I have a skyplus 80gig/40hr hard drive model. It is stuck on standby and is making a slight high pitched sound. I think the hard drive may be broken. grateful for any suggestions or help.
thanks kris

Kris, February 2008

For correcting the problem, you have to adopt below-mentioned steps:
1. First, unplug the sky box from the mains
2. wait at least one minute.
3. As you plug the socket back in press the BACKUP button on the box at the same time (not on the remote) and hold it.
4. Wait until all the lights come on the front of the box. then release button
5. Wait a full 10 minutes or until the lights go out then switch on from the remote.

After about a minute of showing the message "SEARCHING FOR LISTINGS", it should come back on to full service. (do not skip the 10 minutes, you will see the message on your TV. (Do NOT do anything in between or else you will lose all your saved programs and recordings)
Source: http://www.fixithere.net/sky-customer-service/

camilaparker, January 2017

just had the same problem. Spoke to Sky and they suggested that I press the SKY button for several seconds. This didn't work, so then press SERVICES, go to AUTO STANDBYE then select AUTO STANDBY OFF. Seemed to work.

May 2012

craig, May 2012

After the full format & reset it takes at least 10 mins for the box to become functional. Let it rest, it's just had it's brains scrambled!

Mungo Chutney, May 2012

Ani1961 - you are great! - just tried you remedy after just about giving up getting our sky box to work again and it worked - thanks

Alison, July 2011

Hi, just followed Ani's suggestion and it worked-
Thanks !!

John, May 2011

Perfect - just had this happen to me. Googled 'SKY+ stuck on standby' followed Ani's instructions and it worked!

Justin R, March 2011

Thanks Ani1961! i followed the instructions to reset the remote and it worked. You saved me £65!

mo, February 2011

another shaun fan! Thank you. This is the 3rd Sky+ box we have had this happen with in recent months. And therefore the 3rd lot of recorded programmes we have lost. Getting fed up. If they can only offer refurbished boxes now, then surely at this point we should be offered an HD box as a replacement for free- on the basis we are not at fault here. Our tv is not HD (we have one in the sitting room with an Sky HD box - waste of time in our opinion) but I'm getting sick of going through the same routine over the phone with Sky every couple of months. Am pleased to have avoided this for once and have programmes back again, but had a whole series saved that I wanted to watch that has now been lost -Again! I agree with other comments that there seems to be some kind of Sky conspiracy/rip off going on. Grrrrrrrr!

Ohana, February 2011

brilliant, works a treat.

if you lived local i would buy you a drink.

john farrell, February 2011

This happened to my Sky+ Box today - rather than risk losing your recorded programmes - try resetting remote first (I thought the remote was working OK as red light on box lit up - just that box would not switch on). Anyway, it worked
Follow these steps
1. Point the Sky remote control away from the TV and press the TV button
2. Press the select and green buttons together until the light at the top of the remote flashes.
3. Press a channel button on the remote and press select. the light at the top of the remote flashes twice.
4. Press the Sky button on the remote then point the remote control back at the TV.

Ani1961, January 2011

Chalk up one more member of the Shaun fan club. Software reinstall solution worked perfectly and all my recordings are safe. (Unfortunately so are the rest of the family's, but you can't have everything).

D, December 2010

Patience definatley the key.

Mine just come on after 10 mins.

Jez, December 2010

None of these worked for me,

I downgraded to freeview from subscribing to most channels for years, within a couple of days my box went onto standby and no reset is working and they want to charge me £65 for call out.

As I have cancelled the channels already I cant even threaten to cancel anything, which to the guy on the phone kept reminding me.

What a bunch of (*&$^£&*£^$*
will be cancelling the broadband out of principal

CJG, December 2010

The hold standby button on box while turning power back on and holding till lights come on worked perfectly. No lost recordings either. Thanks. Jimbo

Jimbo, October 2010

Shaun you are a legend. I tried your suggestion and it worked first time. (I did lose my saved programmes etc but can now watch Sky again) I also saved £65

Paul, October 2010

thanks formatted the box, lost all my recordings but sky works :) genius, thanks :)

shelley, August 2010

Shaun you are a legend, shame about the recordings but who cares my box lives again!!

Bennyboy 3000, August 2010

Shawn you are a life saver.My box froze this morning/World cup starting.2moro - Ireland V NZ,Eng V Aus, France V SA and then of course Eng V USa.you are a genius.plz scroll down to this mans wisdom

Mario Picottow, June 2010

I phoned the sky+ help desk and they told me to try the reset " 2 side buttons etc" and when this did not work 3 times I was told it would cost £65 for an engineer to be called out or take out the £10.25 a month Sky Service Call Protect Service as my warranty has expired... but as a last desperate effort I left the machine in stand by for about 10 minutes and pressed the stand by button again and it worked. Also my so called reset did not wipe the stored programmes. Happy bunny

Paul, June 2010

thank you - had to lose my recorded programmes but have SKy back :-)

Lorraine, May 2010

Someone give Shawn a pat on the back..

I ordered a Sky HD box yesterday as my Sky + was stuck on stand by.

Tried re-setting the hardrive as Shawn suggested and its worked !

Time to cancel the HD box ! Thanks

Adam, April 2010

Woot, thanks shaun, that worked great.
Sky are telling people to do reformats, but they dont seem to know how to do it. (at least, they told me to do it wrong, call out charge anyone :o)
Anyways, thanks again, you saved me from freeview :D

Grevar, March 2010

Shaun - You are the man !!

