Try this it worked for me
Just discovered my Sky Plus isn't playing back recorded programmes any more.
Sky would charge 60 to send an engineer out, and a quick search on the
net told me that when he arrived, all he would do is perform a full
system reset (reformat) on the digibox...
"Well, that can't be too hard," thought I, "I've reformatted countless
computers, how difficult could this be?"....
The answer was "Not at all"....
After finding the method used to format the drive through google and a
few Digital TV forums (Sky cunningly hide it from the menu's, meaning
you need some secret combination of reboots and key presses), I embarked
ona reformat....
10 minutes later, I have a fully functioning Sky Plus box again....
Admittedly, all the programmes I had recorded are now lost, but hey, I
couldn't view them anyway, so as far as I'm concerned they were lost
before I started....
I can't believe Sky would have charged me 60 to send some bloke out to
do a 5-10 minute job....
If anyone else has Sky Plus and is having problems with the hard drive
(apparently it's quite a common thing), the method for formatting the
drive is as follows
1. Switch off at wall
2. Switch back on while holding the left and right navigation buttons
(the ones on the front of the digibox, not the remote.)
3. Hold them for 30 seconds, until the green play light comes on
4. Press select. The play light will go backwards for up to 3 minutes,
then the box will go into standby for 2 minutes.
After these 2 minutes of standby, switch the unit back on and you'll
find the drive is fully formatted....
Sky Plus format, February 2009
