Last night, both the remotes to my Comcast Motorola cable box and my Sony receiver died on me. I replaced the batteries, still dead. On the cable remote, I can switch over to "TV" and turn the TV on and off, but if I switch back to "CABLE", nothing. No buttons work on either remote. If I hold the remotes close to their respective consoles, I get some response, but it doesn't last long.

I'm inclined at this point to believe it's just wild coincidence that they both died at roughly the same time, but I'm confused as to whether it's a remote problem or a console problem. Any ideas?

OK< just replaced my cable remote...Still nothing. So, it's the box that's screwed. So, that means my receiver is probably similarily screwed.

So, the sensors in both my cable box and my receiver died. In the same night. WTH.

It's a long shot, but has an interferring source of IR showed up? Moved your television? New incandescent light?

Could you give me some examples of possible interference? At this point, I'd say no, but I could be wrong.

I would wager that the cable box remote is fine if its able to control the TV. Have you tried disconnecting the power cord and the coaxial cable from the cable box, waiting a minute, reconnecting them? Sometimes the box appears to be on and working but its locked up and needs to be power cycled.

As for the receiver.. Seems odd that the remote stopped working at the same time. Could have been a power spike causing both to lock up at the same time. Are they plugged into a surge protector? Try power cycling the receiver by unplugging it and plugging it back up.

If your getting lights anywhere on the cable box or receiver i would guess they are ok. I have yet to see an IR receiver stop working (in 20 years) typically they outlast the device.

Something else to try.

I had a similar problem once and it turned out to be a 'sticky' button on one remote. It was continuously sending a signal preventing any other remote command from working.

It might be worth taking all your remotes out of the room and then bringing them back one at a time for testing.

Graham

It might be worth taking all your remotes out of the room and then bringing them back one at a time for testing.

Great suggestion. I can't tell you how many batteries I've thrown out. Should have thought of sticky keys before since I had that
exact problem on my cell phone and laptop keyboards. I definitely have all my Sony receiver and cable box plugged into a surge protector.

Thanks

George

Hi ziccup,

Did you get to the bottom of this? Nice to get some feedback,

Cheers,

Graham