PVR-9300T was rebooting - now just goes to standby

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PVR-9300T was rebooting - now just goes to standby

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jons1.smith

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Many thanks. I now have a USB serial converter and a null modem cable. With the driver installed, the new serial port is showing as Serial (COM) Port COM3.

When running Flash9200.exe, the program counts down from 29 to 0 and then displays Error location 1. Error waiting for 2.

The PVR has stopped endlessly rebooting (for some reason) and seems to just go to standby again. I decided to try disconnecting the disc via the SATA cable at the motherboard and plugging in the aerial and TV. For a while I could tune TV programs, list the program guide and I even went on to reset the PVR to its default settings which triggered a retune of the channels.

Unfortunately now, after switching off and on - the box no longer wants to view programs and instead just goes into standby. No tv channel is displayed.

This seems to be the same whether the aerial is connected or not, or if the disc is connected or not.

With the disc connected, sometimes I see some coloured boxes on the TV and a 'please wait' message but then the PRV puts itself back into standby and just the clock is showing.

I suspect there may have been something that prevented the upload of the .hdf file.

I ran the cable test with pins 2&3 connected and it said that the serial port and cable seem to be working ok.

| Fri 5 Feb 2021 17:14:38 #11 |
Martin Liddle

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jons1.smith - 38 mins ago »
Many thanks. I now have a USB serial converter and a null modem cable. With the driver installed, the new serial port is showing as Serial (COM) Port COM3.
When running Flash9200.exe, the program counts down from 29 to 0 and then displays Error location 1. Error waiting for 2.

I ran the cable test with pins 2&3 connected and it said that the serial port and cable seem to be working ok.

You have almost certainly got a cable that doesn't provide the required crossover of pins 2 and 3. A null modem cable should do that but countless people have been sold cables that don't. If you have a mutimeter check whether pin 2 at one end is connected to pin 2 at the other end (which is wrong) or pin 3 (which is correct).

| Fri 5 Feb 2021 17:53:52 #12 |
jons1.smith

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I searched for a possible updated driver. The USBDeview utility identified my manufacturer as FTDI. I tried downloading that driver (Windows 7 64bit) and when trying to update the driver I got the message 'Update driver Software - USB Serial Port (COM3) The best driver software for your device is already installed'

| Fri 5 Feb 2021 18:08:28 #13 |
Martin Liddle

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jons1.smith - 6 mins ago »
I searched for a possible updated driver.

There is nothing wrong with the USB to serial converter as it has passed the check when linking pins 2 and 3. The fault must be in the cable.

| Fri 5 Feb 2021 18:16:54 #14 |
jons1.smith

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I have a male to female cable. It could be faulty as some of the pins seem to be wired unusually (not that I know what usual is here!) - please could you let me know exactly which each of the 9 pins on each side should be connected and how? Thank you!

| Fri 5 Feb 2021 18:42:06 #15 |
Martin Liddle

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jons1.smith - 5 hours ago »
I have a male to female cable. It could be faulty as some of the pins seem to be wired unusually (not that I know what usual is here!) - please could you let me know exactly which each of the 9 pins on each side should be connected and how? Thank you!

You want pin 2 at first end connected to pin 3 at the second end; pin 3 at first end to pin 2 at other end and pin 5 at one end connected to pin 5 at the other end. No other pins are required for this specific task.

| Sat 6 Feb 2021 0:40:51 #16 |
jons1.smith

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So starting with the male connectors on my null modem cable, and going to the corresponding connections on the female side - I have the following connections:
1 - not connected
2 - 3
3 - 2
4 - 6
5 - 5
6 - 4
7 - 8
8 - 7
9 - not connected
So I think the cable is ok for what we are tying to do here.
Are there some more things I can try? Is there something more basic I have missed?
Many thanks for the help!

| Sat 6 Feb 2021 10:11:58 #17 |
Martin Liddle

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jons1.smith - 1 hour ago »
So I think the cable is ok for what we are tying to do here.

My original answer to the question appears to have got lost. I agree the cable should be fine although my test cable only has pins 2,3 and 5 connected.

Are there some more things I can try?

I take it that you have flash9200 running and counting down and then you are switching on the mains power to the 9300T? Flash9200 has been very widely used so I am struggling to understand your problem.

Is there something more basic I have missed?

Really hard to say; can you describe in excruciating detail what you are doing please?

| Sat 6 Feb 2021 12:10:31 #18 |
jons1.smith

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Hi Martin,
I have tried a few things, and one of them was to plug my USB to serial converter directly into the PVR - and not using the null modem cable (..maybe when you have a usb to male serial converter the null modem cable isn't necessary?)
On running Flash9200 something happened very quickly and the PVR said 'MENU'. Please see Flash9200debug_log.txt attached.
I guessed that I should try the upgrade again using the 'slow' option and more seems to have happened this time.
Please see attached debug_slow_.txt.
I plugged the PVR into the aerial and TV and powered on. The PVR ended up saying MENU and on the TV it ended up doing an automatic channel search with the progressing bar. SO far so good, however on rebooting the PVR unfortunately now goes into an endless reboot cycle like this:
0 - Power on
1 - Cooling Fan starts
2 - TV shows 'loader version a4.37' and a progress bar, then TV screen blank
3 - PVR-9300T appears on the PVR for a few seconds
4 - BBC One Oxford appears on the PVR for half a second then goes blank
5 - Fan goes off
back to 1 again and endlessly looping.

I am quite encouraged actually and I am wondering if it would be a good idea to try using humaxrw to troubleshoot the endless reboot cycle (I saw somewhere that one of the options to try is 'humaxrw 1: -z'. I am happy to be guided by you as to the next thing to do though!

Many thanks for all your time and support.
Attachments
1. debug_slow_.txt (5.2 KB, 2 downloads) 3 years old
2. Flash9200debug_log.txt (5.2 KB, 0 downloads) 3 years old
| Sat 6 Feb 2021 18:07:08 #19 |
Martin Liddle

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jons1.smith - 4 hours ago »
I have tried a few things, and one of them was to plug my USB to serial converter directly into the PVR - and not using the null modem cable (..maybe when you have a usb to male serial converter the null modem cable isn't necessary?)

Well done; I hadn't realised you had a USB to serial with a male connector. They are quite rare in my experience as most are designed to have the same connector as an IBM PC. I think you have very clearly demonstrated that the cable isn't necessary in this case.

On running Flash9200 something happened very quickly and the PVR said 'MENU'.

It will happen very quickly as the amount of data to be uploaded is tiny.

I guessed that I should try the upgrade again using the 'slow' option and more seems to have happened this time.

No need but no harm done.

I am quite encouraged actually and I am wondering if it would be a good idea to try using humaxrw to troubleshoot the endless reboot cycle (I saw somewhere that one of the options to try is 'humaxrw 1: -z'. I am happy to be guided by you as to the next thing to do though!

With the aerial out, see if you can get to the Menu and do a reset to default settings would be the first thing I would try.
I thought you said earlier you had already tried humaxrw -Z if not then try again? I doubt it will help but you could try reinstalling the firmware now you have a working flash9200. You can download the software from http://beta.humaxonline.co.uk/freeview-sd

It is a long time since I have used one of these boxes; is there anybody else who has suggestions as to what else to try (Luke, xyz321)?

| Sat 6 Feb 2021 22:19:55 #20 |