topic Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked” in Sky+

Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Candleriggs — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 11:03:41 GMT

Ive lost reception on some channels on my Sky+HD box just after the recent high winds.

My first thought was the dish may have moved but photographed from the ground, everything looks OK except for damage you can see at the top of the quad LNBP in the photo.

The light grey piece has broken and possibly allowing rain in?

I've gone through what troubleshooting checks I could make on screen as far as it saying if the Lock Indicator shows as "Not Locked", I need to phone Sky.

Should I just go ahead and replace the defective quad LNBP in any case as it seems to be an obvious defect needing fixed?

Many thanks

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Annie+UK — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 11:12:38 GMT

"No Satellite Signal" is an error generated by your Sky box and usually indicates an issue with one or more of the following:

• The Dish is misaligned (not all transponders are getting through, thus some channels may be affected and other not)
• The Tuners in the sky box
• The input sockets on the Sky box
• The plugs on the cables
• The cables themselves
• The Sockets on the dishes LNB
• The dishes LNB has gone faulty for the connections the box is using
• You have plugged your Sky+ box into a dish that is only compatible with Sky Q

You may have to call out a local satellite installer, unless you have Sky Protect insurance, to check/fix your system, another option is to move to Sky Q, as during the move all issues will be resolved as part of the install, there is also the option of Sky Glass or Sky Stream, if you want to move away from satellite TV and use the Internet

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Mark39 — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 11:18:51 GMT

@Candleriggs signal strength and quality on dish input 2 are also below par. It's difficult to see by eye whether or not the dish alignment has been disturbed.

If you're thinking of replacing the LNB yourself it would doubtless be cheaper than calling out a local installer, but obviously is the alignment is off, it won't fix the problem and you'll still need to get someone out.

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Candleriggs — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 11:21:45 GMT

@Annie+UK @thanks for the reply.

I have had an offer of a free upgrade and box for SkyQ but I need an "aerial out" ( probably not the right terminology) connection and a SkyQ box doesn't have one.

I did contact one installer who replied that I should contact Sky first, but now that I have seen an obvious physical defect on the LNB I wondered if I should just try again and get an engineer out to replace it. Do I have to go through Sky to do that? Is replacing the defective part something I could do myself?

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Annie+UK — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 11:23:33 GMT

Please Note: Sky+ is now a legacy service that Sky are winding down

Sky no longer send out Engineers/Technicians for Sky+ customers or replace faulty boxes unless they already have Sky Protect Insurance with Domestic & General

If you don't have Sky Protect then you''ll need to either commission a local satellite installer, purchase a replacement second hand Sky+HD [DRX890 or DRX895 model] ( if the box is faulty ) or consider moving to Sky Q for satellite TV or Sky Glass/Stream for IPTV ( please do your research )

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Candleriggs — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 11:25:45 GMT

@Mark39 thanks.

That light grey piece looks like it may just be a protective cap. Is it and can it be replaced? Are there any diagrams of what's below it available online?

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Exiled-in-HH — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 12:00:28 GMT

Why do you need an aerial out on the box?

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Candleriggs — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 12:18:05 GMT

@Exiled-in-HH @we have two other tvs, one in a room which is about sixty feet away from the room with the Sky+HD box in it and I use a cable from the aerial out to share the signal to both those tvs. It does mean that the second tv has to watch the same programmes as the first one is tuned to, but that's ok. On the third tv, I can either watch whatever the Sky+HD box is tuned to or watch something different on Freesat. We couldn't make a similar connection via broadband as ours is not good enough. 14mbps on a good day.

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Annie+UK — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 12:31:06 GMT

Syk Q has mini boxes that link extra TVs wirelessly on your internal network you don't need to use a coax cable that gives lower quality output

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Exiled-in-HH — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 13:24:03 GMT

You don't need an aerial out to watch DTT🤔

Do you really want to watch very low quality SD output by a Sky box?

You can connect Sky Q boxes and Sky Q minis using powerline networking ... running Ethernet cables isn't necessary😉

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Candleriggs — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 13:09:36 GMT

@Exiled-in-HH @Annie+UK our Internet isn't great. As I said 14mbps is on a good day. I wouldn't like to have to rely on it for tv. I'd imagine there'd be a lot of buffering going on. Also we're spending almost£90 a month so I don't really want to have to pay out even more.

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Annie+UK — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 13:13:40 GMT

Not all content is streamed some is downloaded to the harddrive so does not suffer from buffering, the connection between a Sky Q main box and a Sky Q mini to view recordings and live TV is through your router only and not the Internet so the broadband speed is irrelevant for this

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Exiled-in-HH — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 13:20:48 GMT

The 14 Mbps BB you get would deliver far superior picture quality than the low quality SD you are distributing from you Sky+ box🤔

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Mark39 — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 13:46:33 GMT

@Candleriggs wrote:

@Mark39 thanks.

That light grey piece looks like it may just be a protective cap. Is it and can it be replaced? Are there any diagrams of what's below it available online?

Hard to say from the photo. Almost certainly there won't be a spare you can use to replace it.

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Mark39 — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 13:53:41 GMT

@Candleriggs Sky Q creates its own wireless network between the main box and Mini boxes. It uses that to transmit content, rather than your broadband connection from the main box to the Minis.

Broadband is still used for On Demand downloads, where speed is immaterial since the content is recorded on the main box's hard disk. You might have a problem with the streaming apps hosted on the Sky Q box, but that's not something you might miss, as Sky+ has no apps!

Alternatively, you could consider an HDMI to RF modulator, which you could use to connect to your existing RF cable network between TVs. Not cheap at around £100, but it would be a one-off cost.

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

oj01 — Sun, 28 Jan 2024 15:51:26 GMT

@Exiled-in-HH wrote:T

Do you really want to watch very low quality SD output by a Sky box?

If you're watching on a large 4K TV that may be the case. But, we have the same setup to our smaller bedroom TV and the 'low quality SD' picture is perfectly fine and watchable.

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Candleriggs — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 11:59:11 GMT

Thanks everyone for your advice. Much appreciated.

I've now had the dish replaced and as you can see it was in a pretty shocking state. Mind you, it has been there for 24 years!

Re: Lost input1 on some channels. Indicator “Not Locked”

Mark39 — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 13:38:54 GMT

No wonder you were having signal problems!