GEOSATpro Microhd won't respond to remote.

brainz1999

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Aug 9, 2012
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Receiver will turn on and boot to good video and sound when plugged in. Remote is outputting signals, but I get no response from any buttons. I cannot change channels, sats, access the menu, or anything. I can only view the last channel it was on when it quit responding. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
 
Guess you looked at it via a camera of some sort to know it is doing something when you press buttons.
I will also assume you tried fresh new batteries just to make sure.

If you are handy with a soldering iron and it is out of warranty, open up the receiver and hit the three solder pads on the IR sensor. Could have a cold solder joint.
If it is not that old I would just go ahead and contact the seller you purchased it from.
 
Have you powered down the MicroHD for a minute with a power cord pull, and then powered it back up to see if it fixes itself?

I've had mine do odd things, and a full power-cord pull reset has always cleaned it out and fixed it.
 
Have you powered down the MicroHD for a minute with a power cord pull, and then powered it back up to see if it fixes itself?

I've had mine do odd things, and a full power-cord pull reset has always cleaned it out and fixed it.
Thanks for the reply. I shut the power bar off that it is plugged into every night. When I turn it back on the next day, it is just the same.
 
Guess you looked at it via a camera of some sort to know it is doing something when you press buttons.
I will also assume you tried fresh new batteries just to make sure.

If you are handy with a soldering iron and it is out of warranty, open up the receiver and hit the three solder pads on the IR sensor. Could have a cold solder joint.
If it is not that old I would just go ahead and contact the seller you purchased it from.
Thanks for the reply. I replaced the batteries and checked the remote with an ir receiver. I think that it is over a year old, not sure of warranty status.
 
Mine is dead too. I don't know if I could buy a replacement from SatAV. Right now, I'm using my Harmony 550 remote to control the MicroHD, but the buttons are too small. :(
 
Also:
I may have a remote later if my microhd can't be repaired,but no idea when that will be.I need to get out and find someone who maybe can fix what I messed up.(I melted the 'leads' on the board where the coax connects...and maybe worse.) Be foolish to spend much on a used $100 box though.
I really hope to fix it...would give it to the wife for her bedroom tv once I get another dish up. I loved that receiver. :sorrow
 
For people that are handy and have a soldering iron, IR remotes have a crystal in them and if it develops bad solder joints, the remote can output a signal still that an IR tester will pick up, but the remote still won't work.

The crystal is usually a small square plastic box with two leads on it soldered somewhere onto the board, usually yellow or blue colored, rarely other colors. In some remotes it's a small metal silver can, usually square still, but some are round. I don't know what style is in the MicroHD remote, I haven't had to take mine apart yet.

Another common place for bad solder joints is on the IR emitter and the battery tab connectors, touch them up while in there too. Clean the button pad contacts off with a pink eraser and also the matching circuit board contacts.

If the remote has had soda or something similar spilled into it, take it completely apart and wash all the parts in a sink with dish soap and a tooth brush, rinse them off good after, then lay them all out somewhere and let them dry out real good before reassembling it. Even if nothing has been spilled into it, clean the button pad contacts and matching board contacts and the case too, gunk tends to build up in there and the pads and contacts get dirty just from normal wear and tear. Sometimes the pad contacts will have just worn away to the point where the buttons won't work and then there's no option but to replace them, but most hold up pretty good.

A hair dryer on low will work to dry it if you're impatient, as long as it's not one that gets super hot! With soda and a lot of other drinks, you want to clean it out right away, soda and other stuff will corrode away the copper traces on the boards and leads of components. Sometimes it's still fixable, but much harder, if you let soda sit in it for a long time.

Most commonly, with IR remotes that don't work, it's the IR emitter, crystal or battery tab connector solder joints, or it's dirty and needs to be cleaned, or something has been spilled in it, or the circuit board gets snapped in half from someone sitting, stepping, etc, on the remote, or a combination of those problems.

