I just bought a USB digital tv stick from yer 'ong Kong and it worked fine
for the time it took to find channels and have a play. I turned off the pc
and went to play again later but the stick wouldn't work - nothing else had
changed, I just turned off the pc and turned it on again later. Tried it in
various USB holes and another pc to no avail and noticed this morning that
it smells of magic smoke. Bugger.

What could have caused that? Is it likely to be just a fault in the tv stick
or could it conceivably be something to do with the aerial (wot comes from a
digital roof aerial then through a booster), or the USB ports? I've tried
two memory sticks and a bluetooth adaptor in all the USB ports I tried the
tv stick in and they're all working perfectly.

Si

"Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot" wrote in message
...
I just bought a USB digital tv stick from yer 'ong Kong and it worked fine
for the time it took to find channels and have a play. I turned off the pc
and went to play again later but the stick wouldn't work - nothing else had
changed, I just turned off the pc and turned it on again later. Tried it in
various USB holes and another pc to no avail and noticed this morning that
it smells of magic smoke. Bugger.

What could have caused that? Is it likely to be just a fault in the tv
stick or could it conceivably be something to do with the aerial (wot
comes from a digital roof aerial then through a booster), or the USB
ports? I've tried two memory sticks and a bluetooth adaptor in all the USB
ports I tried the tv stick in and they're all working perfectly.

Si


I had a similar problem - I could feel a "tingle" from the coax plug so when
I got my replacement I made a wire bridge to bond the coax to the PC case.
It has been fine for a year now.

John wrote:
"Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot" wrote in
message ...
I just bought a USB digital tv stick from yer 'ong Kong and it
worked fine for the time it took to find channels and have a play. I
turned off the pc and went to play again later but the stick
wouldn't work

I had a similar problem - I could feel a "tingle" from the coax plug
so when I got my replacement I made a wire bridge to bond the coax to
the PC case. It has been fine for a year now.

Ho yus? So it could possibly have been the co-ax that killed it.

Ta. I'll earth the co-ax to the pc case if/when I get another one (ebay!)

Si

"Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot" wrote in message
news
John wrote:
"Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot" wrote in
message ...
I just bought a USB digital tv stick from yer 'ong Kong and it
worked fine for the time it took to find channels and have a play. I
turned off the pc and went to play again later but the stick
wouldn't work

I had a similar problem - I could feel a "tingle" from the coax plug
so when I got my replacement I made a wire bridge to bond the coax to
the PC case. It has been fine for a year now.

Ho yus? So it could possibly have been the co-ax that killed it.

Ta. I'll earth the co-ax to the pc case if/when I get another one (ebay!)

Si

Good luck. I find the device really good - although the software was a bit
too demanding for my PC but the supplier gave me a download of an earlier
software that is not as demanding of processing power. Mine is a Freecom
DVB-T Stick.

I have a distribution amplifier in my loft (near the downlead)

Hopefully an expert will give a view on the situation - but bonding the
outer coax to the PC case worked for me.

"Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot" wrote in message
news
John wrote:
"Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot" wrote in
message ...
I just bought a USB digital tv stick from yer 'ong Kong and it
worked fine for the time it took to find channels and have a play. I
turned off the pc and went to play again later but the stick
wouldn't work

I had a similar problem - I could feel a "tingle" from the coax plug
so when I got my replacement I made a wire bridge to bond the coax to
the PC case. It has been fine for a year now.

Ho yus? So it could possibly have been the co-ax that killed it.

Ta. I'll earth the co-ax to the pc case if/when I get another one (ebay!)

I'm no expert but I think John's got it right. I seem to remember that some
older tellys have about 75 volts on the chassis so this could well be the
problem. Course, I could also be talking ******** but it does seem to be
something I remember from the dim and distant past. I apologize if it's
complete rubbish though )

Dave

On 2007-09-26 10:41:31 +0100, "Mungo \"Two Sheds\" Toadfoot"
said:

I just bought a USB digital tv stick from yer 'ong Kong and it worked fine
for the time it took to find channels and have a play. I turned off the pc
and went to play again later but the stick wouldn't work - nothing else had
changed, I just turned off the pc and turned it on again later. Tried it in
various USB holes and another pc to no avail and noticed this morning that
it smells of magic smoke. Bugger.

What could have caused that? Is it likely to be just a fault in the tv stick
or could it conceivably be something to do with the aerial (wot comes from a
digital roof aerial then through a booster), or the USB ports? I've tried
two memory sticks and a bluetooth adaptor in all the USB ports I tried the
tv stick in and they're all working perfectly.

Si

Try a trip to South Africa.

At every traffic light (they call them robots), there are sellers of
anything that you can imagine, although not usually logically
co-ordinated. One will sell you a map of Africa, tooth picks and
pens, while another will offer umbrellas, mobile phone chargers and
cans of cola.

All of these are top quality, just like Hong Kong items, and come
complete with warranty. This lasts until the light changes to green.

Therefore your USB stick still just about working after its long flight
to the UK is about par for the course.

I see no cause for complaint.

In article ,
Dave wrote:
I'm no expert but I think John's got it right. I seem to remember that
some older tellys have about 75 volts on the chassis so this could well
be the problem. Course, I could also be talking ******** but it does
seem to be something I remember from the dim and distant past. I
apologize if it's complete rubbish though )

Valve and most hybrid sets - ie first generation colour ones and earlier -
had 'live' chassis which was connected direct to neutral. Except when the
wires got crossed and it became 240 volts. But the aerial socket was
isolated by capacitors. Some later sets with peculiar power supply
arrangements had the chassis at a potential other than mains. But most
modern sets have isolated chassis - needed for the various inputs and
outputs.

--
*I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Dave wrote:
I'm no expert but I think John's got it right. I seem to remember that
some older tellys have about 75 volts on the chassis so this could well
be the problem. Course, I could also be talking ******** but it does
seem to be something I remember from the dim and distant past. I
apologize if it's complete rubbish though )

Valve and most hybrid sets - ie first generation colour ones and earlier -
had 'live' chassis which was connected direct to neutral. Except when the
wires got crossed and it became 240 volts. But the aerial socket was
isolated by capacitors. Some later sets with peculiar power supply
arrangements had the chassis at a potential other than mains. But most
modern sets have isolated chassis - needed for the various inputs and
outputs.

--
*I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

I suspect the stray voltage is being picked up in the amplifier.


--


--
John