Fixed my 9200 with this problem again. This is the third time and it took me about 45mins.
First time 04/11/2011
Second time 21/10/2012 = 11 months
Third time 10/08/2013 = 9.5 months
I really should follow Big-les's method to the tee as I am clearly not completely getting all the board cleaned out. I tried harder this time, we will see.
I have had to do this fix again and as before it worked a treat. The last time was on 16/6/2010 and I used the same bottle of spirit
Thanks again Big-les.
A few people are having to repeat the procedure so here's a little extra help. After cleaning the clock end of the board with cotton buds and a small brush it might be advantageous to hold the board clock end down and brush on more cleaning fluid to effectively swill down the cleaned area, shake off the excess and blow dry with a hair dryer. Obviously only lightly warm the board rather than toasting it.
For the cleaning agent I used ethanol but surgical spirit (mainly ethanol according to the bottle I looked at in Boots) has been used successfully by many and is probably the best alternative to pure ethanol. I would expect methanol, isopropanol and methylated spirits (denatured alcohol or household meths) to also work. Household meths is cheap, is mainly ethanol with additives to make it unpleasant to drink and sometimes dyed purple as a warning. I would not expect switch cleaners to be very successful.
I bought a second hand Humax box with the clock problem, and having quickly read the instructions above (borrowing a laptop as mine recently died) I tried the cleaning procedure. No success so I re-read the posts (including the recommendations about repeating the cleaning procedure), tried again, and the clock is working! I've successfully completed a timer recording.
Being a penniless carer I can't afford to buy specialist cleaning fluids, so I used some IA wipes I bought from Boots. (I was trying to fix Dad's Panasonic DMR, but that's a whole other story!) The very helpful staff member at the pharmacy counter suggested - and found - some 'pre-injection wipes' which are 70% Isopropyl Alcohol. (Less than £3 for a pack of 100.) These don't allow the 'washing' with fluid as recommended above, but were effective for me.
Other notes: not sure of the age of my 9200, the white ribbon cable is not in a ZIF socket, it was easier to disconnect the power/data cables from the motherboard than from the HDD. The unit is easy to disassemble so repeating the procedure in future will be simple.
Many thanks for letting me know that it *can* be done, and explaining how and why. Your efforts are much appreciated.
Actually I jumped the gun a bit after a long day getting home and posted with my brain in 'go to bed' mode. My clock is still working, it must have been that the super capacitor had discharged after more than two weeks of the 9200 being disconnected from the mains. I'm still slightly concerned though as my super capacitor usually maintains the clock for two weeks, time will tell. The super capacitor is rapidly recharged when the 9200 is reconnected to the mains so all is well again. :cool:
Just a report ..
Fixed my 9200 with this problem again. This is the Forth time and it took me about 35mins this time. It gets easier each time you do it....
First time 04/11/2011
Second time 21/10/2012 = 11 months
Third time 10/08/2013 = 9.5 months
Forth Time 04/10/2014 = 14 months
I tried harder this time, honest we will see.
Some one asked about smoking, I live in a non smoking household.
The problem returned (but wasn't fixed) during a warm humid spell of weather in August , ideal for dendritic growth.
Yes although that box doesn't get much use these days.
I appreciate you've mentioned the lack of use before. I have no idea whether the amount of use has any effect on the mechanism that causes the clock to fail, my 9200 has been in daily use for years and my clock has only just failed in the last few months. If my suspicion is correct that the problem is caused by a chemical reaction then my guess is that the amount of use has very little effect.
If my suspicion is correct that the problem is caused by a chemical reaction then my guess is that the amount of use has very little effect.
I would suspect that a chemical reaction would be influenced by temperature and a box in heavy use would be hotter than one not used (but maybe not by enough to make much difference). The 9200 that the board came from used to live in a glass fronted cabinet and definitely ran on the hot side. the HDR-FOX T2 that replaced it uses the Fan package from the custom software to run the fan continuously at 50% of full speed to keep the temperature down.
A very old bottle of Surgical Spirit it use by date is 1103.
I think that's Nov 2003 and not Nov 1903 LOL
The bottle is almost empty.... so a new one is required.
Not the best stuff, but it works for around a year in my case. It's almost time to upgrade to a HD version so this may be the last fix. :cool:
A very old bottle of Surgical Spirit it use by date is 1103.
I think that's Nov 2003 and not Nov 1903 LOL
The bottle is almost empty.... so a new one is required.
Not the best stuff, but it works for around a year in my case. It's almost time to upgrade to a HD version so this may be the last fix. :cool:
Try ordinary household methylated spirits. Methylated spirits is basically (about 95%) ethanol with a few nasty bits added to stop people drinking it so it should do the cleaning job as well as the neat ethanol that I used. Having been given some information via Martin from a forum member (retired pharmacist) I think that some surgical spirit might not be the best cleaning solvent to use. Might see you in another year then, meanwhile when I can get my bench cleared I'll fix my own clock board.
