CubeRevo HD PSU repair

[jphilweybr]

This was just ready to go off when I got your last post.
First, I’ve checked that we have continuity to the transformer on the front panel.
The fan is 12v and I’m getting a steady 11.9v at the header, so I assume the fan is faulty. I can try another 12v fan I’ve got lying around, but it has a different plug so would need snipping the wires.
Coin battery is showing 2.8v.
Sorry you took the trouble to get the manual, I have it here. Of course, the last time I flashed the firmware, I had the front display, but I pretended just now I was going to do it again. The procedure is power: down at the back – “cold on/off” they call it, then power back on and hold down the power (standby) and OK buttons. This stopped the SATA drive, but we still had the 5VS voltage and 2.4v at P/S. If you think this is worth pursuing, I suppose I have to put everything back together and connect to TV and/or PC.

[jphilweybr]

P.S.
Also holding down standby and OK buttons, the LED changed from flashing to steady.

[stroker]

That's a good sign - at least it has responded to the keys being pressed.

Perhaps we need to bite the bullet and hope for the best if you think you can flash the box blind.
I think we have probably gone as far as we can hardware wise apart from perhaps the display but that may be controlled by the firmware so if that is corrupted we won't get a display until we flash the box. The problem is how do you know when it's finished flashing I would assume the new firmware only starts running when you power off and on!

I see they mention files with "no_boot" in the name I think these will flash without over-writing the basic boot software.
The basic boot software is critical if we corrupt it we will be in more trouble, so if you can find a no-boot version to flash I think that would be the best to try.
Note I am not familiar with this box so what I have just said may be crap!

[rottan0]

I've followed this tread, with big intress.. My ip9000hd was totaly dead. so I tried to desoldered the green L something on display Board. The result was flashing flashing Power led. So I followed you to on the tread and changed the c21 470uf 10 vith a New one, New value 470uf 16v. And then everything worked again. I tried to mesure the old capasitor and did really not see any fault With an ohm meter... Until I compared it to an New one. The old capasitor used looooong time to get carged compared to the New one.
So to you both Stoker and jphilweybr thank you for the help and Greetings from Norway

[jphilweybr]

Thank you rottan0 – especially good to have someone other than Stroker or me contributing to this thread. I’ve ordered a 470µF cap so maybe that will make a difference.
Meanwhile I’ve been checking on firmware and all the images I have are noboot_nnnn – or so I gaily thought when I started writing this post. Then when I accessed all those I have on my computer, I got the message ”The disk image file is corrupted”. So I downloaded two more from this site kindly uploaded by dypcdiver and trying to open them, I get the same message. Blast (not the word I used) is this a Win10 problem?
I still have a Win7 system, but needs fundamental repair, and an XP system which involves shutting down the computer and reconnecting a drive.
Has anybody else come across this problem?

[stroker]

I think you will find that windows sees files with extension img as a disc image file - used for backup/restore of hard drives.
I expect you can ignore the error message, copy the file to the USB stick, rename it etc and then perform your magic.

[jphilweybr]

Well I’ve tried the blind firmware approach without success Without the display, I could only try a USB stick with a no_boot image, and hold down standby and OK buttons – once leaving for half an hour or so. There is an effect in that the LED changes to steady but nothing else that I discern.
Other things I noticed:
Powering off at the mains then back up did produce a momentary stripe on the TV screen. Twice it produced speech sound – so must have switched from AV1 to TV for say half a second.
SATA drive not working at all – but maybe the failing HDD I used has even stopped ticking now.

[stroker]

Yes it was not going to be easy!

I checked the manual is says press and hold standby while powering on releasing the button when "booting" is displayed - how long would that take, a few seconds?
Then press the up arrow button - the display shows "USB Upgrade" and then the update starts automatically.
It would help if your USB stick has an activity LED then you would see if something is happening.
I hope you remembered to rename the file to usb_update.img
Other than that I think the USB should only have that file on it and presumably formatted as FAT32.
Remember if anything is wrong it will not even try to flash.

There are other methods mentioned in the manual. Over the internet from the box itself - a none starter for us!
Using flash tools remotely from PC connected via USB - you need to get "USB Upgrade" on the display so probably not viable either.

Can I assume the LED still flashes on power up?

It might be worth bridging the track cut we made anyway - it's worth a try!
Be careful not to short the track to the surrounding copper area (probably 0V) - on the other side of the dark lines you mentioned.
Scratch the solder resist from the track each side of the cut - should now be bare copper - coat with solder and solder a solid wire across the break.

You can also try measuring the transformer secondary (on the front panel) voltage on the 2 pins side of the transformer this will be ac not sure what voltage to expect, maybe up to 200V, but that is a very wild guess!

