As per title the clock on our ALDTR160 has been stuck at 02.59 for 2 out of the last 3 days - it has been perfect until then.....it won't power on unless the mains is disconnected / re-connected then the clock sets almost instantly and it all works perfectly .....until the next 3am !

My parents also have the same model and although at a different addrerss they are served by the same transmitter (Tacolneston, Norfolk) and theirs has been OK

Any ideas please

Obviously it's seizing up at the time it's due to scan for updates. Is "automatic scanning" enabled? If it is, try disabling it - and vice versa.

Menu>Setup>Configuration>ReceiverUpgrade>UpgradeOptions=AutomaticScanning Enabled/Disabled (toggle with the <> buttons).

That's all I can think of to try.

parthena

I did a factory reset and re-formatted the hard drive last night, it was all OK when I went to bed but this morning it said format hard drive required ...... I did this (again) and at the moment it is OK.....but tomorrow will tell.

.....and tomorrow did tell....it was locked up again, this time the display showed "- - - -", when powered on it asked me to re-format the drive which I did and all was OK for 2 days.

On Sunday it was blank again and upon powering it up I was asked to re-format the drive....which it would not let me do !

Unplugged it for a few hours and, again all OK when re-powered.

Whasshappening

Have you tried disabling the "Automatic scanning for upgrades" option as suggested by Parthena? Is so does this make a difference? Have you tried power cycling the unit manually. If so does it always boot up normally on these occasions. If not then I suspect you may have a hardware problem such as power supply or HDD failure.

Colin

haven't tried disabling scanning for updates - I couldn't see the relevance to my problem as there are no updates being transmitted......yes, power cycling always returns it to correct operation

Because the scanning may possibly be causing this? (Rather than updating) Its certainly an easy thing to try, so I don't see why you wouldn't give it a go?

ok, will do.......thanks

It doesn't matter if there are no updates currently being broadcast - the box will reboot around 3am everyday to check regardless when automatic updates is enabled. I'd guess the problem is most likely a HDD failure. BTW, holding the power button down for 5 seconds or so reboots the box in a similar same way as at 3am, so this might be useful for testing.

Hmmmm....all this talk of failing hard drives....the unit is only 2 months old.

Curiosity finally got the better of me so I removed the lid of the machine and there sat a nice shiny hard drive .....at the back of it sat a power connector with an equally shiny tag (on the red +5V lead) .......poking out the back of it

After removing the connector, straightening out the lugs that are supposed to hold the pin into the housing and plugging it all back in it fired up first time

Time will tell whether this was the problem but I strongly suspect it was....and it must have been like that from new !

Photo uploaded here...if I've done it right......
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6230125...in/photostream

Thanks for all your replies - I will of course update the thread with the outcome .....I will leave it a few days to be sure.

Good deduction work - that dodgy connector could certainly pose a problem. The ALDTR160 has not been available new for some time, hence I think we all assumed you'd had it for at least a year. I guess you bought it refurbished from ebay or some other seller, which points at some dodgy fingerwork from whoever "refurbished" it - could easily happen if trying to remove the power cable by pulling on the cables instead of the plug. That said, the connector could maybe have been like that since the day it left the factory in Turkey and why it was returned to Argos in the first place (i.e. similar symptoms to what you've experienced).

You may have had it for only 2 months but it was made some time before that. Your unit appears (from your flickr pic) to have an IDE HDD which means it used the Vestel T825 hardware which was manufactured in 2008.

Colin

Edit:- Ooops. Futaura beat me by 4 minutes.

Yes, indeed it was purchased from ebay (mega_clearance86) as a seller re-furbished unit that was originally returned from Argos but at just under £50 I felt it was a good price.

My thoughts were also along the lines that that may be the reason it was returned in the first place....strange how it has worked perfectly for over 2 months though - must have been just about touching....maybe the warmer weather caused it to expand just that little bit who knows ?

To be fair the seller has agreed to replace it but hopefully now I won't need to - it looks like it has never been used and I doubt whether another one would be in as good condition.

If it was only just making contact then it could even be vibration from the HDD that caused the contact to gradually get worse, or maybe oxidisation on the two contacts over time. Anybody who has tinkered with PCs will know that those power connectors are prone to such issues - it is not unusual for a connector to pop out while inserting the plug, if the metal connector inside is not 100% aligned. And sometimes those connectors can just be very loose, whilst others can be incredibly difficult to remove once plugged in because the connection was so tight.

Fingers crossed this was indeed the cause of the problems with your unit, in which case it was a good bargain if never really used before. However, it does go to show that you do have to be careful with "refurbished" PVRs - it's debatable if they are ever tested (other than plugging them in to see if they still work), let alone inspected for faults. The seller you bought yours from should have really spotted this problem, whether it was them that made it when replacing the HDD or at the factory when originally built - it's quite obvious with the lid off, as you've shown.

it was OK this morning.........fingers crossed.

Well, 5 days on and it all seems to be OK

hope it lasts !