? Turn off via remote ???

[B.J.]

Can you trun off an Azbox via the remote???

I generally turn off my Azbox by flipping the switch in the back.
I was just doing some experiments to see if the Azbox passed RF through the passthru when switched off, and wanted to compare that to turning off via the remote, which I've never done before. I tried to turn it off, but you apparently can't, at least with the 4585 firmware version I'm using.

What happens, is if I hit the power button on the remote, it takes me to a menu that gives me the options of SLEEP,SHUTDOWN,REBOOT,CANCEL . SLEEP, REBOOT and CANCEL seem to work, however SHUTDOWN takes you into a screen that says it's shutting down, then comes back to a page that says to shutdown now. Ie it seems like if you use that option, you still have to get up and manually turn off the switch in the back. I assume that it is just closing down any open files, and/or un-mounting any directories, etc, but I was under the impression that this isn't necessary with newer versions of firmware anyway, and I've never had any issues with using the switch without doing this first. So I guess the question is, what good is this function if you have to get up and turn the thing off anyway.

BTW, upon trying this SHUTDOWN option, I used the EXIT key, which brought me back to the menu with the 4 options. If I then go into SLEEP, it won't come out of SLEEP. Or actually, it comes out, but the screen has been disabled, and the mouse is non-functional. This is similar to what I've experienced if I try doing a REBOOT from telnet. Ie when the Azbox boots back up, no screen, and no remote. Whenever you get in this no screen/no remote situation, doing a power cycle reboot brings you back to life.

Anyway, I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this, and either know of a way to turn it off via the remote or has some insight into why they have this seemingless unnecessary function whereby you have to use the switch anyway?

 

[Mr Tony]

the only way I've ever shut off the receiver is with the switch on the back. I have tried what you have BJ with same results

reboot I have used when the hard drive doesnt get recognized by the azbox

 

[AcWxRadar]

I believe that the "SHUTDOWN" via the remote only prepares the system to be powered OFF from the rear switch (just like shutting down a PC), but whereas the PC actually does shut itself down, we still have to hit the power switch on the AZBox.

I think the intention is to prevent any corruption that might occur if you simply flipped the switch... Not that I ever witnessed any by doing it that way.

RADAR

 

[B.J.]

I believe that the "SHUTDOWN" via the remote only prepares the system to be powered OFF from the rear switch (just like shutting down a PC), but whereas the PC actually does shut itself down, we still have to hit the power switch on the AZBox.

I think the intention is to prevent any corruption that might occur if you simply flipped the switch... Not that I ever witnessed any by doing it that way.

RADAR

Right.
What I've been told over the years, is that Linux systems _CAN_ have a tendency to write to volatile memory, that doesn't go to disk or non-volatile memory until the partitions are un mounted. With some other Linux systems, I have tried to do this manually when shutting down, but I don't really know how necessary it is, because like you, I have never seen a situation where not doing this resulted in problems.
With the Azbox, I seem to remember one of the firmware upgrades that said something like "safe shutdown". I assumed that this meant that it was made more safe for sudden shutdown, but perhaps that is where they put in this feature... ie maybe what I saw yesterday IS the safe shutdown function?

 

[AcWxRadar]

Right.
What I've been told over the years, is that Linux systems _CAN_ have a tendency to write to volatile memory, that doesn't go to disk or non-volatile memory until the partitions are un mounted. With some other Linux systems, I have tried to do this manually when shutting down, but I don't really know how necessary it is, because like you, I have never seen a situation where not doing this resulted in problems.
With the Azbox, I seem to remember one of the firmware upgrades that said something like "safe shutdown". I assumed that this meant that it was made more safe for sudden shutdown, but perhaps that is where they put in this feature... ie maybe what I saw yesterday IS the safe shutdown function?

B.J.

I am sure that is correct (your hunch regarding the SAFE shutdown procedure). However, it does seem to gain us very little except for the "security blanket" feeling. I have never tried the "SLEEP" function from this menu. I had assumed that it meant "STANDBY MODE" as opposed to a full shutdown. From your experience, it sounds a little quirky. I do use the "REBOOT" quite often (compared to all others listed in that menu). That works really nicely when loading the firmware.

I rarely shut my AZBox down at all. I never do this with my Coolsat 5K either. It is still running and it has been ON pretty much 24/7 since 2004/2005. It just keeps going and going and going....

RADAR

 

[B.J.]

B.J.

I am sure that is correct (your hunch regarding the SAFE shutdown procedure). However, it does seem to gain us very little except for the "security blanket" feeling. I have never tried the "SLEEP" function from this menu. I had assumed that it meant "STANDBY MODE" as opposed to a full shutdown. From your experience, it sounds a little quirky. I do use the "REBOOT" quite often (compared to all others listed in that menu). That works really nicely when loading the firmware.

I rarely shut my AZBox down at all. I never do this with my Coolsat 5K either. It is still running and it has been ON pretty much 24/7 since 2004/2005. It just keeps going and going and going....

RADAR

The SLEEP function was some kind of STANDBY mode. It worked fine, as long as I didn't try the SHUTDOWN first. However it doesn't gain much either, as the CPU is obviously still on, or you wouldn't be able to recover so quickly. The two features of SLEEP that I was checking out is that the receiver still passes RF while in SLEEP mode whereas it does NOT pass RF when the switch is off in the back. The other thing is that in SLEEP mode, LNBF voltage is shut off, which could be good for some and bad for others. Ie it will save power and reduce heating of the receiver, but will result in temperature instability in the LNBF. But it could be a quick way of removing LNBF power if you're messing with the wires, although I've exchanged coax lines thousands of times without issue, so I don't really worry about that myself. The only receiver I've ever had that is sensitive to switching coax lines hot is the TT3200, and I think that only happens when I'm using it's LNBF power, but I almost alway run it slaved.