Tuner Card for GigaBlue 800SE

Clareman

Hi,

A friend of mine's box has decided to blow a tuner, doesn't scan any channels, and I've tried a few different images on it. Rather than buying a new box I reckon he could get away with just buying a new tuner card for the slot that's in it, can anyone advise 1 to order?

swoofer

try here and even ask about problem, did box have 2 year guarantee?

http://www.gigablue.de/home/#prettyPhoto

and the tuner is here

http://www.world-of-satellite.co.uk/Plug-and-Play-Digital-Tuners/GiGaBlue-Tuners/GiGaBlue-DVB-S-S2-Plug-and-Play-Satellite-tuner-for-HD-Quad-Quad-plus-hd800se-plus-hd800ue-plus

Clareman

Thanks for that, it's definitely over 2 years old so not worth going through the warranty.

If you saw where the box was kept you'd be amazed it was working at all, pretty much sealed unit the same size as the unit with a glass front, he had hassle with his dish before as well, I think he managed to hook up a power source to the line going back to the unit but he's not letting on. Everything else is working perfectly with the box and I've the latest OpenVix on it now.

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

Thanks for that, it's definitely over 2 years old so not worth going through the warranty.

If you saw where the box was kept you'd be amazed it was working at all, pretty much sealed unit the same size as the unit with a glass front, he had hassle with his dish before as well, I think he managed to hook up a power source to the line going back to the unit but he's not letting on. Everything else is working perfectly with the box and I've the latest OpenVix on it now.

Be careful. There are 2 versions of the SE.

One is the SE. Then there is the SE+.

Check with gigablue whether they are the same PNP module.

By the way how do you know the tuner is blown ? Is it visible from taking the module out ?

Clareman

It's not the plus version, I have it here and the picture on the site looks to match up.

The module is part of the mother board, there doesn't seem to be anything blown on it, but he has an old MMDS aerial that he still uses that I think he hooked up to the sat box

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

It's not the plus version, I have it here and the picture on the site looks to match up.

The module is part of the mother board, there doesn't seem to be anything blown on it, but he has an old MMDS aerial that he still uses that I think he hooked up to the sat box

Are you sure its part of the board and that the module doesnt just clip in ? If that is the case it may not be plugable

As far as I remember this was one of the features of the Plus series only (ie the ability to add to plug n play tuners).

The one swoofer linked to and this one below are the extra tuner you can add to the already stationary one on the PLUS models.


I assume you have tried this box in your house to rule out its not your friends cable/dish ? The only way of checking it otherwise is with a multimeter. If it is blown check with gigablue whether it is replaceable with a PNP.

STB.

To explain this better.

800SE


800 SE PLUS


The original SE has a fixed dvb-S2 tuner (IT has a LNB IN and LNB OUT)

The SE Plus fixed tuner only has LNB in.

The Plugable tuner is the one on the very left of the SE Plus/SE.

I doubt that you can use the plugable module on the original fixed SE slot (unless it fits those holes on its side and attaches to the board - the gaps between the lnb in and out say its a different tuner module). Is the original SE slot on the left plugable ? Maybe. Means you would have a redundant tuner, running alongside a dvb-s2 plugable, but means you could not add a DVb-T obviously.

Clareman

The 1 I have here has the blank panel on the far left like the 1 of your first picture, I assume that's still the right tuner to get then?

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

The 1 I have here has the blank panel on the far left like the 1 of your first picture, I assume that's still the right tuner to get then?

I presume it is and that is enabled on the first series. Its the only place you could put a PNP. Check with gigablue before you buy.

I dont know how your mate could have blown the tuner especially with the RF of an MMDS aerial. These boxes can push extra voltage to the LNB for long cable runs - is that enabled in the Tuner Configuration of your mates box.

Also if you are comvinced that the tuner module is blown, then it might be cheaper to get it off amazon de.

Clareman

STB. wrote: »

I presume it is and that is enabled on the first series. Its the only place you could put a PNP. Check with gigablue before you buy.

I dont know how your mate could have blown the tuner especially with the RF of an MMDS aerial. These boxes can push extra voltage to the LNB for long cable runs - is that enabled in the Tuner Configuration of your mates box.

Also if you are comvinced that the tuner module is blown, then it might be cheaper to get it off amazon de.

The tuner isn't picking up any channels, 0 in any scan, I've wipes the box a few times, put on different images, gotten bouquets/satelite.xml from a working box as well as from a direct site, I'm very confident that it's the tuner.

