I've got a "FAIL" message appearing on the front display on my Wharfedale 250GB TUTV+ box after 12 months of near fault-free use.

Is this a terminal problem or can I fix this problem myself?

Unfortunately for me, it has just gone out of warranty (by about 2 weeks). Have contacted Argos and they don't want to know.

The problem occurred suddenly - it was working okay last night then this morning "FAIL". "PLEASE WAIT" only appears for half a second before the "FAIL" message appears.

Have tried the recovery procedures in the manual - both useless with no mention of what the "FAIL" message means. Have tried the software revert and format option from the front panel power-on button but to no avail.

Please advise on what I should do here. I realise that my recordings are probably not recoverable now but I just want to get the damn thing working again as I use it as my main box for watching freeview.

Can't help with the problems with the box, but under The Sale of Goods Act, you would expect the machine to last a reasonable time of anything up to 6 years and I would say that 2 weeks after the warranty expires is a bit soon.

The above info in the link is why I don't buy extended warranties.

I would advise you to phone your local Trading Standards office who will ask you to send a recorded letter to Argos and state your case and what you would like them to do (giving them a reasonable period to reply), but you can then advise Argos that Trading Standards are involved in case.

Have you tried running the box with the HDD disconnected?

I was thinking along the lines of a HDD problem too but wasn't 100% My Sharp/Vestel goes through that sequence of messages on the front when it boots.

The HDD knackered, take it out hook up it to a PC running linux if you can accesss the drive then wipe it and reformat ext2, then bung it back in the PVR, if you can't buy a new HDD or PVR.

I've just done that.

I've spoken to Trading Standards and written to Argos explaining the situation. The letter was sent Recorded Delivery by the way.

I'm now awaiting a response.

I'm not going to open up the box until it's been 100% confirmed that Argos can't help me. So I will listen to any other suggestions for the meantime.

I find it amazing though how this box can suddenly develop a fault around the 1 year mark. Not only that but another user has posted the same problem in another thread in this forum which leads me to believe that this may be a widespread problem with these boxes.

Yes.

I have removed the HDD and tried booting up the box without the HDD connected and still got a "FAIL" message on the front display.

This leads me to believe that it may be a software problem as I was told in another forum that these TopUp TV boxes can work without the HDD connected in which case they just revert to working as regular Freeview boxes which hasn't happened here.

I haven't tried formatting the HDD on my PC yet though I'm wondering if it is worth the try.

Apologies for resurrecting a 2+ year old thread. I'm just trying to find a solution for this problem as the box and the HDD have been lying around in the bedroom for 2 years just waiting for a possible solution from the Internet.

Trading Standards were of no help. I ended up buying a Hitachi PVR which has worked well so far. I just want to try to recover the Wharfedale if possible.

Classic Argos, they sell a serious amount of poor quality kit (not very cheap either i might add) under a variety of "brand names" yet when they go wrong are not interested.

The Hitachi and Wharfedale are both made by Vestel, btw. Although in this case, the blame should lie with Top Up TV. It is (was?) a common problem for software updates on TUTV boxes to fail, due to bugs in TUTV's software, causing the FAIL message (although there are other failures that can cause this message).

If it is a software update failure, it may be possible to recover the box completely by uploading the software to it via a PC and RS232 cable. You can find a link to a suitable software file at http://www.vestelpvr.futaura.co.uk/T845.php - although this is a pretty old release now, it serves its purpose and once the box is up and running it will then download the latest software and hopefully succeed. Others have used this procedure before to successfully revive their boxes.

So, I hope this info helps, and will hopefully allow you to revive your box - don't go formatting the just HDD yet! It's a shame that I didn't see this thread when you first started it .

Thanks for that info and the link.

I already knew that the Hitachi and Wharfedale are both Vestel machines made in Turkey. When I bought the Hitachi I bought extra warranty with it lasting up to 3 years. I still have another year to go on it. You know what they say about not making the same mistake twice. At least I’m covered this time.

Unfortunately I don't have a PC that has a RS232 Serial Port. As I understand it the RS232 Serial Port is old technology and the oldest PC I have is just over 9 years old which I bought in 2003 (a Sony Vaio).

I've got a Laptop as well but that is more modern than my PC so that doesn't have a RS232 Serial Port either.

I read your general guide to updating software on Vestel PVRs. It mentions something about using adapters such as USB to Serial adapters and PCMCIA to Serial adapters. I was wondering if these are worth buying. And if so, which one should I go for?

