Sky+ hard drive crashes again!!!

Yes, for the second time since Feb '03 I've lost a full disc of recordings. And
a "System Fault" is preventing me from making new recordings.

I spent 10 minutes on the phone to Sky and the only solution is to have a
service engineer visit.

(I think on both occasions the fault occurred when I made a recording which
caused the disc to hit its maximum capacity. Is this a common fault?)

Last time this happened the box was infixable and they replaced it. This time
the box is outside it's warranty and I'm being asked for £65 for the service
engineer's visit.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? I'm reluctant to to give Sky
£65, probably just for the guy to tell me I have to spend another £199 for a
new box. I'm thinking about just buying a new box from Comets or somewhere.

Thanks,

Simon

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? I'm reluctant to to
give Sky
£65, probably just for the guy to tell me I have to spend another £199 for
a
new box. I'm thinking about just buying a new box from Comets or
somewhere.


I went through 3 boxes during my first year and my current one has now taken
me out of the 12 month warranty.

From what I know none of the "engineers" actually examine the inside of the
box and will replace yours with a reconditioned one - for £65.

Perhaps someone else can confrim this and how long the warranty is on the
"repair".

PS, Dont forget to scream at them for loss of use (and recordings) - I got a
free month each time.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? I'm reluctant to to
give Sky
£65, probably just for the guy to tell me I have to spend another £199 for
a
new box. I'm thinking about just buying a new box from Comets or
somewhere.


I went through 3 boxes during my first year and my current one has now taken
me out of the 12 month warranty.

From what I know none of the "engineers" actually examine the inside of the
box and will replace yours with a reconditioned one - for £65.

Perhaps someone else can confrim this and how long the warranty is on the
"repair".

PS, Dont forget to scream at them for loss of use (and recordings) - I got a
free month each time.

"Poncho & Lefty" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? I'm reluctant to to
give Sky
£65, probably just for the guy to tell me I have to spend another £199
for
a
new box. I'm thinking about just buying a new box from Comets or
somewhere.


I went through 3 boxes during my first year and my current one has now
taken
me out of the 12 month warranty.

From what I know none of the "engineers" actually examine the inside of
the
box and will replace yours with a reconditioned one - for £65.

Perhaps someone else can confrim this and how long the warranty is on the
"repair".

PS, Dont forget to scream at them for loss of use (and recordings) - I got
a
free month each time.

Well, the recordings are gone. Full stop.

However, enter this exactly as you see here -

Services, 4, 0, 1 SELECT

You will see option 7 - FULL SYSTEM RESET. This will re-format your HDD on
the Sky+ box, and will then reboot.

You should be fine then!

All the best,

Simon

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"Poncho & Lefty" wrote in message
...
Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? I'm reluctant to to
give Sky
£65, probably just for the guy to tell me I have to spend another £199
for
a
new box. I'm thinking about just buying a new box from Comets or
somewhere.


I went through 3 boxes during my first year and my current one has now
taken
me out of the 12 month warranty.

From what I know none of the "engineers" actually examine the inside of
the
box and will replace yours with a reconditioned one - for £65.

Perhaps someone else can confrim this and how long the warranty is on the
"repair".

PS, Dont forget to scream at them for loss of use (and recordings) - I got
a
free month each time.

Well, the recordings are gone. Full stop.

However, enter this exactly as you see here -

Services, 4, 0, 1 SELECT

You will see option 7 - FULL SYSTEM RESET. This will re-format your HDD on
the Sky+ box, and will then reboot.

You should be fine then!

All the best,

Simon

--
------------------------------------------------------------------
Kernow Telecom - Cheap international calls
(India only 10p/min on 0871 570 8216), (USA, Europe
and Oz National rate on 0870 794 8303/0844 570 8303)
Email us for more rates and unlocking offers!
**Old website still going- http://kernow-telecom.co.uk**
------------------------------------------------------------------

Simon Ough wrote:

This will re-format your HDD on the Sky+ box, and will then reboot.

You should be fine then!


Not if the hard drive has cooked, which is the most common problem with
Sky+ boxes. A recent software upgrade has reprogrammed the fan to come
on much more often but if the damage has already been done then no
amount of cooling will help the drive. Nor, incidentally will full
system resets. Try it by all means, but don't be surprised if it belly
flops again in a very short space of time.

My advice would be to try the reset and if that fails spend the money
on a new hard drive and fit it yourself. Any fluid bearing Maxtor 40Gb
drive should do.

Regards

Mark

Simon Ough wrote:

This will re-format your HDD on the Sky+ box, and will then reboot.

