Strong SRT5390 set top box & PVR problem

Hi All,

I have a problem with my Strong SRT5390 set top box.
Tried looking on the dvb forums but the site seem to be down again
tonight....

Its about 4 yrs old with a history of a few quirky problems.

It had a recording problem (would only record about 10 mins of a program
then stop.) which was diagnosed by the Strong people in Melbourne as "a
common problem" (I assumed the "capacitor" problem which was talked about
in various web forums). I sent it to them for repair but it returned with
the same fault. (Not sure if the caps had been replaced...)
After a few of my own swap out and try diagnostics (I only have limited
electronics experience) I found the original hard drive was stuffed and
replaced with a new drive and all has been well for the past few years.

It hasn't seen a lot of use lately, but this afternoon it started up fine
when turned on, but after about 5 minutes or so it got a lot of digital loss
and then the "bad or no signal" message was displayed. There is plenty of
signal and quality on the "tuner state" meter when working normally & other
devices on the antenna system are working fine.

After a bit of stuffing around with it I found that the box would work when
first turned on, but after a few minutes it would loose signal. After a
switch off and restart, it would again work fine for a few minutes, then
loose signal again...On further investigation I found that the signal loss
occurs when the hard drive turns off. IE: when the unit boots up the hard
drive starts, and everything works fine. When the drive turns off (I guess
as the machine senses the drive is not being used" that's when the signal
loss happens. I confirmed this is the root of the problem by going to the
recorded programs list (which also re-starts the Hard Drive) then the signal
is received ok again. When drive stops, signal is lost...

Got out the trusty multimeter to check voltages etc and all seems fine,
except that the pin marked 22v on the PSU board seems to have no power at
any time???

Any one have any ideas? Any thoughts or suggestions of a likely cause would
be appreciated, especially if this sounds like the common C15 C16 capacitor
issue...

Although the box is getting a bit old I don't want to upgrade right now as
others in the house are just getting used to using the thing and a change
right now would not be in my best interests....

Thanks for reading and any suggestions!

Gary.