Help my skybox f3 says load

Have no idea about skybox f3 but from the sound of it, the ariva erom upgrade tool is similar.

Quote

synchronizing STBs, Please Reset Target

That usually means to turn off the receiver with the rocker switch at the rear (if you have one) and turn it back on again, then the flash will proceed.

You may have a com issue with your i/o card on pc.
I had a similar problem when installing car software on my laptop using a pcmcia rs232 card.
I uninstalled com1 in device manager and went into my serial adaptor/port settings/advanced and changed com port from what it was to com port 1
The did a hardware scan and what was originally on com 1 went automatically to the next available com port.
The hardware then started communicating with my car and pc.
It just changes your serial card to com 1
It may help you and then again it may not.
Also, have you the right upgrade tool for that model? (ariva upgrade tool differs from model to model)

f3 had it's own loader

Type into google "slybox rs232 tool" and the first link is what you need.

Also a usb to rs232 will not work! You will need a 9 pin rs232 null modem cable.

This is how I recovered my slybox stuck on load.

This is what you need:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2m-Null-Modem-Cable-Lead-RS232-DB9-9-pin-Serial-Comm-/330584557634?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4cf8600842