You should be fine then!


Not if the hard drive has cooked, which is the most common problem with
Sky+ boxes. A recent software upgrade has reprogrammed the fan to come
on much more often but if the damage has already been done then no
amount of cooling will help the drive. Nor, incidentally will full
system resets. Try it by all means, but don't be surprised if it belly
flops again in a very short space of time.

My advice would be to try the reset and if that fails spend the money
on a new hard drive and fit it yourself. Any fluid bearing Maxtor 40Gb
drive should do.

Regards

Mark

Simonbr120 wrote:
|| Yes, for the second time since Feb '03 I've lost a full disc of
|| recordings. And a "System Fault" is preventing me from making new
|| recordings.
||
|| I spent 10 minutes on the phone to Sky and the only solution is to
|| have a service engineer visit.
||
|| (I think on both occasions the fault occurred when I made a
|| recording which caused the disc to hit its maximum capacity. Is this
|| a common fault?)
||
|| Last time this happened the box was infixable and they replaced it.
|| This time the box is outside it's warranty and I'm being asked for
|| £65 for the service engineer's visit.
||
|| Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? I'm reluctant to
|| to give Sky £65, probably just for the guy to tell me I have to
|| spend another £199 for a new box. I'm thinking about just buying a
|| new box from Comets or somewhere.
||
|| Thanks,
||
|| Simon

If Simon Ough's suggestion doesn't work, have a look here
http://www.hummer.co.uk/sky.htm for intructions on replacing the HD
yourself.

You can even enter the serial number of the HD in Maxtor's website & you
will be told whether the drive is still under warranty - the original Sky+
HDs had are covered for three years. All it will cost you is £1 fior a
security screwdriver & £8.18 to return the faulty HD to Maxtor in Ireland.

Even if it's not under warranty, a suitable replacement 40Gb HD will cost
much less than £65 & would be covered for at least a further 12 months,
whereas Sky's warranty would, I think, be only 3 months.

Simonbr120 wrote:
|| Yes, for the second time since Feb '03 I've lost a full disc of
|| recordings. And a "System Fault" is preventing me from making new
|| recordings.
||
|| I spent 10 minutes on the phone to Sky and the only solution is to
|| have a service engineer visit.
||
|| (I think on both occasions the fault occurred when I made a
|| recording which caused the disc to hit its maximum capacity. Is this
|| a common fault?)
||
|| Last time this happened the box was infixable and they replaced it.
|| This time the box is outside it's warranty and I'm being asked for
|| £65 for the service engineer's visit.
||
|| Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? I'm reluctant to
|| to give Sky £65, probably just for the guy to tell me I have to
|| spend another £199 for a new box. I'm thinking about just buying a
|| new box from Comets or somewhere.
||
|| Thanks,
||
|| Simon

If Simon Ough's suggestion doesn't work, have a look here
http://www.hummer.co.uk/sky.htm for intructions on replacing the HD
yourself.

You can even enter the serial number of the HD in Maxtor's website & you
will be told whether the drive is still under warranty - the original Sky+
HDs had are covered for three years. All it will cost you is £1 fior a
security screwdriver & £8.18 to return the faulty HD to Maxtor in Ireland.

Even if it's not under warranty, a suitable replacement 40Gb HD will cost
much less than £65 & would be covered for at least a further 12 months,
whereas Sky's warranty would, I think, be only 3 months.

"Mark A" wrote in message
...
Simon Ough wrote:

This will re-format your HDD on the Sky+ box, and will then reboot.

You should be fine then!


Not if the hard drive has cooked, which is the most common problem with
Sky+ boxes. A recent software upgrade has reprogrammed the fan to come
on much more often but if the damage has already been done then no
amount of cooling will help the drive. Nor, incidentally will full
system resets. Try it by all means, but don't be surprised if it belly
flops again in a very short space of time.

My advice would be to try the reset and if that fails spend the money
on a new hard drive and fit it yourself. Any fluid bearing Maxtor 40Gb
drive should do.

Nah!

If that happens, do what I did before I learnt of this "fix" - Phone Sky and
tell them you ant to cancel. Got an upgrade from a Zone 1 (45cm) to a Zone 2
(60cm) dish, upgraded LNB (from a Skywave to a Cambridge) and swapped a V1
Sky+ box for a V2. Cost = £0!

Call 08702 41 41 41 and tell them you want to cancel because of all the
probs you had, and see where it takes you. I thought my earlier fix may have
done the trick, that was all.

Simon