After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were
Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).

Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Andy

On Fri, 9 Mar 2012 05:14:50 -0800 (PST), Eusebius wrote:

After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were
Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).

Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Have you tried retuning it?

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...4005803AA2RvJD



--
Regards, Paul Herber, Sandrila Ltd.
http://www.sandrila.co.uk/

In article
s.com, Eusebius scribeth thus
After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were


Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).


How do you know that and if you do what was the source then;?...


Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Andy

Just switch it off wait and on again . It might just have something
silly in its mind or it might have got corrupted and need a re scan...

--
Tony Sayer

On Mar 9, 1:24*pm, Paul Herber wrote:
On Fri, 9 Mar 2012 05:14:50 -0800 (PST), Eusebius wrote:
After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were
Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).

Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Have you tried retuning it?

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...4005803AA2RvJD

--
Regards, Paul Herber, Sandrila Ltd.http://www.sandrila.co.uk/

I have retuned using the Menu Auto tune is that's what you mean.

thanks for the link, though the sony link was out of date

The behaviour is weird - I get ITV3 but it cuts out as soon as the ads
come in. When it goes back to the programme it starts up again.

????

andy

On Mar 9, 2:25*pm, tony sayer wrote:
In article
s.com, Eusebius scribeth thus

After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were
Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).

How do you know that and if you do what was the source then;?...

Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Andy

Just switch it off wait and on again . It might just have something
silly in its mind or it might have got corrupted and need a re scan...

--
Tony Sayer

Switched it off an on several times - no help. tried communal aerial
and separate aerial, same problem. channels don't seem to "lock",
though some channels just say no signal. A few channels flash on and
go off again. No idea what's going on - tried the basic fixes - on/
off, retune etc.

andy

Eusebius wrote:
Switched it off an on several times - no help. tried communal aerial
and separate aerial, same problem. channels don't seem to "lock",
though some channels just say no signal. A few channels flash on and
go off again. No idea what's going on - tried the basic fixes - on/
off, retune etc.


Factory reset? There's a link in my post on uk.tech.broadcast.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

Sometimes they need a factory reset. This I hope is in the manual.
I'd not blame the flares, more likely a pretty naff aerial system or some
kind person has put a emergency services mast near you.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Eusebius" wrote in message
...
After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were
Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).

Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Andy

Check the cablesI can recall someone showing me a lead from the socket to
the tv once that had been chewed by his mamster when he let itout toplay
with its ball.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
In article
s.com, Eusebius scribeth thus
After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were


Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).


How do you know that and if you do what was the source then;?...


Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Andy

Just switch it off wait and on again . It might just have something
silly in its mind or it might have got corrupted and need a re scan...

--
Tony Sayer

Eusebius wrote:
After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were
Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).

Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Andy
when you find out why, I have one dong similar..from 6 months ago.

Only picks up a few stations now.


--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.

Brian Gaff wrote:
Sometimes they need a factory reset. This I hope is in the manual.
I'd not blame the flares, more likely a pretty naff aerial system or some
kind person has put a emergency services mast near you.
Brian

what manual? long lost..

--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.

On Fri, 9 Mar 2012 07:14:53 -0800 (PST), Eusebius wrote:

Switched it off an on several times - no help. tried communal aerial
and separate aerial, same problem. channels don't seem to "lock",
though some channels just say no signal. A few channels flash on and
go off again. No idea what's going on - tried the basic fixes - on/
off, retune etc.

It *might* be the affects of the current geomagnetic storm that is
taking place but now much reduced. Signals can get bounced off the
aurora giving producing interesting and changing multipath
distortion, can muck up analogue TV it'll destroy digital. But if
that was the case I'd expect an awful lot of people complaining about
the loss of their day time telly...


--
Cheers
Dave.

Eusebius wrote:

Just switch it off wait and on again . It might just have something
silly in its mind or it might have got corrupted and need a re scan...


Switched it off an on several times - no help. tried communal aerial
and separate aerial, same problem. channels don't seem to "lock",
though some channels just say no signal. A few channels flash on and
go off again. No idea what's going on - tried the basic fixes - on/
off, retune etc.

