3 remote controls stop working on the same day. Any ideas?

Question

I have three remote controls, one each for my HDTV, my HD cable box, and my DVD player. Beginning two days ago, all of a sudden, none of the remotes works at all. I have changed batteries in all of them, with no effect. It sounds like possible something is interfering with all the remote signals. Has anyone ever experienced such a thing? Any ideas what I could try?

I have put new batteries in all of the remotes, and the problem continues. Nothing has changed in the room set-up. I did notice that someone had put the x-box 360 power supply a little closer to the other equipment, and I moved it, and then later unplugged it entirely, with no effect on my remote problems.

I HAVE discovered that the cable and TV remotes will work if I place them within a couple of inches of the receiver. Does this suggest I'm getting strong interference from elsewhere? Turning off all lights in the room also has no effect. I have not recently changed by router configuration (I moved my wireless router from a floor below to the same floor about three months ago, but much longer ago than this problem began.) Could a neighbor have something strong enough to interfere with my remotes?

Answer 1

Well IF you're trying to control ONE PIECE of equipment....it's the equipment's Infra-red reciever in the equipment that's failed.....

IF you have 3 pieces of equipment and 3 remotes that suddenly failed...THEN LOOK at your LIGHTBULBS....
I know....what in the HECK does a lightbulb have to do with anything?!!
Well, if it's flourescent....it can generate Light waves that FLOOD out the Infra-red spectrum. It happened a lot with TOSHIBA back in the 90's...

But that's a wild guess....

WHAT CHANGED in your room two days ago ???
Storm? Grease Fire?
Painted in FLAT instead of Satin??
Moved equipment from one side to the other?? Up or down perhaps?


What happens when you get RIGHT UP ON IT with the remotes??
Did you UNPLUG all three units from the power for 5 minutes?? (One glitch could lock up all 3 units)

Answer 2

Other than bad luck or sabotage, I can think of three things that could cause this.

Assuming that these are IR remotes.

Has somethings been moved such that the IR windows on the equipment no longer have a direct line of sight to the remote when you use it?

Have you changed any compact florescent lights in the room? It seems to me that there was a problem with IR flicker form some early electronic ballast CFLs over whelming IR receivers. (I thought this was taken care of a long time ago.) Do the remotes work when you shut off all the florescent lights in the room?

Has the lighting in the room changed such that direct sunlight (or heat lamp) is shining on the IR receivers? This could overload the IR receivers.

You can view the IR output of remote controls using some digital cameras & TV baby monitors. Just watch the monitor while you point the remotes at the lens and press buttons. Can you see the IR LED flicker when you do this?
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If the remotes are RF (the kind that can go through walls), they could be overloaded by some new device that transmits on the same frequency. Perhaps a new router?
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>>cable and TV remotes will work if I place them within a couple of inches of the receiver.

This would suggest one of two possibilities:
1.
You got a batch of weak batteries. Were all your replacement batteries from the same package?
2.
Something is overloading the receivers. Are these IR or RF remotes?

If they are (the more common type) IR remotes, the interference would have to be IR light. Since you have ruled out the lights in the room, check the following. Are there any other IR devices in the room? Examples: IR remote extenders, some real cheap remote controlled toys. A remote possibility is that the interference is coming in a window from the outside. You could use drapes to rule this out.

If the remotes are of the RF type (the kinds that will work through walls), try shutting off possible sources and see if it makes a difference. Examples: routers, non-IR remote control devices. wireless headphones, Bluetooth devices, computers with wireless internet.

Answer 3

You said you guys were together for 3 years...that is a long time. Maybe something clicked in his head and he feels like you are not the right one for him. Maybe he has thought that all along and the little incident with the smoking made him finally "snap" . Or you know what they say, it's the little things that drive you up the wall sometime...either way, him threatening to beat you up is WAY WAY over the line. You also said he left the house right afterwards; looks like it is possible that he was just looking for a reason to get out of the house. Maybe he is meeting up with someone secretly and he knew the only way to do so without you asking a million questions was to start a fight with you? That way when you call him he will use the fight as an excuse as to why he did not want to pick up and talk to you? Bottom line: Something is up with this guy. Sounds like bad news. It doesn't really look like a happy ending.....but you need to talk with him when things cool over. Oh! And you mentioned that he is normally "passive", maybe because he doesn't know how to confront you in the right way and so he lashed out. You know what they say, people that often hold things in will finally "burst" or whatever - take care

Answer 4

Wow, all at the same time. The signal could be gone on your recivers or on the remotes. I hope it's the remotes. You should order some new ones off of amazon.

Answer 5

sounds like your cable box needs to be reprogramed again to work with that remote. the other devices go through only if your cable box is set up.

Answer 6

were all the batteries replaced at the same time if so they would all run out the same time especially the cheap kind