This programme is no longer available

[Me134]

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@Noahboy wrote:

Like many, just had a new box and continuing to find freezing, black screen when sound is playing and programme no longer available message. Not usually all together but has happened. Sky experts advised change of box and sent a new one but problems still persist. Have reboot box by turning power off then on to get around it. Shouldn't have to do this!

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A new box will change nothing, I'm surprised it's not raised a red flag internally somewhere yet but rebooting is the only way around this and the HDMI handshake issue at this moment in time. It's seems to be caused by the last software update but given it's only affected a very small proportion of customers it can be hard to locate the bad code and correct it without possibly breaking something else.

No, nobody should have to do this but it comes under the heading of 'it is what it is' (until it isn't). For others asking, if there's no update then that's because there is no update.

Just out of interest, my TV is a Samsung, what's yours?

[btrftg]

Albeit I don't tend to record programmes overnight I appear to have solved my 'handshake issue' by (in order):

When Placing to Standby

1. Set Q Box to standby using Q remote power button

2. Turn TV/Audio to standby either by TV remote or Audio system button

When Turning On

1. Power up Q Box using Q remote power button

2. Wait a second or two until the Q box shows green

3. Turn TV/Audio on either using TV remote power button else Q remote home button.

NB: the other night my system wasn't turned off this way and next morning the Q box needed a hard reboot. If this happens check your Q remote hasn't lost it's full settings (best way to test is to try the 'speak' feature as this tends not to work if settings have been reset.) Reset the Q remote settings for your TV via the Settings/Setup/Remote Control/QRemote menus.

[AdelaideRose10120]

Rather frustratingly we are 3 weeks in to a new box and have had no further issues with power issues. The new box is clearly a new model as the power cable isn't a standard figure 8 but instead goes into a power block first. Not convinced this is the universal fix but has given us the solution we wanted. 

[Angel_Aka]

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@AdelaideRose10120 wrote:

Rather frustratingly we are 3 weeks in to a new box and have had no further issues with power issues. The new box is clearly a new model as the power cable isn't a standard figure 8 but instead goes into a power block first. Not convinced this is the universal fix but has given us the solution we wanted. 

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That's actually an older v2 Q box with the external power block. The newer v3 models are the ones with just the figure 8 power cable straight into the box. But if it works, I wouldn't quibble. 

[Me134]

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@AdelaideRose10120 wrote:

Rather frustratingly we are 3 weeks in to a new box and have had no further issues with power issues. The new box is clearly a new model as the power cable isn't a standard figure 8 but instead goes into a power block first. Not convinced this is the universal fix but has given us the solution we wanted. 

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Yep, as above that's a V2 box which we have and although we haven't had this particular issue we have had a few of the waking up the system to a black screen (at least I think it's all tied into the same bug) , so cross your fingers.

[AdelaideRose10120]

That's interesting. Definitely happy with the end result. It seems very convoluted what the root cause is and how it's manifesting. 

[mr.tickle]

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@Me134 wrote:

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@Noahboy wrote:

Like many, just had a new box and continuing to find freezing, black screen when sound is playing and programme no longer available message. Not usually all together but has happened. Sky experts advised change of box and sent a new one but problems still persist. Have reboot box by turning power off then on to get around it. Shouldn't have to do this!

---

A new box will change nothing, I'm surprised it's not raised a red flag internally somewhere yet but rebooting is the only way around this and the HDMI handshake issue at this moment in time. It's seems to be caused by the last software update but given it's only affected a very small proportion of customers it can be hard to locate the bad code and correct it without possibly breaking something else.

No, nobody should have to do this but it comes under the heading of 'it is what it is' (until it isn't). For others asking, if there's no update then that's because there is no update.

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Yes, agreed. For me the only issue I've had is the HDMI handshake problem after the box has successfully come out of standby. Ie the light is green but I'm seeing "no signal" messages on my LG C8 TV. I've made a mental note that pressing the physical standby button on the front of the SkyQ box is the workaround. Obviously I sympathise with those who have more severe issues.

Anyone (and I include Sky call-centre staff and so-called "engineers" who visit people's houses in this) suggesting "replacing the box" to fix this software bug is harming things, not helping. I think the scripts they read from are part of the problem, so IMHO it's equally up to the customer calling in to be a bit more clued up and used a little bit more common sense, before agreeing to such drastic and flawed ideas in the first place.

[StumpyT]

We have this same issue, along with random crashes where I have to reboot the Sky Q box to get it to work again.

Software version Q350.000.12.00L (679jvlc)
Hardware version 32B12D

I keep trying to force an update and it keeps saying it's found one, goes through the process then never changes - so either there's an update that is failing to be applied, or (more likely looking at other reports) it is simply redownloading the same software.

TV is a Sony Bravia XR-55A95K

[Me134]

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@StumpyT wrote:

We have this same issue, along with random crashes where I have to reboot the Sky Q box to get it to work again.

Software version Q350.000.12.00L (679jvlc)
Hardware version 32B12D

I keep trying to force an update and it keeps saying it's found one, goes through the process then never changes - so either there's an update that is failing to be applied, or (more likely looking at other reports) it is simply redownloading the same software.

TV is a Sony Bravia XR-55A95K

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100% the latter, no idea why it offers the option in the first place but any update when it comes should download in the background and install overnight.

[xenon81]

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@StumpyT wrote:

I keep trying to force an update and it keeps saying it's found one, goes through the process then never changes - so either there's an update that is failing to be applied, or (more likely looking at other reports) it is simply redownloading the same software.

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Yes, there's no point in manually checking for updates. All it will do is download and reinstall the current software each time you check. When a new software version is really available the box will update automatically overnight.

[StumpyT]

Yeah I came to that conclusion.

Took me a few goes because first I assumed it was a bit like Windows updates, when sometimes you had to do updates in stages.  It was only when I took a note of the software version that I realised what it was doing.

I get the point of being able to redownload the same version (ie, in case your version has glitched) but yes, it would definitely have made more sense for it to at least SAY that it was going to be the same version, or give some other indication of such.

[stu+the+foo]

Yes I have the same problem and it's TOTALLY unacceptable. I agree with the previous user - we pay sky a fortune for their service and we expect SERVICE. Thinking of changing to VM

[ToooSloooow]

Still doing it for me. But only if the sky box is left on for any amount of time. If I turn off tv and box all is well, but if the box is left on it eventually fails. 

I was away last weekend and my wife couldn't get any box working. She didn't know about powering off to fix it. She wasn't happy. 😬

4 weeks now, £140/month. 🤦

[stu+the+foo]

Is it possible to set the sky box so it doesn't go into stand-by. That is when using the sky remote power button it only turns the TV off ?

[Madkitty]

Yes it is in the settings - you can change it from Eco, Active and off. Have tried this end and it still freezes the box though sadly 😞