Honest Answer please- lockups 7000s

[jeffkey1]

Hi Guys/Gals.

Honest Answer please.

(I am not complaining about any specific images used as I know the amount of hard work put into them).

I have just sold all my kit (Technomate/X-cam etc) and bought a new Dreambox 7000s

My signal strength is about 75 - 90 % on Hotbird with 0-1% BER.

Have tried the following loads :- Black Tiger v1 and Black Cannon v3

Now the question is how many times does your kit lock up?

If I scan up and down the channels during the evening the receiver will suddenly stop displaying any (including FTA) broadcasts. I can still get to the control menu's sometimes, but it will not show any broadcasts.

A hard reset seems to fix the problem.

Any thoughts?

Is this normal for a firmware based receiver?

Do I have a hardware fault with the box?

I thought I would ask before I leave it too long in case I need to return the box to the supplier.

Jeff

[nixus]

Hello
It is not easy to answer your question, because the details about your installation were not provided.
From my personal experience - i am using BlackCanon 3 on USB stick - this is absolutely reliable for me. No freezes or lockups at all. I am using newcamd EMU and watching 4 SAT's - HTB+(36.1 W4), Hispasat, Sirius and Thor

Be sure to make correct and clean installation

[dirtydonki]

The DBox is not very forgiving.

Whereas a setup may have been fine using a Strong or a Manhattan, replacing these with a DBox is never quite that simple. It really is a challenge for many of us and few get it right first time.

Your signal strength on HB looks OK to me but even so if you experience pixelation, particularly on M***Vision channels then you have an issue with your earthing and should remake all your LNB connections both ends. I nearly sent my box back before discovering this and this was freezing my box in a similar manner to which you describe.

If you are using a Hard Disk makes sure it's 5400rpm because the glitzy 7200's eat so much power and generate so much heat the poor old DBox hangs waiting for supply.

Your dish alignment has to be spot on and your LNB should be of superior quality.

For the record I use a VBox to run a traditional motor and had to change the LNB cable completly. I also invested in one of the new fancy .3 db LNB's and added a mains earthlink to the DBox to overcome issues such as you describe and to increase signla strength on weaker channel. I still cannot get DSF on Astra with a 1.2 M dish.....Go Figure

I am not saying that my experiences are commonplace but they may give you ideas of what to try aside from the good advice already provided by Nixus.

One final thought is this. If you are running the image in DBox Flash then I have found that, due to the limitation of the available Flash Memory, that the OS actually runs out of space and cannot perform certain functions. It thus basically goes on strike until you reboot the whole shabang.

This can be tested by trying to add a new skin or EMU using FTP. The reposne will be something on the lines of "cannot create file". I have seen some images so full that even trying to CHMOD a file using a Telnet session has returned an error and not completed.

Persevere my friend! This box is well worth the effort!

[jeffkey1]

dirtydonki, nixus.

Thanks for the advice, I will work my way through and check all the cables, alighment etc this weekend.

For both the loads mentioned, they are loaded as delivered, but I have added a satellite.xml file and updated the keys.

All is being loaded into flash.

I have a Triax 90cm Dish, One Fortec FSKU-v LNB and a Cryptic Diseqc H-H Motor.

I think the hard disk is a 5400 rpm one, it was supplied by the dealer. I must take the lid off and look.


Jeff.

[grezz]

Originally Posted by dirtydonki

I also invested in one of the new fancy .3 db LNB's and added a mains earthlink to the DBox to overcome issues such as you describe and to increase signla strength on weaker channel. I still cannot get DSF on Astra with a 1.2 M dish.....Go Figure

Interesting re mains earthlink - You mean you connected the db chassis to mains earth? Did it really make a difference?

[klona]

Originally Posted by grezz

Interesting re mains earthlink - You mean you connected the db chassis to mains earth? Did it really make a difference?

Yes interresting point.
I am also 1.20M + 0.3 invacom and get some weak signal on several transponder on Hotbird (enough to watch but quite low) and I only can get viasat channels during the day. On night signal is too weak.


@jeffkey1 : Did you notice some pixelisations from time to time, mainly on low half of the screen ? If yes, you probably have the "Mosaic problem" that hit several of us. (check hardware section for a long thread).
It end with a freeze of the decoding, with very slow zap betwenn channels and no more pictures, but menus still there.
It can be fix with a maintenance return (my case) but many people fixed that by adding a CAM... strange but working.
CHeck also without HDD.

[donQ]

I read this thread with interest (and the long one referred to in hardware) as I was getting the same pixelisation regularly in all programmes.
I was sceptical about the idea of just putting a cam in to sort the problem, however I tried it earlier this evening and have had no pixelisation trouble at all. I used an Irdeto cam with out a card, the box had just experienced a freeze when I was reading about the cam idea, so I restarted and it has been fine ever since.
I don't know if the freezing problem is solved, I usually get at least one a day, and I can't record a long program without a freeze, so it will be interesting to see how this goes. At least the pictures are sharp and don't break up for now.
I use Black Cannon on a hd, and have BC as a base, but it doesn't find all the channels as a base, but does on hd.

[dirtydonki]

I always disable all the CAM & Card slots when possible but again on some images there is no access to these features and the more I think about it the more I am becoming convinced that this may well be a distinct possibility worthy of further investigation.

Greets to Klona Klona. The man who by means of his guide taught me most of what I know about the DBox. RESPECT!

[dirtydonki]

Originally Posted by grezz

Interesting re mains earthlink - You mean you connected the db chassis to mains earth? Did it really make a difference?

Yeah zaney or what? Remove VBOX and AOK! Introduce VBOX and no more MVision. Add Earth to setup (DBox chasis) and AOK again. Don't ask me why but it works here for me. Perhaps a dogey earth in the VBOX? But if it works, as they say, "don't F&^% with it".

[donQ]

@Dirtydonkey
Do you think then that disabling the cam slot when no cam is there, has the same effect as when it is enabled and a cam is inserted?
Problems occur when enabled but no cam, perhaps?
I think there are lots of quirky little things like this, that make db run a bit better each time!