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NON-UPGRADDED Philips DSR704 won't start up.

4K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  NBAHoopsFan 
#1 ·
First of all, I have a virgin DirecTV Philips DSR704. My DirecTV service was interrupted for non-payment (hey…it happens to the best of us :D ). Anyway, once my service was restored, I noticed I had a new feature when I hit the record button. “Season Pass & other options” is now displayed along with the “Record this showing”, and “Don’t record this showing” options. Obviously, there was some kind of software upgrade. That’s the same time I started having problems with the pay channels like HBO freeze framing as if my dish didn't have a clear view to the sky, or the slow motion was in use via the remote. The regular channels didn't have this problem yet. I un-plugged the unit hoping that a reset would correct this, but no hope. About a week later, almost all the channels now had this problem. I called DirecTV tech support to see if they could resolve this headache, and they told me to do the “guided setup” from the settings menu again. I did that, and it restarted by itself! To my knowledge, it’s not supposed to do that. When it re-booted, it went straight to the "guided setup" again, but this time I had no options to exit that menu. So I had to un-plug it one more time. This time when I plugged it back in, I had no lights on the front panel, no hard drive spin, but the fan worked and the optical port was flashing. I assumed the hard drive went bad. So I swapped the hard drive for a working one. Same problem, no spin. So I tested the original hard drive in my pc and found that it worked fine. I swapped the hard drives again putting the original one back in the TiVo unit. But this time I disconnected motherboard’s power supply, and to my surprise the hard drive fired right up. I tried re-connecting the power supply to the board, and once again, no hard drive spin. Hmm.....

*Does this sound like a hardware, or software issue?
*Could it be that my multi-switch went bad and voltage from my other receiver fried the board?
*Did DirecTV brick my unit with a bad software upgrade?
*Could it be a faulty power supply?

HELP
:confused:
 
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#3 ·
But would a bad power supply cause the freeze frame effect?

Low voltage to the board or hdd sounds plausible for that to happen. I have a voltage/amp tester. By any chance, does anyone know what range the voltage should be in for each component (fan, board, hdd)? That way I can figure out the source of the problem for sure without second guessing myself . I don't want to start buying parts until all bases are covered......feel me?
 
#6 ·
BuCC WeeT said:
But would a bad power supply cause the freeze frame effect?

Low voltage to the board or hdd sounds plausible for that to happen. I have a voltage/amp tester. By any chance, does anyone know what range the voltage should be in for each component (fan, board, hdd)? That way I can figure out the source of the problem for sure without second guessing myself . I don't want to start buying parts until all bases are covered......feel me?
But that's not your symptom anymore, right ....

This time when I plugged it back in, I had no lights on the front panel, no hard drive spin, but the fan worked and the optical port was flashing. I assumed the hard drive went bad. So I swapped the hard drive for a working one. Same problem, no spin. So I tested the original hard drive in my pc and found that it worked fine. I swapped the hard drives again putting the original one back in the TiVo unit. But this time I disconnected motherboard’s power supply, and to my surprise the hard drive fired right up. I tried re-connecting the power supply to the board, and once again, no hard drive spin. Hmm.....

Originally that might have been a dying hard drive, or some signal-related problem. But these new symptoms point to a dead power supply. Or perhaps a motherboard problem. Hard to be sure until you try replacing the power supply.
 
#8 ·
I'm having the same problem.

Maybe I entirely don't "get it" but...

How could it be the power supply if the fan is powering up & optical audio port is lighting up? Both the fan & optical audio are powered from the motherboard which is powered by the <drum roll please>

wait for it....

...power supply.

So clearly the power supply is functioning.
 
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