Hi All,
I've just obtained a refurb 80GB unit from Dabs with the original v3.9 software. Every time I try to upgrade it says no software is available - even if I leave it overnight to download the software automatically. Does anybody know if there is a way of forcing the software upgrade without using the manual serial cable method? The box is exhibiting some of the standard problems that people have had in this forum - the signal quality is terrible, even though my standard digihome freeview box is at 80% at least for most channels, ITV and C4 channels are down at about 10% on this box, and very choppy! Sorry if this question has been answered in a previous post - I've looked high and low but this kind of thing is easily missed and usually hidden in another thread.... Thanks in advance!

Over-the-air updates are only broadcast at set time periods, as listed at http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/download_schedule.pl - that's the only time the box can be updated normally, but there are no Digihome broadcasts due right now. Therefore, until an update is broadcast, the only way is to use the serial cable approach.

Thanks futaura, had some spare time to look through the forums in more detail and that appears to be the only way - makes me wonder how the manufacturers expect their products to be a success when probably only 10% of the population would be able to carry out the procedure required to update their boxes!!

Also spotted a few other handy hints, such as the "signal bar" on the info bar actually being nothing to do with signal, but an "elapsed" bar!! amazing what you see with your eyes open!!!

To be honest, I'm surprised Dabs don't upgrade these refurbs (Argos returns, probably) themselves before sending them out - will save them a lot of grief when their customer returns it for the same reason the Argos customer did

New units in Argos are being shipped with v5.3 now, and Vestel do broadcast updates when new versions are available, although not all that many repeats. I've heard that update slots are expensive, although it baffles me why Sagem have repeated the broadcast of their 0.4.5 software zillions of times when that software is buggier than earlier versions.

With the twin-record software (link to be found in the thread "Turn your Digihome into...") there's the v4.9 software you can install with an RS232 (serial extension) cable.

Having said that, my refurb is v3.5 and I'm using it quite heavily and have no pressing need to upgrade.

I'm wondering if there's something going on with ITV/C4 because some friends of mine on the same transmitter as I am, Crystal Palace, can't get them at all! They're using an old Nokia OnDigital STB that I gave them and have had no problems with whatsoever, it must be something recent.

parthena

It is a pity that you can't extract the 5.3 firmware from a Digihome that is running it and use that, via the cable, to flash another unit.

I wonder how the 4.9 version became available...?

Any chance the signal is too strong? That might sound daft, but I know from experience that the Nokia 9850T cannot cope with such a thing. After fitting a masthead amp, my Nokia displayed the no signal red dot (or square - can't remember which) on some of the muxes. With a variable attenuator inserted in the aerial lead, it was immediately obvious that weakening the signal brought channels back to life again. If it's only a little too strong it caused breakup and glitches on the picture - the kind of which are usually associated with a weak signal.

Well, Futaura, I believe you may have something there My friends are much higher up than I am and somewhat closer to Crystal Palace - and they have a loft aerial (though I told them to try ordinary indoor aerial and it didn't fix the problem).

I shall investigate a variable attenuator and would appreciate any links you (or anyone) may have.

THANK YOU

parthena

It could just be a weak signal, of course . What does the signal meter on the Nokia show? Then again, IIRC, it only shows signal quality and therefore it shows low for weak signals and overly strong signals. As for attentuators, I bought one of these a while ago: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VARIABLE-75-OH...QQcmdZViewItem which works great. The Nokia is certainly odd in this respect though - I have to use attenuation to get some of the muxes to even show up, yet with my old Sagem I did not use attenuation, since the signal quality meters improved without it. Likewise with the Digihome.

Thanks again. Who would have thought the solution would be cheap too? I've sent on the link to friend and am thinking I may get one - I've had a "breeze" blowing across my analogue picture since I got a 4-way aerial adapter from Argos. Not that I watch analogue much now, just for recording occasionally.

parthena

BTW, I'm no aerial expert . I don't think an attenuator will help with the "breeze", which is most likely interference introduced by the booster - those boosters boost everything, including any noise or interference. I know what you mean though, as my "cheap from eBay" masthead amp produces similar effects on the analogue channels. That said, an attentuator like this is always handy to have around, if only for tinkering .

Ahhh... now it all makes sense!

I thought to myself - how come that bar doesn't reflect the stronger signal I now have... erm... now I know! Cheers.