I believe that was the case with HDStar as well. We are using a custom patch to make it work.
No go. All is lost! Hard to believe both receivers failed, but they did - - I wonder what took them out?
Iāll be back when I get the new HDStar from Outernet. Ken
Yeah, thatās an amazing coincidence. I also wonder what couldāve taken them out.
Kenbarbi,
your answer is very short.
I would like to ask some more questions:
- did you make some checks I proposed for you, for example, on ssh with lsusb command?
Here are the usb IDs of the Geniatech HSStar receiver:
Geniatech HD Star DVB-S2 USB2.0 - LinuxTVWiki
idVendor=1f4d, idProduct=3000
Maybe you can make a quick check on a Windows machine: if you plug in, will it recognized as a new usb device? - have you any idea why your 2 receiver went wrong, if this is the case?
- what is the guarantee at your setup, that a brand new device will not be wrong in the first plug-in?
Thank you for getting back to me, Janos. Yes I did the lsusb check and did not find the Geniatech or the PCTV loaded. I got all the other USBs (8 or them with my mouse and keyboard plugged in).
I am using a USB hub which is working fine (I tested it separately on a computer). In the past I had the Geniatech plugged into the hub to power it, and it worked fine. I re-did the test with the Geniatech plugged directly into the PI, and also did not see it load either. As you said, I have a hardware problem, so I could not check further with Linux commands.
I did connect both the Geniatech and the PCTV to my computer at the base of my dish/LNB, and (although the computer recognized the device as far as drivers where concerned by asking me to load drivers from the CDs), my FTA program (ProgDVB) gave me the error message āno device foundā and proceeded to find no signals.
I had the same problem before with a PCTV stick that went bad early on, and got a replacement. The folks at Hauppage said the device failed. Looks like the same thing again.
Still, as you say, will it happen again with a new Geniatech? I hope not. But all Iāve been using is the standard Outernet setup connected at the base of my antenna for several months with thousands of articles and tweets being downloaded. While I have to run a power cord out the the antenna from the house (as my dish is 100 meters away in a clearing), we have had no storms or electrical problems. Thanks again, Ken
How very informative of them. 
First I worked with one of the techs in Germany on-line, and then a non-techy type on Long Island. The tech in Germany worked me thru a set of tests on the device using their software, and concluded I had a bad device. The folks on Long Island pretty much did a swap out with no questions asked.
Still I never saw a āsmoking gunā type failure - - like a board melt down or something like that. Ken
Kenbarbi,
thank you for your long report and more, additional info.
I can tell you, I have worry about your setup: it seems, it has some dangerous fault, or conditions, for the plugged usb device, if it become wrong one and after another.
If it is the situation, there warenot any storm, lightning activity around you, when you tested the receivers, it need to try to search more another circumtances.
Here are some my speculations:
Basically in two āinputā can be examine, the one is the antenna input of the receiver device.
If I know well, this type of sat receivers havenot any protecting components agains electrostatic charges on the antenna input. If your coax cable and the connectors are in good conditions, there arenot any dangerous effects around it. Maybe, the additional power unit, need for the receivers, produce correct voltageā¦? (9-12 Volt). Maybe you havenot any strong radio transmitter nearbyā¦
The second input is the usb connections to the host (RPi, or laptop)
If you connect the receiver to the RPi, you have two options: connect it directly to the RPi,s USB connector or use the powered hub,s connector. I have the experience, sometimes the system dont recognised the receiver, if I used the powered usb hub,s connector. Maybe it need a test to re-cabling the usb hub, the RPy and the other usb devicesā¦? Use the RPi,s USB connector, and connect it with the second connector to the powered usb hub.
Ofcourse, I propose to chesk with a cheap usb device the possible usb connectors, for example with a keyboard/mouse check the working conditions of the used usb connectorsā¦
Based on my speculations, if the system dont recognized it on the usb ālevelā, it has good chance to become wrong the usb interface IC in it.
I think, it is a good approache, try to learn any as possible from this bad case, where you are inā¦
best:
t.janos
(appendix):
here is an example report, about the dangers of an operating radio transmitter nearby:
" One user reported his RPi died while in WsprryPi service caused by excessive
RF voltage (90V) on GPIO4 created by a 100 watts AM transmitter 50ft away
from the antenna. After the damage exessive current was consumed by RPi (1.1A
from 5V supply), caused by short-circuiting in the 3.3V logic of the BCM2835
SOC. On his replacement RPi, he is planning to add galvanic isolation and
buffering."
RPi, from what Iāve read online, generally has problems with the electrical side of things, tho thatās probably understandable given itās a $35 board.
I have wondered, granted, not very much, about the way the Pi and the tuner card are powered. The pi will be pushing out 5v on its USB port, and the tuner will have this and is own 9-12V power supply. I wonder if there is an issue if they donāt have a common 0V?
I have noticed the LED on the tuner flickers occasionally when moving things around.
Still, it seems strange that both of your cards have gone U/S. Iām weary to update my software.
FTR, the recent software updates did not contain any changes related to how tuner is handled. (EDIT: Meaning, the kernel modules, firmware, and the software that directly talks to the tuner are all the same as in previous releases.)
Thanks Branko. I have a demo coming up, and Iām going to stay with what I have got until then. No problem doing the update after!