[jphilweybr]

Thanks yes tried that. From memory, it takes two or three seconds, so I’ve given it about ten, and then left it alone for twenty minutes or so. I’ve also tried a couple of variants, for instance the Cube Revo manual says follow with the right arrow button - with the same result. Actually, the front LED goes off, but we still have our voltages, and pressing the standby button has no effect.
I could re-solder the track, but we are getting a steady 5.11v at the transformer pins.
I’ve also checked other voltages on the front pcb. The longer connector has 11wires. One is GND, one 16.1v, one 22.3v, one 24.6v (which may be –ve), five have 5.1v and two have nothing. There are no voltages on the shorter connector.

[jphilweybr]

Hey, I didn’t see the last sentence of Stroker’s post.
Well guess what – no AC voltage! That Stroker may be on to something again.
It’s labelled M210VFD.

[jphilweybr]

Hang on, I’d better calm down.
Stroker when you said measure the AC voltage, I was expecting one pin to be N and the other to be L, so tried both ways round. Is that right, I’m not expecting a voltage between here and the chassis?

[stroker]

Yes just between the 2 pins of the transformer - it looks like it's covered in crap you may need to clean it

[jphilweybr]

Yes, that’s the one you thought was covered in silicone. In fact I did my best to try for readings from the top of the pins, and in any case the leads looked clean, the slight mess was only on the surface of the board. I’ve done a bit of scraping with a Stanley knife, and also got some contacts into the leads on the component side of the board, and still no voltage. The readings dance around and then run down to zero, except this time they stabilised at about 0.7v – once in each direction.
On another site, someone reported a problem with a chip on the main board. Mine is perfectly clean and looks OK. The pic shows shades of brown, but that must be the light; in fact it’s black, clear white lettering and sparkling leads.
I’m being a bit naughty here. I keep wanting to try anything that’s suggested, but it means I’m neglecting other things. So, must discipline myself and take a couple of days off. Apologies to Stroker, who has been amazing and I suspect is even more impatient and frustrated than I am!
IMG_4693.jpg

[skomedal]

I've followed this tread, with big intress.. My ip9000hd was totaly dead. so I tried to desoldered the green L something on display Board. The result was flashing flashing Power led. So I followed you to on the tread and changed the c21 470uf 10 vith a New one, New value 470uf 16v. And then everything worked again. I tried to mesure the old capasitor and did really not see any fault With an ohm meter... Until I compared it to an New one. The old capasitor used looooong time to get carged compared to the New one.

THX

Already mentioned in the first few thread posts ( capacitor fault ).

[skomedal]

Or dry solderering joint/points ( not soldered fast to the CB )

Edit

_http://handycrowd.com/diy-tip-fix-dry-solder-joints-on-electrical-circuit-boards/

[stroker]

Jphilwetbr I agree the chip looks ok as far as I can see from that pic.
I know you want to spend less time on this and that's ok but perhaps you could find a short time in the evening to try a thing or two.

Found this advice about flashing on another site which may be worth a try (copy and pasted):-
1. we strongly recommend to format your USB memory stick before the new image copy in it, otherwise, it may happen "ER10".
2. You have to change the name of updated sw into "usb_update.img" when you upgrade the sw by the USB memory stick.

It may also be useful to refit the link on R95/98.

Another thing is connect the box to your network via ethernet and see if you can see it on the network.
If you can you may be able to access the web interface of the box by typing its IP address into your browser.
You could also try to access it with an FTP client.
We are just looking for signs of life at the moment.

Finally can you remember if you have installed uboot in the past or does it just have the standard boot loader?

[jphilweybr]

Thanks Stroker.
First I’ll answer the one IMG_4756.jpgquestion I can. The only upgrade I’ve done in the past is to upload an image. It may not even have been a new one. These machines were known to go into “Panic” mode – usually when you were trying to list media (items I’d recorded from TV), so you lost what you were doing and had to start again. Re-loading the image was one way of dealing with it – only temporarily IIRC. I followed the instructions in the CubeRevo manual, pic attached. So, no I had never heard of uboot or boot loader until this week.
I’ll get on with your other suggestions, but I really think I need to give it an uninterrupted couple of hours at least, and that will not be for a couple of days. Sorry! As an aside, I never got the machine on to my network. There was some Catch 22 involving the PC Editor software, and I didn’t get into Linux, despite buying the box with my eyes open. But now that you mention it, I didn’t try Ethernet – just wi-fi.
My next move will be when the replacement capacitors arrive. I also have a replacement IC91
Well, there you are. I said I’d discipline myself and take a break, but couldn’t stop myself from posting this.

[skomedal]

My next move will be when the replacement capacitors arrive.

Remember Capacitor polarity ( +/- ) important.

Good luck

[stroker]

Jphilwetbr were you flashing with a USB stick?

There is another method using a USB printer type cable (square end) and using flashtools V1.02 - it is shown on the same page of the manual you posted.
Using this method you can see the progress of the flashing on your PC rather than doing it blind.
I tried to attach flashtools but cannot get it to upload let me know if you need it and I will email it to you.

[jphilweybr]

Thanks.
Well I've been unable to find a version to download, so yes please, email one.
Very intermittent internet access this week and next.