Hello
I was given a Kaon KVR-1000TS+, a set top box with satellite + terrestrial digital tuner, hard disk, USB + Ethernet and analog video input recording capability. It works great but with a small problem and there appears to be very little info for this model on the net. I already updated the firmware to the latest available (V01.01.25). It is like this one but mine does not have S7 in the model number:
When turned on from stand-by it goes through its initialization procedure that usually takes around 30 seconds, sometimes starts right away and is fine until turned off. But most times it keeps rebooting several times until finally starts fine. What annoys me about this is that it keeps turning on and off the harddisk and this is a good way to damage it. It has nothing to do with temperature or cold start.
I have removed the ethernet card and harddisk to discard possible culprits and the problem is exactly the same, checked all electrolytics with my ESR meter, found none suspicious. I have scope and logic analyzer (PC based) available. I have been using it for a year without harddisk to see if the "failing" component would finally fail completely but nothing has changed.
I have identified the cause of the reboots. The box has two microprocessors, one is the main MPEG decoder that controls tuners, memories, etc and the other is at the front panel controlling the buttons, remote sensor, VFD display and more importantly the power supply. At turn on within the first second the front processor receives a burst of digital data from the main processor (a two wire interface, not I2C) and from that moment the front processor waits 11 seconds for some activity on the bus, if it sees nothing performs a reboot. The problem is that the main processor sends something at approximately 10 seconds but sometimes it will take an additional second to reach that point so causing that random reboot problem. When the reboot happens it is almost about to send that "I am alive" signal as seen in the log output in its serial port.
My feeling is the front processor has a very tight time-out and there could be something delaying slightly the main processor startup procedure. My suspect is around the 27 MHz oscillator maybe starting slow or drifting in frequency. But no erratic operation can be seen once it has started properly. Also, I have disconnected the bus to the front processor and found that if it does not receive the first burst of activity it waits indefinitely, so it is that burst that triggers the 11 seconds time-out.
Since there is a buffer driver with output enable (OE) capability in the main processor to front processor bus I was thinking in a workaround to delay the OE activation some seconds at power up with a resistor and capacitor to stop the initial burst to reach the front processor and then have it wait indefinitely. I have tested this solution by disconnecting manually the bus wire and it works but this seems a hack rather than a repair. I would like to hear of some opinion or past experience about this.
I have logged the messages that come out of its serial port with timestamps and identified where the main processor sends the "I am alive" data to the front processor. It is in one of the following lines (see the complete log at the end of this message):
40544,0508402,[P10046] firmware download O.K !!! 40544,0508411,MC_RxStart!!!!!! 40544,0508415,size = 676, addr = 1280Note that the reboot occurs just before these lines, a few hundred milliseconds before. P10064 refers to the DVB-T tuner and sometimes it reboots after this message so errors with uploading the tuner firmware are discarded.
Here follows the complete log of serial port messages where it has rebooted two times and started fine at the third attempt. The left column is a timestamp with 0.01 seconds accuracy. Some of the I2C devices I have identified:
0xA0 - EEPROM 24C16 0x10 - DVB-T tuner (chip TDA10046A) 0xC0 - DVB-S tuner (chip STV0299B) It seems to try to detect some DVB-S tuners before finding the right one and then randomly gives errors writing to the DVB-S tuner but these errors have no relation at all with the reboots, I have seen these errors appear with no reboot involved and the satellite tuner always works fine. Note that the harddisk is not plugged, so it gives an error in the log.40544,0505136,Loader v3.1.3 Loader Built:Nov 11 2004, 14:15:06
40544,0505136,Uncompress Flash Application... 40544,0505393,Launch Flash Application... 40544,0505409,-------------------------- START----------------------------------
40544,0505409,Build Date : Jun 7 2007 , 21:15:26 40544,0505452,[FE] Version : 03.00.02 Last Update : 2006.12.29 40544,0505454,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xA0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0505454,E2PROM 1 check error ::: 40544,0505454,E2PROM 0 check OK ::: 40544,0505454,EMMA_FE_GPIO_Initialize :: eBRD_TYPE_NO_ASIC 40544,0505503,DUO_DetectChannel(0-0, 19, LG-T, 1):DVB_T_13 = OK 40544,0505503,fe_check_tuner(11) = 1 40544,0505503,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 2, ZL10, 1):DVB_S_3STI2C_WriteNoStop(Handle=0x1C) Write err 40544,0505505,STI2C_Read(addr=0x1C, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0505505, = N.G 40544,0505505,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 4, LG10, 1):DVB_S_5STI2C_WriteNoStop(Handle=0x1E) Write err 40544,0505507,STI2C_Read(addr=0x1E, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0505507, = N.G 40544,0505507,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 5, LG11, 1):DVB_S_6STI2C_WriteNoStop(Handle=0x10) Write err 40544,0505507,STI2C_Read(addr=0x10, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0505508, = N.G 40544,0505508,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 0, SHRP1, 0):DVB_S_1 = OK 40544,0505514,fe_check_tuner(12) = 1 40544,0505863,40544,0506393,Loader v3.1.3 Loader Built:Nov 11 2004, 14:15:06
