Problem with Recordings and their play back

[MichaelBere]

Have a 2TB Sky + HD box since February 2014. With multitude of recordings.

Recently having a problem with Recordings and their play back.

Watching live is fine, no problem.

Recordings and their Play Back - A number of seemingly random problems:

(i) For some recordings, even though recording red light is on, when finished it shows Failed Technical Fault – 10 (0), or similar. Cannot play it back.

(ii) Even when recording is seemingly OK, when playing back, it freezes, sometimes multiple times. Fast forwarding sometimes moves it on to play again. But other times have to go back and enter later play times. Can subsequently re-freeze.

Is there anything I can do to address these problems, without losing current (many!) recordings?

Some years ago had to do a complete system reset to deal with Diskless Mode problem, losing all recordings in the process.

If I have to do a complete system reset again, does this in effect “reformat” the Sky box hard disk and set aside any bad corrupted disk sectors?

Thank you very much for your guidance.

[Annie+UK]

Sounds to me that the HDD is failing and the best fix is to totally replace the box or upgrade to Sky Q

[MichaelBere]

Thanks Annie.

You say “totally replace the box or upgrade to Sky Q”.

Can it be replaced with another Sky+ box?

Or is the only available box nowadays a Sky Q one?

I still have the old Sky+ HD box that was replaced (for extra capacity & not due to a fault) in 2014. Has a capacity of a couple hundred MBs.

As a stop-gap, can that older box be substituted for my current faulty one?

Is this something I can do myself, without the need for a Sky Engineer?

By just transferring the Viewing Card from current box to the other?

Thanks again.

[Annie+UK]

You can replace your box for any Sky+ box that is compatible with your dishes LNB, see my Sky+ FAQ for instructions on how to pair your viewing card to the replacement box

[MichaelBere]

Thanks Annie.

I found it under Q 21. How do you perform a New Install?

[SKY1992bf]

@MichaelBere  For a new install press services on remote key in 001 and press select in very quick succession that should bring up the engineer menu scroll across to new install

[MichaelBere]

SKY1992bf  Thanks for that.

Will try alternate box as soon as I get a chance. 

[MichaelBere]

Hello again.

Another related query please.

Analogous to a Laptop HDD, is it possible to reformat the HDD in my current 2 TB box (accepting that all recordings would be lost in the process)?  

With the objective of getting the box working satisfactorily again, after possibly setting aside any bad/corrupt sectors in the HDD to prevent recording over them?

Thanks & we appreciate your advice.

[Mark39]

@MichaelBere a system reset affectively does that. Obviously you'll lose all your current recordings. The option is in the same menu as @SKY1992bf mentioned. It might restore normal working, but possibly only temporarily if the disk is on its way out.

[MichaelBere]

That's grand.   Thanks Mark39

[rscott]

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@MichaelBere wrote:

That's grand.   Thanks Mark39

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Bear in mind the hard drive is at least 8 years old, so is already probably past the designed lifetime and so stands a good chance of failing soon.

[MichaelBere]

Yes rscott, it's probably only a matter of time before that happens. 

Will see how we get on!

Thnaks again. 

[CB11]

Can I have a number to call please

[Mark39]

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@CB11 wrote:

Can I have a number to call please

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You can find the number (the forum disallows posting them) via the 'need more help' link here: https://www.sky.com/help/home

Or can the Community here help?

Bear in mind that Sky no longer replace Sky+ boxes, and don't provide engineer support for them unless you have Sky Protect.