Bricked Vu+ Duo :(

[TheDudeAbides]

So my Vu+ Duo that I bought back in August 2010 doesn't boot anymore. It's stuck on the little red light. I've tried to connect with a serial cable using Putty and Hyperterminal but no response from the box. I was watching TV this morning and the screen went blank all of a sudden. The name of the channel was still showing on the front display. I turned it off and turned it back on and it was fine for around an hour or 2 but then the same problem. I turned it back off again but after this it wouldn't go past the little red light. I've tried disconnecting the hard disk inside and also all other USB, coax, etc. and left it sitting for around 30 mins. This didn't help. It looks like something just died inside.

I'm really disappointed by this as it's only 18 months old. I updated the bootloader last month but this went fine and I had no issues with it.

Can anyone offer some advice? I bought it on Amazon. I'm thinking of buying a replacement power supply board if I can find where to buy one. They seem cheap enough compared to a new Vu+ receiver. Thankfully I have a backup Vu+ Solo that we were using in the kitchen.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[angelofsky1980]

So my Vu+ Duo that I bought back in August 2010 doesn't boot anymore. It's stuck on the little red light. I've tried to connect with a serial cable using Putty and Hyperterminal but no response from the box. I was watching TV this morning and the screen went blank all of a sudden. The name of the channel was still showing on the front display. I turned it off and turned it back on and it was fine for around an hour or 2 but then the same problem. I turned it back off again but after this it wouldn't go past the little red light. I've tried disconnecting the hard disk inside and also all other USB, coax, etc. and left it sitting for around 30 mins. This didn't help. It looks like something just died inside.

I'm really disappointed by this as it's only 18 months old. I updated the bootloader last month but this went fine and I had no issues with it.

Can anyone offer some advice? I bought it on Amazon. I'm thinking of buying a replacement power supply board if I can find where to buy one. They seem cheap enough compared to a new Vu+ receiver. Thankfully I have a backup Vu+ Solo that we were using in the kitchen.

Thanks for any advice.

If you have a friend with a Vu+Duo box currently working you can try with their power supply unit if the box come back to life...
If the problem persist with the working PSU unit... contact your seller or directly Vu+ to try to solve your issue.... The box has 24 (minimum) or 36 months of warranty

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Thanks angel but that option isn't open to me, unfortunately.
I've sent an email to sales and support @ vuplus. Let's see if I hear back from them.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Just to follow up on this thread.
I received a replacement power supply from Australia and installed it. When I turned on the Duo, I was getting the same red light and thought "oh no!"
So I went to the kitchen to get a USB stick (as you do) and when I came back it was booting. I was able to install a new image and got things back up running.
The next day I was getting strange problems like when switching from a French channel back to BBC HD, the spinner would appear in the top left before crashing to a green screen. This happened on more than one occasion. One time, the hard disk decided to spin up before I crashed to a green screen. I've ruled out the disk being the culprit as I got the same problem without it. Anyway, the final green screen didn't reboot the box so I rebooted using Terminal app on my Mac. This is when the box never came back again. So last night I opened it up to have a look around in a final vain attempt. I even went so far as to swapping back in the old power supply. Nothing. Same red light.

So this morning before I hop in the shower, I decide I'll try to start it up one more time. I powered it on, red light, went for a shower, came back and there the box was after starting up. I've managed to reflash the firmware once more as I read on another forum this solved the problem for someone else. I reflashed it with the latest Blackhole image after that. I'm at work now so I didn't get a chance to see if it will boot after the flash.

I managed to grab a crash log from one of the green screens so I'll post that later on to see if it reveals anything. It's alien to me!

 

[a911]

Just to follow up on this thread.
I received a replacement power supply from Australia and installed it. When I turned on the Duo, I was getting the same red light and thought "oh no!"
So I went to the kitchen to get a USB stick (as you do) and when I came back it was booting. I was able to install a new image and got things back up running.
The next day I was getting strange problems like when switching from a French channel back to BBC HD, the spinner would appear in the top left before crashing to a green screen. This happened on more than one occasion. One time, the hard disk decided to spin up before I crashed to a green screen. I've ruled out the disk being the culprit as I got the same problem without it. Anyway, the final green screen didn't reboot the box so I rebooted using Terminal app on my Mac. This is when the box never came back again. So last night I opened it up to have a look around in a final vain attempt. I even went so far as to swapping back in the old power supply. Nothing. Same red light.

So this morning before I hop in the shower, I decide I'll try to start it up one more time. I powered it on, red light, went for a shower, came back and there the box was after starting up. I've managed to reflash the firmware once more as I read on another forum this solved the problem for someone else. I reflashed it with the latest Blackhole image after that. I'm at work now so I didn't get a chance to see if it will boot after the flash.

I managed to grab a crash log from one of the green screens so I'll post that later on to see if it reveals anything. It's alien to me!

Do not be alarmed when U see a RED light on duo!
And from reading your post, it looks like you are in a rush...,,,,No need for that , it looks that your STB is OK !

Please report what is happening next , and lets see!
Lets do it step-by-step ,No panic!

