Problem brewing with the SageTV HD100 extenders?

[electron]

Several members in the CocoonTech.com chat room have mentioned that their SageTV HD100 extenders suddenly died. After checking the SageTV forums, it looks like this is starting to affect plenty of people.

The cause? It looks like another case of 'bad capacitors'. SageTV obviously didn't build the units themselves, so they aren't to blame for this problem, but it sucks that many people will have to pay $60 to repair an issue that shouldn't have happened to begin with. It would be great if SageTV would consider just shipping out new replacement power supplies to keep the cost down.

The symptoms are pretty easy to recognize. Your HD100 extender will not boot up, all you will see is a slow blinking power light.

If you are affected by this, check with your credit card company to see if they double the manufacturer warranty (some do).

I would also love to hear from anyone with this problem, and I am interested in keeping track of purchase dates and serial numbers in this thread.

 

[DavidL]

12/10/2007 purchase date.
Slow blinking power LED.
No real use...was used for software development a year ago...
Use a HD200 now.

 

[Steve]

As mentioned in chat...

Purchase 5/20/08, so luckily still under warranty. Took 48 hours for a reply which was an RMA# and saying to ship it cross country. So, forgetting everything else you are looking at 2-3 weeks of downtime on that tv.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

After reading through their forums, it appears to be capacitors in the power supply to the main board. It seems at least one user replaced this internal power supply with a wall wart and simply connected it to the main board. Saved $60 plus shipping (the cost SageTV wants for repairing these units).

 

[BLH]

I don't have a Sage; but have seen many computer motherboards with the "Swollen Cap Syndrome".

There was even a few web white papers on how and why it was happening.
Basically some one stole the formula for the Electrolyte in the capacitors, but didn't get the stabilizer additives. So they slowly make excess gasses and swell up or blow junk all over the boards.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

BTW; If someone is just going to "throw away" a bad one, I would like to experiment with it to see just how hard it would be to replace the power supply with an external wall-wart, or possibly some other fix!

If successful, I would create a "How-To" on the procedure.

 

[drozwood90]

BSR, you took my post!!

I'd also like to offer my services if there is a unit that is going to be tossed.

--Dan

 

[beelzerob]

In an effort to be helpful, I will also offer to take any HD100's that someone might want to get rid of before they become an issue. That way you can avoid this problem completely! Any way I can help the community....

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

hmmmm, perhaps further clarification is needed... I would return the unit to whoever let me borrow it for experimentation. I just am not sure (as I don't own one) if I would be successful (i.e reading between the lines this means I might blow it up playing around with it).

 

[beelzerob]

I can also personally vouch for BSR's soldering wizardry.

 

[DavidL]

Ok, took the chance...

Went 20 miles round trip to Radio Shack and got three part 272-1032 ($1.59 each) which are 1000uf 35 volt radial capacitors.

10 minutes to desolder the old ones and solder in the new ones.

Only trick is to get the polarity right, which is labeled underneath the caps (or just solder the new ones in the way the old ones were.

Works fine

Your mileage may vary if something else blew up on yours.

And no doubt void a warranty that may still be intact unless Sage shows pity that it was a desperate move to keep TV sanity in a household that relies on the HD100.

procedure:
1) Remove the four side and one rear screw and remove the cover.

2) Take a look at the three "garbage can" looking capacitors near the connector that goes to the main board (the larger connector). If any or all of the three's tops look bulged and / or you see a trace of black in the middle of the top (where it burst) you may have the same problem.

3) Remove the large connector going to the main board. Wiggle it carefully. You might have to take a screwdriver and wiggle the lock on the side to get it loose. Do same for the power connector at the other end of the board

4) Remove the four screws holding the power supply down to the chassis.

5) Take a soldering iron and Desoldering braid. Warm up the iron and put a little rosin core solder on the clean tip of the iron. Push this into the braid that is pushed against the solder side of the board on the capacitor lead. This will wick the solder from the connection into the braid. You might have to wiggle the iron / braid to get the solder to flow. Do same for the other lead until the capacitor can be removed. Do same for the other two caps. Using the braid, clean up the solder pads so the hole in the middle is open.

6) Taking note of the polarity, push the new capacitor leads into the holes. Push the cap down until it is very near the circuit board. Clean the tip of the soldering iron and tin it by applying new solder to it. Push the tip against the junction of the circuit board and the new cap lead. Apply a tinge of solder to the intersection. The solder should near immediately flow into the joint. Don't overheat. Don't use too much solder. Just enough to cover the hole around the lead. Do same for all six connections. Take some small cutters (dikes) and clip the leads above the solder.

7) Resecure the board to the chassis and plug the connections in.

8) Make sure there isn't any extra wires et al on the board and that you aren't touching any of the electronics. Plug it in. See if it now works

9) If all is good, and the power light lights up fully, unplug and put the top back together and put rest of connections on the device and power it up.

10) Enjoy. And keep your fingers crossed that the rest of the caps don't fry....

 

[electron]

That's great, thanks for posting these instructions David!

 

[drozwood90]

hmmmm, perhaps further clarification is needed... I would return the unit to whoever let me borrow it for experimentation. I just am not sure (as I don't own one) if I would be successful (i.e reading between the lines this means I might blow it up playing around with it).

No, that's about what I was going to offer up. I figured it would be as easy as David has posted. Just find the bad cap, check the others for any signs of "wear+tear" (bulge-i-ness, discoloration, oozing, dried "powder" (leftovers from oozing), etc.).

But, looks like David saved us BOTH a bunch of trouble!!

--Dan

 

[Steve]

Well, I had a second HD100 die on me and was left with no SageTV so I was inspired by DavidL and repaired both extenders. I also took the opportunity to enhance his instructions with a formal how-to. Thanks David for the initial instructions and identifying the right parts. You can find the how-to here.

 

[reggie14]

I'm reggie14 from the SageTV forums. I'm trying to keep track of all the HD100 failures, as Frey Technologies official position remains that this problem is only affecting a very small percentage of total HD100 buyers. So far, people on the SageTV forums have reported 29 failures, almost certainly all of them caused by problems with the capacitors on the power supply.

Have any of you had failed HD100s that you haven't reported on the SageTV forums in the "HD100 Just Died? If so, please post again or shoot me a PM and be sure to include when you purchased the HD100 and any symptoms you noticed. Specifically, whether or not you had a flashing red power light after failure, if you noticed bulging caps on the power supply board, and if you heard any high-pitched sounds coming from the HD100 before or after failure.

Also, Brent from the GeekTonic might have an opportunity to interview Jeff, SageTV's CTO. He is asking people for suggested questions, and I've been lobbying him to press Sage pretty hard to answer a question on HD100 reliability. We don't get a lot of opportunities to ask anyone from Frey Technologies questions (and they've been tight-lipped over e-mail), so I think this is going to be the best opportunity for someone to confront them on the HD100 failures. So, if you want Brent to ask about that too (and you already have a SageTV forums account) head over to his thread on the SageTV forums and say so. I can't post a link to it because of the SPAM restrictions, but the thread is in the "General Discussion" folder under the title "What Would You Ask SageTV?".

And thank you, Steve and David, for your instructions. It's unfortunate, but I'm sure some people out there will find it very helpful.