As subject.
Reading the threads on soldering irons I was reminded just how many posters have close links to current technology and the necessary repair skills.
Taking up space in my office (2 years now!) are two *broken* Topfield PVRs.
I replaced the bulging capacitors and got one of them working. Overconfidence led to an attempted software upgrade which failed.
Realistically they are going to end up at the WEE bin.
Any interest? Mid Herts.
Hi Tim, I'd be interested as both myself and my brother have one, so spares could be useful. I'm not sure if your email is good - mine is if you follow the anti-spam instructions at the bottom.
It's not just the bulging capacitors that fail, many show no physical signs of failure. The current recommendation is to replace 13 on a 5800 (fewer on a 5810).
There are at least 3 different ways of upgrading software (firmware) one of which is now a Windows based installer. The Toppy.org.uk Firmware Loader can be found at: The recommended firmware found on the site contains many 10s of bug fixes.
Most Toppy's will work again after a capacitor replacement. Sometimes the hard disk will fail after the power supplies have gone well out of specification. Other faults are relatively rare - but usually easily fixable.
Offer them on the Toppy UK forums and someone will have them.
I'm sure that in a short time there will be 2 working 5800s
Yes. I got kits from Andrew Fraser and carefully followed the instructions.
A tuner failure was thought to be caused by a failed switching transistor. The first supplied was *stolen* by the GPO's sorting machinery. And the second physically too small for my soldering tackle/skills.
Yes. I downloaded the upgrade stuff from the Toppy site but cocked up the sequence of installation. My problem is that there is no TV aerial within convenient reach of the desktop PC and both domestic TV's are too large to lump about. The real issue now is that new PVRs with bigger hard drives have been purchased plus most of my recorded Westerns have been re-recorded so I feel I can let them go:-)
The hard drives are OK; been swopped over a few times:-)
Dave Plowman was first to show interest so we are exploring postage issues.
For info:
Yes! I quickly discovered surface mount trannies are beyond my skills/tackle.
I bought a 5810 which turns out to have it's own idiosyncrasies but no cures:-)
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