My Zgemma H7S might be broken?

[FlexMcMurphy]

Hello,

I got my Zgemma H7S from WoS in April. Yesterday and today it has started giving some trouble that might be a hardware problem.

Yesterday afternoon I did a reboot and walked away from the box. When I came back to it a few hours later it was still off. I had to try a few times to make it turn on again. Eventually I plugged it out from the wall for a few mins then tried again and it came on.... but about half an hour later the picture got snowy and it shut off by itself. I gave it a while then tried it turn it on again and it did.

It was working ok then for a few hours but last night I put it into standby using the red power button on the remote and now today I got back from work to see it won't respond to me pressing the red power button again to turn it on... there is just 0033 on the display... which was about the time I put it into standby last night. I checked with fresh batteries in the remote so I don't think it's that. I also tried the power button at the front of the box.. tried pressing it, then pressing and holding it in but it doesn't do anything.

At the back of the box there is an orange light flashing where the network cable goes in. I check my router and the Zgemma isn't recognized on the network and I can't ssh into it.

I have had a few situations where it gets stuck on boot and I have to flash a rescue recovery image and then it seems to be fine again but now I'm thinking there might be a hardware fault.

I can try some more things like turning it off and plugging it out for a while or maybe flashing a recovery image again but I don't think I should have to do that?

Recently I installed the Kodi plugin from the repository and yesterday... ffmpeg/exteplayer3 and serviceapp and I had been rebooting the box a few times after making changes to Kodi config files and testing adding my Tv recordings to Kodi. I don't think I was doing anything excessively stressful to the box.

Is there anything else I can try to troubleshoot?

Cheers,

Flex

[FlexMcMurphy]

OK I plugged it out from the wall and waited a bit. When I plugged it in again it has booted up fine and everything is working. But based on recent happenings I'm not confident it won't give me more trouble.

Cheers,

Flex

[ccs]

Take an image and settings backup, and then flash the latest image (don't restore settings), see how it goes and add extras one at a time only when you're confident it's running ok.

[BrianTheTechieSnail]

On the face of it it does sound like a hardware problem.
Go to https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/support/ and ask for help.
I don't think the H7S is that well designed.
On my first H7S tuner A died after a week or two.
The replacement one completely died after a few weeks too. It made a little phut noise and was no more.
The second replacement is okay so far, but it hasn't been many weeks.
I suspect hot weather doesn't help, it was a very hot day when the second one expired.
I had to return the faulty ones before WoS would sent the replacements.

[Sicilian]

Anything could have been stopping your receiver from booting, software, HDD, USB sticks, Network...... not necessarily a hardware fault.

[BrianTheTechieSnail]

Could kodi be causing the problems?
Try without it again for a while?

[FlexMcMurphy]

Thanks guys.

@Sicilian
What got me most concerned was when I was watching a TV program and suddenly the screen went all snowy, like bad reception on TVs from the analog days, and then the box just shut down. Actually it was the right hand side of the TV screen mostly. It that wasn't hardware then the OpenVix image then? I was just watching a broadcast satellite channel. No plugins running.

@BrianTheTechHead
Aside from a few stuck on boot situations. These newer problems started happening after I installed and started setting up the Kodi plugin but they never happened when the Kodi plugin was running only when it was not running.

The box has been stable for the past day now. I'll report back if there are more problems.

Cheers,

Flex

[ronand]

Check the cpu temperature - it will be in the system info. Boxes without fans are particularly vulnerable to heat from adjacent devices and the weather being quite warm at the moment might have pushed it too far.

[FlexMcMurphy]

You can't read the CPU temp from OpenVix (https://github.com/zgemma-star/meta-zgemma/issues/40) anymore and I don't think it's possible to read it from an ssh prompt...

E.g:

# cat /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp
Gives:"cat: read error: Invalid argument"

I have a temp sensor in the same room as the ZGemma although it is a bit removed from the box and these days it's readingaround 19C.. not exactly that hot ?
But I take your point, I had a switch sitting directly on top of the box which I have now moved.

Flex

[twol]

You can't read the CPU temp from OpenVix (https://github.com/zgemma-star/meta-zgemma/issues/40) anymore and I don't think it's possible to read it from an ssh prompt...

