G
Gary Goodchild
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
The other night I switched my tv input over to my Echostar DVR 5000 HD. The
Echostar had been switched on for months though I hadn't viewed it for a
while. The picture was very distorted. It was very blocky and totally
unwatchable.
I have had the receiver from new without any other problems.
A couple of years ago, I upgraded the software (to EchoNAV 2.0 I believe).
Anyway the standard fix for most things computer-like is to reboot. So I
did.
All I got were the rotating dots on the front panel. I disconnected the
mains plug, left it 30 mins and then tried rebooting. I still only get the
rotating dots.
Since then I have tried to use the serial port to a) upload my personal
settings and b) download the latest software (from Echostar's website).
Whilst the EchoLoader software says "connected", I don't think it really
does connect. I have tried a serial null modem cable and I have also used a
USB-serial lead combination. No luck with either cable. [The usb-serial null
modem cable combination works perfectly well with my PC to update my Humax
Freeview receiver....so I am happy with the cabling. I have also tried to
use Hyperterminal but again could get no response from the receiver. No data
exchange at all.
OK so nothing works. I looked a little further:
With power on (and those rotating dots), the loopthrough (terrestrial)
analogue tv is passed through properly but there is no scart video output.
There is also no analogue video output added from the Echostar (on any ch :
21-69)on to the loopthrough output. If I disconnect the power cable the
loopthrough TV signal disappears into the noise. ie some (unrelated) parts
of the "motherboard" appear to work as you would expect.
The 5v and 12 volt power supplies (eg to the hard drive) are OK. I have
tried rebooting with the hard drive power and IDE disconnected. Still nothin
works.
The cure-all from the manual seems to be a factory reset but of course you
need to be able to see the menu on the tv screen....I see nothing of
course...:-(
I haven't yet tried another hard disk in the Echostar. Nor have I tried to
see if there is life in the hard disk when connected to a PC. I don't
understand the boot process. (If the HD fails would I still be unable to
communicate via the serial port?)
Does this receiver have any known faults/fixes?
If there is a "boot" eeprom somewhere it is likely to be difficult to change
as the chips are SMDs.
Does anyone have any ideas? If not, I will need a way to stream the
recordings from the hard drive.....and I do not know how to do that. I
expect I shall have to go a bit further up the linux learning curve!!
OK. Over to the experts......
H E L P (Please)
Echostar had been switched on for months though I hadn't viewed it for a
while. The picture was very distorted. It was very blocky and totally
unwatchable.
I have had the receiver from new without any other problems.
A couple of years ago, I upgraded the software (to EchoNAV 2.0 I believe).
Anyway the standard fix for most things computer-like is to reboot. So I
did.
All I got were the rotating dots on the front panel. I disconnected the
mains plug, left it 30 mins and then tried rebooting. I still only get the
rotating dots.
Since then I have tried to use the serial port to a) upload my personal
settings and b) download the latest software (from Echostar's website).
Whilst the EchoLoader software says "connected", I don't think it really
does connect. I have tried a serial null modem cable and I have also used a
USB-serial lead combination. No luck with either cable. [The usb-serial null
modem cable combination works perfectly well with my PC to update my Humax
Freeview receiver....so I am happy with the cabling. I have also tried to
use Hyperterminal but again could get no response from the receiver. No data
exchange at all.
OK so nothing works. I looked a little further:
With power on (and those rotating dots), the loopthrough (terrestrial)
analogue tv is passed through properly but there is no scart video output.
There is also no analogue video output added from the Echostar (on any ch :
21-69)on to the loopthrough output. If I disconnect the power cable the
loopthrough TV signal disappears into the noise. ie some (unrelated) parts
of the "motherboard" appear to work as you would expect.
The 5v and 12 volt power supplies (eg to the hard drive) are OK. I have
tried rebooting with the hard drive power and IDE disconnected. Still nothin
works.
The cure-all from the manual seems to be a factory reset but of course you
need to be able to see the menu on the tv screen....I see nothing of
course...:-(
I haven't yet tried another hard disk in the Echostar. Nor have I tried to
see if there is life in the hard disk when connected to a PC. I don't
understand the boot process. (If the HD fails would I still be unable to
communicate via the serial port?)
Does this receiver have any known faults/fixes?
If there is a "boot" eeprom somewhere it is likely to be difficult to change
as the chips are SMDs.
Does anyone have any ideas? If not, I will need a way to stream the
recordings from the hard drive.....and I do not know how to do that. I
expect I shall have to go a bit further up the linux learning curve!!
OK. Over to the experts......
H E L P (Please)