Loss of control on a Fortec Star Innovation

[jed]

Faults on the Fortec Star Innovation HD Digital Satellite System.

The order in which the faults appeared before total loss of control occurred.

1. The receiver stopped accepting inputs from the remote control.
2. The receiver manual front keys became inoperative. (Except for the power switch)
3. From the left end of the front panel display, the first 8 display indicators became
inoperative.

Summarising current operations.
On switching on the receiver, the power light is illuminated together with the 3 right hand indicator of the display; the receiver showed the initial Fortec menu page on the monitor and then displayed the last program that was selected before the unit was powered down before the series of faults started to occur.

 

[Llew]

Quite possibly a power supply fault. One or more of the voltage lines could be down due to a dead electrolytic capacitor(s).

A check of the mainboard supply voltages from the power supply might yield a result.

 

[jed]

Dear Llew
Thank you for your input, I have followed your suggestions on checking the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply and the input voltages to the main board and all appear fine.
Whilst I was checking the power supply electrolytic capacitors with an ESR meter, I also checked the electrolytic capacitors on the main board. If there is a power supply problem somewhere on the main board it will be very difficult to locate with out some form of service manual.
Providing that the hardware is OK then my feeling is that it that it might be some form of software problem, but without details of the working of the software it is going to be difficult to resolve this problem.
Thank you again for your suggestion, but it does appears that I have a satellite receiver dedicated to Channel 5, as I was watching ‘Flashforward’ before the faults started to occur.
Regards Jed.

 

[Llew]

If it's a problem with the firmware, and assuming reloading firmware is similar to my Passion HD box, does it recognise a USB stick with a .dnl loader file on it when you switch the box on?
Should say 'File 1' or similar on the display.

 

[jed]

Dear Llew

I loaded file In_av126fs_20091203.dnl onto a blank SD card. I then inserted the SD card into a SD USB adaptor.
I next inserted the USB adaptor into the front USB port of the Fortec Star ‘Innovation’ receiver. I then powered up the receiver. The light lit on the USB adaptor and the initial Fortec Star display appeared and froze, and this state remained even after I had removed the USB adaptor.
I repeated the operation with the receiver already power up. This time even the indicator light on the USB adaptor did not illuminate.
Next I repeated the whole operation on the rear USB port on the receiver. The indicator light lit on the USB adaptor and the receiver proceeded into it single channel mode. At no time was there any indication on the screen of the USB port being used. The USB indicator on the front panel of the receiver is one of the indicators that isn’t
working.
Many thanks for your suggestions, but alas the machine remains dedicated to Channel 5.

Regards Jed