40544,0506393,Uncompress Flash Application... 40544,050665,Launch Flash Application... 40544,0506666,-------------------------- START----------------------------------
40544,0506666,Build Date : Jun 7 2007 , 21:15:26 40544,0506711,[FE] Version : 03.00.02 Last Update : 2006.12.29 40544,0506711,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xA0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506711,E2PROM 1 check error ::: 40544,0506711,E2PROM 0 check OK ::: 40544,0506713,EMMA_FE_GPIO_Initialize :: eBRD_TYPE_NO_ASIC 40544,050676,DUO_DetectChannel(0-0, 19, LG-T, 1):DVB_T_13 = OK 40544,050676,fe_check_tuner(11) = 1 40544,050676,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 2, ZL10, 1):DVB_S_3STI2C_WriteNoStop(Handle=0x1C) Write err 40544,0506762,STI2C_Read(addr=0x1C, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506762, = N.G 40544,0506762,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 4, LG10, 1):DVB_S_5STI2C_WriteNoStop(Handle=0x1E) Write err 40544,0506764,STI2C_Read(addr=0x1E, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506764, = N.G 40544,0506764,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 5, LG11, 1):DVB_S_6STI2C_WriteNoStop(Handle=0x10) Write err 40544,0506765,STI2C_Read(addr=0x10, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506765, = N.G 40544,0506765,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 0, SHRP1, 0):DVB_S_1 = OK 40544,0506773,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=7) err 40544,0506774,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506774,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506774,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506794,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=7) err 40544,0506794,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506794,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506796,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506814,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=7) err 40544,0506816,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506816,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506816,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xC0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0506829,fe_check_tuner(12) = 0 40544,0507136,40544,0507666,Loader v3.1.3 Loader Built:Nov 11 2004, 14:15:06
40544,0507666,Uncompress Flash Application... 40544,0507923,Launch Flash Application... 40544,0507939,-------------------------- START----------------------------------
40544,0507939,Build Date : Jun 7 2007 , 21:15:26 40544,0507984,[FE] Version : 03.00.02 Last Update : 2006.12.29 40544,0507984,STI2C_Write(addr = 0xA0, bytes=1, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0507984,E2PROM 1 check error ::: 40544,0507984,E2PROM 0 check OK ::: 40544,0507984,EMMA_FE_GPIO_Initialize :: eBRD_TYPE_NO_ASIC 40544,0508033,DUO_DetectChannel(0-0, 19, LG-T, 1):DVB_T_13 = OK 40544,0508033,fe_check_tuner(11) = 1 40544,0508033,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 2, ZL10, 1):DVB_S_3STI2C_WriteNoStop(Handle=0x1C) Write err 40544,0508035,STI2C_Read(addr=0x1C, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0508035, = N.G 40544,0508035,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 4, LG10, 1):DVB_S_5STI2C_WriteNoStop(Handle=0x1E) Write err 40544,0508037,STI2C_Read(addr=0x1E, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0508037, = N.G 40544,0508037,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 5, LG11, 1):DVB_S_6STI2C_WriteNoStop(Handle=0x10) Write err 40544,0508039,STI2C_Read(addr=0x10, timeout=10, ret=8) err 40544,0508039, = N.G 40544,0508039,DUO_DetectChannel(1-0, 0, SHRP1, 0):DVB_S_1 = OK 40544,0508044,fe_check_tuner(12) = 1 40544,0508402,[P10046] firmware download O.K !!! 40544,0508411,MC_RxStart!!!!!! 40544,0508415,size = 676, addr = 1280 40544,0508523,EEPROM DATA Version:: 0xffff 40544,0508523,Read New EEPROM DATA 40544,0508632,size : 676, 676 40544,0508686,MC_TxStart!!!!!! 40544,0508699,RMS_RxStart!!!!!! 40544,0508738,GUI_Init !!!!!! 40544,050874,FE_Start!!!!!! 40544,050874,TTXOSD_Init !!!!!! 40544,050874,[TTXOSD] Version:02.03.11, Last Update:07.02.01 40544,0508742,PSI_Init_Start !!!!!! 40544,0508742,[PSI] Version:10.00.01, Last Update:04.09.07 40544,0508742,[DB] 8000CH, 32FAV, EPG_WEEK:ON, NEW_COLOCK:ON, (93,7544) 40544,0508782,[DB1] NS1:1, NB:2, NT:8, NS2:82 40544,0508782,[DB2] OB1:204, OT:340, OS:92 40544,0508782,[DB3] XB:408, XT:2720, XS:7544 40544,0508784,[DB4] SS1:44, SB:20, ST:12, SS2:44 40544,0508784,[DB5] AS1:91000, AB:92000, AT:94000, AS2:9c000, AD:ee000, AM:fc000 40544,0508798,STT_init !!!!!! 40544,05088,[DVB-SUBTITLE] Version:02.03.04, Last Update:06.11.23 40544,05088,GUI_Start !!!!!! 40544,05088,TIME_Init!!!!!! 40544,05088,PVR_FileSystemInit!!!!!! 40544,0508896,MMI_TYPE :: MMI_N1 40544,0508896,MMI_API_VERSION :: 0.0.1 40544,0508896,MMI_FLASH_VERSION :: 1.0.0 40544,0508896,MMI_E2PROM_VERSION :: 2.0.3 40544,050988,PVR_OpenFileSystem 0003. Cannot find HDD Drive...(retry = 3, error = 0x1) 40544,0509881,MP3_TaskStart!!!!!! 40544,0509881,Script_Init!!!!!! 40544,0509881,PVR_Init!!!!!! 40544,0509881,DVR_Initialize!!!!!! 40544,0509881,[A/DVR] Version:01.00.00, Last Update:04.07.17 40544,0509885,PROMPT>ciMain !!!!!! 40544,0509887,[CI] Version : 02.07.07 Last Update : 2007.05.04 40544,0510543,Now not used ProtectViewable slot