I’m a bit of a techy so I’m confident that I could pull this off myself but only if I have the correct equipment and software.

RS232 is old, but not that old - I've still got a 2005 Dell PC around that has a real serial port . If the Vaio hasn't got one, then no matter - see the first ebay link on http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...&postcount=221 - ignore the second one (which is for boxes that have no RS232 port, unlike the Wharfedale). Certainly not all USB->RS232 adaptors work too well and are not 100% compatible with real serial, but the above should be worth a try having been successfully used to update a Vestel T835 box.

My Vaio PC has a Parallel Printer Port (LPT1) but not a RS232 Serial Port. It’s strange because I always thought that the two were identical technology.

Anyway, I’ve had a look at that link and I can see a bright blue/green USB to RS232 Serial adapter cable (which by the way is available to buy from several different sellers on eBay). I was just wondering if everyone on eBay sells the same adapter cable because they all look the same but are being sold at different prices.

Also, do you think it would be worth buying a PCMCIA to RS232 Serial adapter? My laptop has an empty 32 bit CardBus PCMCIA port. Is a PCMCIA to RS232 Serial adapter going to be anymore reliable than a USB adapter cable?

May possibly be better, yes. Although that would be the more expensive option.

It's certainly possible the USB adapters on ebay are all ultimately from the same factory in China, but often in such cases there can be subtle differences like different hardware revisions, etc. Perhaps may be worth going for the cheapest possible look-a-alike? (I see the seller quoted is away until the 21st).

I don't know why you are bothering with RS232, AFAIK these boxes can't be upgraded that way anyway.

The software on them belongs to TUTV and they do not offer files for download. I also haven't heard of a single successful attempt to restore them to vestel software.

You are wasting your time and money.

Is it worth trying to re-format the HDD on my PC and then put the HDD back in the box?

I’ve just found some more info into this problem. According to the link below, the “FAIL” message is due to HDD failure.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...4175843AAzi8HY

If you read the second post in that thread, it says that someone from TUTV Tech Support stated that the “FAIL” message is a Hard Drive error message.

So is it worth a try?

I wouldn't have mentioned it if I didn't know of people who had successfully used the RS232 upload method to resurrect their T845 boxes that were displaying the FAIL message. I refer you to http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1297856 - I also have had private correspondence with at least 3 users who had success fixing their boxes using the software file. Indeed, it was on hearing the first success that I actually bothered to make the software file available for download on my site so that others could fix their boxes for free without being ripped off by TUTV. TUTV may not make the files available themselves, but if you know the right person to ask .

By all means try formatting the HDD if you don't care about the content currently saved on it. If the you want to retain the HDD contents, then it really is worth spending a couple of quid on an adaptor to try the software upload first, IMHO. It could be that the HDD failed or something else entirely, but it is a fact that failed software updates trigger the same FAIL message too. Do you think TUTV would own up to a bug in their own software that is bricking the box? No, of course the HDD must have failed .

Fair enough. Good Luck.

I’ve just looked at the link above and it’s very, very encouraging to know that others have recovered their dead TUTV Vestel boxes.

I’ve been searching on Google for ages regarding the “FAIL” message and it never showed me a link to that thread. I suppose I was looking for the wrong information which is probably why I didn’t see that thread until now.

Regarding the contents of the HDD; before the box decided to die on me I didn’t originally plan to keep any of the recordings. So I would say that the contents of the HDD are expendable and it won’t bother me if I keep or lose the recordings.

Come to think of it, I think you may be right regarding TUTV Tech Support placing the blame on the hardware rather than their own software. But me personally being a techy I would be disappointed with TUTV anyway because they endorsed a product that has such poor quality hardware. Still makes them look bad IMHO.

I noticed in that link above that someone tried to update the software via the RS232 and the HDD disconnected. Is this possible? And it is recommended? Should the software only be updated with the HDD connected?

Yes, to be fair the title of that thread probably doesn't help so much when searching. It is my understanding that the failures due to failed software updates are completely TUTV's responsibility since they provide the software, so you can't blame the hardware for that. They may have fixed it since in newer updates. When it comes to Vestel's non-TUTV PVRs, those are pretty much immune to bricking themselves during a software update - I certainly don't recall any reports of this happening, so obviously TUTV's approach is not as resilient. The weaker side of your Wharfedale is probably actually the power supply board, since the capacitors on these are often behind most failures of Vestel PVRs, but the failure symptoms in that case are different to what you are getting.

