topic Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings in Archive

Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

Alan1952 — Thu, 20 May 2021 08:48:50 GMT

Every three days I come down in the morning and the Sky Q box is locked up. The blue Q is pulsating and the standby light is red. I have left the box in this state as long as to 13:00 in the hope it would clear itself but only a reboot sorts it out. Sky are monitoring this and call me every two weeks but are not offering any solutions. Although it is a minor inconvenience I presume that when I go on holiday any programmes set to record will fail. What do I need to do to get Sky to replace the box and would this even cure the problem?

My contract is due to end soon, does anyone know how Sky reliability compares to BT or Virgin. I am thinking of switching but do not want to end up with worse issues.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

bob1234 — Thu, 20 May 2021 09:03:55 GMT

@Alan1952I have no idea how reliable either BT or Virgin is BUT if you are thinking about BT they use freeview for live broadcasts so you also need a terestrial aerial.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

oldfella — Thu, 20 May 2021 09:04:26 GMT

@Alan1952 wrote:

Every three days I come down in the morning and the Sky Q box is locked up. The blue Q is pulsating and the standby light is red. I have left the box in this state as long as to 13:00 in the hope it would clear itself but only a reboot sorts it out. Sky are monitoring this and call me every two weeks but are not offering any solutions. Although it is a minor inconvenience I presume that when I go on holiday any programmes set to record will fail. What do I need to do to get Sky to replace the box and would this even cure the problem?

My contract is due to end soon, does anyone know how Sky reliability compares to BT or Virgin. I am thinking of switching but do not want to end up with worse issues.

Hi @Alan1952

Assume that you have checked that all your Q boxes are on the latest software and also in the same standby mode?

You could also try a Reset Settings in the hidden menu.
To enter hidden menu press Home and navigate down to Settings but do not select Settings.
With Settings highlighted press 0 0 1 Select.
Only Carry out the first Reset (Reset Settings) as the other two will wipe all recordings.
After the Reset you will have to re pair your Bluetooth remote If you use one.
Press 1 & 3 together on the remote and follow onscreen instructions to re pair.

Make sure that you are pointing the remote at the Q box when you press 1 & 3 together.

If this doesn't fix it and you are thinking about changing the box anyway you could do a Factory reset in the same hidden menu. This obviously will wipe all recordings.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

digglerthelegend — Thu, 20 May 2021 09:07:49 GMT

I have Virgin broadband and did have a blackspot in my house. That was soon sorted with a powerline adapter provided by Virgin and now have no issues with connectivity, streaming, downloading etc.

Virgin speeds are far superior to any other ISP right now but only you can decide whether it's the right way to go.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

digglerthelegend — Thu, 20 May 2021 09:09:22 GMT

In addition to @oldfella suggestions, check if the box is in Eco mode and change that too.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

Alan1952 — Thu, 20 May 2021 12:40:33 GMT

How long should Reset Settings take? After 20 mins the box still has not come back to life.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

Alan1952 — Thu, 20 May 2021 13:43:55 GMT

When 30 minutes had passed and the Sky Q box had not come back to life after Reset Settings I rebooted it. I then had to turn the Standby Mode to None again as it had reset back to Eco. Now I will see if this has cured my problem over the coming days. Thanks for the advice.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

SDR — Thu, 20 May 2021 14:08:11 GMT

@Alan1952

Re reliability.

I have BT broadband and BTTV. Broadband Uber reliable for me and reaches everywhere with zero problems. As to their box, well it is a bit ancient in terms of technology and doesn't compare with Q for ease of use or size of HDD. Pretty awful for those who need accessibility. I wouldn't have it at all by choice but for me a cheaper way to get Baseball after the MLB app stopped working on my Apple TV.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

Alan1952 — Sun, 23 May 2021 10:11:31 GMT

So I came down this morning and the Sky Q Main Box was locked up again. Exactly three days after I Reset Settings. There is definitely a pattern here. The software version has not changed.

As this is 2021 is there a way of backing up your recordings to load them again if you do a factory reset or change the box?

It sounds from some of the responses here that Sky is the better equipment in terms of features, if only it was reliable!

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

bob1234 — Sun, 23 May 2021 10:56:21 GMT

@Alan1952Unfortunately there is no way of backing up the content of Q boxes.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

Alan1952 — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 14:06:32 GMT

So after doing a Factory Reset on both boxes I am back where I started, same old problems. The Main Box refused to restart after the Factory Reset and eventually I had to re-boot it, this was not an encouraging sign. Now the main box freezes every other morning. A Sky engineer is booked for 17th June, I live in hope of a resolution to the problems I have been experiencing for over six months now.

To add insult to injury I have been advised my subscription will rise from £85pm to £112pm in July when my contract ends!

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

fizzdisco — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 14:51:21 GMT

@Alan1952 wrote:
So after doing a Factory Reset on both boxes I am back where I started, same old problems. The Main Box refused to restart after the Factory Reset and eventually I had to re-boot it, this was not an encouraging sign. Now the main box freezes every other morning. A Sky engineer is booked for 17th June, I live in hope of a resolution to the problems I have been experiencing for over six months now.
To add insult to injury I have been advised my subscription will rise from £85pm to £112pm in July when my contract ends!

A replacement box will hopefully sort your problems on June 17th, then you need to give Sky a call and re-negotiate your contract. By committing to a new 18 month term you should be able to get a decent deal as good as, if not better than, your current contract. Sky nearly always offer deals to keep you as a customer rather than let you go. I've always managed to easily negotiate a cheaper deal than the previous contract in the 15+ years I've been with Sky.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

Alan1952 — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 10:48:29 GMT

So a Sky engineer came out today and replaced the main box. It has been six months since my problems with the service began and it has taken this long for Sky to fix it.

However since then I have not been able to view Recordings on the Sky Go app as it doesn't seem to be connecting with the new Sky Q box correctly. I notice there are several threads about this problem and I am not alone. None of the suggested fixs have helped.

It just seems to be one problem after another with Sky.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

MightyQuinn — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 10:51:19 GMT

Hi @Alan1952 If it is a new box then there is a good chance that the software will need updating.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

Alan1952 — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 11:13:19 GMT

You are correct and the engineer did that before he left, now on Q150.000.26.05L (5a6syst) which I believe is the latest.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

Alan1952 — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 09:41:58 GMT

The new Sky Q box has been faultless and given me no problems since it was installed. How come though it took six months of badgering Sky with the issue and presenting them with my comprehensive fault log for them to take any action? When I talk to them about their poor service they just blame COVID. The engineer was helpful, knowledgeable and very efficient so I cannot complain once someone came out, but the delay to replace what was to him a faulty box was unacceptable.

Re: Sky Q 1Tb box locked up in mornings

fizzdisco — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 09:49:14 GMT

@Alan1952 wrote:
The new Sky Q box has been faultless and given me no problems since it was installed. How come though it took six months of badgering Sky with the issue and presenting them with my comprehensive fault log for them to take any action? When I talk to them about their poor service they just blame COVID. The engineer was helpful, knowledgeable and very efficient so I cannot complain once someone came out, but the delay to replace what was to him a faulty box was unacceptable.

Agreed. Took far too long for them to sort it. I think they probably had to tighten up their box replacement procedures as there was a period towards the end of last year where they made it incredibly easy to go on the website and order a new box for next day doorstep swap via courier. Too many people took advantage of this and supplies of working boxes dwindled. Coupled with the severe shortage of silicon chips due to the pandemic, that's probably a logical reason for the delay.