T4 wants to reboot

[Sandy B]

My T4 over the last 3 months occasionally just tries to reboot, the first time it occurred it tried unsuccessfully a few times to reboot until I powered off, when powered on again it successfully rebooted. Recently on about 4 occasions I just power off and repowering allows rebooting.

Does anybody know if this is a power supply issue or some maintenance required from Mr Warkus or another issue.

[MrQuade]

Failure to boot properly is usually a good sign that the power is drifting out of spec.

I had the opposite problems with mine. My T4 would often refuse to boot from deep standby, but rebooting was fine.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

What is displayed on the front panel at the time, can you remember?

Perhaps it is enigma2 failing to start due to no frame buffer memory.

[Paul_oz53]

What is displayed on the front panel at the time, can you remember?

Perhaps it is enigma2 failing to start due to no frame buffer memory.

Like MrQuade, my T4 went through a period when it would not boot from deep standby. No visible sign of a defect when opened for inspection. Best as I recall, there was no clue on the front panel display.

I left it off for a week or more but powered it up one last time as I was about to send it to Perth for Warkus.

Lo and behold, it started and hasn't missed a beat since.

Power supply capacitors are a prime suspect when random reboots occur. Often they bulge or leak so the problem is obvious to a visual inspection.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Like MrQuade, my T4 went through a period when it would not boot from deep standby. No visible sign of a defect when opened for inspection. Best as I recall, there was no clue on the front panel display.

"T4 wants to reboot"
"occasionally just tries to reboot"
"it tried unsuccessfully a few times to reboot until I powered off, when powered on again it successfully rebooted."
"Recently on about 4 occasions I just power off and repowering allows rebooting."

No mention of booting from deep standby.
"T4 wants to reboot" and "tries to reboot" could be a non-technical observation of a crash (due to drivers or enigma2) followed by a failed GUI restart.

If it indeed is booting from deep standby and failing, then succeeding upon power off/on, then I'd be suspecting the tuner voltage regulator thingamies, as the Doc told me that's sometimes a symptom.

I'm not saying it isn't a power supply capacitor issue, as I wouldn't have the foggiest.

[Sandy B]

Sorry for the confusion, but several times the T4 was playing a recorded file and it will just “power off/crashed” and then it tried to reboot, and the reboot fails. On another occasion I had just pressed stop and returned to the Media Menu when it crashed. It is with a manual power off and on (via rear switch) that enables a successful reboot. My problem is trying to understand what is causing the initial “power off/crash” and consequent reboot.

[Paul_oz53]

I take your point Grumpy_Geoff. Sandy B is experiencing a crash whereas MrQuade and I are talking about a different fault.

The tuner regulator problem is a distinct possibility here, in which case a trip to Warkus is strongly advised.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Sorry for the confusion, but several times the T4 was playing a recorded file and it will just “power off/crashed” and then it tried to reboot, and the reboot fails. On another occasion I had just pressed stop and returned to the Media Menu when it crashed. It is with a manual power off and on (via rear switch) that enables a successful reboot. My problem is trying to understand what is causing the initial “power off/crash” and consequent reboot.

I'm still confused by your use of the terms "power off" and "reboot".
On those occasions, do you see the "bubbles" screen (perhaps optionally after a screen of white text on a black background - a GUI crash)? Does it then not proceed any further?

Do you have crash logs for those times? Look in the "Logs" share in Windows File Explorer.

[Sandy B]

I'm still confused by your use of the terms "power off" and "reboot".

The T4 appears to crash which is noted by no display on the T4 and, a blank TV screen. This is followed by the reboot try however it only goes to the Beyonwiz logo with the T4 display again blank along with a blank TV, it appears to get stuck in this cycle and does not progress to the bubble screen. A power off/on via rear switch breaks the cycle with the T4 successfully rebooting.

[Paul_oz53]

I'm still confused by your use of the terms "power off" and "reboot".

The T4 appears to crash which is noted by no display on the T4 and, a blank TV screen. This is followed by the reboot try however it only goes to the Beyonwiz logo with the T4 display again blank along with a blank TV, it appears to get stuck in this cycle and does not progress to the bubble screen. A power off/on via rear switch breaks the cycle with the T4 successfully rebooting.

I suspect a hardware problem is preventing a normal restart. It might also be corrupted firmware.

My approach would be to inspect internally for any signs of bulging capacitors or degraded heatsink cement. If a pass, reflash the firmware. If the problem recurs, send it to Warkus.

[prl]

+1

The particular heatsinks are the ones just in front of the tuners (aluminium boxes standing on their long side) at the rear left (looking at the PVR from the front).

When the cement binding the heatsinks to the regulators underneath them degrades, the most common problem is that a pair of tuners fail to be found. But in my case the problem bricked my T4.