Probably the hardest part of fixing remotes is getting the darn case opened without breaking all the little snap tabs along the edges! :eek:

Armidillo, do you have a close up picture of your MicroHD, so I could see the damage? I could most likely fix it for you. If the board isn't wiped out, it shouldn't be too bad to fix and solder a new connector onto it. When I had my shops, I used to replace tuner F connectors all the time, from people forgetting to unhook the wire before they moved the set! Is that how yours got damaged?

The trick to replacing those is to use a replacement F connector that the plastic on the inside of it won't melt when you solder it, the white colored ones usually work good. And take a small file and file down the edges of the connector and the hole in the tuner until you can see brass, then it solders much easier and quicker. Without doing that, the kinda clear colored F connectors always melt. I wouldn't charge you anything because it's a easy fix if the board traces and such aren't totally wiped out, but you'd have to ship it to me, of course, it'd be a long haul to drop it off!
 
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Thanks for the offer,Raine. KE4EST has already offered to fix it for me if possible.

The connector was a bit loose the first time I hooked it up.I tried to be easy with it but it spun and broke the center stinger wire inside the 4th or 5th time I tried to unscrew the coax.The connector didn't seem to have any solder attaching it to the chassis.In hindsight,I should have epoxied it or soldered it lightly before ever using it.But I was anxious to get the system up and running. :sobstory

I soldered it to the chassis strong enough to last a lifetime.Possibly melted the center insulator,IDK. The problem came when I tried to solder the broken stinger.Darn tiny wire wouldn't take solder on both pieces.(About like trying to solder a goat hair.lol) I kept getting a cold solder joint that wouldn't carry the signal.The ball of solder grew each attempt until it dripped down. At which point I gave up.Eyes and hand dexterity ain't what it used to be. :(

The box still powers on and cycles thru the menu fine...so hopefully nothing else was hurt.
micro_bright.jpg Yellow spot is where the solder fell and removed the green layer on the board.The ugly blob of solder you see is on the stinger wire.
 
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Thanks for the offer,Raine. KE4EST has already offered to fix it for me if possible.

The connector was a bit loose the first time I hooked it up.I tried to be easy with it but it spun and broke the center stinger wire inside the 4th or 5th time I tried to unscrew the coax.The connector didn't seem to have any solder attaching it to the chassis.In hindsight,I should have epoxied it or soldered it lightly before ever using it.But I was anxious to get the system up and running. :sobstory

I soldered it to the chassis strong enough to last a lifetime.Possibly melted the center insulator,IDK. The problem came when I tried to solder the broken stinger.Darn tiny wire wouldn't take solder on both pieces.(About like trying to solder a goat hair.lol) I kept getting a cold solder joint that wouldn't carry the signal.The ball of solder grew each attempt until it dripped down. At which point I gave up.Eyes and hand dexterity ain't what it used to be. :(

The box still powers on and cycles thru the menu fine...so hopefully nothing else was hurt.
View attachment 117226 Yellow spot is where the solder fell and removed the green layer on the board.The ugly blob of solder you see is on the stinger wire.

You're welcome. That definitely looks fixable, you should be good!

Where the trace was lifted off of the board can be jumped. Those broken stinger wire connectors are a pain to try and reconnect the original broken one, I usually solder in a new F connector and remove the broken piece from the circuit board, then take a resistor and wrap one leg around the solder tab on the new connector, other end through the board, solder it and then cut off the rest of the resistor, much, much easier.

Those crimped in connectors do come loose real easy, but they're made that way on board mounted tuners, blocks, etc, so if the F connector gets pulled, it will pull out, rather than pull on the board and crack the circuit board. With something as light as the MicroHD though, you wont have to worry about it being soldered solid, the cable gets yanked, it's just going to move the whole box.

You didn't mess up that board bad at all. I'd say that there's going to be a working MicroHD for you after Ke4est works on it! :)
 
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