EyeTV Hybrid USB error

Well, yes, it works like many bad made electronic these days. Reflowing works on PowerBook G4's, PS3, several graphic cards etc. pp. It is either broken by design (too much thermal stress) or bad solder (eg. lead-free, esp. with BGA's). I have 2 friends who dumped their Elgato into trash before asking me, well, they won't buy from Elgato again I guess. My TV Hybrid been to my oven now for three times, still works..

But well, there are .. strange ways people try to reflow.. don't try those tipps.. ^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHbtpCWRs4A

Anyway, be sure to let the device cool down slowly or you will get broken soldering joints again.

Hilarious! Thanks a lot, KamPr! It also worked for me! Fantastic!

Nothing wrong with the stick itself in my case at least. And how do I know? If the stick still works PERFECTLY with Windows Vista (Windows Media Center) on my awful laptop with its USB-port issues, should not be a hardware issue with the stick itself then. My iMac's USB ports are fine.

I have noticed this problem came only after I upgraded (several years late - just a few months ago!!!) from Tiger to Snow Leopard. I never even wanted to upgrade but using the internet was getting risky. And if an upgrade from "ifitsnotbrokendonotfixit" OS causes problems instead of an improvement, dunno if I want to have another one (namely maverick).

I get a signal in the end, but I need to unplug, re-plug, reboot & repeat the last three x times and then lady luck might smile. Scheduled recordings are often not possible, as the iMac does not wake up (except from sleep mode). Not about version either, it was 3.5.3 with Tiger (worked perfectly) and after Snow Leopard upgrade the problem started and has not been fixed after the EyeTv 3.6.5 upgrade. The error message is different though, with previous versions it was "1.1 USB port blah blah" and with 3.6.5. simply "device could not be initialized".

No, I have not been cooking.

....you should go cooking and you should go upgrading before you complain :-)

cook an otherwise functioning eyetv stick? hmmm....

sorry if my post appears as an exercise in complaining, the point I am trying to make is that it might not always be about the hardware (eyetv hybrid in this case).

My EyeTV Hybrid has been playing up for 6 months or so now.

Finally came across this post while scouring the net for a fix.

Gave the USB stick (cover off) a 200 degC x 20min treatment in the oven. Allowed it to cool down till the next morning before re-pluggin it back into the MacMini.

And hey, Presto! Has been working great since.

Thanks for such a fantastic fix!

But now it does not appear to work with the remote control.

I wonder if the oven fried the infrared sensor that is supposed to work with the remote control.

Has anyone else had this problem?

I have not had such problem, but then again, I have never baked the stick. A potential problem like this is one of the reasons I am too afraid to try this method.

Things I have noticed:

1) The day my Mac stopped recognizing the stick without extra fixes was the day Snow Leopard was installed; before that never any problems.

2) In order for the stick to work post 10.6 upgrade, it needs to be warm. I manage to achieve this by connecting the stick to my Windows Vista PC (which has got appropriate drivers installed to use the stick for Windows Media Center); it is warmed up even if the stick is not properly recognised for the purposes of Windows Media Center (the stick needs to be connected before startup to work with it and it does not work with 2 of the 3 ports available as they are faulty and show up as 1.1 usb - even in these cases the warm-up process begins). Odd, huh?

I experienced this very same error with my eye tv hybrid. Could really baking the device in the oven really fix the problem? What did I have to lose? Followed your (KamPr) suggestions and I am now watching TV on my mac. Ingenious! Thanks for your detailed advice.

I had the same issue, and the oven thing worked for me too. However, I came up with an easier fix: Do nothing and wait for about one hour. Then unplug and re-pliug the EyTV device. Worked for me every time so far.

Thank you so much. It worked on my EYETV One and on my EYETV Hybrid. Also appreciate the fahrenheit conversion. I was thinking of buying an Elgato thunderbolt dock. Not so much anymore. Software and software support are good. They need to rethink their hardware providers & the composition of their "cold solder." One of the best fixits I've found on the web.

KamPr, thank you.

It's a amazing way and really work!!!