Avermedia LGP C875 'BROD'

[Black Thorn]

Been a long time viewer and an occasional lurker of these forums, but today is the day where I'd actually really like to understand this fault and potentially how to repair it, as I've not came across something like this before and it's a bit of a doosie.

I brought a LGP which was broken, it lit up etc but wouldn't be recognized when connected to a PC. After getting it to connect by complete fluke one time and it actually working (done a test capture of 10 minutes) I decided I should power it off and back on just to check if it would connect again which obviously is not the case.

When doing research I found out this is a fairly widespread fault known as the Blue ring of death as it just endlessly flashes to connect, with reports of people putting it in the freezer for 20 minutes and quickly plugging it back in whilst still cold. With nothing to lose I did that and it actually worked. The card connected, done another long test capture, completely fine. Done a reboot (once warmed up) not recognized again. So probably a mechanical issue with a chip connecting to the USB bus? I re-flown with fresh solder all the IC's that I think are associated with communication to the PC itself (Winbond, ARM Chip & Altera) Had a few more occasional reconnects when warm and then back to how it was before. Cooled it for 15 minutes again, instantly connects.... I've not touched any of the tiny SMD resistors etc yet as I find it very unlikely to be one of those and the joints don't look too bad although you never really know.

I know when it's cooled the contraction effect is completing the circuit but I find it strange that it still functions flawlessly as long as you don't power it down if it's something involved in communicating with the PC. It shows in the Nvidia control panel as a connected HDMI Device even when it's powered and device manager shows it as non functioning. Once connected and warmed up if I try open the firmware updater I get the below error attached which leads me to believe it's an issue with the flash chip. I've linked to a teardown where they show the boards components to save me the hassle of uploading. Any ideas appreciated!


http://goughlui.com/2015/04/10/review-teardown-avermedia-c875-live-gamer-portable-hdmi-capture-box-gl710/



2021 Update being as I'm lurking about again, I successfully repaired this device a very long time ago by reflowing the ground down FBGA/BGA chip Labelled "AH 1444" relatively simple and easy fix. (I just didn't have the tools at hand to try it when I posted this, even though I suspected it was probably a cracked solder ball) Might help someone else out who's experiencing something similar.

(Apologies if this gets bumped to the top as I'm not sure if an edit will)

[Bashstreet]

Buy a cold box with dry ice put the device in.
Works for almost everyone with blue ring of death problem. 

[Black Thorn]

At one point I was like Hmm, I have my minifridge in this room... I might be British but no one wants warm beer. The thermal stress and condensation can't be good for it though.