With the summers a few months away, it is quite normal to say it is the favourite season for the set-top boxes to repair and quick-fix things. And to repair these STB needs time. So, this is the best time to do it before summer sets in.

This post tells you the issues that most homes face and we have even listed the solutions to it also to make things easier on your side.

Post-deployment issues 

1. Operating temperature: It is one of the most common types of issues seen in STBs, whereas a slight change in the operating temperature may cause a hazardous effect. One must note that the optimal temperature of an STB is 60 degrees Celsius. So, if the operating temperature crosses this threshold, it creates a lot of issues. Let us see what they are:

A. Cause: Your STB will run smoothly for the 1st 5 mins but it will go on the self-reboot mode in every 1-2 mins. Because when you started your PC, the power IC was off, but after some time, it would heat up and with the high operating temperature exceeding 60 degrees Celsius, it does not help much. Moreover, it heats up way too much to handle setting up the STB in the self-reboot mode.

B. Effect: When your STB is in automatic reboot mode, there is a high risk of the failure of various electronic parts present on the STB. Some of the electronic parts that get affected are- 3.3-volt power IC, 1.5-volt power IC, 2.5-volt power IC.

C. Solution: You need to pay attention to which of the power ICs got short-circuited. There is a 90% possibility that the 3.3-volt power IC must have got short-circuited. And if not check for the 2.5volt power IC and lastly check on the 1.5-volt power IC. Check these ICs step by step and if they are not functioning properly, replace them with genuine branded power ICs than cheap roadside ones as it will not fully solve the automatic reboot problem.

2. High input voltage power: Most of the time STBs work with a 5volt power adaptor. But supposedly if you have replaced it with a 12volt power adaptor then it will malfunction the Zener diode of STB resulting in a complete shutdown of the system.

Solution: You need to check your Zener diode, if you find it short-circuited, then replace it with a new one. This act will completely solve all issues that you faced earlier.

3.    RF input current: It is a major issue that needs to be handled with care.

A. Cause: There is a threshold for everything. The same concept is applicable for this element too. Like on rainy days, it’s quite common that some amount of DC current might penetrate the RF input cable but it should be within the threshold. A minimum is allowed. But the DC current when crossing this same threshold might affect the interior components of the STB.

b. Effect: It will fail the tuner IC of STB making it run but not fully function.

c. Solution: Remove the tuner IC of the STB that is mounted on the RF tuner section. After removing the tuner IC, you need to properly solder it and mount it on the STB.

4. Booting issue: Here the STB will not go into proper boot mode but it will get on the boot screen where it does not complete the boot process.

a. Cause: STB software issue

b. solution: You must have a default release of STB and for that, you need to have an STB software cable that to upload the recent release in the STB.

5. Non-centric issues: There could be plenty of other issues other than the stated above like physical damage, audio output problem, RAM problem or colour display orientation, etc.

Solution: All of these issues can be solved by replacing some or one of the electronic parts present on the STBs like RAM, CPU IC, HA7, Audio IC, etc.

Final words

Seasonal change and sometimes natural calamities do have an effect on the functionality of the STBs. So, it is important to repair it from time to time so there will be fewer issues in the future. This post has cited some of the major issues with set-top boxes and with relevant solutions to tackle them.