Skybox F5s problem, dim red light with "8" displaying on front of receiver

[vibore]

Mine got the "8" today. Was in stand by all night and in the morning was dead. I dont understand. Could be the power supply? when i connect the power supply to the box i see some little sparks... whats going on? Someone sucefully solved this?

[andy91]

Throw it in the bin its not worth a fire hazard. I had an old Dbox that did the same and it caught fire.

Andy.

[Hadron]

...when i connect the power supply to the box i see some little sparks... whats going on?...

Don't worry. It's normal to see some sparks when first plugging in the PSU connector.

Any piece of equipment that doesn't have an ON/OFF switch will draw current & produce a spark when the connector is plugged in.

[lincsat]

You plug the power supply into the box, then plug the PSU into the mains. No Sparks and less likely to blow the box.

[martin-f]

Hi lincast hope you are well, it sounds like the old starview 8882 box problem. if so it will need a jtag ive still got a max232 knocking about somewhere.

[vibore]

Hi lincast hope you are well, it sounds like the old starview 8882 box problem. if so it will need a jtag ive still got a max232 knocking about somewhere.

How can i find the jtag points?

[alex123]

All the loaders seem to be set up for the Ali3601 chipset, from what I can tell the F3/F5's need the Ali3602 Loader.
I have cobbled together bits of the different Ali loaders into one that should work (No F3/F5s to test) and included suitable firmware.

Hi M8 thanks for the loader but wont work for me either I have an f5s run for about a month then died with dull 8 ,ive tried all loaders including your one and I use an old laptop with serial port for repairing skyboxs etc another box for the bin I think alex

[vibore]

Just solved the problem.
Null modem cable, this loader F3 EROM UPGRADE KOSAT, and last firmware from skybox.cc.
Worked first try.

Thanks everyone who tried to help.

[martin-f]

Great stuff, jTAG problem will be next just like the good old days .

[captainy]

It seems that finally i managed to solve it. Used the F3 EROM UPGRADE KOSAT found above. Many thanks to vibore!

[makster1978]

this doesn't work must of been pure lucky in the bin now,avoid fs5 and get the f3s miles more stable and yet to have this problem

[printmaster]

this doesn't work must of been pure lucky in the bin now,avoid fs5 and get the f3s miles more stable and yet to have this problem

worked for me thank you kosat

[mleczus1]

worked for me thank you kosat

Hi. I have f5s and same dimmed 8 problem. Try every single soft and firmware combination. Got lead from another f5 and no change. Only thing I can see when start upgrade and plug box in nothing is happening, but when disconecting from power synchronizing stbs says Done.... I've done few f5 stucked, bricked and loading till 97 but cant fix this one...Any ideas

[mleczus1]

Any updates guys? After hours of trying still no luck

[Colsnr]

I got the Dull 8 problem. I found a guy advertising that he could fix this and most problems with Skybox. He would charge me ?12 if he could fix it or refund if he could not. So i posted it off to him and within a week got it back fully working again. Well worth the money as i was about to put it in the bin.