I'm thinking the MMDS aerial is powered and that that blew it.

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

The tuner isn't picking up any channels, 0 in any scan, I've wipes the box a few times, put on different images, gotten bouquets/satelite.xml from a working box as well as from a direct site, I'm very confident that it's the tuner.

I'm thinking the MMDS aerial is powered and that that blew it.

Try this from telnet to see if the box is seeing the tuner.

cat /proc/bus/nim_sockets

Clareman

I think it's seeing it alright as it's scan-able and does have a couple of sats in there, copy & paste from putty session below

root@gb800se:~# cat /proc/bus/nim_sockets
NIM Socket 0:
        Type: DVB-S2
        Name: BCM7325 DVB-S2 NIM (internal)
        Frontend_Device: 0

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

I think it's seeing it alright as it's scan-able and does have a couple of sats in there, copy & paste from putty session below

root@gb800se:~# cat /proc/bus/nim_sockets
NIM Socket 0:
        Type: DVB-S2
        Name: BCM7325 DVB-S2 NIM (internal)
        Frontend_Device: 0

The box is seeing the tuner. The tuner is not the problem. If its not a software related setting that is wrong, then it is something else blown on the board. Can you see anything else on the main board that looks blown (In partciular capacitors - they will be rounded at the top if blown). The box is powering up and is functioning otherwise ?

Are you using diseqc ?

Clareman

STB. wrote: »

The box is seeing the tuner. The tuner is not the problem. Something else is blown on the board. Can you see anything else on the main board that looks blown. The box is powering up and is functioning otherwise ?

Everything is working perfectly, full network/streaming access, media playing, no green screens or anything like that. Nothing looks blown on the board, no expanded capacitors or scorch marks or anything like this, which is why I'm leaning towards the problem being with the onboard tuner and putting in a new card will get it up and running again.

STB.

Clareman if you have ruled out that it is not a configuration problem (in the tuner menu) and there is no sign of bad caps (that would alllow the box to work but would not provide enough juice to the tuner module) then that may be your only other option. The new tuner might have the same issue in the PNP menu if something else is gone on the board.

The PNP tuners are €24 on idealo.de. Not sure of postage from germany, shouldnt be much as they are a tiny box.

Cant think of anything else other than restting the box to factory default and clean imaging it.

Clareman

STB. wrote: »

Clareman if you have ruled out that it is not a configuration problem (in the tuner menu) and there is no sign of bad caps (that would alllow the box to work but would not provide enough juice to the tuner module) then that may be your only other option. The new tuner might have the same issue in the PNP menu if something else is gone on the board.

The PNP tuners are €24 on idealo.de. Not sure of postage from germany, shouldnt be much as they are a tiny box.

Cant think of anything else other than restting the box to factory default and clean imaging it.

It's not my money or box, I'm helping him out, I've bought off world of satellite before so he can go for them he's well used to buying online anyway

Clareman

BTW, nope he's not using diseqc, he has about 4 dishes outside that he flicks between manually, don't ask, he's got loads and loads of space, he has a Sky box that he leave on 28.2 and a Saorview box for most of the terrestrial stuff, he has UPC for other stuff and then he likes to use the Giga box to get FTA soccer or other sports.

I'd say the box could be gone for ages but he didn't notice cause the soccer isn't back yet.

Clareman

I've finally gotten around to putting in the new tuner, still can't get it to get any channels, I've even brought it to my house and scanned it here and ti's still not finding anything when pointing to 28.2E, I give up at this stage unless anyone has any suggestions, I've the latest OpenVix Image on it.

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

I've finally gotten around to putting in the new tuner, still can't get it to get any channels, I've even brought it to my house and scanned it here and ti's still not finding anything when pointing to 28.2E, I give up at this stage unless anyone has any suggestions, I've the latest OpenVix Image on it.

Did you download a channel list from the feeds ? If not do that.

I presume that the new tuner is showing up as tuner B in the service searching menu ?

Can you take a picture of the tuner configuration screen under service searching.

Clareman

Yeah, I pulled a list directly from another working box, no joy, I tried setting it to Automatic detect sat and also tried manually setting it, no joy. I'll get an image tomorrow and put it up.

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

Yeah, I pulled a list directly from another working box, no joy, I tried setting it to Automatic detect sat and also tried manually setting it, no joy. I'll get an image tomorrow and put it up.

Ok. Humour me so. Download a channel list from the feeds.

