you only ever hire the equipment. If its a cable issue, and if its something we've caused, I expect a charge. Else not.
The upstairs cables are now disconnected, as the minibox does not need them, so I cant even test using freesat on my TV due to the wideband LNB.
I was not in when the engineer came last week, it was my wife. Unfortunately, she's not as nosey as I am. According to Sky, engineers report just says no fault found.
 
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