By that do you mean you unplugged it and left it for a minute or so
before plugging back in, or did you just turn it off with its own
switch or remote?

--
Chris Green

In article , The Natural Philosopher
scribeth thus
Eusebius wrote:
After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were
Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).

Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Andy
when you find out why, I have one dong similar..from 6 months ago.

Only picks up a few stations now.



Have you re-tuned it?..
--
Tony Sayer

On Mar 9, 6:32*pm, tony sayer wrote:
In article , The Natural Philosopher
scribeth thus









Eusebius wrote:
After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were
Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).

Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Andy
when you find out why, I have one dong similar..from 6 months ago.

Only picks up a few stations now.

Have you re-tuned it?..
--
Tony Sayer

I've left it off and unplugged for a while, reconnected, retuned,
restored factory settings, retuned. Three channels working. They show
about 80% signal strength and 100% signal quality. The rest come on
for a split second and then the screen goes black - something switches
off. In that mode, can't get menu or anything - it's just off even
though the green light is on.

Any suggestions for a good freeview box? I'm sick of this unless I can
find a fix.

andy

Tony Sayer

I've left it off and unplugged for a while, reconnected, retuned,
restored factory settings, retuned. Three channels working. They show
about 80% signal strength and 100% signal quality. The rest come on
for a split second and then the screen goes black - something switches
off. In that mode, can't get menu or anything - it's just off even
though the green light is on.

Any suggestions for a good freeview box? I'm sick of this unless I can
find a fix.

andy


Perhaps a mast-head amplifier has blown (but rest of block has more
sensitive tuners)?

Try Amazon for user reviews.

Supermarket A/V "cheapies" tend to be low end performance IME.

On Mar 9, 8:54*pm, Newshound wrote:
Tony Sayer

I've left it off and unplugged for a while, reconnected, retuned,
restored factory settings, retuned. Three channels working. They show
about 80% signal strength and 100% signal quality. The rest come on
for a split second and then the screen goes black - something switches
off. In that mode, can't get menu or anything - it's just off even
though the green light is on.

Any suggestions for a good freeview box? I'm sick of this unless I can
find a fix.

andy

Perhaps a mast-head amplifier has blown (but rest of block has more
sensitive tuners)?

Try Amazon for user reviews.

Supermarket A/V "cheapies" tend to be low end performance IME.

Yes, I'm starting to think it's the communal aerial. I know neighbours
are OK, but that doesn't mean that my feed is OK. The feed is no
better than a tiny round indoor aerial, with which I get the same 3
stations - these, like Russia Today, must be the highest signal
strength in W London

andy

Eusebius wrote:

I've left it off and unplugged for a while, reconnected, retuned,
restored factory settings, retuned. Three channels working. They show
about 80% signal strength and 100% signal quality. The rest come on
for a split second and then the screen goes black - something switches
off. In that mode, can't get menu or anything - it's just off even
though the green light is on.

almost identical symptoms to mine..could only get one mux - the others
had vanished. I suspect a blown RF stage. No idea why.

Any suggestions for a good freeview box? I'm sick of this unless I can
find a fix.

andy



--
To people who know nothing, anything is possible.
To people who know too much, it is a sad fact
that they know how little is really possible -
and how hard it is to achieve it.

On Fri, 9 Mar 2012 15:59:31 -0000, Brian Gaff wrote:

... or some kind person has put a emergency services mast near you.

Or a 4G trial...

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Fri, 9 Mar 2012 05:14:50 -0800 (PST), Eusebius
wrote:

my freeview box has gone loopy. I can only get Yesterday and Russia Today.

You'll need to change the valves.


--

Eusebius writes:

The behaviour is weird - I get ITV3 but it cuts out as soon as the ads
come in. When it goes back to the programme it starts up again.

The sat dish I installed for a tenant a year back (with helpful info
from many on this NG) does the same - the ads cut out on some channels
(Oh what a shame).
It's a largish dish in a poor location - the 2A-B-D satellites are in
line with, or maybe even a few seconds of arc behind, the wall at the
back of a tenement building, where the dish is mounted.