E.g:

# cat /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp
Gives:"cat: read error: Invalid argument"

I have a temp sensor in the same room as the ZGemma although it is a bit removed from the box and these days it's readingaround 19C.. not exactly that hot ?
But I take your point, I had a switch sitting directly on top of the box which I have now moved.

Flex

Depending on the box there are about 7 different ways of finding the temperature, which is why you should look in About Information - and not use a cat command unless you know it works on that box

[ronand]

I had a switch sitting directly on top of the box which I have now moved.

Most likely the cause of your problem.

[BrianTheTechieSnail]

Depending on the box there are about 7 different ways of finding the temperature, which is why you should look in About Information - and not use a cat command unless you know it works on that box
There is no temperature info in About Information in OpenVIX on the H7S so he did the reasonable thing and tried to find another way to check the CPU temperature.

[FlexMcMurphy]

I wish I knew what the problem is. I wonder if it's a loose connection maybe in the box?

It's been flaky in the last day. Last night I flashed the latest OpenATV recovery image and then simply restored my channel lists and picons. There is nothing else installed now and all that is plugged in to the Zgemma is an hdmi, network and power cable and it is currently working fine.

I think there might be a loose connection in the box. It's like I dare not even touch the box or the picture will break up and it will freeze up or shutdown. Last night after getting the OpenATV recovery image going I umounted a usb pen drive I used to flash it that was plugged in the back. When I went to unplug it from the box that was enough to make the picture freeze and the box to become unresponsive.

Today I pressed down just a little bit, gently on the top of the Zgemma and the picture started breaking up, went all snowy and then the Zgemma shut down. This behaviour is why I think there is a loose connection inside the box and it's not excessive heat or plugins or too many devices connected. It's about 20C in this room today... surely not baking hot? It's maybe just the Zgemma has a fragile construction electronics-wise. It's like something has come loose or is shorting.

I don't like the idea of not being able to touch or move the box around from time to time without risking it shutting off or becoming unresponsive. I could man handle my Alien2 no problem and it was sturdy.

Frustrating,

Flex

[BrianTheTechieSnail]

Just check that when it's in it's ultra sensitive state it does seem to be the box itself that's sensitive and not any of the leads connected at the back.
Touch the leads and compare with touching the box itself.
Then as I suggested before go to https://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/support/ and ask for help.
Perhaps mention this thread in the forum.
They may ask lots of questions first but I expect it won't take long to convince them that it's faulty.
I found that they really didn't want to risk asking me to return the unit if it wasn't faulty and I just didn't understand how to work it but once it was clear it was faulty they did seem determined to make sure I ended up with a working unit.

Later: You could take the top off and have a look inside yourself if you want to. I did, but there really is hardly anything in there that's repairable or could be re-seated as a possible fix, just the leads from the main board to the hard drive.

[FlexMcMurphy]

The sensitivity of the box vs the leads.. what are you trying to rule out there?

I installed a hard drive internally. It's been working fine but I saw a YouTube video where the guy was concerned there is no insulation around where the drive sits.

I contacted support who suggested plugging out my external self powered USB drive. I think the Zgemma should be able to power that drive and it was for the last two months. But I don't know yet if that was a cause, ?excessive power drain, but there are three USB ports on the Zgemma, surely it can power a small USB drive..

Cheers,

Flex

[ccs]

Powered usb drives have always been the preferred option, relying on usb power is always a risk and has caused problems in the past.

[bmitie]

Check the power connection ie take out and clean ie dust and plug may be running hot. Has box got plenty of ventilation?

[BrianTheTechieSnail]

The sensitivity of the box vs the leads.. what are you trying to rule out there?
Yes sorry, made a bit of a mess of that response.
Just intending to rule out a loose connector or intermittent break in a cable.



I installed a hard drive internally. It's been working fine but I saw a YouTube video where the guy was concerned there is no insulation around where the drive sits.
I think that probably refers to the lack of cushioning to protect the drive from vibration.



I contacted support who suggested plugging out my external self powered USB drive. I think the Zgemma should be able to power that drive and it was for the last two months. But I don't know yet if that was a cause, ?excessive power drain, but there are three USB ports on the Zgemma, surely it can power a small USB drive..
One would certainly hope that would be okay but like I said I do suspect that heat played a part in the complete failure of my first replacement.
However if your unit is now movement/vibration sensitive reducing power use is unlikely to completely fix it.