[Resolved] Just Purchased & Already Broken?

[Mike7143]

My 360 took a dump over the weekend. Thought about buying another used 360, but ultimately decided that I'd have no guarantee it wouldn't crap out after a week (like my first used one did) so instead I looked at the Echo even though it was more money. I also knew that most are upset about the echo and it appears to have been a flop compared to what was promised, but decided to give Ceton a chance. I didn't know it was THIS bad.

Popped the box open, read the quick start, plugged in the ethernet, HDMI, and power. Removed the 360 extender in WMC on the PC, started setting up a new extender (waiting for code), came back to the TV, and it was just a gray screen with the "Ceton" in white centered on it. Figured maybe I had to hit the green button on remote to get it to give me a code. No buttons worked except the power off and on buttons. Shut it off, turned back on, same screen. Pressed a few more buttons trying to get a response; nothing. Turned off and back on again and headed back to the PC to close media center. Checked the Ceton site and downloaded and installed the plugin which doesn't show up in WMC anyway? When I got back to the TV, it now shows a gray screen with "Ceton" again, but below that is says "Recovering..." and noticed one little tiny red light on the front of the box. Went back to the PC and rebooted it. Back to the TV again and still "Recovering..." but now there's two little tiny red lights. I finally had to leave home (back to work) and at that point it had 3 red lights.

So... what do I need to do when I get home? I can't seem to find anything related to the Ceton plugin in WMC on the PC. I'm hoping that somehow when I get back home it's fixed itself. This is a headache. I'm returning for refund if it has this many problems right out of the box if I can't get it working...

EDIT: I also have the PCIe tuner from Ceton. Overall I'm happy with it. I did have problems in the beginning but it's my fault because it turns out I somehow happen to have one of the video cards that don't play well with the InfiniTV4....

[Motz]

Hey mike, first I am sorry that you are experiencing this issue. Uf you could we can try a simple manual recovery on the echo. I will need the MAC address that comes up on the echo when you turn it on. After you send this to me all we need to do is have you run the recovery.

Once I have enabled recovery on your unit with the MAC address you give me simply:
1.) Download http://cetoncorp.com/downloads/ctnechorecovery.exe to a Windows computer
2.) Plug echo into the computer via USB. (use the supplied USB power cable and just plug it into your PC USB 2.0 preferred)
Please note: Make sure echo is hooked up to the network, as internet access is required for recovery.
Please note: Some status info is displayed during recovery via HDMI, so plug that in too.
3.) Turn off echo with remote
4.) Run ctnechorecovery.exe
5.) Point the Echo remote at the Echo while it is turned off, and enter this number sequence: 2065489548 (If sequence was enter correctly the Echo will power on with three (3) solid red lights)
Please note: You can hit zero (0) at least 5+ times to clear out any failed attempts. Be steady, with no pauses when entering the code.
6.) Please be patience as the tool attempts to recover your device. (At least five (5+) minutes per screen)
Please note: If you are stuck on the screen "Connecting to Ceton...". Please leave the unit alone, and update me letting me know, and we will re-approve your download. It should move into the recovery process shortly after.

[Mike7143]

Motz,
Thanks for the quick reply. I'm still at work (leave in 35 mins!) but will have a MAC address to you as soon as possible. I don't recall seeing a MAC address on the TV screen when I powered it up, but can unplug it, turn back on, and check. Otherwise, I assume there's a label on the unit with the MAC or perhaps a sticker somewhere on the packaging? I've still got faith in Ceton, I want this to work so bad!

Thanks,
Mike

[Mike7143]

Also, should I go ahead and uninstall the WMC plugin from the PC before I start the recovery process?

[Motz]

If you want to go ahead and uninstall it shouldn't make too big of a difference, but why not.

As for the MAC you can find it by going into windows to the "Devices" page or sometimes it is "Devices and Printers and your echo should be there and if you go to Properties -> UPNP the Mac will be listed.

[Mike7143]

Motz,
Sounds great, didn't think to look for it in Windows. I'll PM you the MAC soon! I may reply with an update on how I find the Echo when I get home if it's any different.

Thanks,
Mike

[Motz]

I also just send you a PM with my contact info.

[Mike7143]

Problems resolved! Motz was very helpful in stepping me through the process to recover the Echo.
Essentially I plugged in the HDMI, then USB to my PC. Next Motz had me start the recovery.exe file. Then I turned off the Echo with the remote, dialed the magic number, connected the Ethernet to the Echo, and everything went to to auto mode, displaying update status on the HDMI output. After a few minutes, I was at the setup screen displaying the code for WMC. Couldn't be happier with my support, especially since it was through "unofficial" channels!

