I have a Strong 5390 that is now 2.5 years old. It went back to Strong to have the capacitor fix done when it was about 14 months old.. this was a complete success. At this time they also installed the latest software.

Last night my wife set it up to record something and apparently had some probelm with it (she was a bit vague about it but indicated it crashed ). Now some weird stuff has started happening (note that the unit or connections were not touched).

Firstly, the sound and video through the RCA outputs has completely stopped working. I have verified this by plugging it into other inputs on our TV, as well as plugging it into another TV. No sound, no video. We normally us RCA just to feed sound to the TV so all quiet was the first sign of trouble.

Fortunately the digital (optical) output to the amp still works though so we can get sound ok from that source. However the S-Video output which is our normal output is acting strangely. It's hard to describe but the picture looks almost as though it's grainy... like with small lines through it. It also looks as though there are less colours, and it has a bit of a flicker to it

This picture problem happens when using the receiver, looking at pre-recorded programs, or even looking at system menues or system graphics. It's across everything

I'd really love to hear any suggestions on this. I hope its something our daughter has done but if it is I don't know where to start Any help appreciated... or I guess it's the BNE-MEL trip again

I would probably start be resetting everything to defaults and then go through the setup procedure again, at least then you can confirm that it's not a setting issue. If it's still no good it could always be a capacitor issue again, just because it was repaired previously doesn't mean that it couldn't fail again, in any case if it has failed and needs repairing Strong seem to have been quite good in the past about looking after people with the fix.

Correct. That or the fact there are some known bad caps in them generally means a quantity of bad caps in the rest of the unit.
I'd do a visual check (if you are game to open it) for bugled/leaking caps. The standard first up check for me with any hardware issues.

Thanks for that... good advice I did the reset and the s-video is now working again .. YAAAY Perhaps the cause was a little re-programming 2 year old - style .

I haven't got the sound working through the RCA ports yet... but I will try once the kids are in bed... if I last that long will advise on progress ...

I'm hoping someone with 5390 experience may be able to help me.

(Sorry, I would have started a new topic, but didn't have permission apparently.)

Anyway! My Strong 5390 has had the capacitor fix, is running 0.77 firmware and last night had its HDD replaced which had died. Now I'm having an issue with the internal clock/timer.

Edit: Still waiting on a resolution for this if anyone can help!
When I turn the unit on, it's picking up a time from the channels which is completely incorrect. I then go into the setting and adjust it manually, and it appears to 'take' for a while, then reverts to the wrong time. This has the effect of stopping any recording I am doing -- which is bad

I have tried this procedure as well, which has not worked:
"Set the time from Channel 2 – it’s the most accurate. Turn to Channel 2 then check the time and adjust if necessary. Now turn the machine off at the back and turn it on when you are still on Channel 2. It works on a 24hr clock so nothing will work right if the clock is wrong."

For some reason the machine keeps resetting to an incorrect time, which throws everything out.

Can anyone please offer any suggestions as to how to resolve this?

Thanks!

PS: The only thing I have not done yet is a Factory Reset.

Swamos,

On my 5390 occasionally after fforwarding thru adds once play is pressed there is no sound from RCA - using svideo for picture. However pressing mute on remote twice fixes the problem - not sure if this assists.

Mancubus - I too have never solved the same problem you describe - resetting the time is only temporary as reverts to channel time. Only way I have found to get around this is to ensure large buffers but then run into trouble when recording a program straight afterwards on another channel. Almost makes you want to go out and buy a twin tuner....

rgds
couta

Never had a problem with mine - go into the menu, go to the the Date/Time, scroll across and manually set the time. Once that is done it will always use the internal timer and never reference the channel time unless you do a Hard Reboot i.e. pull the plug or have a power failure

I would have agreed with you until this problem cropped up. It's as though there is something which is making the machine spontaneously overwrite the internal time with the (incorrect!) channel time. I wouldn't have an issue if the channel time was correct, but it's not - displaying, say 11:30 when the correct time is 22:10 for example.

This is frustrating the heck out of me!

