zGemma H7S - Random freezing and dead tuner

So I tried posting this on the official zgemma forum, but I haven't had any replies yet. Maybe one of you guys might be able to help me out!

My zGemma H7S has been randomly freezing for no reason what-so-ever! - I've flashed it with Grogbuild, OpenViX, OpenATV 6.3 and OpenATV 6.4. The random freezing still persists. It happens regardless of what I do. From watching a channel or streaming content from my NAS. Freeze! - It's driving me nuts!

I just had Astra 19.2 set up today to pick up German channels, and after a few hours, Tuner B died on me. It can't pick up a signal at all! I was tearing my hair out trying to work out what had happened. I tried different cables, I removed my diseqc switches (I've got two 4x diseqc switches, A on 28.2E, B on 13E and C on 19.2E). No matter what I did, Tuner B remained dead as a do-do.

To ensure it wasn't my satellite setup, I pulled out my crappy 40 quid satellite tester and it worked perfectly fine with all 3 satellites, and it picked up astra 28.2e through the diseqc switch, so nothing wrong there. Definately Tuner B on my zGemma.

My box is just under 6 months old. I bought it directly from zgemma themselves. Will they take it back and replace it? - Or am I well and truly fucked and will have to consider buying a new box?

Thanks!
 
when you say you bought it from zgemma direct do you mean zgemma uk who are just resellers of zgemma boxes? if so then contact them via the web site,

if you bought it direct from Air Digital (manufacturers of zgemma) in china then it would be more costly but again you would need to ask them. They may offer to send you a replacement tuner but that's just a guess on my part
 
when you say you bought it from zgemma direct do you mean zgemma uk who are just resellers of zgemma boxes? if so then contact them via the web site,

if you bought it direct from Air Digital (manufacturers of zgemma) in china then it would be more costly but again you would need to ask them. They may offer to send you a replacement tuner but that's just a guess on my part

I bought it from zgemma.co.uk, so not directly from Air Digital. I thought they were considered official as they're an official reseller. I've emailed them
 
They are not part of Air Digital, anyone can be a 'official reseller/retailer', just buy from Air Digital and then sell them, it's just zgemma.co.uk got in first with the domain name so look more 'official'
 
UPDATE ON DEAD TUNER: I opened my box up and pulled up on the tuner and pushed down hard on it again and that resolved the problem. Somehow, the tuner card became loose.

The box still randomly freezes for no reason though
 
UPDATE ON RANDOM FREEZING: I've noticed that my box is fairly warm to the touch underneith. Not boiling hot or anything. I've seen other tech run comfortably at a lot hotter temperatures. It's in a fairly open cabinet with no front or backing to it.

I've installed some tall rubber feet underneith it to increase airflow underneith. I'll keep you all updated if this makes any difference. If this doesn't work, I'm going to look into installing a small fan inside it.
 
ANOTHER UPDATE: I have installed larger rubber feet underneath my box to increase airflow and I've had a small amount of success. The box isnt freezing as much. This proves that this is an airflow problem. I've taken the box out of my unit to see if the freezing would stop, and it hasn't.

I am now looking into installing a small fan into the case. I've found that the makeshift/proprietary RS232 port used for serial communications (For debugging and such) constantly outputs a steady 3.28v. (See attached photo). I've purchased a Raspberry Pi CPU cooling fan which runs on 3.3v and only requires 2 cables, so perfect for my zgemma.

As soon as it arrives, I'll install it and let you all know the result!
 

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==== UPDATE 3 ====

So I successfully installed a fan on the heatsink of my zgemma. However, this didn't resolve the problem.

I downgraded my box to a fresh image of OpenATV 6.2 and noticed it was a LOT more responsive.

I started to install all the appropriate plugins I needed. AutoBouquetsManager and OSCam r11643-798. As soon as I re-installed OSCam r11643-798, the random freezing returned! - So I think I've narrowed this down to OSCam causing this problem. I've had exactly the same behaviour when running it on OpenATV 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4.

Has anyone else experienced problems with r11643-798? - Is there a better build to use?
 
But you're saying that FTA channels are freezing :unsure: oscam has nothing to do with FTA channels.
Yes I know, but the freezing started again as soon as I installed OSCam. It could be the actual service that's running into some sort of exception, causing the whole box to crash.
 
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