box locking up

alanred

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
57
My Satellite Setup
panasonic TU-DSB30
Hello,
I'm currently using a Panasonic TU-DSB30, i'm having a problem at the moment with the box locking up, not on any particular channels.
I've done a search of this forum before i posted and it seems to me i could be having a problem with heat.
At the moment it's in a cabinet under the tv, it is not a cabinet with doors, the air can flow freely in and out, although it is quite close to a radiator.
Sky keep ringing me up offering to cover the box against repairs, they want £59 a year, the box is just over 3 years old.
What i need to know is...
1. Is the box showing signs of failure.
2. would it be a smart move to arrange the cover.
3. How dependable is this model.

Thank you
 

PoloMint

Super Minty Mod
Joined
Dec 31, 1999
Messages
1,588
Reaction score
1
Points
0
My Satellite Setup
1200cc with 100,000,000,000 neurons and 100,000,000,000,000 connections
My Location
Fife, Scotland
Does it only lock up when you change channel?

If so it’s a problem with the current software on the Panasonic 30 and there is nothing you can do about it (except get another box).

If it does it while you are just watching a channel it could be heat, or a number of other things. If you can try running the box completely out of the cabinet and see if you still get crashes.

£59 a year is not, in my opinion, a good deal for cover. You could buy a second hand box for that.

If you call sky and say that you are going to cancel because your box keeps freezing and you don’t want to/can’t afford to pay the £60 to get them to fix it they often offer a reduced or free call out.

The box was very dependable, but with the current software version causing so many problems and the general age of them they don’t have the reputation they used to.
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
Locking up is a common symptom from an overheating digibox. Take the top off, and direct a stream off cool air onto it - a fan heater running without the heaters on will do. If it improves, fit an internal fan to it.
 

alanred

Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2005
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
57
My Satellite Setup
panasonic TU-DSB30
Thank you for the replies.
Well, hopefully it might be a heat problem.
Where and how would i fit a fan ?
Could i use a p.c. fan ? like a case fan, or a cpu fan ?
Failing that how reliable are the TU-DSB50 ?
Or what other box could i consider?
It's a shame there is no cable tv supplied to my area, otherwise i would have a Nokia Dbox2......ah well nevermind.

Thanks again, very much appreciated.
 

Analoguesat

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Messages
50,739
Reaction score
11,221
Points
113
Location
Scottish Borders
My Satellite Setup
TM 5402HD
Sky+ UK.
My Location
Scottish Borders
All you need is a fan big enough to keep moving the air away from hotspots. Satcure have some more info about it:

h**p://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/fan.htm
 

PoloMint

Super Minty Mod
Joined
Dec 31, 1999
Messages
1,588
Reaction score
1
Points
0
My Satellite Setup
1200cc with 100,000,000,000 neurons and 100,000,000,000,000 connections
My Location
Fife, Scotland
You can either put a small fan in the back of the box (where the cam slot cover is) or mount a heatsink/fan combination on the main processor.

Heatsink and fan combinations specifically put together can be bought online for the Panasonic 30, but if you have a 486 or Pentium 1 heatsink and fan lying around you can just use that, alternatively (and if you want something new and clean) a chipset or graphics card heatsink and fan would also work.

A fan on its own is not as effective as a heatsink and fan on the processor. Use some sticky thermal compound to attach it (can be bought from PC suppliers) as long as you don’t shake the box around it should be OK. Alternatively use some normal thermal compound (Artic sliver type stuff, or cheaper generic ones) and hold the heatsink down with a tiny blob of superglue in diagonal corners – that method is much more permanent.
 

iceman

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2003
Messages
744
Reaction score
3
Points
18
Age
63
My Satellite Setup
3.0m Motorised Channel Master + 4 fixed dish Amstrad_DRX890C
DM7020s,DM800se
UNOHM EP314 PROMAX TV Explorer
My Location
Kyrenia - NORTH CYPRUS

supapete

Regular Member
Joined
May 20, 2005
Messages
67
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
78
My Satellite Setup
PC running ME XP SUSE.Mac G4 running OS X. Multi media studio. 80cmdish. Standard sky dish with quad lnb. 2xgrundig, panasonic dsb 31&50 televes 7245 dragon cam. card loader & card.Moteck 2100A motor
My Location
anglesey
This sequence would've appeared to answer my questions. I have a quad lnb with a dsb31 and a grundig on output 1 &2. I've had a dsb 20 on output 3 which went as described previously. I tried everything and ditched it. I now have dsb 30 which was also fine for a while and then locked up and then totally dived. I returned to it a week or so later and downloaded the op sys and it worked fine for 10 minutes then dived. The grundig and dsb31 have never blinked and the signal quality on all three has always been 60%-90% plus. I've double checked connectors and switched to output 4 on the lnb all without a glimmer. Your advice to junk it sounds good to me in retrospect. Could you say there was anything wrong basically in what I was trying to do? And, what receivers are bomb proof by reputation ? I'm only seeking free to air from sky on all three receivers. Could a fourth be added without problems, would you say ? regs. P.S
 

dxsat

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2005
Messages
745
Reaction score
70
Points
28
Age
69
Website
skyinmadrid.com
My Satellite Setup
Snap's setup: (In Spain) Humax HDR, Prodelin 1.8m dish + Invacom QDF-031 + CM feed, (In UK) CallFlow VDSL + EE 4G, Sky Q, YouView HD, Mac OSX, iOS
My Location
UK: Tonbridge, Kent. Spain: Madrid.
alanred said:
Hello,
I'm currently using a Panasonic TU-DSB30...
... How dependable is this model.
The answer is: not dependable at all. As soon as I can afford it, mine will be put out to grass or tuned permanently to Radio 4.
At the first sight of a weak signal, for whatever reason, it crashes when changing channel.
Get the current Pace (around £100 new on e-bay)
 
Top