Orton 4100c won't power up (display flashing like alarm clock after power cut)

My parents have a pair of Orton 4100c receiver boxes. The one on the TV they use the most is still operating just fine, however the other one in another room in the house has decided to give up. It is plugged in and the display is flashing like one of those alarm clocks after a power cut or something.

Has anyone else had this problem? Is the box kaput or is there something that can be done to reset it? I have had the unit unplugged for a couple of hours to see if it needed a "hard reset" (Like you can to reset the computer in a car sometimes haha)

The manual is no help with the "trouble shooting" section!

Any help or ideas appreciated!

Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Biggles on November 23, 2014 at 8:09

I'd try unplugging the power lead from the wall for 30 secs or more, then reconnect and turn on. If it still flashes after that and you can't get a menu screen then it's probably dead. Unplanned power outages are often accompanied by brownouts and surges which can possibly prove fatal to electronic devices. I always turn all mine off at the wall during a power failure until power is restored and stable.

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Permalink Reply by Blair Hansen on November 23, 2014 at 9:43

thanks for that, I thought it was probably toast, but thought I would check here just in case someone else knew any tricks I hadn't thought of!

(interestingly, it is plugged into one of those surge protection boards that are supposed to save your gear from power surges etc, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be protected huh!)

Thanks for your reply

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Permalink Reply by forumuser on November 23, 2014 at 12:27

Orton products are unapproved so anything could happen to these units, Because Orton units are sold cheaply I wouldn't' be surprised if there was anything wrong with it.

You might need to check back with the supplier/seller to see if you can exchange or get given a refund, Freeview approved units are more reliable and provide a range of services as well as being treated under the manufacturers guarantee and warranty, some are coming out quite cheap in the lead up to Christmas :-)

Cheers
Joshua

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Permalink Reply by Paul Jenkin on November 23, 2014 at 19:30

There are a couple of capacitors that are prone to dying in the Orton 4100 power supply boards. If you know anyone handy with electronics it's not a big job to replace it - a $2 part and about 5 minutes with a soldering iron and you're good to go if that's what the problem is.

It's a common fault with quite a few set top boxes that I've seen - not just unapproved ones - one of the most common approved boxes has exactly the same problem, however the distributor is good at sorting it when it does happen, even out of warranty sometimes.

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Permalink Reply by Blair Hansen on November 23, 2014 at 20:34

brilliant, thanks for your reply, I think I may suggest they look to buying a couple of new, freeview approved boxes - just for making it easier to get some sort of help from the distributer if things go awry. (They have had both boxes for well over a few years now so well out of warranty!)

It's going to be fun trying to teach them how to operate a new set up haha