Something different about the data rate required for ads, maybe?
In my case signal strength is shown as about 90% but signal quality
only 75%.


--
Windmill, Use t m i l l
J.R.R. Tolkien:- @ O n e t e l . c o m
All that is gold does not glister / Not all who wander are lost

Paul Herber writes:

On Fri, 9 Mar 2012 05:14:50 -0800 (PST), Eusebius wrote:

After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were
Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).

Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Have you tried retuning it?

Certainly seems to me as though life needs to be retuned ;-)

--
Windmill, Use t m i l l
J.R.R. Tolkien:- @ O n e t e l . c o m
All that is gold does not glister / Not all who wander are lost

On 09/03/12 14:38, Eusebius wrote:
The behaviour is weird - I get ITV3 but it cuts out as soon as the ads
come in. When it goes back to the programme it starts up again.


Could it be a problem with aspect ratio settings? ITV3 has mainly 4:3
programmes, but the adverts are 16:9. Is your TV widescreen?

--
Phil
Liverpool, UK

Yes its the picture valve.. grin

On the other hand, someone showed me an old On digital box that had stopped
working due to the interestingly named Split nit issue, and it was shaped
like a wedge, and I feel this was very innovative design, to make it able
tobe used as a door wedge after its primary use has ended.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff -
Note:- In order to reduce spam, any email without 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name may be lost.
Blind user, so no pictures please!
"The Other Mike" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 9 Mar 2012 05:14:50 -0800 (PST), Eusebius
wrote:

my freeview box has gone loopy. I can only get Yesterday and Russia Today.

You'll need to change the valves.


--

On Mar 10, 4:16*am, Phil wrote:
On 09/03/12 14:38, Eusebius wrote:

The behaviour is weird - I get ITV3 but it cuts out as soon as the ads
come in. When it goes back to the programme it starts up again.

Could it be a problem with aspect ratio settings? *ITV3 has mainly 4:3
programmes, but the adverts are 16:9. *Is your TV widescreen?

--
Phil
Liverpool, UK

No - TV is an old small SOny set. I'll have to look at settings.

On Mar 10, 4:16*am, Phil wrote:
On 09/03/12 14:38, Eusebius wrote:

The behaviour is weird - I get ITV3 but it cuts out as soon as the ads
come in. When it goes back to the programme it starts up again.

Could it be a problem with aspect ratio settings? *ITV3 has mainly 4:3
programmes, but the adverts are 16:9. *Is your TV widescreen?

--
Phil
Liverpool, UK

YES!!! Phil - genius idea. Changed the aspect ratio to 4:3 and it's
all working!!

Learned something there!

Terrific.

andy

In article
..com, Eusebius scribeth thus
On Mar 9, 6:32*pm, tony sayer wrote:
In article , The Natural Philosopher
scribeth thus









Eusebius wrote:
After the solar flares yesterday my freeview box has gone loopy. I can
only get Yesterday and Russia Today. The other channels won't engage,
or briefly flash and then turn off. The freeview box is a Sony VTX
D800U. We have a shared aerial in our flats and other residents were
Ok after the flares, which briefly switched off the power in the
afternoon (W.London).

Is this the end of the freeview box, or have I missed something? Any
fixes I can try?

If I can't watch TV I may have to think about life which could be
ghastly.....

Andy
when you find out why, I have one dong similar..from 6 months ago.

Only picks up a few stations now.

Have you re-tuned it?..
--
Tony Sayer

I've left it off and unplugged for a while, reconnected, retuned,
restored factory settings, retuned. Three channels working. They show
about 80% signal strength and 100% signal quality. The rest come on
for a split second and then the screen goes black - something switches
off. In that mode, can't get menu or anything - it's just off even
though the green light is on.

Any suggestions for a good freeview box? I'm sick of this unless I can
find a fix.

andy


Any chance of borrowing a known good working one for test?..

--
Tony Sayer