HD100 Just died

[smoothtlk]

Radio Shack had the caps....35 volt, not 10, but a little overkill never hurt anything...
Replaced them, rebooted, updated to latest beta firmware and watched two movies on the device to make sure all is well.

No problem.

[klaberte]

My HD100 also just died this past weekend; same symptoms with the power light flashing on and off.

Interestingly, the power supply is still offering 5V, but I haven't measured the current (probably too low). I see two caps that are bulging, same as smoothtlk mentioned (C205, C206), the third (C207) is not bulging.

I'll probably try to replace these two caps first before replacing the power supply. I'll report back as to my progress.

[gibsonpa]

I have 4 of these HD-100's...and love them....but am worried about this happening to mine.

If anyone had time, it would sure be helpful to have a few pics/write-up of the "cap" procedure for those of us that may be forced to do in the future

[klaberte]

Originally Posted by klaberte

My HD100 also just died this past weekend; same symptoms with the power light flashing on and off.

Interestingly, the power supply is still offering 5V, but I haven't measured the current (probably too low). I see two caps that are bulging, same as smoothtlk mentioned (C205, C206), the third (C207) is not bulging.

I'll probably try to replace these two caps first before replacing the power supply. I'll report back as to my progress.

Well, it seems all ends well. I went to Radio Shack, and got a pair of capacitors. Unfortunately, I got the 272-1019 instead of the 272-1032. Both are 1000uF and 35V, but the ones I got were Axial leads and huge. It took me about an hour fitting these guys into a tight space. Had I got the 1019, I suspect it would have been 10 minutes tops.

It now turns on and I get a steady Power and Active light. I'm not home yet, so I'm not sure that it is working, but it looks like it will. I'll report back.

There are plenty of tutorials on the web about replacing capacitors, e.g.

http://www.capacitorlab.com/replacin...owto/index.htm

http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=31

[pez]

To all whose HD100 died.

Was there any other symptoms before death? Did the unit go to standby often need to be rebooted (off then on) a lot?

thanks,

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by pez

Was there any other symptoms before death? Did the unit go to standby often need to be rebooted (off then on) a lot?

In my case, the only warning was a high-pitched whine. That lasted for 2-3 weeks before the unit just died (although it was used very sparingly in the last week, since I knew it was about to die).

I've been compiling reports of failures, although it's been a couple weeks since I've updated it. In doing so I contact individuals that reported a failure on this thread, but failed to provide adequate details. I don't have the information in front of me, but I believe we're up to ~22 reports in this thread. The majority of them are from the December '07 batch of extenders. A couple people indicated they heard a high-pitched noise, and a couple other people indicated they were pretty sure their HD100s did not emit a noise. Everyone noted the same blinking red light issue when it failed.

It is sort of difficult to interpret these results. Is the problem more severe for the December 07 extenders, or were there just more sold then? We don't know how many total failures have occurred, besides the ones reported in this thread. We don't have any idea on the total number of extenders sold.

In many ways, 22 failed extenders probably isn't a whole lot. I don't know how many Sage has sold, but if I had to guess I'd put it somewhere in the 1000-2000 range. SageTV tends to attract people that are likely to use the forum, so I'm wildly guessing roughly half of the failures have been reported. That puts the failure rate so far in the 2-4% range. But, that's actually getting pretty high on the upper-end for a couple reasons. Desktop computers have a first year failure rate around 5% (usually motherboard or hard drive failures). Something like the HD100 should have a lower failure rate than a desktop computer, which has more components that can fail. Also, we don't really know anything about other HD100 failures. Have there even been other failures? I assume so, but apparently no other single common failure like this power supply issue.

Sage mostly made things up to me in my particular case, but I can't help but think there is a component defect in the HD100 power supplies. I kind of think Sage should have demanded a batch of new power supply boards from the manufacturer (who I assume is also making the HD200) for free, and offered to fix HD100s for just the cost of shipping. And that's still a little less friendly than Microsoft's warranty extension on their flashing red light issue (I think they cover shipping costs).

[Graygeek]

reggie14 .... have you logged any failed extenders from the 5/2008 batch? ... fingers crossed!

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by Graygeek

reggie14 .... have you logged any failed extenders from the 5/2008 batch? ... fingers crossed!

At least four so far. Some people didn't report when they bought their HD100s, and some people weren't sure if the failed unit was from the December 07 batch or one of the later ones. In comparison, 9 people have reported problems with the December 07 batch, and eight additional HD100s have failed without a reported purchase date.

I have no idea how concerned you should be about this issue. We simply don't have enough information to know how big of a problem this is.

[Graygeek]

Thanks for the info! So far my two from the May batch are fine, but given the low cost of parts and the tools & skill readily available I may just go ahead and change the caps in my two HD100's just to be safe.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by Graygeek

Thanks for the info! So far my two from the May batch are fine, but given the low cost of parts and the tools & skill readily available I may just go ahead and change the caps in my two HD100's just to be safe.

