Some quotes I found online, they were on a hack site so I can't post a link but this was all about the SV8K rebooting issues which seem to occur even with HD channels. It may not be isolated to the UHF bands alone, I think it's all about the sudden demand of a specific voltage which a failing p/s fails to provide resulting in reboot... I would also suggest checking the cooling fan, it should have one,
clean it, dust builds up on these baby's fast. It doesn't hurt to remove the fan and peel back the label part way and add a small drop of 3-in-1 oil or any light machine oil. If your unit does not have an internal fan then I suggest installing one.
Below are the quotes.... read on:
"In 45+ years of electronics and electronics design, I NEVER . . . . .NEVER seen a alum eletrolytic cap fail in such a short time as the ones in the SV8000 did. They only lasted about two years! It's not heat, over voltage, over-current, stress, etc. . . . they are just cheap, poor quality, hence low reliability parts."
"I purchased one of the first SV-8000 units. It has operated without any problems until yesterday. It started rebooting and then finally shut down completely. Since I do more reading than posting, I went to RatShack and got two 1000 uf 35V caps and replaced both C10 and C24 on the power supply board. One note: to anyone doing this, make sure you observe the polarity of the caps. Plugged it back in and it is now working as a true FTA receiver once again. The caps that I removed were only rated at 10 volts, so these 35v caps should last one heck of a lot longer. My thank you goes to whoever figured out that the C10 was the weak point in the power supply. Thank you sir....One last thing: the caps that I removed showed no sign of breaking down. No oozing or swelling of the cap so don't let the good looks fool you. They were bad!"
"Add my name to the list as another guy happy to find this thread for a 20 minute fix to replace C10 with a 1000uf 25v 105 to bring a dead box back to life. V1 box I've had since the day before the first beta file release, first problem with the box, picture was frozen, after a hard reboot she was dead. Nice easy fix... "
"You can tell which way the caps go in. The polarity is marked on the board with a " ) " mark outside the circle where the capacitor mounts for the side of the capacitor with the stripe (Look at the old capacitor and the marking on the board before removal and you will see what I am talking about). I would not pull and twist on the old capacitor, you could damage the board. Use solder wick (desoldering braid as it is also called) and remove the solder from around the leads. You can then pull the capacitor right out and install the new one."
"Get a roll of solder wick. It is braided copper that you place on the existing solder and then place your soldering iron on top of that. When the solder melts it will "wick" up into the braided copper. When you see it turn silver remove the solder wick and the lead should then be all nice and clean and ready to pull out of the hole."
"i had the same problem with rebooting,replaced cap 10&24 good to go.but the problem that i have now is that i do not get any signal Q.i tested the cable at the reciever by bird dog meter ,getting signal Q AT 90%.WHEN I CONNECT THE CABLE TO THE RECIEVER I GET NO SIGNAL.PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS. THANKS"
"I had a similar problem in that the LED stayed "Booting" forever. With the help of this thread I replaced Capasitors C10, C11, C14 and C24 with replacement Capacitors 1000uf 35v and IT WORKED! It runs MUCH, MUCH cooler now! I should mention the replacement Capacitors are much bigger in actual size than the originals (at least three times the size in height and twice the size in width). You sure have to know how to solder on a circuit board and use a solder wick to remove the old Capacitors. I could not tell either from appearance the old ones were bad. I read somewhere on this forum someone said replace C10, 11, 14, 24...so that's what I did. It was probably overkill but it worked! ($1.50 a piece)"
"What capacitors to buy? (Original C10 is a 1000uf 10v 85 degree- I believe)
Testers are buying:
1000uf 25 volts and 105 degree radial-lead DC caps
1000uf 35 volts and 105 degree radial-lead DC caps
Cost: Under $4.00 for two capacitors"
End of Quotes
I also read in some posts about possibly having PVR recording issues associated with p/s failures due to low, inconsistant or irractic voltages.
On a typical p/s you will commonly find a very large capicitor on the primary side of the transformer and about 4 medium sized caps on the output/secondary side, the 4 medium caps are usually 2 pairs and 2 different values, these 4 caps I mentioned are for the LNB voltages that will cause a "no signal" result if they have failed. In most cases all caps will buldge on the top and sometimes leak onto the p/c board. Failed capicitors can sometimes damage other components as well so even after replacing all the caps you may still have a problem. If you find that this information does not help you then please pardon me.
I don't know if SonicView is still in business or if they even sell the p/s anymore as stated in the quote but if indeed you have an unrepairable p/s and can't find a factory replacement there are other possibilities of using a p/s from another receiver. I've done this and had great success, p/supplies are quite similar throughout various brand receivers, I once took a p/s from an old DirecTV Samsung receiver and used it in a FTA unit and it works perfect. The p/supplies used in Dish Network and DirecTV stb's are of better quality and can typlically last the lifetime of the receiver.
Note that not all capacitors sold are of equal quality, they are commonly catogorized in different life span ratings such as 1000, 2000 & 3000 hours for many applications. Capacitors are available from many sources but not all are of quality brands. Capacitors are inexpensive and usually cost from 35 cents to 5 dollars depending on size and quality, I myself spend the extra for the best I can find, Nichicon and Panasonic are good caps and usually have the proper replacements for FTA p/supplies.
You can find just about any capacitor you need at
www.digikey.com , I have bought from them many times and their products are reasonably priced and ship quickly for a small postage fee. I hope this provides a solution for your issue, good luck
TIP: when searching for a specific capacitor, use the following format in this example: "cap 450V 2000uf" , this is a common search practice and will render better search results, also read the instructions about using the search "filters" one at a time when searching. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