So far it's working well, downloaded 1 update on the Echo before setting up the unit as well. Initial impressions on the Echo coming from an Xbox 360, everything seems a little choppy. News ticker at bottom of CNN seems to shake, annoying. FOX news looks better. There's no "Zoom 4" which was dynamic zoom on the Xbox. Kinda miss that as it seems to me that Zoom 1-3 all aren't "right". Also I get a lot of pixelation when changing channels that didn't happen on the 360. I'll give it a shot for 25 days before my 'Egg return-for-refund expires and see if I can get over the little things. I guess ultimately I was expecting it to be more fluid in the menus since it was a purpose built device unlike the 360. Right now I feel like I'd rather have the 360 back even with its size (moot point to me) and noise (also moot) but essentially I had to (was forced to?) choose the Echo simply because I didn't want to risk buying another used 360 only to have it crap out whenever it so chooses and out $100 and looking for another 360. I guess I could have bought a new 360 but that's another price point and I don't game at all.

Thanks again to Motz for the real-time support and step-by-step help to get my Echo functioning! Very helpful guy here guys! Can't wait for Android, that may take some of the bitter outta the mouth provided it works well!

[Sammy2]

Sounds like network issues but what f/w is it running?

[Crash2009]

everything seems a little choppy. News ticker at bottom of CNN seems to shake, annoying.

Try a "cold boot" Mike. HTPC, TV, and Echo. Shutdown>>>disconnect power cord>>>discharge residual>>>then startup in order 1-HTPC, 2-TV, 3-Echo.

[Mike7143]

Lets see. I'm running 2013.129.1538. I believe it's a stable version as I don't have beta enabled in the settings. I can try a "cold boot" but not sure how that would help. Would that be something I have to do every time I want to use the Echo?
After a solid 3 hours of use, I still want the 360 back. As mentioned earlier, the lack of a "zoom 4" dynamic stretch is driving me nuts. Also the Echo seems to be forgetting my zoom settings. If I switch to a setting, somehow it will revert to zoom 1 by itself without me touching anything. When I go into info to change it back, zoom 2 is still selected but it's displaying as zoom 1. I have to select Zoom 1 or 3, then go back to 2 to get what I want.
Playback of my movies was alright I suppose, music was weird, screen kept flashing black every time I'd skip to the next song in a playlist. Haven't tried pictures yet. Overall, the Echo switching zooms by itself is enough to drive me nuts, not to mention my cable picture looks bad. Local HD looks okay and isn't "choppy", but my cable channels look terrible. I know I don't have HD, just standard, but I know for a fact it looks worse now. Even my girlfriend who could care less mentioned that everything, especially text, looked like it was shaking and she claimed it could give her a seizure. I suppose it could be network related Sammy2, but I've never experienced these issues on the 360. Ever. So a "cold boot" basically involves turning my PC, TV off and unplugging power to the Echo? Then power up the PC, then TV, and then Echo? And this somehow will fix my picture?

I'm really trying to like this thing. I'll give it a few more days but in the meantime I'm seeing if I can get the 360 fixed (E74). If not, I think I'm going to cave and build a HTPC. Been wanting to build a new desktop for some time, perhaps I can rebuild into smaller form and make it the HTPC. I just can't justify extra cost for less performance which is too bad cause I got it for $155.

[foxwood]

So a "cold boot" basically involves turning my PC, TV off and unplugging power to the Echo? Then power up the PC, then TV, and then Echo? And this somehow will fix my picture?

Whenever you replace the firmware on a device, a cold boot is probably a good idea. A warm boot (the equivalent of a ctrl-alt-del) should suffice, but with a full power off and unplugging, the system is starting from a known state, and there there shouldn't be any question of old settings persisting into the new configuration.

[Mike7143]

I tried a "cold boot" and no luck, image is still "shaky" and it still forgets zoom settings. Is there any benefit to switching to beta firmware releases?

[Crash2009]

I tried a "cold boot" and no luck, image is still "shaky" and it still forgets zoom settings. Is there any benefit to switching to beta firmware releases?

2013.129.1538 was the best one so far for me. Why don't we have a closer look into what you are running. What is the make and model of your TV?

[Mike7143]

Echo goes into Onkyo HT-S3400 home theater system then out via HDMI to my 51" Samsung plasma PN51D450A2D. Source is my desktop PC with Windows 7 Pro 64-bit with a Intel E6750 dual core processor, 4GB ram, NVIDIA 8800GTS video card. All Ethernet is at least 100MB. As mentioned earlier, I'm coming from an Xbox 360 with HDMI output and used same setup/Ethernet. Nothing changed besides replacing the 360 with the Echo and I didn't have these picture quality issues with the 360. The 360 also didn't forget zoom settings or any of the other things I've mentioned above.

[Crash2009]

All Ethernet is at least 100MB.

What is the model of router and switch(s)? NIC in host computer?

[Sammy2]

Why does the title of this thread say resolved when it isn't?

[Sammy2]

All Ethernet is at least 100MB.

What is the model of router and switch(s)? NIC in host computer?

Is it mixed? That can be an issue too I think.

[Mike7143]

Motz resolved my broken Echo. I don't know if having the problems everyone else has counts as a broken or if it's just how it is.
Linksys WRT54G, everything is 100 or faster. Mixing isn't a problem as anything that's gigabit will auto negotiate to the lowest, so 100.
Again, the ONLY thing that's changed in my system is the Echo from the 360.

[SilverRubicon]

What was the resolution? Was it the echo?