V8 Turbo STB locks up

[pitts]

I have GTMEDIA V8 TURBO STB , which locks up, only a power on/off will clear it.
I have 2 of these which do the same, have tried different P/supplies,and upgraded firmware.
it does not follow a set pattern, intermittent. the boxes do sit without a signal for periods
other stb's dont mind this. Any advice thanks. Denis

[Feralkiwi]

Yes if left on a no signal / weak signal channel, these boxes can work hard to find a signal and use too much memory and crash.
Check the box is cool, maybe add a fan.

Owen

[pitts]

Thanks for the reply Owen..
I will look into the heat side of things. Never had this with any other receiver
before...If that is the case then it looks like a very poor design issue . I would be wary
getting another. Cheers Denis

[pitts]

I have now done some heat experiments, pretty sure it is
not heat related. So back to design.. What are GTMedia going to do about it ?
Apart from myself I know of several others with this box ... Not Happy. :

[CAJE]

When an STB has overheated, it has always been due to misuse, for example placing it in an incorrect area.

[STRETCH]

With your receiver going into (No Signal), what satellite / Channel is it, maybe your dish may need a small adjustment / skew of the lnb / lnb on the way out.
I have this receiver on a TV stand, middle shelf, on all the time, and has not locked up.

Den

[pitts]

Thanks Gents for the replies.

The receiver is well in the open on a shelf and have tried different locations as well.
Den , The receiver is not connected to a dish, so that takes out any Lnb etc problems.
Its primary use is monitoring the output of our Local Amateur Tv Repeater (DVB-T UHF)
as well as my own transmission of Dvbs TV. another in the Group has had it too, as well as both mine.
No problems with xxxxxxxx and others.
Cheers
Denis

[pitts]

I have tried a few more things to no avail.
Looks like this is receiver is a dud .

[Feralkiwi]

do you have the antenna power ON?
That may be loading the unit.

Sounds like a memory use crash due to no signal.

Owen

[pitts]

Hi Owen,
I have both Lnb and TV Power turned OFF. done a factory reset etc and only 2 tv channels programed in.
I also feel the lack of a signal is an issue, but no other receiver has a problem with that ..
I am more than happy with the performance when it is working.

Thx Denis

[pitts]

I have bought 2 of these receivers that do not work correctly !
Does GTMEDIA have a support page ? or am I left high and dry now ?

[Feralkiwi]

As I said in your other post their service email is on the info menu in your box.

This forum is the other support.

HT Media staff are in holiday until the 17th for lunar new year.
Lining on this forum is GT Media staff.

Owen

[pitts]

Hi Owen,
Thx for the replies.
The penny finally dropped with the "info in the box"
I was looking for a box on the computer not the receiver itself
I did send an email to that address about 2 weeks ago.. no replies.
Understand its Holidays for them right now..
Cheers
Denis

[STRETCH]

As you say, you are using the receiver as a monitor, for your local Amateur TV repeater (DVB-T).
What are the settings that you have on the receiver, may be they need adjustment, check all connections also etc.(with it showing (no signal) at times).
Can you supply any photo's showing your settings / signal etc, which will help us a lot.

Den

[Feralkiwi]

Maybe give the satellite side something to do as well.
Have a dish connected and open a working satellite FTA channel before you set for your DVB-T monitor.
This will stop the sat side from trying to connect as well in no signal conditions.
This will also set the clock, from satellite time use.

Have the wifi set to off so that part of the software is not trying to connect to the net, maybe connect or select cable net.
There were issues with the V8 Nova, a earlier model of the same software, with the wifi board crashing the unit.
I cut the 5v supply pin off the wifi board on my Nova to stop that.

Owen

[pitts]

Hi,
Den and Owen , Thanks for your excellent suggestions.
I have programmed in a sat channel from the C band dish on Asiasat 5.
So I will give that a run and fingers crossed.
I will let you know.
Cheers
Denis

[pitts]

Unfortunately this fault still exits
Just about run out of ideas... maybe some new firmware in the future may fix it.
If I haven't thrown it in the bin...

[Feralkiwi]

Have you reloaded the software?

The latest is here.
If you already have that version, you could do a flash.bin forced recovery to an older version.

Maybe try changing settings like LCN and the country you have used for the DVB-t.

Also the time is taken from satellite if you set it that way.
Try setting time to user manual just in case the issue is the clock gets lost with no channel to take time from.
Set up correct time/date before you leave it running as DVB-T monitor.
There was a fault in the earlier version of this software for the old V8Golden. about 2017?
When it changed to GMT 1 December it restarted every time you changed channel.
Manual setting to November again fixed it until they made a software change, so time software use could be the issue if none is loaded from satellite.

Owen

[pitts]

Hi Owen,
I have tried things you suggested, all sorts of time scenarios to no avail.
I cannot upgrade the firmware to 3.45 (currently on 3.19) it goes through the act
and boots into a different menu screen of which you can only get rid of by doing a flash recovery
back to 3.19.
I add that not only my 2 boxes but I have 2 friends who have the same issue with
the V8 Turbo and have given up and put them aside for something that works..
Denis

[pitts]

Hi Owen,
I have tried a few more things lately.
One box has a corrupted S/n and I cannot do an update on it, Can this S/n be fixed ?
The other box I have updated to firmware 345. Unfortunately it is still suffering from lock ups.
Regards
Denis

[Feralkiwi]

There is this topic on UP9.

Does your UP9 page show your serial number or xxxxxxx?

4: If the SN number displayed is XXXXX after the software is up, and the SN number displayed is XXXXX, please tell us the original SN number of the box, and we will provide the software to burn the SN number.

I don't know if they will still respond to these requests.
You could try the RS232 recovery method.

Owen

[pitts]

I am not sure about the UP9 page, I will have to read abt that.
the s/n in the Info Screen is V8RBxxxxxxxxxx
On the bottom of the Box the s/n is V8RB2103006361
Thanks for your Help Owen.

Regards
Denis

[pitts]

Well its been a while now and having tried a few more things to no avail..
I have a V7 Pro which runs great.
Support is non existent from GTMedia. They don't even reply to Emails..
Thinking this model is a dud.....

[CAJE]

Well its been a while now and having tried a few more things to no avail..
I have a V7 Pro which runs great.
Support is non existent from GTMedia. They don't even reply to Emails..
Thinking this model is a dud.....

The V7Pro has the same support as the others, firmware late 2023

[STRETCH]

With this site no longer supporting Mars software, it has gone very quiet.
There has been no updates for a very long time, why break it, if it is not broke.
With you now using a V7Pro that works for you, just keep using it.
There are just a few users who use the forum, to help others, support is there.

Den