Sky+ HD box initialing for ever

[kcfm]

I am trying to help a elderly friend d who has old Sky+ HD box. He has no internet/broadband connection. 

it is working most fine, card inserted and the channels he pays for are viewable. 

the problem is he cannot record anythibg. 

every time he tries there is a pop up which says box is still initialising. 

I guess the hard disk might be screwed?  He says he phoned Sky and they won't send an engineer to do anything, just try to sell him other things. 

I can get to ivstakker menu and do factory reset, but worried that might end with him having nothing at all. 

I tether the box over my phone wifi and box

is online, but it made no difference. 

suggestions welcome. it's not in my property so hard for me to check too many details. 

[Mark39]

@kcfm an 'initialising' error is usually associated with a satellite signal problem. You could check the signal strengths by keying Services > Settings > Signal on the remote.

Unfortunately Sky no longer provide engineer support for Sky+ equipment unless a customer has Sky Protect, so he would need to contact a local satellite engineer to take a look.

There's a workaround which allows the box to work on a single signal from the dish, but he would be able to record or watch live only one programme at a time, rather than two. Go to the same hidden menu where you found the reset option and turn on 'single feed mode'.

[kcfm]

Thanks for answer. 

The Sky+ HD box is in an senior citizens apartment block with some sort of distribution system of the sat signal. I believe only one f-connected cable is connected to the Sky+ box.

it occurs to me I didn't ask him WHEN he moved there. He did tell me recording has not worked for a while, but did used to work. 

the signal strength / quality meters in that menu seem broken/stuck, like not registering at all. 

I checked a whole bunch of channels and all worked without any blocking or obvious indication of a noisy / poor signal. As far as I know, others is same complex with Sky Q or other more recent Sky products, served by same signal, are ok.  

[Mark39]

@kcfm with only one dish cable connected, he would need to have Single Feed Mode turned on to be able to record reliably. The dish cable must be connected to dish input 1.

With Single Feed Mode turned off, the box will try to use both tuners, one of which has no dish connection hence the recording will fail.