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[piscui]

Hi,

My 750 gets stuck on the initial splash screen, forever. I tried holding the reset button for 10, 15, 30 and even 60 seconds to no avail. I unplugged it for a while and tried again, same thing.

I also found out after countless attempts that from an off state, pressing the reset button (a short touch, not holding) and having a USB stick plugged into the USB port puts the device in "safe mode", however when I click "next" to proceed with the upgrade it says the firmware is invalid (I tried with various versions downloaded from here: ftp://ftp.dlink.com/medialounge/DSM750/).

I basically have the same problem described by rob_t in this post: http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=15359.0.
Except that my reset button seems to be still functional. Nonetheless I followed his advice and opened the thing up and the capacitor he refers to does indeed seem to be a bit bulged (I'm no electronics experts so I can't really tell what's too much).

Any tricks or advice on this or should I go nasty and do as rob_t?

Thanks.


PS: Hate to say it but you guys need to improve your phone support; it is always a disappointing and frustrating experience.

[rob_t]

I never tried anything with a memory stick plugged in, so I can't say if you're getting the same behavior there as I did, but apart from that it sounds related. The top of the capacitor should be completely flat, any bulging is a sign of something going wrong inside the capacitor, but sometimes the capacitor will still work well enough (at least at first).

BTW I've been fooling around with electronics and soldering irons for about 80% of my life. I don't encourage anyone to start swapping out components unless they have the experience (and tools) to be able to do it without damaging the circuit board.

Rob.

[piscui]

Hey Rob,

Thanks for replying. I ordered the capacitor and a new soldering iron and should be getting it this week. I haven't touched one in a while, but it won't be my first time using one.
I am far from an electronics expert, but as long as I have a good idea of what I'm supposed to do I think I'll be OK. I'll let you know how it goes.

Do you think that could be related to power a outage/surge? Or just cheap components that won't last forever?

Thanks once again for your help.
J

[rob_t]

There is power regulation ahead of this voltage regulation circuit (just like the CPU Vcore generator in a PC that draws it's power from the regulated 12V supply). I'd be surprised if the problem was caused by a power surge, but it's possible.

Good luck with the replacement. Lots of patience helps since getting components off a thru hole plated board like this is never trivial (although quite doable with the right tools).

[piscui]

I managed to replace the capacitor but still no luck, gets stuck at the splash screen.

Well, lesson learned I suppose. This is strike 3 for me with D-Link, they've made me waste over $500 with different devices combined.

Hey Rob, since you've also taken a peek into this thing, any idea what/where else I can reuse its components for?

I wish these guys would release the firmware's source code since they are no longer supporting it.

[rob_t]

Damm, bad luck! I had my fingers crossed for you.

About the only "generic" item in the box is the power supply.

[JavaLawyer]

If you're looking for a replacement device (and want to stick with D-Link) you should take a look at the Boxee Box.  Alternatively, Netgear offers a solid line of media players with great post-consumer support.

[piscui]

Thank you both for your input.

I will look into Netgear's devices; I'm also considering some from WD. No more D-Link for me; the only usable D-Link device I have left is a DIR-825, which I really like but just because I was able to flash it with DD-WRT.

[JavaLawyer]

Netgear is a very early player in this market, so their GUI is more functional than many of the other available brands. They also have a killer support forum and actually recruit active forum members to beta test hardware. The foot traffic in the support forums (both end-users and Netgear tech) is very high and make this forum look like a ghost town in comparison.

However, to be fair (and honest), from a usability perspective the Boxee Box pretty much overshadows every product I've seen to date, including Netgear.  So, you may not want to rule out D-Link when evaluating a replacement.

I strongly recommend you watch YouTube user-made product review videos for different brands. Many of these show the functionality and on-screen navigation flow, both of which are important in making a decision.

[piscui]

Oh I know it is good, in fact I was thinking about getting one right before D-Link bought Boxee.

I might just go for some "El Cheapo" brand since I just need a few features for the intended TV. My main TV already has an embedded media player with a dual-band wireless adapter and literally plays anything I throw at it, plus comes with Netflix, YouTube, DailyMotion, Pandora... you name it. Heck I can even code my own apps for it!

Thanks for your suggestions. I didn't know Netgear had such a strong support. As for the GUI, I like eye-candy up to a certain extent. I'm a tech-oriented guy so I'd rather go with ugly and powerful than pretty and useless.

[JavaLawyer]

Oh I know it is good, in fact I was thinking about getting one right before D-Link bought Boxee.

I might just go for some "El Cheapo" brand since I just need a few features for the intended TV. My main TV already has an embedded media player with a dual-band wireless adapter and literally plays anything I throw at it, plus comes with Netflix, YouTube, DailyMotion, Pandora... you name it. Heck I can even code my own apps for it!

Thanks for your suggestions. I didn't know Netgear had such a strong support. As for the GUI, I like eye-candy up to a certain extent. I'm a tech-oriented guy so I'd rather go with ugly and powerful than pretty and useless.

These days, all of the major brands are pretty much caught up in terms of codec and container support. The real discriminators seem to be intuitive navigation and streaming support from third party vendors. Unfortunately Netgear has their API locked down, so no back-end fun there. You can load (and create) custom skins though. As much admiration as I have for Netgear, I'm gravitating towards the Boxee Box for my replacement.

[kaiserspark]

I just got my DSM-750 bricked too after a little more that 1 year of use. The 10-second reset switch does not work, the product remains frozen in the startup screen forever regardless. The only thing that seems to do something is to turn it off from the outlet then do a quick press on the reset. This brings the Safe Mode screen, and with a USB key loaded with firmware, it starts loading the such firmware, but never completes the process, just freezing again at some random point between 1% and 100% in the progress bar. It should be noted that my DSM-750 is plugged to an expensive voltage stabilizer, so I think power surges can be ruled out. That's the third DLINK device that dies off suddenly. The two others were premium ($200 and $300) routers. This company should care more about the quality of its components. I think I'm done with DLINK as well...

[totally_awesome]

Hello,

  My DSM-750 just died recently. I looked at the circuit board and found that capacitor C119 (1000uf 6.3 volts) has a slight bulge to it, the top of the cap is not flat, and the color of the cap body is a little dark and dull. So I will get a new cap and replace it, hopefully the DSM-750 will work with the new cap.

Regards,

Dave

[JavaLawyer]

My DSM-750 just died recently. I looked at the circuit board and found that capacitor C119 (1000uf 6.3 volts) has a slight bulge to it, the top of the cap is not flat, and the color of the cap body is a little dark and dull. So I will get a new cap and replace it, hopefully the DSM-750 will work with the new cap.

Good luck. Please post back and let us know if you were successful. 

[totally_awesome]

Hello,

  I replaced the cap and I still have a brick. Hopefully the new DSM-750 I found on Ebay will work. After that one dies I will have to decide if I get the DSM-380 (Boxee) or a Xbox 360.

Thanks for your help!

Dave