That's certainly your prerogative, but there doesn't seem to be any reason to change the caps until you run into some sort of problem- either a noise issue or a failure to turn on. The power supply failures don't seem to be damaging the main video board on the HD100. At the very least, it probably doesn't make sense to change them until you notice bulging caps.

[pez]

Reggie,
I certianly appreciate you sharing the data you collected. It is very informative. I have two from Dec 07. Neither makes a high pitch noise, but they do go to standby on their own and sometimes lockup. based on the info in this thread it doesn't sound like the same issue.
-pez

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by pez

Reggie,
I certianly appreciate you sharing the data you collected. It is very informative. I have two from Dec 07. Neither makes a high pitch noise, but they do go to standby on their own and sometimes lockup. based on the info in this thread it doesn't sound like the same issue.
-pez

I suspect that is a different issue. But, it might be interesting to pop open the case and see if the caps are bulging. The capacitors should have a flat top.

I will say my HD100 did occasionally lock up during its life. That was a very occasional problem throughout it's life, so I don't think it was related to the caps. At least in my case, I'm pretty sure it was caused by the video/music files I was playing back at the time. And, I think it actually happened less over time, as Sage improved the firmware on the device.

[mtyme]

Add another to the Dec 07 batch. Mine hasn't failed yet, but it's been hissing for about a week. Just waiting till it croaks.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by mtyme

Add another to the Dec 07 batch. Mine hasn't failed yet, but it's been hissing for about a week. Just waiting till it croaks.

Have you opened the HD100 up and inspected the caps? I think it would be good to confirm which capacitors are and are not bulging, and which ones are hissing. It's been pretty consistent thus far, but most people haven't looked at their boards.

[merneric]

I have three HD-100s. I will have to look up and see when exactly the purchase dates were...Anyway, I had noticed about a week ago or so that the extender in my bedroom was making a highpitched noise. I didn't think much of it, gave it a light tap, and it seemed to go away. It is located in a cabinet under my TV, so I don't really access it much.

Last night, as we were watching a show, however, the tv suddenly went blank, and a "no signal" came up on the screen. I switched the extender on and off a couple of times, but all I got was a continuous high pitched noise, and no sign of signal/picture.

Based on what I've read in this thread, it sounds like my HD-100 can DEFINITELY be added to the list. When I get home (from work) I will crack it open to look for damaged caps, and try to determine what the build/order date was.

So, just to make sure that I report everything that would be useful for this "study"...


Model: HD-100
Purchase Date: Unknown
Build Date: Unknown
Symptoms: High Pitched Whine, at least 1 week
Damaged Caps: Unknown
Front Panel LED activity: Unknown


Anything else that should be included in this list? Like I said, I will try to update, later this evening.

[Bikeman]

Mine from 05/08 batch died last night.

Just found the Sage order, ordered it one year ago today!

Flashing red light, was in a case so I didn't hear anything prior to it failing, just turned in on from the remote and the TV started making a flashing white screen and static noise. Menu + Up while turning on didn't help.

Just sent a support request.

Jeff

[Steve]

Add a dead 5/08 here.

Is there any fairly conclusive data that shows that just replacing the bad caps will take care of the problem, or is there likely more wrong with the power supply?

[MrD]

Originally Posted by Steve

Add a dead 5/08 here.

Is there any fairly conclusive data that shows that just replacing the bad caps will take care of the problem, or is there likely more wrong with the power supply?

There could always be something else wrong, however, the bulging caps ARE broken parts. These caps cost less than a dollar to buy and it you are familiar with electronics, it is a simple process to replace them.

[fiatmonkey]

Hi Everyone,

This is a great thread and wonderful info. My HD100 is still going strong however I don't know the purchase date as I got it 2nd hand. So I sort of feel like one of those replicants from Blade Runner not knowing when I will croak...

I have noticed slow screen navigation lately both during the HD100 setup screen and during extender usage.

-FM

[edbmdave]

Originally Posted by ehfortin

No, sorry. It was so simple that I didn't took time to take picture and to actually write what I was doing. Once you open the HD100, you realize how simple it is. Just have to connect a new power supply to the black and red wire that goes to the mainboard (the one near the front of the unit). You can use any of the black and red wires as they are linked together (verified this with a voltmeter as I was wondering why there was two red and two black wires). So just cut the old electric power cable, disconnect the 4 wires going from the power supply board to the mainboard, cut one red wire and one black wire, tie those to the new power supply (or add a connector like I did that will just facilitate unplugging and replugging the unit) and you are done.

I would doubt anybody has problem repeating the process if so, I can unmount my box and take a few pictures to help.

Have a nice day.


ehfortin

Any Chance of a closeup photo?