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Hi folks,

My father is trying to recoup some of his cash since PayPal won't honor his claim for a refund...  as a result his Skippa is now up for grabs ... unfortunately it's one of the ones that has an issue with overheating.  We haven't tried a new power supply with it but I have been told in another thread on the forums that it is unlikely to fix the issue for us (unfortunately)...

Wondering if others may be interested in it for spare parts.

As it has issues we're not after pristine price, so make an offer.  Anything reasonable will be considered.

Not interested in selling parts individually -- looking at selling the whole unit including the remote.

Send me a PM if interested. 

Please note that I don't check messages here everyday so it may be a few days before I get back to you.

Thanks in advance.

Will definitely bear it in mind bodog.

Some more info came to me from my father that may be of use ... until I spoke to my father on the phone that he forgot to mention that the front of the Skippa was cold even though the back was hot during his test with the fan on it.  Now I'm seriously wondering if he's one of the 'lucky ones' (if I may use that term) who have the power pack issue.

Either way I think I'm going to ascertain a replacement and see if that helps before he comes to a decision regarding selling it for parts.

For what it's worth, although I may come across a little short (and my apologies to those who have interpreted it that way) my father is incredibly keen to do what he can (whilst being realistic) to see if he can get this to work and support IceTV's current subscription service.

Enjoy your NYE festivities.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for providing the info regarding how the chip is attached to the board etc.  Whilst I'm comfortable with most things to do with opening up boxes and replacing common components, I don't think trying to even fix this is an option for us now.  Which is a shame.

As for your comment that it's a fire hazard, that's really not true and is very alarmist...

I understand what you are conveying, however if after having a one metre tall fan directly pointed at and over the top of the Skippa on maximum output and after 10 minutes it's hot enough to burn your hand if left on it for more than 3 seconds, then for me there is a genuine cause for concern.

I guess for the moment I'll be telling my father to bin it.

Thanks for your input.

Hi Erik,

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings but I fell into the same problem when helping my 72yo parents sort out their PayPal claim.  As my parents were up north house-sitting my sister's place for a month after the device was delivered, I found out about the whole voluntary administration thing whilst I was up there with them setting it up.  We were incredibly patient and my father spent hours talking to someone over the phone after I had come back home (he's incredibly hard of hearing and is considered legally deaf without his hearing aids in) who was in turn incredibly patient in assisting him with his issues and did their utmost to try to help him get it up and running properly -- which I am incredibly grateful for as a lot of people get incredibly impatient with him.

Just before Christmas we attempted to lodge a PayPal claim but of course as it had been over 180 days since payment took place in May (as opposed to the transaction completion date of October when he received his device) so they aren't coming to the party.  It looks like you may have the same issue.

I drew up a 4 page letter indicating all of the issues we've had with the machine (I put a post in another thread about how theirs freezes) and they lodged it with the Commonwealth Bank this morning as they paid by credit card.  They immediately cut their cards up on the spot and the bank even threw the word 'fraud' around.  Big word I know and one I may not actually agree with personally due to their supplier having issues.  I don't know if anybody else has put in a claim through the CBA, but incidentally their IceTV auto-renewal refuses to work for more than one month (the IceTV subscription always gets declined automatically the second time) so I don't know if they are already aware of others facing the same issue and have put something in place to stop auto-renewals.

Unfortunately your only option now is to contact your bank, and a refund may only be possible if you paid by credit card. I say may as there are no guarantees.

My parents wanted to consolidate their 3 x PVR's and only bought the Skippa due to the number of tuners included.  We did research on IceTV and saw there were a number of models already existing and whilst some had their problems, nothing on the market compared.  Like everybody else my heart sank a little and thought that it was an incredible shame when everything unfolded, even considering that this was our first time dealing with the company.

I hope this helps in some way to help you move forward with knowing what your options are.

Elliott.

Hi folks.

New user, apologies if in the wrong place; unsure where to post this.  Only registered as my 72yo father pre-purchased a Skippa and it also seems to have freezing issues. I use the term freezing issues as it stops responding to the remote and the buttons on the front panel.  This happens at random times of the day, anywhere between 10 mins and 10 hours after powering it on.  Have not yet tried the power pack replacement option, however it is running quite hot when it does lock up (so hot that you can't put your hand on it for more than two seconds). I know the issue is not the sata cable as I can access the DLNA Server on the Skippa and stream raw recordings via Windows Media Player on my mother's 8.1 laptop even when it stops responding to the remote and the buttons on the front panel.

We were advised by email that heat can be a problem for the Skippa and to consider adding some higher feet to it and to allow it to breathe better.  It's sitting in a room that currently doesn't get ridiculously hot or humid (my parents live in Hervey Bay and even on hot days the lounge room doesn't go above 33-34oC).  It's currently located on the second shelf in a small alcove with an open back within an entertainment unit with nothing close to it in any direction for at least 10/15/30cm (width/height/depth with width being 10cm on either side of the Skippa unit itself).

We were also advised that the heatsink may not be sufficient for the CPU and that it can cause overheating issues, locking up the system.

As such I've told my father to unplug it and not use it until I can get some more information in what I can pursue hardware wise to try to rectify the problems he's experiencing.

Please forgive me if my terminology is slightly skewed, I'm going purely from the viewpoint of building a PC and I am making the broad assumption that the hardware setup may be similar, at least the theory.

Basically I'm trying to find out -- the socket type (is it a ZIF socket? or does it have a clamp to hold it in place like an Intel chip etc? Is there anything specific I need to do when removing the heatsink to ensure the CPU isn't damaged?), what kind of heatsink I may be able to purchase to try and replace it, and if people are using a thermal paste like arctic silver 5 or ceramique on it when re-attaching the new heatsink.  I was contemplating trying to find a small USB powered fan to try and extract the air out of the vents on the top (I measured it at around 10x5cm but couldn't find anything at the local Jaycar, even in the 5x5cm range) but I'm not overly fussed on retro-fitting something to it if I can just address the root of the problem and fix it once and for all.

I'd prefer to be armed with this info before taking it apart as I live in Ipswich and need to drive for 4 hours to attempt to help them out with this.

Currently it's a fire hazard and not worth even plugging in to test it.  Both my folks are 72 and they were hoping the Skippa would allow them to consolidate their 3 x PVR's that they were using into one to record all of their favourite TV shows.

I'd love to hear from anyone who might be able to shed some light on my situation, or even better, has had success in this exact scenario.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Forgot to add we updated to the latest firmware as provided by email by support, and I even did a full factory reset to no avail.