If it is the HDD that has failed, then you can only really blame the HDD manufacturer - unfortunately, HDD failures are just as likely on any brand of PVR, and there is certainly an element of luck involved. Most HDDs will last a few years, but sometimes they can fail much sooner or last 10+ years. All Vestel boxes use Western Digital AVGP drives these days, and I can guess the same is true for many other manufacturers.

I personally would leave the HDD connected during a software update via RS232, but if it fails then it would be worth trying with it disconnected. Normally on non-TUTV Vestel boxes, the software is stored in flash memory rather than on the HDD.

Well if the software is stored in the flash memory like you’re saying then the HDD should not be needed in order to perform a software update. I think that is the point that broggy was making in that ‘how to replace TUTV software’ thread. I see that he clearly states that he fitted the HDD back into his Luxor box after the software update operation had succeeded.

One thing I should point out is that I removed the HDD from my Wharfedale box and still got the “FAIL” message on the front display. As far as I understand it, these boxes are supposed to work without the HDD connected like broggy said. So if my Wharfedale still shows the “FAIL” message despite the removal of the HDD then this to me suggests a software problem. Am I right?

Also, I’m now starting to look at suitable cables to buy from eBay to perform the software update operation on my PC. I’ve got a USB to Serial adapter in mind like the one you linked to earlier but I’m not sure what type of Serial cable will be suitable to connect to my Wharfedale box to the adapter. Will the cables below be suitable?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2709417707...84.m1438.l2649

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2307637746...84.m1438.l2649

Yes, maybe . "FAIL" can probably apply to more failures that HDD and software upgrade failures though, so it could be something else entirely. But, there's a good chance it is a software issue, especially looking back at the date that it first happened.

Probably either - must be a straight-through wired extension cable. However, do you really need a cable at all? Most of the USB adaptors I've seen with a cable attached have a male 9-pin connector and the Wharfedale has a female socket, IIRC. So you should be able to connect the adaptor directly - should be easy if you can get it working on your laptop. Certainly, the shorter the cable the better.

What is the significance of the date that the problem first occurred? Were there a lot of failures of these boxes at that time?

Regarding the cables I linked to they are both straight through. If you read the item description it clearly states this for the Male to Female Serial extension cable that they are selling. I probably don’t need one but I think I might get one anyway as a spare if I need to use one in the future.

So I’ll be going ahead and buying a USB to Serial adapter cable along with a Male to Female Serial extension cable. I have to wait for them to be delivered which could take a few days. I’ll keep this thread updated though when I receive the cables and attempt to update the software on my Wharfedale TUTV+ box.

Good luck! I've not seen so many reports of the FAIL problem in recent times, whereas it was more common in 2010 for example. Hopefully, that indicates that TUTV fixed the bug that was causing this to happen.

I think the FAIL message indicates that the flash in which the application is stored has become corrupted. It has nothing to do with the HDD.

There were some improvements made in this area a while ago - I think the box can now recover itself if one of the two copies of the application is corrupted but not both.

IMHO you are in with a reasonable chance of serial flashing a new application fixing this - fingers crossed.

I received the USB to Serial adapter this morning.

I’ve installed the driver and I’ve assigned the correct Port Settings in the Device Manager as described in the instructions linked on futaura’s website.

I connected the USB to Serial adapter between my PC and the Wharfedale TUTV+ box, established a connection with HyperTerminal and got some bootloader info to appear in the main HyperTerminal window.

I then tried sending the .bin software file over to the box and nothing happened with the file send window. I then unplugged the box for 5 seconds and then plugged in again as instructed but nothing happened with the file send window and this time it closed itself leaving just the bootloader info in the main HyperTerminal window. There was no new info in the main HyperTerminal window so I tried again to send the .bin software file over to the box; then the HyperTerminal program crashed with the customary “do you want to send an error report to Microsoft” error message.

I’ve not been able to get that bootloader info to appear again in the HyperTerminal main window. I re-started my PC numerous times; I’ve unplugged and re-plugged the USB to Serial adapter into my PC and tried connecting it to another USB port on my PC with no luck. I’ve even tried installing and setting the adapter up on my Laptop but again I still can’t view the bootloader info. It seems it won’t work at all on my Laptop.

I had the bootloader info appear once but now I just can’t get it back. I’m using Windows XP on both my PC and Laptop. The HDD is not connected in the Wharfedale box.

I’m going to need some detailed technical instructions because I can’t seem to get this thing working at will. I’m going to keep giving this a try though tomorrow but I have to admit that it’s not looking good so some help would be greatly appreciated.