Clareman

Will do, the wife is watching something at the moment so I'll download tomorrow morning when I can get control of the TV again

Clareman

Right I download the Catseye directly to the box, no channels will show.

Below are pictures I took from a factory reset as well

Tuner A - Automatic showed up nothing, went to Nothing Connected, I manually changed it later


Tuner B - Same as above


Tuner Setup


Scanning - nothing being detected

STB.

Do not scan after you load the catseye channel lists. It defeats the purpose.

The channels should be working when the channel lists are loaded IF the tuner is configured correctly.

What is all the Diseqc A/B settings above about Clareman ? Do you have a diseqc setup ?

Clareman

I don't know what the Diseqc is about, I normally leave Diseqc on as it shows up more channels when you do scan.

I did the scan after downloading the lists, didn't work either. I think the box is fried to be honest.

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

I don't know what the Diseqc is about, I normally leave Diseqc on as it shows up more channels when you do scan.

I did the scan after downloading the lists, didn't work either. I think the box is fried to be honest.

You shouldn't need to scan as the channels are already loaded in the memory when catseye/vhannibal etc are loaded from plugin.

So just the box on one of the 28.2 channels like BBC1 (it will say nothing on transponder or something similar) ignore and then go to tuner configuration and select the tuner (there are two) and make sure lnb1 is all satellites or specifically set for 28.2 (take it off diseqc). Try that for both tuners and see does the channel come on when you exit and save.

I don't recognize the menu by the way, what is that OS that you are using ?

Clareman

It's the OpenMIPS image I put on it last. I'll wipe it again to be sure to be sure, any image you'd recommend? I've the latest bootloader on there as well by the way.

STB.

Set it up as simple. Do not use Disecq. Try setting each seperately as lnb 1. [URL]ahttp://www.openvix.co.uk/index.php?dir=GiGaBlue-HD800SE/&file=openvix-Hades.018.release-gb800se_usb.zip[/URL]

Clareman

I've put on the Hades image, left the tuners unconfigured and then downloaded the settings, not working, then I set the tuners as 28.2, still not working. I've disabled tuner A and then tried with just B, same issue. I'm giving up

Clareman

Oh yeah, I set them to Advanced and LNB1 as well, no joy either

swoofer

id say box has overheated and burnt out something. did you email the makers?

and have you tried old bootloader

Clareman

I've tried a few different bootloaders at this stage. I figured something was blown alright but I thought the new tuner would sort it. The box is well out of warranty I'd say so there isn't much point in getting onto the makers

STB.

I would seek out andyblac over at world of satellite forum. He writes Vix and compiles for the various models supported, including the gigablue. Perhaps someone over there will be able to look at your dmesg and lsmod output results and might see something causing the issue.

I cannot understand that it would see the tuners but not display the stations if the configuartion is correct. It could be that there is no power going to the inputs. You do have increased voltage in the config menu turned on (for long cable runs).

Clareman

I really don't think it's anything to do with the dish as it's been connected to working cables in 2 different houses. Good shout in contacting someone over on WoS, I'll give that a shot.

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

I really don't think it's anything to do with the dish as it's been connected to working cables in 2 different houses. Good shout in contacting someone over on WoS, I'll give that a shot.

Not the dish. There is an option in the configuation menu to turn on increased voltage from the box to the lnb. If it does nothing then at least you have tried, and it will not do any harm anyway. I am wondering if the board is passing any power to the lnb, this might signal another issue.

Clareman

I've asked the question over there now so I'll let you know what they come back with, thanks for all your help, greatly appreciated.

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

I've asked the question over there now so I'll let you know what they come back with, thanks for all your help, greatly appreciated.

Whe you tested the tuner config... did you.

Set tuner A as Simple, Single, 28.2. Set Tuner B as not configured

see if that works, if it doesnt

and then vice versa B as Simple 28.2. Set Tuner A as not configured

have the tv on a fta sat channel so that you know whether it has worked when you save and exit.

Clareman

STB. wrote: »

Whe you tested the tuner config... did you.

Set tuner A as Simple, Single, 28.2. Set Tuner B as not configured

see if that works, if it doesnt

and then vice versa B as Simple 28.2. Set Tuner A as not configured

Yup, tried all that

STB.

Clareman wrote: »

Yup, tried all that

Well it sounds like a component on the main board that passes the power to the the lnb is gone, rather than the tuner. You'd only be able to check this if you knew what you were looking for.