Warkus fixed the problem better than new.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

I suspect a hardware problem is preventing a normal restart.

I suspect a hardware problem is also causing the unexpected reboots.

[Paul_oz53]

I suspect a hardware problem is preventing a normal restart.

I suspect a hardware problem is also causing the unexpected reboots.

Yep, that's what I meant to say.

If a reflash doesn't fix it maybe run a disk check but otherwise send it to the Master for resurrection. (Doctor Who pun intended!)

[Sandy B]

I have tried to re-flash, however the T4 does not "see" the usb and continues with a normal reboot, however it does not successfully reboot. It progress through the bubble screen and appears to establish the TV stations however the bubble screen does not disappear, I can change station with the info-bar appearing on the bottom of the screen as normal but no TV and the bubble screen a constant on the TV screen. I have tried 3 different usb sticks with no luck and have tried a many times to reboot without the usb, however I always get the same result. With the usb stick in for a re-flash it never asks me to press the "^" key.

Hopping someone can help.

[Sandy B]

I have manged to re-establish normal operations by pressing the down key on the front panel, don't really know why.

I can not understand why the T4 could not see the usb, one of the usb contained am mkv file which is playable on the T4.

[MrQuade]

I have tried to re-flash, however the T4 does not "see" the usb and continues with a normal reboot, however it does not successfully reboot. It progress through the bubble screen and appears to establish the TV stations however the bubble screen does not disappear, I can change station with the info-bar appearing on the bottom of the screen as normal but no TV and the bubble screen a constant on the TV screen.

That means that the T4 is unable to tune to a channel. The T4 is just showing a still image of the last "video" it was displaying because it has no new video to replace it (the "video" being the bubble screen).

I have tried 3 different usb sticks with no luck and have tried a many times to reboot without the usb, however I always get the same result. With the usb stick in for a re-flash it never asks me to press the "^" key.

Were they formatted as FAT32?
I assume that you unzipped he firmware onto the stick such that there was a "beyonwiz" folder in the root directory?

The stick *must* be USB1.1 compatible. Generally small, cheap and nasty ones will work.

[Paul_oz53]

I have tried to re-flash, however the T4 does not "see" the usb and continues with a normal reboot, however it does not successfully reboot. It progress through the bubble screen and appears to establish the TV stations however the bubble screen does not disappear, I can change station with the info-bar appearing on the bottom of the screen as normal but no TV and the bubble screen a constant on the TV screen. I have tried 3 different usb sticks with no luck and have tried a many times to reboot without the usb, however I always get the same result. With the usb stick in for a re-flash it never asks me to press the "^" key.

Hopping someone can help.

Have you tried both front and rear ports?

Getting the wiz to see the usb stick is the biggest challenge. A trick you can use is copy a file with a filetype .ipk to the root of the USB stick. Make a dummy file if needs be. When you plug the USB stick in the front panel display will change to "install extensions" if the stick is recognized.

Also, it is critical that the firmware you downloaded is properly set out on the USB stick. Is there a beyonwiz folder in the root and a hdp folder beneath that? The hdp folder should contain 11 files. If not, you need to extract the files from the zip file and copy the extract to the usb stick.

The above symptoms are concerning too. That there is a picture though would suggest all is not lost and a reflash may fix it.

Even so, have you inspected for signs of damage due to failure of the tuner regulator cement? If not, it is critical to be sure that this is repaired before permanent damage occurs.

[Sandy B]

Windows 10 says usb format is FAT.

Down-loaded <beyonwiz-19.3-beyonwizt4-20191106_usb> to usb, and extracted to achieve:

<beyonwiz-19.3-beyonwizt4-20191106_usb with subdirectory beyonwiz>

Have to go out now so please excuse me for a while.

[MrQuade]

Windows 10 says usb format is FAT.

FAT, FAT32, or exFAT?

I only ask because "FAT" would be slightly unusual in this day and age due to it being limited to 4GB. But it should work.
FAT32 is ideal.
exFAT will *not* work.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Down-loaded <beyonwiz-19.3-beyonwizt4-20191106_usb> to usb, and extracted to achieve:

<beyonwiz-19.3-beyonwizt4-20191106_usb with subdirectory beyonwiz>

Possibly this is where you went wrong.
The "beyonwiz" folder must be in the root directory/top level of the USB thumb drive - not in any subdirectory.

[Sandy B]

Possibly this is where you went wrong.
The "beyonwiz" folder must be in the root directory/top level of the USB thumb drive - not in any subdirectory.

I think you are correct. I noticed that on the 3 USB's I tried that something went wrong during the extraction process, Window's 10 actually created a second <beyonwiz-19.3-beyonwizt4-20191106_usb> file with the "beyonwiz" a sub-directory. I extracted in the Download folder and only copied the 'beyonwiz" onto the USB.

