Sirius Sportster 4 SP4-TK1 Satellite Radio Receiver with Car Kit Logo
Posted on Feb 09, 2008

Power but no signal

Last night all was well with my Sirius Sportster. Today, I have power (the startup screen) but there is nothing else. No "searching for signal" , no tones at turn on or off. My presets are gone. I did not lose power in the car other than shutting off the engine as normal (which was never a problem before). My connections are all tight ,my aux connector is in and the antenna wire appears fine (if it weren't, it would seem the unit would issue a "no signal" message). The blue sirius logo screen looks nice but it sure would be nicer to actually have some music. I'm only two weeks into my subscription. Thanks. Harleydude I had the same issue. I received a Sportster 4 for Christmas and use it with the Home Dock station only. It worked fine for a little over 2 weeks and then one day I turned it on and all I get is the Logo, no sound at all. I called Sirius and they sent me to the Warranty Dept. who sent me a new unit. I swapped only the receiver and was back in business for another 10 days and that one failed with the same exact symptoms. Waiting for yet another replacement...

  • 10 more comments 
  • Anonymous Aug 19, 2008

    I am having the same problem but I think my unit is past any warrnentee period. Any suggestions on how to fix it? I notice that the Sirius ID does not appear. I wonder if they can reset it some how.



    Rob

  • Anonymous Sep 25, 2008

    Unit powered up when car was started, but just the blue screen. I power cycled the unit and it comes back to life with the start up noise sequence. Now it does appears to just be stuck there. It is hooked up through the cigarette lighter.

  • Bo15 Nov 06, 2008

    My radio had the same symptoms this morning. I had the radio 2 years or so. The start up screen came on, but no actual signal. I called Sirius and the walked me through how to re-set the factory pre-sets and power cycled the radio but still no luck. They said my radio went bad and I need to buy a new one. This is total B.S. it may be bad, but there should be a way to fix it without paying another 150.00 for a new radio. To make matters worse I have to pay an additional 75.00 to activate it since I have a lifetime subscription and it counts as one of my 3 limited radio swaps even though this unit was definitely not built to last.

  • Anonymous Nov 16, 2008

    Same thing happened to me. Sportster 4 is less then 2 yrs old (1st yr barely used it). Was working fine, shut the car off to get gas, started it up and the radio froze on the start up screen. Sirius said radio is out of warranty and basicly I need to by a new radio. Sounds to me like something should be done like a recall or something. I will be looking further into this. This is BS!

  • Anonymous Dec 14, 2008

    Mine just started these sypmtpoms last night. Blanl screen with no programming. Signal indicator is at zero and there is no Sirius ID. I haven't called yet but I fear it will be a moot point. This might just be the end of my satelite radio days!

  • palexander75 Jan 06, 2009

    This happened to me last night too, but after reading these comments I'm hesitant to waste my time even calling Sirius. Too bad there still isn't another satellite radio competitor out there, thanks FCC.

  • foureyedfilm Jan 12, 2009

    My radio has a signal (logo shows) but I can not tune in any stations. It's not the antennae because I tested it on our secondary antennae with the same results. I took it to Best Buy (supposedly a Sirius Sattelite authorized dealer/repair company) but since the warranty was up they said they couldn't do anything to help. They suggested taking it to a local repair shop but I couldn't locate one, and I live in Los Angeles! It sounds like they programmed these things to stop working after 2 years so we have to buy a new one. Is there any out there who has any suggestions?



  • hazmat46 Feb 16, 2009

    Same as everyone else, 16 month old radio, powers on to Sirius Logo, and that's about it...Tech Support had be do an "advanced reset" by going to Sirius ID on the menu, then press band, then display, then hold the memo btn for 3 seconds. The unit shuts down, but still has same problem...I was told I have a defective unit. Thnks Sirius

  • Anonymous Feb 17, 2009

    Similar problem here. Radio says "acquiring signal" interminably. When the problem started it would play for about 5 minutes after "acquiring" for an hour, last time it played it was for 5 seconds and it hasn't played at all during my last 4 hours driving with the radio on.

    The radio is 2.5 years old and I am guessing that this is some type of built in obsolescence on Sirius' part.

    This is my second sportser after the first one died just 9 months in.

    I love satellite radio but can't be buying a new one every couple years.

  • Anonymous Mar 06, 2009

    Same issue as well. Startup remains on the startup Sirius logo, but hitting menu twice took me to stations (X for signal). Browsing through the settings discovered that the SID had disappeared, but all other presets had remained. Now my options (being out of warranty by 3 months) are buy a new unit and pay $75 to transfer the account over to the new unit, or pay some amount for a reman unit and 3 months of service (even though I paid for lifetime subscription only a year ago).

  • Redhd 49 Apr 07, 2009

    Sportster 4 worked fine this morning (about 2 years old) and at noon got the start-up screen with no sound and can't do anything but go to the menu. I have no ID when I go there so I guess I am either buying a new one or quitting before my 3-yr subscription is over.

  • jwxray Apr 16, 2009

    My sportster 4 did the same thing today. I bought this unit for Christmas and purchased lifetime subsc. bought 2 car kits, although I just leave in one car. unit worked for 15 months and just shows intro screen. called tech supprt told out of warrenty, could purchase new unit and pay $75 transfer even though i have to transfer because the radio quit!!!! so much for lifetime subscription that is limited to 3 transfers at $75 per. this is the biggest rip of ever.

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  • Posted on Feb 20, 2008
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I work for sirius so I know about all of these different issues and the most common one is the connections. It is imperative that the radios be connected to power with the cig lighter adapter. This adapter had circuitry in it that lowers the cars 12 volts to 5 volts which the sirius unit ooerates on. The old units were 12 volt and could hard wired into the vehicles fuse block, but all of the new radios operate on 5 volts. If this is not the issue with either of you then you have defective units. Being that all warranty replacement are with remanufactured units, your chance of getting a problematic unit increases after the initial return of your new unit.

A

Anonymous

This whole deal with sending us re-manufactured units is total BS! I had a Sportster that went bad after 3 months that was replaced with a reman Sportster 4 under warranty. The Sportster 4 is doing this exact thing now at less than a year old. There's no reason Sirius doesn't give us completely new units that can make it more than a year.

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Power but no signal

I am running into the same exact issue. I have had my Sportster about 14 months now and this is the first problem I've encountered. We had a cold night in the low 20s and the next morning the Sportster started in with these issues. It's been two weeks now and I have the same exact issues (have power, all connections in tact, no "no signal" message, etc.). Sirius recommended a factory reset through the menu option. I was able to do that, but the problem was not corrected. If anyone has any advice here, please let us know..... Thank you. -Peter
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