modded DRD430RGA died. light flashes briefly when plugged in.

[Wardialer]

I hope the Topic is self-explanatory.

Here's how the caper came down. GeeeEEeeeEEeEEEeeeee Bigbothhhh.

modded a 430RGA, worked for about 4 months just died for no reason. when i plug it into power the light flashes REALLy briefly, not like my DRD420RE's that i fixed w/ the DIODE at CR14108 w/ NTE588 parts. Is this a similar problem as the one w/ DRD420RE's? If so, which diodes should i be testing?


thanks

[m5runner]

3 right by the transformer

[shadyman]

I have the exact same problem Wardialer. My 430 went out last wed night.
The picture cut out and the thing would not power off. After unplugging and plugging back in, it is dead. Sometimes the led flashes very briefly. If you figure out what is wrong please let me know. I will provide updates if I figure anything out.

[shadyman]

Hey m5runner. I don't know much about electronics or diodes. Are you talking about the large black ones with a silver band? One of them labeled cr14104? Also do I have to remove them from the circuit to test them?

[Chief]

Are you guys running modded 430's? (I see Wardialer is)
Read this...DAVE sent an update late Wednesday night. You guys are probably looking at reflashing your receivers.

This is a quote from unwink 430 reciever mods section....

"There is a minor issue with the M29W320DB flash type found in some of the receivers. Apparently, the Flash write protect procedure doesn't work 100%. It appears as though the flash will erase even though it is write protected. This is an issue with the flash type, and there is no harware way to work around it. A simple firmware patch should be able to work around this issue. (I'm working on a fix now) This won't become a problem until the next time dtv sends down an update."
__________________

[shadyman]

Thanks for the info chief. I am using a modded one. I have modded several 420's but I bought this 430. I hear they are a lot tougher to do. I didn't quite understand the quote you posted. Should I be able to reflash with the nozkt bin and get it back to life? Or do I need to wait for this update? Hope I can figure out how to flash this 430.

[sdeens]

what he is saying in plain english:

1. the ST M29W flash chip is succeptable to stream updates, despite the lock down procedure that we use..i.e grounding the Flash (FP) circuity. This was identified long ago and I was fully expecting problems with any 430 or 431 that had the M29W flash chip.

My estimates show that about 30% of them have this chip...most use Intel

if the 430/431 has the Intel chip or the very rare M28W chip you will probably get some sort of nag mesaage that says "an unsucessful attempt was made to update your firmware"..such a nag can probably be eliminated by either unplugging the receiver or turining it on or off...very time consuning if we have to kill the A/C to force a reboot to eliminate nag.

the 430/43'1 that have the ST-29W flash chip will probably get corrupted during the new stream firnware being sent down..this means a total reflash will be necessary...otherwsie you should expect to see a dead receiver until then..no green light etc.

If that is the case then re-flashing is a waste of time because we will need to modify or cloak the existing NoZKt binary for the 430/431 so the ones with the ST-29W chip don't respond to the stream update and get corrupted or locked up...I expect to see Blacknite and PCR20 working on afix now to stop the nag..its probbaly a simple edit to the code.

This is NOT an ECM (at least so far from what I have read) just a ramification of what happens when Dave fired or terminatewed Wink technolgies..in fact it was something I was fully expecting months ago when i first heard they fired wink technologes...I figured to protect copyrights they would have to unwink their receivers and upload new interactive firmware to the ones that can support it...dave probbaly can't keep wink software on a receiver without getting Wink's legal team upset...incidently I have posted here on a few recent occasionm to use the UNWINKED images for the RCA420's..now you see what I was anticpating..that's why I always used unwinked NOZKT software.

I saw a post at ID that showed the procedure on how to make one small change to the firmware revision code in the firmware itself followed by an edit toi the address that hold the finall checksum calculation (they wont give us the calculator but they will tell us the new values for editiing purpsoses..I wish I had saved it so I could post it here..it probably will work and prevent the stream from updating the 430/431's that get corrupted and prevent functionality.

I can't getinto ID lately..not sure if its my computer cookie problem or the site is down..anyone else notice this about ID?

the obvious question now becomes why has this not also affected other 5th geneation receivers that supported wink (i.e RCA420's):

here's three possible reasons:

1. the 430 is a 6th generation IRD and Dave is using it for the intial test of this new inreactive firmware...the 430 and 431 use larger 4mb flash chips.

2. the new technology partner has compiled their code and it is too large for the smaller 2mb flash files found in most of the RCA420's...a few isolate 420's do have a 4mb flash chip but it is rare.

3. processor is too slow in the 420's to excute the new code.


more probably exists, but this is two simple possibilties that could explain why only the 430 and 431's are being effected.

I would be interesting to see if the 6th generation Hughes GAEBO's and RCA435's took any new firmware updated or the Phillips 5550's in the last week..i would like to hear from those who own one of them with a p4 card...they all have 4mb flash chips.

i have a feelign that this new inreactive firmware is probably much better than wink and is memory hog and als the newer 6th geneartion have a processor that is fast enough to process these code changes..maybe the olkder Omega 5500 processors are too slow in the 420's

[dkregsk1]

I haven't been able to get into ID since yesterday.

[sdeens]

the nozkt fix just got uploaded

winrar archive--our files section..courtesy of blacknite and mrwhite

[dkregsk1]

sdeens
is the fix the 208 version or is there another one?

[dkregsk1]

The new file just showed up at dssftp. thanks to mrwhite, blaknite and anyone else who had a hand in providing this new fix.

[quickone]

The new file just showed up at dssftp. thanks to mrwhite, blaknite and anyone else who had a hand in providing this new fix.


can anyone explain, what is required to do with this file to protect the receiver. Does the receiver have to be reflashed?

[dkregsk1]

according to what is posted at unwink, the eeprom lock for the m29w chip does not work 100% of the time. whether this is true for all m29w chips or just some, since not all were affected by the new update, we'll just have to wait and see when the next update comes along. it would appear that a reflash will be required if this happens again. at least that is what is posted at unwink.

[m5runner]

i will look into a good write protect. my M29 is working just fine so i dont really see the point in me reflashing.


M5

[skinerd]

The theory about the M29W flash being corrupted appears to not be valid, as some of the receivers that got scrambled have Intel chips....yet some of the 430's with the M29W continue to function......Always write protect, the issue of receivers being corrupted is still not clear as to which ones are affected and why the are affected.

[Wardialer]

great info.
it IS the M29W320DB.
thx guys. i'll check out the fixed firmware update.