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Erm, any idea how to change TV channels when the remote control won't work?

(41 Posts)
phoenix Sat 03-Jun-17 20:45:51

Evening all, well, what it says in the title, really confused

For some reason the remote control has gone on strike, have tried changing the batteries, given it a shake and a damn good talking to, but to no avail.

Starting to get a tad miffed now, actually change that to mightily pissed off, especially as we only have 1 television!

Yes, I know, it's a first world problem.

sarahellenwhitney Sun 04-Jun-17 12:32:33

Not much help at present but always handy to have a spare for an emergency

pollyperkins Sun 04-Jun-17 12:52:46

We have a little almost invisible flip down panel at the bottom of the tv set with buttons inside. We used that when remote atopped working. But its easy to buy a new remote frpm Currys or comet for example.

coast35 Sun 04-Jun-17 13:45:20

My hubby says read the instruction book! WHAT!! That's a last resort! Lol you could google the model number for your TV I suppose. Lol.

Sheilasue Sun 04-Jun-17 13:46:48

Oh for the days when we had on off button on the tele and you had to get up and switch it on or off.
You can get a new remote some remotes do most televisions now.
Are you sure it's not the television gone kerplunk?
.

Grannycupcake Sun 04-Jun-17 14:37:31

I think you are all sooo patient. If it wasn't for the tot, i would recommend taking to the bottle.

Lupatria Sun 04-Jun-17 14:40:44

we had the perfect channel years ago - our daughter!
this was in the days of only four channels [yes, four!!] and they were in colour.
so every time we wanted the channel changed, we asked our daughter - about 3 at the time - if she could go and press the button on the tv. we had to tell her if it was the first, second, third or fourth from the top of course. but it worked [without batteries or other kind of bribery] for years until we got another tv which did have a remote control.
and then we had sky ........................

lovebeigecardigans1955 Sun 04-Jun-17 17:04:20

Pardon me for maybe pointing out the bleedin' obvious but could it be that you need to re-install the channels? There should be a button on the remote called 'menu' and then you scroll down and press the green button to get it going.
This is something that we never had to think about before going digital. When I lived in the West Country (one of the first regions to go digital) we had to do this quite often - so much so that I can now do so without having to trawl through the ruddy manual - which is a bonus.
Sometimes the remote doesn't work until you do this and it gets you thinking about it being faulty/batteries run down, etc when all it needs is this procedure. Good luck.

phoenix Sun 04-Jun-17 17:37:37

How very charming, Shortlegs

LBC (I do hope you will excuse the abbreviation) we have in the past had to re-install the channels, but on this occasion the remote was absolutely dead, however we are now back in the land of the TV connected.

But looking at tonights offerings, I do wonder if it was worth it! grin

Will watch episode 2 of the Handmaids Tale.

merlotgran Sun 04-Jun-17 17:50:38

Jeepers! I haven't watched episode 1 yet. shock

Must keep up!

BlueBelle Sun 04-Jun-17 17:54:52

Well you can't do a channel reboot without the remote to turn the tv on and off and do all the doings needed lbcardigans

Moneyboss Sun 04-Jun-17 18:26:46

Have you tried unplugging tv and waiting for 30 secs. Sometimes it seems to gee it back into action.

grumppa Sun 04-Jun-17 18:34:58

I am reminded of the Tony Hancock method. His TV broke down, and when the engineer asked whether anyone had been kicking the set, he replied:-

"Kick.it? Of course we kick it! One kick for BBC, nine kicks for ITV."

Those were the days.

mimiro Sun 04-Jun-17 18:47:57

doing this from american pov.
but shouldnt be that dif
first unplug power to all devices related to tv(i have box that plugs everything so i only have to flip a switch and all items shut off)
wait 60 seconds.plug everything back in.
this is called rebooting the system.
at the top of the remote are thee buttons that say tv/dvd/cable/aux???
if so point remote at tv or channel box and hold down button says tv should blink a few times.
try it

may not work
but whenever we have power outages or lightening my tv rearranges its inputs and i have to reboot and sometimes reset the buttons/
personally as the wife of a computer code writer i hate tech/but am pretty good at keeping everything up and running

EmilyHarburn Mon 05-Jun-17 10:39:38

Sometimes it is easier to watch TV on your computer than fuss with 2 remotes and all the rest of the paraphernalia. I just don't understand why the controls need to be so complex.

gran5up Mon 05-Jun-17 13:50:11

Lady at my (rented) TV company advised me to remove batteries from handset, press each button individually then replace batteries and try again. Weirdly, it worked for me! Good luck!