Advice Needed Longshot technical question re DVB USB receiver problem

[Nagusia]

I have a Tevii S660 DVB-S2USB receiver. It works pretty well except that occasionally I have a problem where although recognised by a PC (W7 64 Bit) I get an 'device cannot start' error. I've done every possible combination of uninstalling/re-installing/updating/spoofing driver to get it to work but the only way to fix this seems to be installing it in another computer with a different OS like Windows XP 34 bit to sort of 'reset' the device. Sometimes just disconnecting the device and waiting a day and then re-connecting seems to make a difference. I think I am pretty good a tracking down these problems and have googled the issue to death in order to get a lead but this one has me stumped. Intuitively it seems to be a hardware problem. Could it be that a DVB device has some kind of eeprom element that gets corrupted and needs to be reset? It seems to happen when there has been some crash or problem with a program accessing the device - rebooting doesn't fix it. Any help and suggestions gratefully received but as I say, I have honestly explored all possible routes to do with drivers.

 

[hairybadger]

I have a Tevii S660 DVB-S2USB receiver. It works pretty well except that occasionally I have a problem where although recognised by a PC (W7 64 Bit) I get an 'device cannot start' error. I've done every possible combination of uninstalling/re-installing/updating/spoofing driver to get it to work but the only way to fix this seems to be installing it in another computer with a different OS like Windows XP 34 bit to sort of 'reset' the device. Sometimes just disconnecting the device and waiting a day and then re-connecting seems to make a difference. I think I am pretty good a tracking down these problems and have googled the issue to death in order to get a lead but this one has me stumped. Intuitively it seems to be a hardware problem. Could it be that a DVB device has some kind of eeprom element that gets corrupted and needs to be reset? It seems to happen when there has been some crash or problem with a program accessing the device - rebooting doesn't fix it. Any help and suggestions gratefully received but as I say, I have honestly explored all possible routes to do with drivers.

It doesn't overheat, does it?

 

[Nagusia]

That occured to me too but I'm pretty sure it isn't that. It doesn't get noticeably hot and allowing it to cool down doesn't make any difference when it's decided not to start.

 

[hairybadger]

That occured to me too but I'm pretty sure it isn't that. It doesn't get noticeably hot and allowing it to cool down doesn't make any difference when it's decided not to start.

Is there a background service in Windows that stops itself after a while if there is no device present or something like that? It's also possible that the 64 bit drivers aren't very well tested...

 

[Nagusia]

Is there a background service in Windows that stops itself after a while if there is no device present or something like that?

No, it's not that. It can work for months with no problems. I did something with crazyscan the other day which provoked the problem, and until I'd done the business with another PC with Windows XP it wouldn't start properly.

 

[hairybadger]

No, it's not that. It can work for months with no problems. I did something with crazyscan the other day which provoked the problem, and until I'd done the business with another PC with Windows XP it wouldn't start properly.

OK, I'll bow out then. I've never clapped eyes on the device in question and am unlikely to think of anything you haven't already tried

 

[Nagusia]

Thanks anyway HB. Although a USB device it does have an external power source. I wonder if that could be the source of the problem - I need to check the voltage output. Anyway, perhaps this is one mystery I am never going to solve.

 

[hairybadger]

Thanks anyway HB. Although a USB device it does have an external power source. I wonder if that could be the source of the problem - I need to check the voltage output. Anyway, perhaps this is one mystery I am never going to solve.

Maybe the transformer is over-sensitive to a dirty mains supply? Failing everything else, there is always the diagnostic hammer....

 

[Nagusia]

I don't know about a hammer but I might take a soldering iron to the problem. The box stopped working again and I don't know why but I thought 'let's see what happens if I put the thing in the freezer for a while'. Who would have guessed but it does the trick! I've done it twice now. So the mystery is partly solved - it must be a dodgy contact somewhere on the board which is sensitive to temperature. It's probably not fixable but I might try re-soldering any visable contacts or maybe give it a good cooking with a hair drier. Any electronics experts out there?

 

[Lazarus]

Ah, a dry joint.

You might be able to identify it by careful visual inspection, especially if you gently flex the PCB a little - often you can tell a poor joint by lack of lustre and flexing can reveal a crack.

A few judicious dabs with a soldering iron should sort it.

 

[Nagusia]

SOLVED. I just bought a TBS 5299 USB box. I read on the TBS forum there that someone solved a problem with the thing stopping by putting a bit of insulating tape over the IR sensor (for the remote control). Aparently problems with the IR sensor (set off by other sources of IR light?) are common with USB receivers. Anyway, having got the same driver error as before with the Tevii, I taped over the front of the box and that fixed it. Blessed be the forums.

 

[Lazarus]

Well I didn't expect that to be the answer!

Glad you got to the bottom of it.