While on the topic of Strong 5390s misbehaving...
I'm not having a lot of luck. I have 2 of these units, both have had the capacitor problem; one has just returned from having a second replacement (all credit to Strong for doing this out of warranty).

I fear the HDD may be failing in my other unit. When timer record is set up (and when someone actually wants to watch it live as well), the timer starts (after much loud rhythmic whirring), but the screen goes blank and the front of the unit says "rec" instead of the usual "H-x" where x is the number of recorded files on the HDD. The only way out of this is to turn the unit off at the main switch on the back; no other buttons are functional. It DOES actually record if left alone, but the other weird thing is that it renames the recording before it on the recorded file list!

Does this sound like a HDD failure? If so, how easy are the HDDs to replace in these units? It is running the most recent firmware, BTW.

I can't say whether it's a HDD failure or not. When my HDD finally packed it in, I simply could not access or record anything to the HDD, and would get the grammatically annoying error message "Unable to connect Hard Disk!".

I found replacing the HDD was easy to do myself and I know nothing. I purchased a Samsung 160Gb IDE drive (be careful, you need an IDE drive not an ATA - I made that mistake first) and replaced the 80Gb Seagate in the Strong 5390 easily. The Strong limits the drive to 130Gb, but that's still a good improvement for $61.00. A few screws, unplug two connectors, tear off a bit of foam, swap, plug and play. After I switched the box back on, I did a HDD Reset and it's working fine - except for my time issue.

Thanks manacubus. That's exactly the type of info I was after.

First port of call is a reset; I haven't taken the plunge yet as I am assuming I will lose all my recordings.

Yep - you will.

Try the Factory Reset first (you won't lose recordings but you may lose your channels and have to re-tune them, no biggie). Then if that doesn't work do a HDD Reset where you will lose your recordings. Then after that I would contact Strong via their website where they will put you on to Gavin and you may have to send it away for repair.

I'm almost too embarrassed to contact Strong yet again; these units have gone back three times between the two of them! Will take your advice regarding the resets. Thanks again.

OK, I bit the bullet and did both a factory reset and HDD reset. Interestingly, I didn't have to do a rescan afterwards (but did, as expected, lose my recordings). All went well with a trial recording, but I'll have to wait and see if it has fixed it for good (as it was a transient problem).

The broadcaster timestamp is GMT, I presume your GMT offset is (well, was!) setup properly?
Regards

Strong 5390 time/timer issue

Well, I basically left the unit for 24 hours and then the correct time seemed to have 'taken' which is good. I can't explain the strange behaviour.

If anyone else is experiencing the issue, this is the advice I got from the Strong techs:

Definitely do a factory reset on the receiver and re-scan all stations. This is very strange behavior as the receiver only detects the time once from the broadcaster and if modified it will store this modification.

Well, I am sad to report that this didn't solve my problem. I have contacted Strong to see what they say. I am happy to replace the HDD as long as I know that this would fix the problem!

I am also sad, as my Strong 5390 is now exhibiting the behaviour of spontaneously rebooting. I'll be recording something, and the unit will freeze, and then simply reboot, stopping the recording. The most I have been able to record so far without this happening was about 55 minutes. More frequently, it's more like 10 minutes.

I'm reaching the end of my tether with this box now I think.

Oh, that doesn't sound good, especially after you were going to be my role model for a HDD changeover!

And it seemed to be working so well

I'll try a full reset, format and re-scan tonight, and then hit the white button and try to record continuously and see how far I get.

Well, I'm stuffed!

I can't get through a full recording process without the 5390 chucking a spack and rebooting. The whole screen goes bright green when it does it. Quite beautiful.

If anyone can suggest what I might try beyond what I already have, that would be great.

Cheers

Post it back to Strong (around $12) and they will fix it for free and send it back to you at no cost. Pretty amazing backup (and it possibly is a cap, problem).

You can email Gavin at strong-technologies.com if needed and he will reply.

Check the cap C15 again, just recently I've had one come back that the same cap replaced but needed to be replaced again. The symptoms you mention would be consistent with a bad C15.