Try ordinary household methylated spirits. Methylated spirits is basically (about 95%) ethanol with a few nasty bits added to stop people drinking it so it should do the cleaning job as well as the neat ethanol that I used. Having been given some information via Martin from a forum member (retired pharmacist) I think that some surgical spirit might not be the best cleaning solvent to use. Might see you in another year then, meanwhile when I can get my bench cleared I'll fix my own clock board.
Thanks Les
I've added Methylated spirits to the Mrs shopping list whilst she was watching TV, I'll see what response I get from that. Then I'll tell here I may need it in 12 months for her Humax box. :-)
May be more than 12 months as I repeated the cleaning more times, this time, if that makes sense. Also had a good look under high magnification eyeglass which caused me to repeat the clean. Did the hair dryer bit making sure it didn't get too hot. Took me back to my fault finding days at work in the Lab...
i just used surgical spirit (£1.79 from super drug) - i literally painted it on with a normal paintbrush as my early 2006 humax was baked in dust - (amazed it worked at all!!)
I followed Big-Les's instructions several years ago on my Humax. It is still working!
Lately , I've had trouble with a Universal Controller, on-off switch not working, so I opened it and applied the same treatment. RESULT - .
Wonder how many devices have been scrapped that could have been restored.
Thanks Big-Les
I followed Big-Les's instructions several years ago on my Humax. It is still working!
Lately , I've had trouble with a Universal Controller, on-off switch not working, so I opened it and applied the same treatment. RESULT - .
Wonder how many devices have been scrapped that could have been restored.
Thanks Big-Les
Thanks for the update. I cleaned mine a few weeks ago using IPA because that's what I had to hand but ordinary household meths will do the job perfectly.
About 3 years ago I acquired a second 9200 which was being disposed by the owner because of the clock. issue. I checked it and confirmed the issue was present. However, as my original unit was still working not having had the issue at all during its lifetime I put the new one in the loft.
About 3 months later my original unit developed the issue. I tried the new one again and was surprised the issue had gone. So I used the new one and put the original in the loft. The new one worked OK for another 6 months before I had to repeat the swapping procedure. I have now completed the cycle 3 times and at the moment I'm using the original unit which has lasted about 8 months so far.
Generally both units have not been particularly reliable in recent years. A significant number of recordings fail and both suffer from the Guide population issue unless I limit the number of Muxs' used. However the 9200 is the only PVR I have which my wife can use. so it is still used for most of our viewing but is backed up by two other PVRs.
Back again ! reporting in ..
Fixed my 9200 with this problem again. This it took me about 30mins this time. It gets easier each time you do it.... I got the instructions out but didn't need them. Used the Methylated spirits, I know it's not the best but was at hand.
First time 04/11/2011
Second time 21/10/2012 = 11 months
Third time 10/08/2013 = 9.5 months
Forth Time 04/10/2014 = 14 months
Fifth Time 10/08/2017 = 2 years 10 months
Also returned during a warm humid spell of weather in August , ideal for dendritic growth. I couldn't see any under a magnifying glass.
Also had another problem with the PVR-9200 after a TV channel update it became very unresponsive to the remote and froze. Tried lots of stuff like the initial install method, but I think deleting most of the unused channels, especially the HD ones which it can't handle and the text ones, now it's much more responsive. Now working again, the box lives on !
I replaced the super capacitor in August 13 with an electrolytic, never got around to fitting the correct replacement (see posts #341 onwards). As a professional broadcasting engineer I recognised the symptoms and passed them on complete with the part number required and where to buy it. Big-les, who I doubt has much if any maintenance experience, pooh-poohed my posts. 4 years later its's still going strong. Cleaning is just a quick fix bodge. By the way to bring a bit of life back into the old girl give it a manual tune on only the multiplexes you are actually using. Mine is used these days mainly for radio, but after tuning it in to only BBCA and D3&4 it is now surprisingly reliable and responsive. It was struggling before as Manchester has 10 multiplexes, 7 in SD and frequently crashed as a result needing a power off for a minute to bring it back to the land of the living.
Comments
First time 04/11/2011
Second time 21/10/2012 = 11 months
Third time 10/08/2013 = 9.5 months
I really should follow Big-les's method to the tee as I am clearly not completely getting all the board cleaned out. I tried harder this time, we will see.
Back up and working again cheers.:)
Thanks again to Big-les for his great method.:)
Thanks again Big-les.
A few people are having to repeat the procedure so here's a little extra help. After cleaning the clock end of the board with cotton buds and a small brush it might be advantageous to hold the board clock end down and brush on more cleaning fluid to effectively swill down the cleaned area, shake off the excess and blow dry with a hair dryer. Obviously only lightly warm the board rather than toasting it.
For the cleaning agent I used ethanol but surgical spirit (mainly ethanol according to the bottle I looked at in Boots) has been used successfully by many and is probably the best alternative to pure ethanol. I would expect methanol, isopropanol and methylated spirits (denatured alcohol or household meths) to also work. Household meths is cheap, is mainly ethanol with additives to make it unpleasant to drink and sometimes dyed purple as a warning. I would not expect switch cleaners to be very successful.
