Stuffed Zinwell 620 / DSE G7503 Freeview Box

Forums › Freeview (DVB-T/DVB-S) › Stuffed Zinwell 620 / DSE G7503 Freeview Box - Fixable?

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BlinkeyBill

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#547473 20-Nov-2011 16:40

I've had a a DSE G7503 since July 2008 which was working ok on Friday and then decided, on Saturday, that it had "No Signal" on any channel, even though nothing had changed in set up, cabling, antenna etc. All other functions worked ok and I could access the main menu and change channels, although all it would show was "No Signal".

Even though the problem described in this thread wasn't quite the same as mine, I thought it may be related since it was a also a problem displaying channels so I gave the recommended fix a go and changed the capacitors.

What do you know? It worked and I now have all my channels back!

Thanks everyone, especially smartcat, for the solution. I guess that's now 5 out of 6. Well done!

spagbowl

45 posts

Geek

#550986 28-Nov-2011 14:25

No such luck for me! I replaced the three capacitors to no avail.

Upon switching it on I still get a "software updating" dialog box followed by a black screen.

Any ideas?

Jaxson

8041 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#550990 28-Nov-2011 14:31

spagbowl:
Any ideas?

A hammer?

Seems to work here

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#550992 28-Nov-2011 14:41

Check your work with a magnifying glass for any inadvertent bridging or fracturing of tracks. Multi layer PCBs can be tricky to work with.
Also check the voltages on each of the capacitors to make sure they're OK.

robjg63

4096 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#552952 3-Dec-2011 08:21

spagbowl: No such luck for me! I replaced the three capacitors to no avail.

Upon switching it on I still get a "software updating" dialog box followed by a black screen.

Any ideas?

Yeah - I have been getting that message for a while - I have just been ignoring it.
But last night it popped up with a "Software upgrade is available" message.
If you try and say yes it just shuts down for a minute - then restarts and says software upgrading, then goes back to the "Software upgrade is available" - at least you can say no to that and just use the box.

I did a channel scan and noticed a "Zinwell SSU" channel flick past - is someone actually issuing some sort of zinwell upgrade - or is it just going nuts???

Have thought about trying the hong kong firmware on it - just to see if an install resests the box, but....

Pity there isnt an image of the last NZ firmware available to try on a USB stick.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#553026 3-Dec-2011 11:24

You can download the last released NZ firmware 1.2.2 from here

http://www.nzdsl.co.nz/zinwell/

Personally, I'd keep looking for a hardware problem. Your fault is so similar to the variations that have occurred with other users and been resolved by replacing de-coupling electrolytics that are 2 or 3 years old.

If you can power up the unit while you have it apart, then I'd be checking the volts on other capacitors.

Anyway, good luck with attempting the firmware update.

robjg63

4096 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#553280 3-Dec-2011 21:48

PimpMyMagic: You can download the last released NZ firmware 1.2.2 from here

http://www.nzdsl.co.nz/zinwell/

Personally, I'd keep looking for a hardware problem. Your fault is so similar to the variations that have occurred with other users and been resolved by replacing de-coupling electrolytics that are 2 or 3 years old.

If you can power up the unit while you have it apart, then I'd be checking the volts on other capacitors.

Anyway, good luck with attempting the firmware update.

The firmware you refer to is the 640 - which is the fancy hard disk recorder.
The 620 is just the basic Freeview HD box.

I am pretty sure there are no copies of the NZ firmware for the 620 anywhere on the internet - many have asked for it though....

Anyway - bit the bullet after having downloaded the Hong Kong firmware around 2 years ago and finally installed that. So far no dumb messages about software updates and it has basic PVR functionality to a USB port. Perhaps the firmware memory was a bit screwed up - dont know how long it will work....
Fingers X'd.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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PimpMyMagic

267 posts

Ultimate Geek

#553316 3-Dec-2011 23:52

Oh. Of course it is. Silly me - I have both units.
Sorry about that.

I don't suppose there's any way of accessing it via the USB or Ethernet ports. I've never looked at that, but don't imagine it's likely.

Pleased to hear you've got it going for the moment though. Can you get HD video from the component output with the HK Firmware, do you know, or has that been disabled in the hardware?

robjg63

4096 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#553359 4-Dec-2011 09:04

PimpMyMagic: Oh. Of course it is. Silly me - I have both units.
Sorry about that.

I don't suppose there's any way of accessing it via the USB or Ethernet ports. I've never looked at that, but don't imagine it's likely.

Pleased to hear you've got it going for the moment though. Can you get HD video from the component output with the HK Firmware, do you know, or has that been disabled in the hardware?

I believe that the olevia software (which this is) has an add on that allows the ethernet connection to be used to download pay movies. Its not available here so I havent bothered with that package.
The USB port is what you have to use to do the software upgrades and after the upgrades I have program recording ability - you can also use it to display photos from the USB device.

I believe that HD is available from component with this software - I have it hooked up via HDMI. For some reason the freeview certification process here requires HD over component to be disabled.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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