Tried the first couple of options to no avail, but success on the reformat, Lost all my sons Special Agent OSO & Little Einsteins stuff, but as they are on about 100 times a day, shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks very much

Simon, February 2010

scroll down and follow shaun's advice.I TRIED SIDE BUTTON/OFF TECHNIQUE AND POWER OFF BACK UP RESET. I GOT THE UPDATING MESSAGE ETC. I WAS PREPARED TO LOSE ALL MY STORED DATA.I THOUGHT IT HADN'T WORKED, GAVE UP AND WATCHED FREEVIEW...............AND HEY PRESTO,WHEN I RANDOMLY TRIED TO SWITCH MY SKYBOX ON AGAIN ABOUT 20 MINS LATER IT WORKED PERFECTLY AND ALL RECORDINGS ARE STILL THERE! I THINK THE SECRET IS PATIENCE! THANKS

ALEX, January 2010

thank you

linda, December 2009

iv tried all these the two side arrows and the back button but its still not working the red light is flashing and there is a buzzing noise but will not turn on any solutions?

sarah, November 2009

had a power cut and my sky link does not work

carlos, October 2009

Jerry, thanks for the advice. I followed your instructions - held down 2 side arrows and turned off mains simontaneously for a few minutes, nothing happened. Turned mains off again, then held down backup and turned mains on, this time all lights came on and I held down backup for 10 minutes as on-screen message stated. It works. I hope I have saved £65 callout charge. Is this Sky's conspiracy to milk the customers?

May, May 2009

thanks for all suggestions. I managed to get the box out of stuck on standby but now it's stuck on 'on' and the screen appears to be frozen on one channel. I tried again, this time it worked properly for around 5 seconds then I lost all picture and was left with a pale blue blank screen

Brian, April 2009

Last year, April I think, I had a sky+ box stuck on standby. After many phone calls trying updates, switch off 2 mins etc, I was charged £65 for the sky guy to come out and unpackage a new box and fit it. At no time did anyone on the phone of the fitter mention formatting the HD.

Fast forward 11 months and BOOM, picture freeze then shutdown of the box. Stuck on standby again. Not wanting to spend a afternoon on the phone I have a search of the net and come apond this forum. I try power off and system update with no happy result. Now thinking I have nothing to lose I formatt the HD and hey I now have a working system again but lose all my saved data, most of the latest series of heros.

Now this has me thinking, last year when I had the same problem with my original box, I was told I would be receiving a reconditioned box as the replacement. Ok says I, anything to get my TV back. So the fitter turns up at the door, sees I already have a sky system and says theres been a mix-up. He was told I was a installation job and all he had was a new box. Since it was near rush hour and his depot was the other side of the city he would fit a new box. Not at anytime whilst checking out my defective box did he formatt the box. I wonder how many boxes they take away, and back at the office formatt them and repackage. Cheers easy money for sky I think.

Now I think I have been ripped off for the sum of £65. It smacks of the time when I had a standard box which lost the ITV channels. Phoned up a few times only to be told a fitter would have to pay a visit costing me £50ish at the time. I then upgraded to sky+ and lived without the channels while I waited. When the fitter installed sky+ and multiroom I asked him about my missing channels. The guy does a system update and hey presto, theres the channels. At the time I thought to myself why did'nt they tell me to do this over the phone.

Maybe there needs to be a whistleblower spilling the beans.

Andrew, March 2009

Shaun. Thank you for your answer. I tried all your instructions and the final front panel reset. I waited ages and the green circle didnt go round but I moved onto pressing the select and it worked plus for some reason I havent lost my recordings:-) Thanks again

Jax, February 2009

Thanks for the handy advice Shaun. I did the steps you recommended & got my box to work again ( lost my recordings but no big deal! ). I did try to get in contact with Sky but as usual couldn't get through then saw your advice. Was worried i'd have to shell out for a new box so hopefully this should have done the trick & hopefully no further problems.

Jerry 12th Feb 2009, February 2009

If your box is stuck in standby. First thing to try is to switch off at the wall and leave it for 2 min. Then switch it back on and leave it for another 2 min and try turn it back on. The other thing they tell you try is to do a software download. To do this turn the box off at the wall, then while the box is off hold down the backup button and keep holding the backup button while turning the power back on and keep holding it until 3 lights come on at the front and you should see a message on your TV saying software is updating. Some people say this can cause more problems but worth a try if the box is broken. Last thing to try is to do a front panel reset, NOTE: YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR RECORDINGS IF YOU DO THIS. Turn off the power at the wall. Hold down the two side arrow buttons and then put the power back on, keep holding until the green light in the middle starts going round and round like you are playing a recording and then press select. This will format the hard drive and reset the system. After that it works fine.

I have spoken to SKY second line engineers and they say the box is faulty I need a refurbed box or a new box. The fact that it works after a format seems like there is not a hardware fault but they say it is.

This issue first seemed to come up after a software download about a year, the update for auto standby and anytime TV. Not sure if the hard drive is taking some strain because it spins up and down everyday...i doubt it but the data on the HArd drive may be getting corrupt because it just gets turned off.

It is vey frustrating because sky say this is a tiny problem that accours on a few boxes here and there but by the amount of forums i have seen it is a hugh problem, I think BBC whatchdog has even reported on it.

I have sent them an email so lets see what they come back with?

Shaun, March 2008

hi, i have same problem with high pitch noise, in my sky box at my caravan, i have found latley that if i leave it on, with no activity, i,e come home but dont power off so no channel change etc problem occurs. i turn it off for 20 mins at wall and this clears it

john, February 2008

Mine also, it kept giving recording errors saying not enough space, when there was 43% left? tried a forced system spftware update and nopthing but standby afterwards, tried 3 or 4 times now and aint looking good, any Sky tech savy people got answers before calling them?

Paul, February 2008