Solo no signal

Discussion in 'VuPlus Solo Hardware troubles and Repair support.' started by Jules, Sep 26, 2020.

  1. Jules

    Jules Active Member

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    Hi JB and all,
    Hope you are all keeping well!
    I have a Solo 1 which is years old now.
    It has been working fine. I replaced PSU caps a couple of years ago.
    Today, all of a sudden I have no signal. LNB fine, tried another box.
    I opened it up and found swolen caps on PSU again, so replaced them again.
    Still no signal. I see some posts about this on the forum, just wondered if anyone
    else found anything else that causes no signal.
    Thanks.
    Regards,
    Jules.
     
  2. Johnny B.

    Johnny B. Technical Support Staff Member Moderator

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    Hmm, I would first check/see if a terminal program as putty says something about it.
    Maybe it's caused due an update, and if it's a clone, it may related to the security chip.
     
  3. Jules

    Jules Active Member

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    Thanks JB,
    It's not a clone, (At least I am assured that)
    Do you think just reinstalling firmware could work?
     
  4. Johnny B.

    Johnny B. Technical Support Staff Member Moderator

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    Maybe, when it's a clone and it has get some updates, then the tuner part could fail due the security (decoding) chip.
    But if it's a original board, then it's more likely a hardware failure.
     
  5. Jules

    Jules Active Member

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    Thanks again JB,
    I will have a look around the tuner and
    check voltages inc to LNB chip.
    Will let you know.
    Regards,
    Jules.
     
  6. Jules

    Jules Active Member

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    Hi JB,
    I opened my Solo again to try and fix.
    I notice there is, what looks like a diode fallen out near the LNB socket (D107)
    Pick attached.
    Thanks.
     

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  7. Johnny B.

    Johnny B. Technical Support Staff Member Moderator

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    No, that's normal.
    Although the motherboard has been designed to have there the diode, it was never mounted/used.
     
  8. Jules

    Jules Active Member

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  9. Johnny B.

    Johnny B. Technical Support Staff Member Moderator

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    A little low seems to me not a issue if we talking about a 1v range.
    Also, I assume that the box just starts, but that only the tune fails.
    I think, see with the rs232 serial port and a rs232 terminal tool if that will show something about it.
     
  10. Jules

    Jules Active Member

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    Thanks again JB.
    After all, I have put that Solo to one side.
    I was getting some signal while probing the LNB chip area.
    Guess what, I managed to blow the LNB chip.
    I do have another Duo to replace it with, but cannot get the USB to power up.
    I have all the corrrect voltages coming from the PSU.
    Could the problem be a cap or caps on the main board?
    Thanks.
    Sorry about the messing about!
     
  11. Johnny B.

    Johnny B. Technical Support Staff Member Moderator

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    When you have issues with the Usb, and it's related to the voltage regulation, then you need to check the U415, which is a AP1212H dual usb high side power switch.
    See the datasheet for more info about it, and or see the voltage motherboard info from my measurements.

    However, this is only related to the usb voltages, the Vbus and ground, as for the controls to this chip, and the two data pins, D+/D- these are (to my knowledge) controlled due the cpu.

    If it's related to a cap, I have my doubts, but maybe it can.
    In that case you need to check the caps near the U415.
     
  12. Jules

    Jules Active Member

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    Thank again JB.
    There may more of an issue with it now.
    It's doing the famous "starting" loop now.
    Pretty sure PSU is OK though and have changed the caps on it.
    Regards,
    Jules.
     
  13. Jules

    Jules Active Member

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    Hi JB.
    Got it working now.
    Not sure but think it was dry joints on one of the 8 pins regs.
    No network adapter working though, no lights on ethernet socket either.
    Any ideas where to test for voltage around there please?
    Thanks you.
     
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  14. Jules

    Jules Active Member

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    Hi again JB,
    Yes I've been a fool again. Lol.
    Problem was the ethernet lead I was using, must be broken somewhere.
    Working now.
    Thanks again.
     
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  15. Johnny B.

    Johnny B. Technical Support Staff Member Moderator

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    Nice to hear that the problem has been solved, and thanks for mentioning your solutions, always nice to read.
     
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  16. Jules

    Jules Active Member

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    Cheers