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Topic:
Is Apple bricking early Apple TV's?
This thread has 28 replies. Displaying posts 16 through 29.
Post 16 made on Saturday July 21, 2018 at 14:12
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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On July 21, 2018 at 11:50, goldenzrule said...
Could just be bad luck. I have lots of Rokus out there without any reported lockups.

Shit happens. More than ten years ago I had two dead in the box Yamaha receivers in a row, the only ones I've EVER had. The rep was wondering what the hell I was doing wrong -- and he had known me for fifteen years at that point -- but after those two, I haven't seen another failure,

Yup, stuff mysteriously goes bad. It happens.

buzz's insight on power supplies is pretty good, too. He's DEFINITELY right about the low cost of the power supply!

An important thing to check about the power supply is its voltage when it's connected to the equipment. To get this, we'd need to have a power Y cable so we can connect the device and still connect a voltmeter.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 17 made on Saturday July 21, 2018 at 14:21
goldenzrule
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On July 21, 2018 at 14:12, Ernie Gilman said...
Shit happens. More than ten years ago I had two dead in the box Yamaha receivers in a row, the only ones I've EVER had. The rep was wondering what the hell I was doing wrong -- and he had known me for fifteen years at that point -- but after those two, I haven't seen another failure,

Yup, stuff mysteriously goes bad. It happens.

buzz's insight on power supplies is pretty good, too. He's DEFINITELY right about the low cost of the power supply!

An important thing to check about the power supply is its voltage when it's connected to the equipment. To get this, we'd need to have a power Y cable so we can connect the device and still connect a voltmeter.

I was kicking myself a while back when I threw out a Foscam IP camera I had because it was not working.  I had a total of 3.  I continued on with the 2 and threw that third one out when we were preparing for a move.  About 6 months later, one of the remaining two stopped working.  I decided to try swapping the power supply between the two and sure enough, the deadness followed the power supply, not the camera.  Of course its still possible that third camera was indeed dead, but I wish I tried swapping the power supply first to see.
Post 18 made on Saturday July 21, 2018 at 16:00
thecapnredfish
Senior Member
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I was wondering why my 2nd gen can no longer view photos from my PC.
Post 19 made on Saturday July 21, 2018 at 20:29
Fins
Elite Member
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On July 21, 2018 at 11:50, goldenzrule said...
Could just be bad luck. I have lots of Rokus out there without any reported lockups.

I think I’ve narrowed it down to the fact that they are the cheapest Models available because I needed analog audio.
Civil War reenactment is LARPing for people with no imagination.

Post 20 made on Saturday July 21, 2018 at 20:32
Fins
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On July 21, 2018 at 12:26, buzz said...
I have no direct experience with ROKU's being nasty, but anytime I have an intermittent issue and the product uses a modular power supply, I check the power supply. Since power supplies seem to be commodity items, it makes sense to send the purchasing agent out to find the deal of the century. Shaving a few cents off the budget gets lots of "attaboy" for the agent, an off the path power supply, and headaches for the support crew.

Some units have such a bad history with me that I assume the power supply is at issue until proven otherwise. This saves an incredible amount of diagnostic time.

Unfortunately it seems most manufacturers are moving to USB style power supplies. Anyone know of a way to test a USB type power supply to see if the voltage is correct?
Civil War reenactment is LARPing for people with no imagination.

Post 21 made on Saturday July 21, 2018 at 20:41
goldenzrule
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On July 21, 2018 at 20:29, Fins said...
I think I’ve narrowed it down to the fact that they are the cheapest Models available because I needed analog audio.

That may be the difference in experiences.  I never use the sticks and back when the had the Roku 2, 3, 4, I never used below the 3, only using 4 back then for 4K.  Now I use whatever they call the highest model of the month.  They are so cheap there is no reason not to.
Post 22 made on Saturday July 21, 2018 at 21:29
King of typos
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On July 21, 2018 at 20:32, Fins said...
Unfortunately it seems most manufacturers are moving to USB style power supplies. Anyone know of a way to test a USB type power supply to see if the voltage is correct?