GdLuck
a911

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Thanks a911.
I was worried that people might think I'm impatient. Believe me, I've left the box sitting there with the light red for some hours and it never booted

I'll report back this evening and update on it's current state.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

This is the final log that I was able to capture. Hopefully it contains some clue that someone can shed some light on I still didn't get a chance to try the box but hopefully later on.

header: Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2012 14:06:55 GMT
header: Server: Apache
header: Last-Modified: Sun, 11 Mar 2012 01:02:25 GMT
header: ETag: "7bbfe-2253-4baed2dc8ea40"
header: Accept-Ranges: bytes
header: Content-Length: 8787
header: Content-Type: application/xml
action ->  MsgBoxActions ok
nr_read 67 nr_write 16
sum 83 prev_sum 79
hdd was accessed since previous check!
[IDLE] 0 120 False
[CrossEPG_Auto] poll
action ->  SetupActions ok
[CrossEPG_Loader] patch epgcache.load() found
Looking for embedded skin
[CrossEPG_Loader] /usr/crossepg/crossepg_epgcopy /autofs/sdb1//crossepg/ext.epg.dat /autofs/sdb1//epg.dat
main thread is non-idle! display spinner!
[EPGC] 130627 events read from /autofs/sdb1//epg.dat
nr_read 67 nr_write 16
sum 83 prev_sum 83
hdd IDLE!
[IDLE] 13.901556015 120 False
It's now  Sun Mar 11 15:07:10 2012
[timer.py] next activation: 1331474930 (in 99099 ms)
It's now  Sun Mar 11 15:07:10 2012
[timer.py] next activation: 1331474930 (in 99098 ms)
action ->  SetupActions cancel
[CrossEPG_Auto] poll
action ->  OkCancelActions cancel
action ->  OkCancelActions cancel
action ->  InfobarChannelSelection switchChannelDown
reused converter!
reused converter!
reused converter!
reused converter!
action ->  OkCancelActions cancel
action ->  InfobarChannelSelection switchChannelDown
reused converter!
reused converter!
reused converter!
reused converter!
action ->  ChannelSelectBaseActions showFavourites
action ->  OkCancelActions ok
nr_read 67 nr_write 16
sum 83 prev_sum 83
hdd IDLE!
[IDLE] 23.9998700619 120 False
nr_read 67 nr_write 16
sum 83 prev_sum 83
hdd IDLE!
[IDLE] 35.999806881 120 False
[EPGC] start cleanloop
[EPGC] stop cleanloop
[EPGC] 8507940 bytes for cache used
nr_read 67 nr_write 16
sum 83 prev_sum 83
hdd IDLE!
[IDLE] 47.9998550415 120 False
action ->  OkCancelActions ok
playing 1:0:19:EEA:7E0:2:11A0000:0:0:0:
[eDVBCAService] free slot 0 demux 0 for service 1:0:19:2329:442:1:C00000:0:0:0:
[eDVBCAService] free service 1:0:19:2329:442:1:C00000:0:0:0:
decoder state: play, vpid=-1, apid=-1
DEMUX_STOP - pcr - ok
DEMUX_STOP - video - ok
VIDEO_STOP - ok
AUDIO_STOP - ok
DEMUX_STOP - audio - ok
AUDIO_CONTINUE - ok
start release channel timer
not pauseable.
RemovePopup, id = ZapError
[eDVBCAService] remove channel 0x1b76238
[eDVBLocalTimerHandler] remove channel 0x1b76238
[eEPGCache] remove channel 0x1b76238
allocate channel.. 07e0:0002
[eDVBCAService] new channel 0x1b7cd40!
(0)tune
RotorCmd ffffffff, lastRotorCmd ffffffff
prepare_sat System 1 Freq 12012000 Pol 1 SR 29500000 INV 2 FEC 3 orbpos 282 system 1 modulation 1 pilot 2, rolloff 0
tuning to 1412 mhz
OURSTATE: tuning
allocate Channel: res 0
[eDVBCIInterfaces] addPMTHandler 1:0:19:EEA:7E0:2:11A0000:0:0:0:
allocate demux
resolve: resolve ${sysconfdir}/scan_tp_valid_check.py
resolve: -> /etc/scan_tp_valid_check.py
[SEC] set static current limiting
[SEC] setTone 0
[SEC] sleep 25ms
PC: 77303044
00000000 30008700 773ea514 00000001
0105b330 010528e0 08000000 00000069
77364320 fff4a050 000001a0 773cf300
773c8000 00000004 0104fe78 019fcd74
010528e0 0105b330 00000000 019fcc00
010b5faf 005d0380 019fcd7c 0105b330
0000001c 7730301c 00000000 00000000
7741a2d0 7fe78d08 773ef990 77364348
As a final action, i will try to dump a bit of code.
I just hope that this won't crash.
77303044: 54 00 43 8c 21 88 80 00 24 20 66 00 16 00 80 14 04 00 30 8e 00 10 07 3c 24 18 67 00 0a 00 60 10 (end)
-------
getResolvedKey config.plugins.crashlogautosubmit.sendAnonCrashlog failed !! (Typo??)
resolve: resolve ${sysconfdir}/enigma2/settings
resolve: -> /etc/enigma2/settings
getResolvedKey config.plugins.crashlogautosubmit.addNetwork failed !! (Typo??)
resolve: resolve ${sysconfdir}/enigma2/settings
resolve: -> /etc/enigma2/settings
getResolvedKey config.plugins.crashlogautosubmit.addWlan failed !! (Typo??)
resolve: resolve ${sysconfdir}/enigma2/settings
resolve: -> /etc/enigma2/settings

 

[TheDudeAbides]

And so as everyone is in bed it's safe to play around with the TV!
Back to the red light and the box not booting up
How can this be? Surely the mainboard is not dead if it works sometimes. And the power supply is new.

