Freeview+ Digibox problem

I have a TVonics DTR Z500 Freeview digibox, although that might be irrelevant.

I turned it on tonight from standby and it said that it was "... starting up, please wait".

All well and good so far and nothing unusual there.

However, after booting and showing BBC1 for a few seconds (picture and sound normal) it rebooted - then showed BBC1 for a few seconds (picture and sound normal) then it rebooted - then showed BBC1 for a few seconds (picture and sound normal) then it rebooted - then showed BBC1 for a few seconds (picture and sound normal) then it rebooted ...

I could go on forever (it is doing) but you get my drift?

The manual says ...

Should you experience a problem with your Freeview+ box which can’t be resolved using the table below, put the unit into Standby mode, then unplug completely from the mains. Leave the unit unplugged for at least one minute before connecting again to the mains.

Well, the "table below" mentions nothing like this and I can't actually do what it says, because it refuses to accept any commands from the remote so I cannot put it into standby mode.

Left with no alternative, I unplugged it from the mains for a minute and plugged it back in and the loop started again.

I then unplugged it for five minutes, plugged it in and the loop started again.

The same after 30 minutes, which gives me the impression that it ain't gonna stop not no-how!

Can anyone help with any suggestions as to what i can do to stop this loop?

There appears to be no hard reset button and the only way to do a factory reset is to use a menu command - which i can't get at because it refuses to accept any commands from the remote and there are no buttons on the machine.

Catch 22 anyone?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Try pulling out the aerial so you then don't get BBC1 and see if that makes a difference.

I have always been under the impression that the Wales v Italy game would be the traditional 40 minutes each way, but my TVonics Library tells me that, in fact, it consisted of 144 periods of play, all lasting 0 minutes each!

Let me explain.

There is an automatic check for software updates overnight so I decided, as all else had failed and not having seen your advice, koola2, that I'd leave it plugged in and see if it would correct what I assume was a software corruption.

When I came down this morning, it had indeed untangled its undergarments and stood there with a smug look on its fascia along the lines of "That buggered up your evening, didn't it?"

I hate smart machines, especially when they are smarter than me!

So, something happened prior to the Wales v Italy match (alas, I shall never know what as I was watching my club play at the time, hence the recording).

Thanks for the advice, though. I'll store it away for if, or when, it ever happens again.

Time, though, to think of replacing this box and getting something else - the TVonics has been good, but it has had enough minor, yet irritating, glitches to persuade me that a different brand would be safer.

Mind you, that's the downside of any electronic gizmo, I guess.

Thanks again, koola.

I have the exact same problem, started this week. Have you had any luck with yours???

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iBozz

I have a TVonics DTR Z500 Freeview digibox, although that might be irrelevant.

I turned it on tonight from standby and it said that it was "... starting up, please wait".

All well and good so far and nothing unusual there.

However, after booting and showing BBC1 for a few seconds (picture and sound normal) it rebooted - then showed BBC1 for a few seconds (picture and sound normal) then it rebooted - then showed BBC1 for a few seconds (picture and sound normal) then it rebooted - then showed BBC1 for a few seconds (picture and sound normal) then it rebooted ...

I could go on forever (it is doing) but you get my drift?

The manual says ...

Should you experience a problem with your Freeview+ box which can’t be resolved using the table below, put the unit into Standby mode, then unplug completely from the mains. Leave the unit unplugged for at least one minute before connecting again to the mains.

Well, the "table below" mentions nothing like this and I can't actually do what it says, because it refuses to accept any commands from the remote so I cannot put it into standby mode.

Left with no alternative, I unplugged it from the mains for a minute and plugged it back in and the loop started again.

I then unplugged it for five minutes, plugged it in and the loop started again.

The same after 30 minutes, which gives me the impression that it ain't gonna stop not no-how!

Can anyone help with any suggestions as to what i can do to stop this loop?

There appears to be no hard reset button and the only way to do a factory reset is to use a menu command - which i can't get at because it refuses to accept any commands from the remote and there are no buttons on the machine.

Catch 22 anyone?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

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Hi, badger1000,

It cured itself after a while.

I left it overnight, with the unit switched on and the TV off, to go through these bizarre rebooting cycles and, when I looked in the morning it had sorted itself out.

I would guess the program that runs it gets itself into a finite loop and just has to count its way through them although just why I never dod discover.

Whether it fixed itself almost immediately or after many recycles I really don't know, but my advice would be to leave it on rebooting and wait and see.

You don't need to TV on as well, of course, can you can tell by the lights on the front of the unit whether or not it looks "normal".

I'd be interested to read if yours cured itself after you have tried my "method" - I say method, but in reality I had no idea what to do and would have been stuck if it hadn't cured itself in this manner.

Good luck!

Hi,this has just happened to my dtr-z500.Only gets as far as green opening screen saying turning on please wait.Tried unplugging and leaving it on but no joy.Any ideas?Cheers.
Cliveboy.

Hi, Cliveboy.

As I said, that time it just sorted itself out after leaving it plugged in overnight. Alas, I got no further in investigating it as the need had gone when it sorted itself out. I suggest you leave it plugged in for 12 to 24 hours and, if that doesn't work, leave it unplugged for the same period. That's a bit of a bummer if it's your only TV source, but there's some cracking stuff on radio these days to while away the TVless hours, especially on-line/internet radio!

Since then, and I don't mean to depress you, but possibly unrelated the device once started up saying the drive needed formatting. No matter how long I left it, both unplugged and plugged, I was unable to get past that screen and, eventually, I did the format and lost all my saved programmes.

It did, though, force me to choose which programmes I watched (the answer being none!) as I had nearly 200 hours stacked up and it was quite clear that some serious pruning would be required. However, it forced my hand by deleting the whole lot!

My initial enthusiasm for TVonics' products has been dimmed by a succession of minor, yet totally irritating, glitches and their help desk's seeming insistence that each query is unresolvable and I thus need to buy a later, yet much smaller HD'd, version of their unit.

For example, the power lead failed and TVonics were insistent that there was no possible source of an 18v DC unit meeting their precise specifications as their one and only supplier of a non-standard power lead had stopped making them - and I thus needed to buy a new TVonics unit. I work backstage in a theatre and I mentioned this to my Deputy Technical Stage Manager, who expressed incredulity, and he obtained one off the internet within a few days which exceeded the TVonics specifications and it has been working without a problem (at least as far as the power feed is concerned) for more than a year since being replaced!

Nesx time, I shall get a Humax or something else, not a TVonics.