Yup... eBay search "USB current tester"

[Link: ebay.com]

KOT
Post 23 made on Saturday July 21, 2018 at 22:16
Ernie Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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On July 21, 2018 at 14:21, goldenzrule said...
I was kicking myself a while back when I threw out a Foscam IP camera I had because it was not working.  I had a total of 3.  I continued on with the 2 and threw that third one out when we were preparing for a move.  About 6 months later, one of the remaining two stopped working.  I decided to try swapping the power supply between the two and sure enough, the deadness followed the power supply, not the camera.  Of course its still possible that third camera was indeed dead, but I wish I tried swapping the power supply first to see.

This sounds like a parallel case, and I'm wondering why you neglected to test the power supply:
I'll bet that if a speaker in a system quit playing, you'd try another speaker... and if that didn't work, instead of throwing out the first two, you'd test the amplifier.

One of the first things we do when troubleshooting is to divide the universe, that is, split the system in two and see if one or both halves are working. I wonder why you didn't test the power supply!
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 24 made on Saturday July 21, 2018 at 22:30
Brad Humphrey
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On July 21, 2018 at 20:32, Fins said...
Unfortunately it seems most manufacturers are moving to USB style power supplies. Anyone know of a way to test a USB type power supply to see if the voltage is correct?

Besides the unit King of typos linked to, it is also handy to have a load tester to verify the capacity a USB is suppose to have. I use this:
[Link: amazon.com]

For the tester, I have been using this for years:
[Link: amazon.com]
Post 25 made on Sunday July 22, 2018 at 12:02
highfigh
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I would rather buy a few USB wall warts for the devices I sell and install than spend money and time testing them.
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
Post 26 made on Sunday July 22, 2018 at 13:49
Brad Humphrey
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On July 22, 2018 at 12:02, highfigh said...
I would rather buy a few USB wall warts for the devices I sell and install than spend money and time testing them.

??? WTF?

Then I read your signature and it all made sense :)
Post 27 made on Sunday July 22, 2018 at 14:05
buzz
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I understand that carrying a few spares can be productive, but I don't think that simply replacing a supply is a great diagnostic for an intermittent because you'll need to wait for a while, possibly days, to see if the problem goes away. If the problem doesn't go away, you'll be back. Of course the power supply could be intermittent and pass a voltage and load test while you are watching, but this has not been my experience. My experience has been that the voltage is low, sometimes crossing the threshold to cause device trouble. It's a quick, easy, positive diagnostic. Some of the supplies will perk up a little if you interrupt their power. (the output voltage rises enough to operate the device, but the the voltage is still low) Without a voltage test this can result in a false conclusion that rebooting the device resolved the issue when the device was the victim, not the cause.
Post 28 made on Sunday July 22, 2018 at 14:40
goldenzrule
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On July 21, 2018 at 22:16, Ernie Gilman said...
This sounds like a parallel case, and I'm wondering why you neglected to test the power supply:
I'll bet that if a speaker in a system quit playing, you'd try another speaker... and if that didn't work, instead of throwing out the first two, you'd test the amplifier.

One of the first things we do when troubleshooting is to divide the universe, that is, split the system in two and see if one or both halves are working. I wonder why you didn't test the power supply!

Again, I was MOVING and was unloading shit. For someone that hassles people about what they write, you sure as heck don't read
Post 29 made on Tuesday July 24, 2018 at 14:31
weddellkw
Long Time Member
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186
AppleTV gen 2 was manufactured from 2010-2012. Was declared ineligible for repair in 2017. It hasn't been updated past tvOS 6.x (I believe.) . Current tvOS version is 11.x . macOS, iOS etc have all received years worth of updates since.

So probably the ATV is looking for services or protocols that are no longer supported, causing lockups / weird behavior.

Should Apple provide some more warning about obsolete hardware? Sure.
Are they purposefully bricking these OLD boxes? Doubtful.

Fair warning, ATV3 is next, its been off the shelf since 2016. They're sub-$200 content boxes....a 2-4 year lifespan is fine.
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