WHOAH! Wait a sec! Just as I type this, the thing has just booted up after around 5 mins. How bloody long should it take to start the boot process? When I first bought it I flicked the switch on the back and it booted immediately. I know you're all going to think I'm a really impatient person, but please trust me when I say that the box is definitely not behaving normally.

 

[sakisdvb]

And so as everyone is in bed it's safe to play around with the TV!
Back to the red light and the box not booting up
How can this be? Surely the mainboard is not dead if it works sometimes. And the power supply is new.

WHOAH! Wait a sec! Just as I type this, the thing has just booted up after around 5 mins. How bloody long should it take to start the boot process? When I first bought it I flicked the switch on the back and it booted immediately. I know you're all going to think I'm a really impatient person, but please trust me when I say that the box is definitely not behaving normally.

First of all Recheck PSU connectors,
Then Disconnect ALL devices from VU+ (Make your VU+ as new)
Install all updates and latest Official Image.
Use the Receiver for 1-2 days to determine if all is OK and
then install devices One at the time and Test as long as you can.

If VU+ fails directly with no device connected,
better contact your reseller for professional service and support
Also check if your VU+ is still under VU+ service warranty.
Regards.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Thanks sakisdvb. I'll keep it running with Black Hole for now and not install any plugins. I didn't bother to reinstall a hard disk as it's in the Uno. I'll post back here at a later date to give an update on how it's running.

 

[ALPA]

It appears I have the same problem since today!
What happened is this:
Last couple of days the box started rebooting by itself randomly using BP.
Today I switched the box off from the electricity for 2 hours and after that when I tried to start the box there was only red dot on the display, the starting message doesn't come up.
I also tried to reflash with new image via front usb but nothing happens, only the red dot remains.
My VU+duo is revision 1.3

 

[ALPA]

UPDATE:
Friend of mine who is very good with electronic checked the power supply, and found no fault. He thinks it's software problem and that bootloader screwed it selfup somehow.
He reccomends JTAG reflash.
I found one

http://linuxsat-support.com/vu-tools/12686-vu-jtag-broadcom-tools.html

that explains the JTAG procedure step by step, the only problem we have now is where to find approptiate JTAG or JTAG schematics.

 

[a911]

UPDATE:
Friend of mine who is very good with electronic checked the power supply, and found no fault. He thinks it's software problem and that bootloader screwed it selfup somehow.
He reccomends JTAG reflash.
I found one

http://linuxsat-support.com/vu-tools/12686-vu-jtag-broadcom-tools.html

that explains the JTAG procedure step by step, the only problem we have now is where to find approptiate JTAG or JTAG schematics.

Search google with the title "vu plus power board"

 

[ALPA]

Searched it m8 and there is nothing relevant to my problem as I can see.

 

[a911]

Ok
I hopfully Vu plus will find solution to duo v.13 , now most due are v.20!
I think mine is v.1 ,,,,I had it for more than 2 years,,,so dead duo will happen now or later ,, keeping my fingers crossed!
Good Luck friend!

 

[angelofsky1980]

I'm reading links posted.
Remember who all direct links to other board are not allowed.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

I eventually sent mine back to Amazon once they issued the RMA (quite quickly). The problem now is that the box will most likely boot as normal once their technicians receive it as it usually boots after being off for a few days. Hopefully they take notice of the note I left inside. After reading about a rev 2.0 Duo I'm hoping they just send me a new one and not trying to repair the one I sent back

 

[TheDudeAbides]

And I just want to add that Vu+ have THE worst customer support I've ever encountered. In fact it's non-existant. Sent them emails to both of the available addresses and nothing heard back from them. I guess they'd rather let the resellers deal with the hassle of broken boxes rather than going to the trouble of receiving them back directly and spending time caring for customers. Wankers.

 

[smaxy]

I contacted VU+ enquiring about HDD`s when I purchased my Duo shortly after it was released and did get a response, since then the a capacitor on the psu failed and I got no response whatsoever, luckily I had it fixed at work, it`s been reported widely that customer support is now nonexistent , also my VU+Duo is revision 2.3, so what`s v.20 ?

 

[ALPA]

I would not agree that VU support is bad, they replied to me very kindly and said that they look into the problem with the engeneer in order to help me. They are great people.

Just be patient.

On the other side if your box is still under warranty try to contact the distributor where you bought it for, they might be able to help as well.