Two BB's Black Screen of Death (BSOD) at the same time.

[ianlin]

Hello:

My BB suddenly went into BSOD today. Last time I used it was yesterday, and it was working fine. I have not changed any hardware or firmware. And out of the blue it goes into BSOD after splash screen. I read through some of the posting here on BSOD. Here what I have tried so far:

1. power cycled TV and BB
2. switched hdmi cable
3. manual upgrade to the latest firmware
4. reset all settings
5. finally, factory restore. after this, as soon as I boot it up it says it must update firmware. There is no choice to skip it. So it updates firmware, after that it re-boots. This time, after the splash screen, it is not 100% black screen, but black screen interrupted by brief flashes of BB logo.

At this point, I decided to try my upstairs BB unit, which worked normally when it was used a week ago. So I brought it downstairs and hooked it up. The second unit is also BSOD after splash screen! What are the odds that two units would fail the same way at the same time?

I figure there must be something wrong with my TV. So I tested my downstairs TV with BluRay player and laptop via HDMI, and the TV seem to work fine. Finally, I took both Boxee upstairs and tried it with the upstairs TV. The original upstairs BB is BSOD, the downstairs BB is BSOD with flashes of BB logo.

So, my testing would seem to suggest that both of my BB's failed the same way at the same time. I have not changed and hardware or firmware.

I am completely at a lost as to what to do at this point. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[moviebuff1]

My BB and co-worker had a black screen of death the same time too but I cant even get into recovery and seems to be dead. Yours might be salvageable because your getting into the recovery which I didn't even get to. Did you try unplugging all the cables into the BB wait several minutes and then try factory restore?

[ianlin]

Thanks for your reply moviebuff1. I don't remember how long I waited before running factory restore. But I did it twice. The BB forces you to do a firmware upgrade as soon as you reboot from factory restore.

My gut feeling is that this is not a hardware failure. It can display the splash animation normally, so the video and audio rendering is functional. It can update firmware after factory restore, so the network/file/disc are functional.

But if it is a software issue, manually installing firmware should have fixed the issue.

I don't even know what to try next. One of the units was purchased just over a year ago. So I don't think D-link would be willing to RMA it. These things are not cheap. When I bought them, they were more than $200 each.

Does anyone have any suggetions?

[lvs]

When you brought your 2nd boxee box down to test it, did you use the same power supply/wall wart and visa vi?

[ianlin]

What are "wall wart and visa vi"?

I only moved the BB itself. I did not move the power supply.

[markab]

What are "wall wart and visa vi"?

I only moved the BB itself. I did not move the power supply.

Try using the upstairs adapter with either of your BB. You might have a bad one.

Mark

[ianlin]

Thanks for your reply, markab.

I did try that already. As I stated in the first post, when both units did not work downstairs, I took both upstairs to try as well.

If the power supply was bad, I would expect the units to not work at all. But both units are able to display the initial splash animation normally.

[lvs]

yep, I meant did you try both power adapters with each box. Had any lightning strikes lately? Sounds like all your other equipment is fine though.

[markab]

Thanks for your reply, markab.

I did try that already. As I stated in the first post, when both units did not work downstairs, I took both upstairs to try as well.

If the power supply was bad, I would expect the units to not work at all. But both units are able to display the initial splash animation normally.

So if you try using either power supply with either BB you are getting the same results? It's pretty unlikely that both units would randomly fail at the same time. Were either units connected to a surge protector? Have any of the other electrical appliances in your home recently acted unusually -ie: clocks in them resetting or blinking?

Mark