How to defrag sky hd box

[petepatton]

Anyone here know how to defrag a skt hd box mine sucks and freezes daily..

Thanks

[Shady]

Engineer menu can be accessed with this
Services>0>0>1>select.
may be something in there to help you
I see no defrag option, but full system reset may do the job

[allycoops]

Anyone here know how to defrag a skt hd box mine sucks and freezes daily..

Thanks


Follow the link below and download the sky box engineer's tricks ,you will be able to defrag your box following the instructions enclosed.

http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums/f11/sky-box-engineer-tricks-507/

[Lane1]

has anyone tried this yet ? my box is starting to give the same trouble

[RuberDuck]

Anyone here know how to defrag a skt hd box mine sucks and freezes daily..

Thanks

force a software update on the box

[satmannwest]

No m8 do a simple houskeeping you will find it on the menu,

But if its freezing either your lnb is knacked or hard drive corrupt, in that case do a software update.

downpower the box, then whilst holding down the Backup button power on your box until all lights on front light up then let goof button.

Bingo wait for download and reboot

[tonyatbiggin]

No m8 do a simple houskeeping you will find it on the menu,

But if its freezing either your lnb is knacked or hard drive corrupt, in that case do a software update.

downpower the box, then whilst holding down the Backup button power on your box until all lights on front light up then let goof button.

Bingo wait for download and reboot

Will I need to have the phone line connected or does it do it all through the dish?

[nogger1]

You need to access the engineers menu mentioned previously, then look for the option called 'REBUILD'. When you highlight that option it changes name to 'Sky+ Rebuild' & just accept the warnings & press enter.

It will say it's housekeeping and after a few seconds it will shut off & reboot itself. Leave the box a minute or two & then bring back out of standby with the remote.

Thats the only way you can do a 'defrag' although it's not a true defrag like on a PC, it's more a case of cleaning up it's indexes.

Depending on the make of box , if it's a Thomson then the freezing could be the PSU or the Disk. If its a PACE, SAMSUNG or AMSTRAD it's almost certainly the disk.

If you have ability to hook the drive it into a PC then do so & test it with some free software called 'Crystal Disk Info' which i use & which will indicate the health of the drive.

You dont need the Phone line (or even the satellite feeds into the box) to do this but bear in mind that although it should'nt erase your recordings it sometimes does delete1 or 2 & in some cases ALL so make sure there's nothing on there that you have not seen before trying this.

Graham

[tonyatbiggin]

Thanks Graham, that's a great help. I have done all you said but it still freezes and pixelates, occasionally. There has been reference to a software update, is it worth trying this? It is an Amstrad by the way and it's our second Sky+HD box (the first wasn't an Amstrad but did the same.

Actually, whilst you are there on the first box we had we were able to control the Sky box in any room via the rf link and extra remote control sensors on each extra tv. We still have all this set up but we've never been able to get it to work with this new box. Is the Amstrad compatible with this set up?

Tony

PS. On all the extra tvs there is a red led that is illuminated on each of the devices so I know the feed from the Sky box is working.

[nogger1]

Hi Tony, i dont think a software download will help in this case. It's almost certainly the disk, have you checked the disk out ona PC with Crystal DIsk or similiar software ? I assume this freezing is happening during playback, if it's also hapening during normal live viewing with no disk activity then it could still be an LNB/Signal issue

What i find with these disks is that they lock up the machien and/or the response to the remote is very slow. I do a lot of Sky boxes (it's my business) & i have seen a lot with this problem. You need to hook it in a PC, run Crystal Disk Info & see what the status of the drive shows as. That software monitors the drive SMART table where drive errors are recorded & i usually find that parameter C6 (Uncorrectable Sector Errors ) is failing & this causes the freezing etc.
If you run that sofware , take a screenshot & post it on here that would be helpful.

It's no good just sticking it in a PC & see if it works, it will because the PC works round the errors but your Sky box wont.

Graham

[tonyatbiggin]

You need to hook it in a PC, run Crystal Disk Info & see what the status of the drive shows as. That software monitors the drive SMART table where drive errors are recorded & i usually find that parameter C6 (Uncorrectable Sector Errors ) is failing & this causes the freezing etc.
If you run that sofware , take a screenshot & post it on here that would be helpful.


Ok. I have downloaded the software. How do I connect to the laptop? USB cable? And will the software know i have connected it to the sky box of do i have to tell it?

[nogger1]

You need to remove the drive from the Sky box & either connect the drive via a USB caddy (external drive caddy) or if you have a desktop or tower with SATA drives you need to cable it directly into the PC. The external caddy is the easiest, if you dont have a caddy you can get them quite cheap off Ebay, drop the drive into the caddy & the software will detect it automatically. If the drives ok the software will say HEALTHY in Blue test & all theh parameters will be in blue, if there's issues it will say CAUTION in a yellow text & looking at the parameters that are listed you will find some (usually c6) highlighted in yellow. When i see any errors like that i ditch the drive.

If you go for an external caddy you need a 3.5" SATA to US Caddy, this one here on Ebay for example (Item number 290613098810 ) would do. I would also say i have no connection with this seller & have no idea of the quality but thats the type of thing you need (must be for 3.5" drive not 2.5" OR suitable for both.

You did'nt confirm if this is happening just on playback or als during live tv ?

Graham

[tonyatbiggin]

You did'nt confirm if this is happening just on playback or als during live tv ?


Sorry Graham, It happens on live tv and playback. It's unwatchable tonight as it is a foul, rainy night.

Thanks for all your help up to this point.

Incidently we have just bought a Freesat+ box for our holiday home in Cornwall and this works fine when I connect it up to the Sky dish here at home.

Tony

[nogger1]

Have you checked the signal strehgth & quality indicators on the Sky box & if so what do they show.

Graham

[tonyatbiggin]

Have you checked the signal strehgth & quality indicators on the Sky box & if so what do they show.

When the picture is ok they show about 80/85% strength and quality. When the signal breaks up the bars dissapear.

[nogger1]

I think you need to get the dish/alignment , LNB & cabling checked out first.
I know your freesat box seems to work but thats no guarantee all is ok.
If you still have the Freesat box there, why not cable both boxes up with just 1 signal input each (dont forget you will need to set the Sky box to 'Single Feed Mode', use theSky box as normal for a while but when it starts to display no signal etc switch to the Freesat & check what it's reporting for signal.

Graham

[Gryzer]

This has Been a great help ty guys