My Solomend (sso) died yesterday.

[stanleyjohn]

Yesterday i decided to hook my solomend to my 3ft ku dish (was slaved to my azbox on the 6ftr) and it was basicly dead.When i turn on the back pwr switch it would sometimes come up with only the standby light on and no display on front panel with no video out (HDMI dosnt see it on TV) or i get two charactors on the front panel display looking like oN.Remote and front panel on.off dosnt do anything.Placed mem stick that has firmware into the usb but that didnt do anything on pwr up.Any ideas anyone??.PS i did open it up and all power supply volts seem to be getting to the board!used a volt meter and 3 ft dish works with my geosat receiver

 

[Pixl]

Seems to me there is a flash recovery file posted somewhere that you run at boot up, but I don't remember where I saw it. This might get you going if you can find it.

 

[Hindu55]

Same thing happened to my Solomend last year. I had left it on all the time and after a short power outage, it
would only do as yours. I also checked voltages, etc. Also tried installing firmware via the RS232 port. Nothing
worked so I boxed it up and put it in my storage shed and bought a new S9. Last December I dug it back out
and let it warm up just a bit as it was very cold out then fired it up so I could try and find the problem and the
darn thing booted up! Afterchecking it out and finding everything was working as new, I shut it off with the
switch on the back. Powered it back on and the same thing, just "oN" on the display. I figured maybe it was
the chill that made it work again so stuck it in the freezer for about an hour, hooked it back up and it worked
again. As long as power stays to it and I don't throw the switch in the back (I only power down with remote)
it works fine. One of these days I'm gonna try some component cooler to isolate the problem area. In the
meantime, if it losses power, I just chill it for an hour and all is well again. Don't know if this helps but thought
I'd pass it on.

 

[stanleyjohn]

Thanks Hindu Took your advice and put my solomend into the freezer for an hour and then it booted right up.I have it on now and will see if it lasts!Weird but it works.

 

[yankee495]

This sounds like a capacitor in the power supply. When cool it has more power, but when hot not enough to "Boot" the box which takes the most power. I had an Amiga computer in 1989 that done this. Get it booted up and you was good, reboot while hot and it was a no go. Finally just quit and it was a capacitor which cost like 50 cents compared to like $150 for a power supply.

Could be a "Cold" solder joint but I'm betting capacitor because there are two acting the same and they run once booted from cool.

 

[sergei]

This sounds like a capacitor in the power supply. When cool it has more power, but when hot not enough to "Boot" the box which takes the most power. I had an Amiga computer in 1989 that done this. Get it booted up and you was good, reboot while hot and it was a no go. Finally just quit and it was a capacitor which cost like 50 cents compared to like $150 for a power supply.
Could be a "Cold" solder joint but I'm betting capacitor because there are two acting the same and they run once booted from cool.

Totally agree that the issue is most likely a capacitor as that is a weak spot in their design so he could look for a deform in the top or leakage from one in the power supply. or just replace them all. Worst case would be a transistor in the supply or even a cold solder joint.

 

[yankee495]

I forgot...Check the larger capacitors in the power supply area. They supply the surge power when needed, booting the box.

 

[concord]

We use to use a heat gun and (liquid) freon to find the chip with a heat problem on a circuit board (but not on pwr supply nor monitor circuits ).

 

[stanleyjohn]

I dont know about the caps of today but in the past if you applied enough heat to a electrolitic cap it would go BOOM!!.Not going to play around trying to fix it now!seems like others said as long as i dont remove power i should be ok!If i do lose it then time for the freeze again.In time i hope to get in there and check out the pwr supply caps.

 

[stanleyjohn]

Well we had a very short power outage today and i had to give my solomend an ice pack treatment : to revive it again.

 

[Anole]

frustrated ?

If anyone gets tired of playing with their broken receiver and wants to retire it permanently...
I'll be happy to pay for shipping.
Maybe I can come up with a solution for others.
Or not. Never know.

PM me and we'll talk.

 

[yankee495]

If anyone gets tired of playing with their broken receiver and wants to retire it permanently...
I'll be happy to pay for shipping.
Maybe I can come up with a solution for others.
Or not. Never know.

PM me and we'll talk.

Same here. Would be willing to risk a few bucks to learn something.

 

[Bongu]

Capacitor replacement is not too difficult. I had a refresher course in this after a lightning strike to my Sonicview 8000HD.

 

[Anole]

IMO

The symptoms described, do not automatically point to electrolytics in the power supply.

 

[stanleyjohn]

When i find some spare time ill open up my sso and start zapping parts with a can of freeze spray hoping to find the defective part.PS is there anyway i can get a schematic for this beast?that would make troubleshooting easier.