Slingbox Pro won't connect to network and can't reset it

My Slingbox Pro disconnected itself from my LAN following an upgrade to my ISP's broadband network. The power light is now on, but no network light. When I power off and power on the box the power light comes on, the network light flashes 5 times then goes out.
When I try to reset the Slingbox (press and hold the reset button for 5 seconds) nothing happens. The power light stays on, but none of the other lights change.
What should I try next??

Comments

  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    I'm tempted to ask why a change to you ISP's network should have any effect at all on your internal network. Unless you have a new router?

    I assume that other devices connect to the router correctly?

    So, how do you connect the router and Slingbox? Have you given the Slingbox a static IP address. If there have been changes to the router could the LAN address range have changed, eg it used to be 192.168.1.xxx but is now 192.168.2.xxx or whatever? Anything using DHCP would not be affected but if the Slingbox has a static IP address then that will have an effect.

    If you use a cable could the cable be faulty, bit of a coincidence but easy to check if you have a spare cable. If using WiFi did you reset the router and maybe also reset the WiFi security and password? Mind you if you are using a laptop over WiFi that too should fail to connect.
  • itmitm Posts: 225
    Forum Member
    Actually a new O2 router WAS introduced as part of the upgrade. Other devices connect to the router OK. The only other issue I have is with a couple of IP cameras which can't be accessed from the internet at the moment - I suspect that this may be due to a delay in the DNS change propagation for the new static IP address.
    The Slingbox is connected to a local dumb switch in the lounge. This switch is uplinked to a Draytek Vigor 2920n, which is the DHCP server. The O2 router is connected to the Draytek as the WAN source. When I first plugged in the O2 router I'd inadvertently left the DHCP server enabled, but disabled it and restarted the router shortly afterwards. I have since power cycled the Draytek and the Slingbox (the latter several times).
    The Slingbox had a static internal IP address assigned.
    As well as not connecting to the local network, I don't seem able to reset the Slingbox either - pressing and holding the reset button for 5-10 secs doesn't work. Does this suggest a fault with the Slingbox? (a bit of a coincidence I know)
  • Zorba1970Zorba1970 Posts: 9
    Forum Member
    Yes your slingbox is dead. If when you power it on the lights don't do the usual startup pattern it has blown caps.
    Slingbox's rarely last longer than a year.
    I changed to Belkin @tv
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    Forum Member
    I had a similar problem two years ago with mine.
    Its the power supply.
    It is on its way out and will fail soon.
    They are still available from slingbox.

    Im saying this, as it sounds as you have tested the network thoroughly.

    Ive had my slingbox pro since july 2008.
    I got my replacement power unit in sept 2010 and still working fine.
    Was £14.99 from sling, cheapest I could find then.
  • itmitm Posts: 225
    Forum Member
    lettice wrote: »
    I had a similar problem two years ago with mine.
    Its the power supply.
    It is on its way out and will fail soon.
    They are still available from slingbox.

    Im saying this, as it sounds as you have tested the network thoroughly.

    Ive had my slingbox pro since july 2008.
    I got my replacement power unit in sept 2010 and still working fine.
    Was £14.99 from sling, cheapest I could find then.

    I've heard this from a couple of places now - could be worth a try . A new PSU from Sling costs £23 when delivery costs are included, when seems pretty steep. I think I'll take my chances with this:
    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120853881647?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
  • itmitm Posts: 225
    Forum Member
    The new power supply did the trick - back up and running :)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    Forum Member
    itm wrote: »
    The new power supply did the trick - back up and running :)

    Good to hear, a few more years of watching.
  • infomaninfoman Posts: 138
    Forum Member
    If I had known my Slingbox Solo would only last a year I might not have bought it. Why such glowing reviews or did I just accidentally read the wrong reviews online or simply managed to miss the negative reviews?

    I have been playing around with my network here and I think the Slingbox has now died. Whether two are linked I cannot say. What I can say is that I've had no end of problems with my O2 WirelessBox IV router and my Slingbox over the past year. When it works it's great but when it doesn't it's rather annoying.

    Perhaps Slingbox designed it to work just a year so they can make more money out of their customers. I live in the UK I would argue that it is a design flaw. Nowhere when I bought the Slingbox, did it state it is only designed to last a year.

    I may be ranting but I've spend money hours trying to be able to connect to the Slingbox over the Internet using a port other than the default 5001. I managed to do it about once but then it reset it for some reason some weeks later. That might be a fault of my router. I cannot be certain. Between the two, it's often hard to know which is at fault.

    However I do not wish to spend over £100 + £20 for iPod Touch software for just 1 years use. That is poor value for money.

    Slingbox themselves suggest replacing the power supply but why would the light come on if the power supply has failed? Surely nothing would work? Why would a company sell a power supply that lasts just over a year? To make extra money out of their own customers? Surely that would be against trading standard rules.

    http://support.slingbox.com/get/KB-5000295.html

    I am weary of buying another power lead to find that isn't the problem. Then I have yet another cable I don't need. I have enough of those already.

