Help: My XRGB Framemeister might be dead [SOLVED]

[Ziggy]

edit: SOLVED! Scroll down a few posts for the answer.

I used it for a few minutes about a month ago and it worked fine. I went to use it the other day but my TV would only show no signal. As a way of trouble shooting, I connected the Framemeister directly to the TV (usually it goes through an AVR) and still got nothing.

The Framemeister will power on, the green power and output link LEDs will come on, but the TV will show no input (the TV will display "cable not connected" if no cable is unplugged, so that at least says something). The Framemeister, even with a source not powered on, will still display an image on the TV (you can navigate the menus). But my TV only shows no input, and nothing I do works. I tried power cycling a bunch of times, removing the SD card, holding the safety button on the remote, still nothing.

I'd be pissed if it turns out that it's "burned out" since it spent most of its life in stand by. Right now I have it unplugged, hoping that maybe if it takes a rest it'll magically work tomorrow.

Any one have any ideas?

[Ziggy]

When I get home from work I'm gonna try it again and see if it works. It'll have been unplugged for about 24 hours. If it still doesn't work, I'm gonna try and flash the firmware and see if that'll do anything. If that doesn't work, I'm all out of ideas.

[8bit]

I dont think its burnt out. Just check your video connections agani, try another console or input method such as s-video or composite. I've had similiar issues but it ended up just being a finiky 8 pin rgb connection.

[Ziggy]

I dont think its burnt out. Just check your video connections agani, try another console or input method such as s-video or composite. I've had similiar issues but it ended up just being a finiky 8 pin rgb connection.

I tried the RGB input as well as the component input, but same deal. I will try composite or S-Video though and see what happens.

But even still... My TV shows no input. Shouldn't the Framemeister send a signal to my TV even without a console powered on? So you can navigate the menus? I honestly don't remember, but I thought it did.

[IrishNinja]

yeah, you should absolutely get a blue screen with "no input" or something like that, and access to menus from there...hopefully it's nothing?

[Ziggy]

yeah, you should absolutely get a blue screen with "no input" or something like that, and access to menus from there...hopefully it's nothing?

OK, thanks for confirming. So, I think I'm fucked!

I took 8bit's advice anyway and tried the composite and S-Video inputs. Still nothing. I tried composite, S-Video and RGB with both my N64 and SNES. No signal.

I found something else in doing so... The remote doesn't work! And yes, I checked the batteries (I even tried two different sets of batteries). Same deal as before, the only lights on the XRGB are power and output link. I can turn the XRGB on with the remote, but I can't shut it off with the remote. I can still shut the XRGB off by pressing the power button on the unit itself.

I'm gonna try flashing the firmware. Maybe it got corrupt somehow. If that doesn't work, then I'm completely out of ideas. As a long shot, I might test the power adapter. Maybe the power adapter is burned out, but it's outputting enough juice to turn the XRGB on but not enough for it to run properly? Worth checking since it isn't hard, but yeah, I'm out of ideas.

edit: SOLVED !

I just updated to the latest firmware (I was on 2.00aE) and now it works!

The update process worked flawlessly, and when it was done, I got an image on the screen as soon as I powered it back on. Amazing! Some how the firmware was corrupt but I was still able to update it (I'm assuming the unit uses the firmware for the flashing process, unless there's some kind of fail safe process for flashing). Either the firmware was corrupt, or there was some wacky problem that flashing the firmware reset (which I can't see how since it was working fine last time I shut it off). Either way, I'm glad it's working!

edit: typo

[Exhuminator]

I'm glad you didn't end up with an expensive brick. Congrats on your resourcefulness!

[Ziggy]

PS, new firmware released two days ago.

I'm glad you didn't end up with an expensive brick. Congrats on your resourcefulness!

Me too. Thanks!

[theclaw]

How about more detail on the steps involved? I happen to have a "dead" XRGB Framemeister myself.

[Ziggy]

How about more detail on the steps involved? I happen to have a "dead" XRGB Framemeister myself.

Are your symptoms the same as mine were? When I turned the XRGB on, the power and output link LEDs would come on, but nothing else would work and the TV would display "no input". The ONLY thing that I could do is power it off by holding the power button on the unit (I couldn't even power off with the remote). Everything else I tried seemed to have no effect, flashing the firmware was the only thing that did anything (and thankfully fixed the problem).

To flash the firmware:

1. Download the latest firmware from Micomsoft. (LINK - already translated). Scroll down and click on the link for XRGB-mini CPU Ver. 2.03 (the English version).
2. Unplug the power adapter from the Framemeister. If you have an SD card in the Framemeister already, remove it (or get an SD card).
2b. I wasn't taking any chances, so I deleted everything off the card. I saved my profiles so I could copy them back after the firmware update, but I wanted ALL the files on the card to be fresh.
3. Copy the new firmware to the SD card. Make sure to copy the folder to the root of the SD card, not the contents of the folder - the actual folder.
4. Put the SD back in the Framemeister, and plug in the power adapter. If all goes well, you should see some flashing lights for about a minute. The update is done when the Framemeister returns to standby mode (only the red standby LED is pulsing, all other lights are off).
5. Remove the SD card and power cycle the unit.

If your Framemeister already has the latest firmware, then download an older firmware to flash. You can flash to ANY version firmware, you just can't flash to the same version that you already have (the Framemeister will only flash the firmware if it detects different firmware on the SD card upon power). After flashing, if that fixed your problem, you can always flash again to the latest version.

If your symptoms are different, then what are they?