All good now and thanks all for the great advice.

[Paul_oz53]

Possibly this is where you went wrong.
The "beyonwiz" folder must be in the root directory/top level of the USB thumb drive - not in any subdirectory.

I think you are correct. I noticed that on the 3 USB's I tried that something went wrong during the extraction process, Window's 10 actually created a second <beyonwiz-19.3-beyonwizt4-20191106_usb> file with the "beyonwiz" a sub-directory. I extracted in the Download folder and only copied the 'beyonwiz" onto the USB.

All good now and thanks all for the great advice.

It's an easy trap to fall into. If you extract on the PC less chance of making the mistake. I know this from experience!

[Sandy B]

Regarding the original reboot problem I have found that the T4 still wants to reboot/power off even after re-flashing. I phone Warkus for repair advice and was told that it is a heat sink problem and there is nothing that can be done and it will eventually just die.

Oh how am I going to live without my T4 and a HDMI in. Please Beyonwiz come up with an upgraded V2 with a HDMI in, I do care how much it costs I just want a HDMI in.

BTW I also have a P2 which Mark advised was not worth repairing as I have noted on another post.

Not a happy day.

[Paul_oz53]

Regarding the original reboot problem I have found that the T4 still wants to reboot/power off even after re-flashing. I phone Warkus for repair advice and was told that it is a heat sink problem and there is nothing that can be done and it will eventually just die.

If it is a heatsink problem, maybe a fan might delay its demise. I have a 120mm 5v USB fan sitting on the case over mine.

Oh how am I going to live without my T4 and a HDMI in. Please Beyonwiz come up with an upgraded V2 with a HDMI in, I do care how much it costs I just want a HDMI in.

Typo I suspect. I think you mean ...don't care....

BTW I also have a P2 which Mark advised was not worth repairing as I have noted on another post.
...

Thought as much, Warkus didn't take me up on a free offer of a redundant P2.

[peteru]

It sounds a lot like Warkus is trying to get away from repairing Beyonwiz machines. Perhaps directing people to contact him is no longer appropriate.

[Paul_oz53]

It sounds a lot like Warkus is trying to get away from repairing Beyonwiz machines. Perhaps directing people to contact him is no longer appropriate.

Sadly. the end of an era is before us.

When I last spoke to him he said he had been overwhelmed with work due to the lockdown. Probably a combination of factors at play but he also cited frustration with delivery delays and a lack of spare parts as major elements.

Recent history would seem to suggest the major repair work centres on the T4 and involves two major faults, both of which are frequently terminal and one unfixable and the other pot luck.

The older machines are end of life and repairing them makes little sense. But the repair guides offer some solace for the technically inclined. Overwhelmingly, the major failure points are capacitors, regulators and storage devices and their connections. The few remaining repair shops around can probably handle those repairs if one is desperate.

For the T2 and U4, replacing the power brick or the hdd (as appropriate) is likely to cure most problems.

All of which means that the best course for most users will be to upgrade to the latest model.

Vale Warkus! (Not to be taken too literally!)

[prl]

Vale Warkus! (Not to be taken literally!)

Why not? It just means "farewell".

vale

exclamation
archaic

Farewell.

Origin
Latin, literally ‘be well!, be strong!’, imperative of valere.

https://www.lexico.com/definition/vale

[Paul_oz53]

Vale Warkus! (Not to be taken literally!)

Why not? It just means "farewell".

...

Perhaps I should have said "too literally". I was alluding to its usage in funeral notices of course, lest someone else misinterpreted my meaning.

But you knew that already.

[peteru]

OK, I'll go the other way.

Lest we forget the fallen Beyonwizes. RIP ♱.

♱. Rest In Pieces

[Gully]

Definitely the end of an era and a sad loss for those of us in the Eastern States.

[jhtemail]

I have had this issue for some years now with the T4 wanting to randomly reboot. I fixed it for quite some time by putting a laptop cooler under the Beyonwiz. That worked well as it had fans in it and I could power it from the USB ports. However its really dying now, I could not get anyone at Beyonwiz to quote for a new power supply and I can't find a generic one but I did find NasaElectronics who sold me one which is excellent so I will install that and see if that work. If it does'nt my ultimate solution is to just rip out the T4 power supply and modify a generic power supply to fit where it goes. Its a pretty basic unit and it seems all the beyonwiz models have an issue with under powered power supplies as I have had this issues with the older models as well. I only need 12 volts so a standard 12 volt power supply modified to fit into the box should not be two hard to fabricate.

[prl]

Have you looked at the voltage regulators for the tuner? They're under the heat sinks near the tuners. If the goop holding the heat sinks onto the devices has browned at all (it should be white), then that may also be contributing to the instability of the T4. Similarly if you wiggle the heat sinks gently and they feel loose.

I've also delete a duplicate of your post