    I do have some variable voltage transformers. Would it be worth testing it with one of those or could I do even more damage?
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    If you use a different power supply to the original you need to check three things.

    Voltage. Must match the Slingbox PSU exactly.

    Current. Must be at least equal to the Slingbox PSU, can be higher but not lower (eg if the Slingbox is 2A a 2A or 4A PSU is OK but a 1A one would not be)

    DC Connector. Must be a physical match and also the +ve and -ve terminals must be the right way round. If the Slingbox is correctly designed getting + and - reversed should result in no damage but you cannot be too careful.

    The details of PSU voltage and current should be on the Slingbox PSU as might be how the connector is wired.
  • pgrfowlerpgrfowler Posts: 15
    Forum Member
    I bought an M1 in June and spent several hours fiddling with it before I could get it to work. One of the reasons I bought that model was that it has a wifi capability, or so I thought. My TV and box is 25 feet from the wifi router so I was amazed when I found out I had to make a wired connection as part o the set up. Had I known this, I wouldn't have bought it.

    Roll forward a month or two and I'm now living overseas and cant connect to the Slingbox. The so-called Help hasn't been of much use - now they're suggesting I reconfigure it person and that's now feasible for obvious reasons.

    The whole point of buying it in the first place was to be able to watch UK TV overseas without being there in person. My suggestion is to only buy these gizmos if you have a technically competent house-sitter to get the thing working again.
  • oilmanoilman Posts: 4,529
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    Do not get jaundiced here. My slingbox solo has lasted several years. Problem with forums is you only hear of the few bad experiences not the majority of good ones.

    I connect my slingbox solo to wifi by wifi bridge linking a simple travel router to main router and connecting slingbox to new router via ethernet.

    If you live abroad, best solution is to by an iptv box from www.storesatellite.com and a subscription for the tv service - freeview/freesat channels.

    Works well.
  • Jeff_FJeff_F Posts: 1
    Forum Member
    Hello all,

    I am new here and I found this forum and thread when doing a search of desperation on how to adress my problem. I hope I can get a different and more lively or helpful response than from the slingbox community forums where I have posted similar pleas for help.

    So I decided back in june that for reasons unknown, my M1 just wasnt going to see my new comcast router cable box even though its the exact same model as the one I had before (comcast is my US provider and they had switched it out).

    I never was able to reset the slingbox and even with further calls I learned there would have been nothing more sling tech could have done for me beyond taking my $30, which they tell you they do for tech support on models no longer in warrantee. The solution offered to fixing all problems was to reset it and make it so one could now reenter new inputs on the desktop app to get it set up again. But for some reason it just wont reset. The paperclip in the tiny hole on back, the unplug replug, you name it. My router will not see it or vs.

    What I did do was buy a network extender which gives me another network portal at the tv location so now the sling unit is hardwired and does in fact work.

    I checked on my pc and yes, it worked. Instead of the annoying ads, I could actually watch a channel on my tv thru my pc.

    I checked on my iPhone and it also worked.

    I concluded that buying the network extender was the solution for me and that everything was fine.

    What I did not do until this week was to try and switch channels.

    I left for vacation and will be home only one day in july. I would rather not spend it tinkering with this piece of junk.

    On my iphone I can connect nicely to sling and see the channel that happens to be on at my home cable box now but I cannot change it. I have tried every way. I called tech again and was told that sometimes it means the IR cable is faulty. Or it has moved. Neither of these should be true. I have never moved anything nor should the M1 itself or any of its parts be coincidentally broken or corrupted right around the same time I got a new router modem. I was also told that if the M1 cannot see or is not configured to my router then it will not switch channels.

    This brings me right back to where I was when I first tried to work with resetting back in late May/early June.

    I cannot reset the unit. Despite its hardwire connection, it cannot change channels because it needs to be reconfigured. I have realized this only now.

    This time, however, tech support told me on a call that even if I spent the $30, they couldnt do much more than to tell me how to reset it, which is already known and findable in here and elsewhere online.

    It is garbage and a sham. I am inclined to just table it and disconnect now. Theres no point in relying on the purchase of a new one because this will all happen again. I have to pretend that for me the slingbox is like the Concorde jet. Yes it may have been possible to fly nyc to london in 2-3 hrs, but it doesnt work for commercial travel anymore. Not for a while.

    That is, unless someone here has some sort of off-solution I just have not tried.

    I had not tried, nor do I know exact steps on hoe to try using a tablet or iPhone to reset the unit when at my home network. If such steps exist please post them here. Maybe that works and all this time Ill discover that the box itself has been reset properly but theres some weird problem with my (clean pc with newly reinstalled slingbox app) desktop computer.

    Thank you. This is my one shot.
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