No response from remote or buttons on Skippa

[rodneya63]

This has now become to a point where even I am frustrated.

Every now and then the Skippa would just stop responding to the remote. The solution was to reboot it but now even that does not work. The unit goes through all the motions. It will come up with the last TV station it was on but after a few minute will fail to respond to any command from the remote and not even switch off when the main power button is pushed. Rebooting the system is no longer helping.

As another observation the unit is always very hot. Even when turned off it radiates far more heat than any other unit I have. As if the power switch just changed the front display.

I am assuming that there is no more support for this unit so the best thing I can do is bin out and visit Gerry's store and but a new DVR.

[Rowdy]

I solved this problem by reducing the supply voltage to 10.6V. I used an external supply that could be adjusted. This reduced the heat and solved the instability. It may not work for your system.

[Gary Makin]

Can you suggest where I could get a similar power supply? My guess was that the heat was probably responsible for the freezing I've been seeing.

[Rowdy]

I bought mine from Jaycar. It is a bit over the top as it supplies 5 Amps and I had intended it as a general purpose bench supply, but I bought a programmable bench supply, so it now sits behind the Skippa.

http://www.jaycar.com.au/Power-Products-Electrical/Power-Supply/Switchmode-Open-Frame-%26-DIN-Rail/Powertech-Switchmode-Power-Supply-40-Watt-12V-3-3A/p/MP3165


I used the programmable supply to trouble shoot the Skippa power problems.

[Dave at IceTV]

As another observation the unit is always very hot. Even when turned off it radiates far more heat than any other unit I have. As if the power switch just changed the front display.

The power switch basically just turns off the front display plus the video and audio output. The hard drive is still spinning and creating heat.

People have noted that heatsink on the SoC (the main chip on the board) is undersized for the heat that the SoC outputs. A larger heatsink would solve the issue as does fitting a fan.

To prevent excess heat causing damage to my Skippa I've been looking at one of these external USB powered fans:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-LCD-Vacuum-USB-Cooler-Air-Extracting-Cooling-Fan-Turbo-Radiator-for-Laptop/331369140765

The LCD temperature display would be handy to see if it makes any difference. Though I'd probably put black tape over it once I knew it was working. I'd probably cover the big blue backlit buttons as well.

Maybe something more discrete that hides underneath, or on top, of the Skippa might be more your taste.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/USB-Laptop-Cooling-Fan-Cooler-Pad-Stand-Base-Cradle-Notebook-Computer-Netbook-/271299888011

[Dave at IceTV]

Every now and then the Skippa would just stop responding to the remote. The solution was to reboot it but now even that does not work. The unit goes through all the motions. It will come up with the last TV station it was on but after a few minute will fail to respond to any command from the remote and not even switch off when the main power button is pushed. Rebooting the system is no longer helping.e and but a new DVR.

Someone just reminded me that when you reboot or power up a Skippa from fully off it can be unresponsive for a minute or two while it sorts out stuff in the background. This is normal for the Skippa. This is more likely to happen if you have needed to reboot it because something had frozen.