SkyQ Download Failed Item Unavailable

[Twigman]

@Chloe-W22 

I'm on Sky+HD and getting the same problems:

ISP = EE

Router = EE Brightbox1

Speedtest 42-46 Mbps depending when I run it

[LGUser]

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@Bantges71 wrote:

Please can someone explain in basic terms what DNS setting I need to change and step by step how to do it, it seems to be the best solution at present...

Very disappointing from Sky!!

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You need to try every DNS listed for BT until you find a DNS that works. If you don't find a DNS that works, then you use 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1 or the DNS listed for Open DNS.

I don't have access to the box to give yoyu the directions. But it's in Settings. It's fairly obvious.

[SecretBob]

@LGUser @Skull+Treaty @grog+arson 

Odd one this, but I've now set my SKYQ DNS server IP to one of the IP's set in my BT hub (81.139.57.100) and it doesn't work, I get the original download unavailable error as before. I didn't try both of the IP's from the hub, but think it's safe to say that if one doesn't work, the other won't either. It may be coincidental that neither is listed on that long list of DNS servers I provided. I'm guessing that they may be newer servers and somehow haven't updated/ sync'd correctly. Since it seems it's not just BT DNS, it still looks like something SKY need to resolve.

I have since changed the SKYQ DNS to another BT server on the  list (194.74.65.68) and it is working fine again. I've downloaded the episodes that failed above.

I'm not sure why the DNS change only seems to work for some, or only works for a couple of hours for others, but it has worked for me using two different BT DNS servers and the Cloudflare servers. Certainly DNS seems to be the resolve, it's just a matter of finding and using the correct DNS.

[SecretBob]

@Twigman @Bantges71 

It's easy to be confused about this, in simple terms

IP Address = the unique address your computer has on the network/ internet

DNS = Domain Name System which is basically a big directory listing that tells computers what IP address domain servers have.

For example, a DNS look up for sky.com = 90.216.128.5. That is the IP address that your browser will then try to connect to when you type www.sky.com or https://sky,com in the browser. You may be redirected to other IP addresses / servers by the sky server, but the initial query will point you there.

Your SKYQ system has a DNS setting, this is the DNS server that it uses to do a DNS lookup everytime your sky system wants to download something. It appears that some of the BT DNS servers do not know where to get the information, or have been pointed to old servers that no longer host the data.

To resolve this, you can change the DNS setting in your SKYQ system.

1. press the home button

2. in the left hand menu, scroll down and click settings 

3. click Network Connection

4. click Network Setup

5. click on edit

It will give you a list that contains

ip address

subnet mask

router

DNS server

scroll down to DNS server

Make a note of the current setting e.g. 192.168.1.254 (which is the hub address not a DNS server)

change the setting to 1.1.1.1

click confirm

power the box off at the wall

after 30 seconds, power the box back up again

Your downloads should start working from then. If you still have issues, it could be that you didn't change/ save the DNS settings correctly. You should follow the same instructions above to check and see that it has retained the new setting you made. Alternatively, you can try using a different DNS server instead of 1.1.1.1, you can use any one of these servers, I've tested this working with Google, Cloudflare and two random BT addresses.

Provider/ISP DNS servers

Google (Public DNS)

8.8.4.4

8.8.8.8

Cloudflare DNS (Public DNS)

1.1.1.1

1.0.0.1

OpenDNS (Public DNS)

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

BT Broadband DNS

62.6.40.178

62.6.40.162

194.72.9.38

194.72.9.34

194.72.0.98

194.72.0.114

194.72.65.68

194.74.65.69

I hope that explains it a bit more simply, and resolves the issue for you.

[cuke]

@SecretBob Excellent information Bob, it would then appear this could be caused by Sky changing the DNS of their servers but BT not implementing this change?

[IHSIAN]

Changed DNS on all Sky boxes to 1.1.1.1 yesterday and downloads still working - presently downloading a series of 7 programs and all successfully queued and downloading so seems to be the answer for the time being 

[Tvfan2000]

Has sky fixed the issue?

managed to download a couple of things without it failing 

[IHSIAN]

Further to previous post, of the seven instalments three have failed with message 'Failed, Remote network problem' - instalment numbers 3, 6 and 7

Still appears to be a bandwidth problem?

[IHSIAN]

Re-queued the three and now downloading

[mike1944]

I am not very techical savvy so have not done anything to alter this DNS thing, because if I mess around with anything technical I get in a real mess. So I am waiting for Sky to sort this out. All I know my Sky Q worked perfectly with only very minor glitches mainly due to weather conditions.

Someone has messed about with something, I do not know what, to cause this problem to many cutomers. Would it be too much to ask Sky to put things back to where they were a few weeks ago, because if they have changed anything since then I fail to see that it has made any improvement to my viewing in fact quite the opposite. There must be a last known download program which actually worked OK. Just undo all the changes they have made in the last few weeks, one at a time , because I can see none of them was an improvement to my system. It did work a few weeks ago OK, so it should work now.

Soon with the usual Christmas and New Year break coming up I do not expect Sky doing much, if anything, for the net few weeks to remedy this

All the changes to the DNS I have seen suggested on here appears in most cases, if not all, to give anything but a temporary fix, nothing appears to give a real fix.

[grog+arson]

@Twigman @See above post 947, you just need to pick your broadband provider from the list on the left and select one of the IP addresses, this can then be updated on the Sky box by....

press home

scroll down to settings and select

tab right to status

tab right again ang go down one to network connection

tab right and select network setup

tab down to advanced settings, select

mine is already updated but I think it's tab right again and select

on the next screen tab down until you get to the 4 boxes with numbers under DNS Server

enter the DNS numbers for your broadband provider, you may need to tab to the next box

confirm once entered

power box the box, and turn the power off (remove the power cable)

give it about 30 seconds, plug power back in and wait for the box to restart

when its back up if you go to the same location again just to confirm that the changes you have made are still in place

you should now be able to download on demand

this seems to be working for a lot of people, so see how you get on

[grog+arson]

@SecretBob @It's almost like Sky have a list of DNS addresses, but haven't updated to include changes from the other ISPs?

[grog+arson]

@Tvfan2000 Unless you've modified your DNS I think you've just got lucky. 😊

[grog+arson]

@IHSIAN @I think this is a separate issue related to the Sky Wi-Fi mesh network that connects your boxes to each other and your broadband router

[grog+arson]

@mike1944 I think we are getting to the bottom of this and setting the appropriate DNS for your broadband provider seems to be a more permanent solution, if you can manage to follow the instructions that I and others have just posted.

what would be nice is if somebody camera friendly produced a YouTube video of the process, as that may be easier to follow, a picture paints a thousand words as they say. 🙂