Firmware Upgrade Trouble

[tootal2]

everytime i try to upgrade the firmware on my ceton infinitv i get a error.
and i cant find anyway to fix this problem on the web. anyone know how i fix this?

thanks

[billys9319]

I'm having the same problem. I opened a ticket with ceton and they responded with "Your unit appears to have suffered from damage or hardware failure." My device sits next to my computer and hasn't moved for a year and half. It is working fine and I was able to do the hardware update with no problem. They did offer to replace the unit for $199 since it is not under warranty.

I'll just keep it and if fails will look at other devices available at the time.

[tootal2]

I have 2 ceton cards that do the samething. how can they both be bad?

[tootal2]

just got a email from ceton. I am not going to buy a new card. it took me a week to get the cable card working and i dont want to go thur that again. and the card is working fine. so how can it be damage? how can 2 cards in the same house be damage?

Your unit appears to have suffered from damage or hardware failure. In order to discuss service options we need to verify whether your Ceton device is still eligible for warranty services. Please provide the following information:

[billys9319]

After researching more on this it seems to be a common problem that Ceton know's about but has not corrected. Seems the NAND memory goes bad.

[xnappo]

Personally I think something in one of the firmware or hardware upgrades had a bad FLASH programming algorithm that damages the ability to program.

This problem is rampant now and was not until around June 2012. Now MANY people have had this issue - including myself.

Given that it is a systemic issue, Ceton should be replacing these out of warranty.

xnappo

[UserMDA]

I am having the same issue. No other problems, but can't update the firmware. Have submitted a ticket to Ceton...and luckily have 6 more days of warranty left.

[makryger]

Is it just the updating that's not working? Is the card otherwise working fine?

[xnappo]

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1336614/lates ... t_22829340
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1336614/lates ... t_22829510
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1336614/lates ... t_22840672

[xnappo]

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1336614/lates ... t_22444667
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1336614/lates ... t_22370546

That aint random hardware failures.

xnappo

[billys9319]

Is it just the updating that's not working? Is the card otherwise working fine?

The card is working fine except I "lose" it about once a month and have to unplug and plug the usb cord back in.

[stokd]

I've had this issue for months on my PCIe Infinitv4 card. No real problems with my card, but I'd like to update to get the latest features. The update process says no new drivers are available when I uncheck beta, and I thought maybe the beta firmware was just bad or not installable for some reason. Looks like many others have the same problem.

Are most of you experiencing this with USB or PCIe?

[tootal2]

Why cant i just ship the card to ceton and they replace the chip and send it back to me? so i wont have to get the card repaired

[nathagt]

Add another one to the list. Exact same thing happened to me less than a week ago. I use PCIe. I also opened a ticket with Ceton and was also told "Your unit appears to have suffered from damage or hardware failure." I'm out of warranty so I told them to close the ticket as my tuner is working fine. Sounds like they need to investigate this instead of blaming it on end users.

[UserMDA]

Just corresponded with Ceton support, and they confirmed that not being able to update my firmware is because "Your unit appears to have suffered from damage or hardware failure."

Although my unit is under warranty, they want to charge a $25 "handling fee" to ship me a replacement unit first, we seems a little ridiculous.

Since my device otherwise works (besides the firmware issue), I'm not sure it's worth he trouble to deal with Ceton.

[TeddyR]

I had the issue with the USB version in Dec 2012. In my case according to Ceton the unit was not under warranty since it was not purchased from an approved retailer even though it was NIB. Luckily I had squaretrade on it that covered it.

Cetons reply at the time was

"We do not believe the issue that you experienced was indicative of a systematic hardware failure. Without having your unit in our hands though, we cannot definitively confirm the cause."

my final reply was

As for the unit that I had, it is no longer a relevant item since it has already been handled otherwise.

If Ceton is not aware of any hardware issue, then please be prepared as people try to update their units and find out that the device is failing to update. Of the 13 units (other than my own) that I know about there is a %40-%50 failure rate with this same issue (which seems high to me, even if you only count the ones from approved retailers). Three of these units have been RMAd and are on their way back to Ceton:

- 1 had exact same issue, but was not covered by warranty either, but in their situation they knew since they had purchased it second hand and were aware of the risks.
- 2 had the same issue, but are units that are covered by a warranty (not sure if its squaretrade or if it is under the 1 year Ceton)
- 3 had the exact same issue, but are covered under warranty since they purchased it from one of the listed retailers within the warranty period.
- 4 had no issues, and are under warranty and were purchased from one of the approved retailers.
- 1 had no issues, but is no longer under warranty purchased from one of the approved retailers
- 2 had no issues, but are no longer under warranty and were not purchased from one of the approved retailers.

[Ryan]

Also recently experienced this exact situation, on top of my long-standing troubles with the InfiniTV and Ceton support. Was not happy about having to pay the $25 RMA fee. I was hopeful that the new unit would at least resolve my crashing/lost tuners issue, but it didn't.

[leonpress]

I have had this same issue twice and Support had to replace mine both times. Now it seems to be working OK.

[Gripweed]

I received an RMA from Ceton as my USB unit was still under warranty but I decided not to send it back. It works relatively ok (it zones out once or twice a month and I have to unplug it and reboot) except for the inability to update the firmware. I just don't want to go through the hassle of re-pairing a new unit with a Comcast cablecard. After the fiasco I had with my PCI unit I said never again. I finally broke down and bought the additional USB unit because 4 tuners just wasn't enough for me. Getting that paired was no walk in the park either. I won't do it again. If Ceton can fix my existing unit so that re-pairing is not needed I'd go for it otherwise I'll live with what I got.
Just an idea (which I know will never come to pass), how about Comcast (or any cable co.) buy InfiniTV cards and USB devices and pre-install/pair cablecards in them and rent them out like DVRs and STBs?

[erkotz]

Although my unit is under warranty, they want to charge a $25 "handling fee" to ship me a replacement unit first, we seems a little ridiculous.

Just to clarify, the $25 fee is only charged for an advance RMA where we pay shipping both ways and provide packaging materials. Standard RMAs have no charge.