I bought a second hand Humax box with the clock problem, and having quickly read the instructions above (borrowing a laptop as mine recently died) I tried the cleaning procedure. No success so I re-read the posts (including the recommendations about repeating the cleaning procedure), tried again, and the clock is working! I've successfully completed a timer recording.
Being a penniless carer I can't afford to buy specialist cleaning fluids, so I used some IA wipes I bought from Boots. (I was trying to fix Dad's Panasonic DMR, but that's a whole other story!) The very helpful staff member at the pharmacy counter suggested - and found - some 'pre-injection wipes' which are 70% Isopropyl Alcohol. (Less than £3 for a pack of 100.) These don't allow the 'washing' with fluid as recommended above, but were effective for me.
Other notes: not sure of the age of my 9200, the white ribbon cable is not in a ZIF socket, it was easier to disconnect the power/data cables from the motherboard than from the HDD. The unit is easy to disassemble so repeating the procedure in future will be simple.
Many thanks for letting me know that it *can* be done, and explaining how and why. Your efforts are much appreciated.
Sorry to hear that. :(Please check your PMs:)
Actually I jumped the gun a bit after a long day getting home and posted with my brain in 'go to bed' mode.
No PM I'm afraid.
Found it and replied on this forum.
Fixed my 9200 with this problem again. This is the Forth time and it took me about 35mins this time. It gets easier each time you do it....
First time 04/11/2011
Second time 21/10/2012 = 11 months
Third time 10/08/2013 = 9.5 months
Forth Time 04/10/2014 = 14 months
I tried harder this time, honest
Some one asked about smoking, I live in a non smoking household.
The problem returned (but wasn't fixed) during a warm humid spell of weather in August , ideal for dendritic growth.
Back up and working again cheers.
Thanks again to Big-les for his great method.
I appreciate you've mentioned the lack of use before. I have no idea whether the amount of use has any effect on the mechanism that causes the clock to fail, my 9200 has been in daily use for years and my clock has only just failed in the last few months. If my suspicion is correct that the problem is caused by a chemical reaction then my guess is that the amount of use has very little effect.
I think that's Nov 2003 and not Nov 1903
The bottle is almost empty.... so a new one is required.
Not the best stuff, but it works for around a year in my case. It's almost time to upgrade to a HD version so this may be the last fix. :cool:
Try ordinary household methylated spirits. Methylated spirits is basically (about 95%) ethanol with a few nasty bits added to stop people drinking it so it should do the cleaning job as well as the neat ethanol that I used. Having been given some information via Martin from a forum member (retired pharmacist) I think that some surgical spirit might not be the best cleaning solvent to use. Might see you in another year then, meanwhile when I can get my bench cleared I'll fix my own clock board.
Thanks Les
I've added Methylated spirits to the Mrs shopping list whilst she was watching TV, I'll see what response I get from that. Then I'll tell here I may need it in 12 months for her Humax box. :-)
May be more than 12 months as I repeated the cleaning more times, this time, if that makes sense. Also had a good look under high magnification eyeglass which caused me to repeat the clean. Did the hair dryer bit making sure it didn't get too hot. Took me back to my fault finding days at work in the Lab...
See you in 12 months ish... thanks again. Dave
now works a beaut
Lately , I've had trouble with a Universal Controller, on-off switch not working, so I opened it and applied the same treatment. RESULT - .
Wonder how many devices have been scrapped that could have been restored.
Thanks Big-Les
Thanks for the update. I cleaned mine a few weeks ago using IPA because that's what I had to hand but ordinary household meths will do the job perfectly.
About 3 months later my original unit developed the issue. I tried the new one again and was surprised the issue had gone. So I used the new one and put the original in the loft. The new one worked OK for another 6 months before I had to repeat the swapping procedure. I have now completed the cycle 3 times and at the moment I'm using the original unit which has lasted about 8 months so far.
Generally both units have not been particularly reliable in recent years. A significant number of recordings fail and both suffer from the Guide population issue unless I limit the number of Muxs' used. However the 9200 is the only PVR I have which my wife can use. so it is still used for most of our viewing but is backed up by two other PVRs.
Colin
Fixed my 9200 with this problem again. This it took me about 30mins this time. It gets easier each time you do it.... I got the instructions out but didn't need them. Used the Methylated spirits, I know it's not the best but was at hand.
First time 04/11/2011
Second time 21/10/2012 = 11 months
Third time 10/08/2013 = 9.5 months
Forth Time 04/10/2014 = 14 months
Fifth Time 10/08/2017 = 2 years 10 months
Also returned during a warm humid spell of weather in August , ideal for dendritic growth. I couldn't see any under a magnifying glass.
Also had another problem with the PVR-9200 after a TV channel update it became very unresponsive to the remote and froze. Tried lots of stuff like the initial install method, but I think deleting most of the unused channels, especially the HD ones which it can't handle and the text ones, now it's much more responsive. Now working again, the box lives on !
Thanks again to Big-les for his great method.