Is my 8910 defective?

Jim Gilliland · Post by **Jim Gilliland** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 6:23 pm

I've had an 8910 for several years now, but after a bit too much abuse from my teenagers, it finally gave up the ghost. So today I went out and bought a new one.

The new one, however, does not work at all with JP1. If I hook up my cable and start ir.exe, it tends to lock up the remote. Sometimes the "Check Interface" function gives a healthy result, other times it tells me that the remote does not respond. If I try to upload or download, it fails consistently, usually telling me that the remote did not respond.

If I remove the batteries and reinstall them, the remote often (but not always) replies "Memory Fault". I've checked the (brand new) batteries, they show full strength on my meter. Interestingly, though, even though it tells me it has a "Memory Fault", it still seems to function correctly when I press its keys.

It seems to me that this absolutely has to be a defective 8910, and I'll take it back tomorrow for a replacement. But I thought I'd check just in case UEI might have made some change in the latest units that rendered it incompatible with JP1. Any comments?

Mark Pierson · Post by **Mark Pierson** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 6:40 pm

Check out this thread.

Post by **The Robman** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 6:47 pm

If you're getting the MEM FAULT message, it probably means that the EEPROM memory is corrupted. Therefore, I would recommend that you do a full MFR RESET (not an OPS RESET).

Instructions here...
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4057

Jim Gilliland · Post by **Jim Gilliland** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:56 pm

The Robman wrote:If you're getting the MEM FAULT message, it probably means that the EEPROM memory is corrupted. Therefore, I would recommend that you do a full MFR RESET (not an OPS RESET).

Instructions here...
https://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4057

I've done that - nothing changed. However, I'm not at all sure that it is completing correctly. Basically, if I follow those instructions, nothing happens. They say: Press and hold SET until "Code set", then press REC, then follow prompts. If I press and hold SET, I get CODE SET. If I then press REC, I get "MFR RESET". But I get no prompts. It will simply continue to say MFR RESET until it times out (flashes EXIT SETUP and turns off).

However, if I press Select while it says MFR RESET, it will prompt CONFIRM. If I press Select again, it will say RESET RAM, then RESET E2, then EXIT SETUP, then turn off. So I think it is resetting itself correctly. However, the problem continues - the JP1 interface still does not function.

Jim Gilliland · Post by **Jim Gilliland** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:15 pm

OK, so I'm skeptical about the battery idea, but I figured I'd try it. My batteries are clearly VERY strong. Brand new, and they really hit the meter hard on my battery tester.

So I swapped for a set of AAAs from a flashlight. These batteries also test very strong - I can't really tell any difference on the meter. But now the interface seems to work - at least so far. And the flashlight seems a bit brighter with the brand new batteries.

I'm reserving judgement, but it appears that a set of slightly older batteries may have solved the problem. Time will tell. I've uploaded and downloaded successfully several times with this set of batteries. So far, it's working!

Thanks to both of you for the help.

Post by **The Robman** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 10:37 pm

Jim Gilliland wrote:If I press and hold SET, I get CODE SET. If I then press REC, I get "MFR RESET". But I get no prompts. It will simply continue to say MFR RESET until it times out (flashes EXIT SETUP and turns off).

As with all of the other options that are available from the LCD menu, if you want to select the option, you press the SELECT button, as you seem to have figured out...

Jim Gilliland wrote:However, if I press Select while it says MFR RESET, it will prompt CONFIRM. If I press Select again, it will say RESET RAM, then RESET E2, then EXIT SETUP, then turn off. So I think it is resetting itself correctly. However, the problem continues - the JP1 interface still does not function.

Jim Gilliland wrote:OK, so I'm skeptical about the battery idea, but I figured I'd try it. My batteries are clearly VERY strong. Brand new, and they really hit the meter hard on my battery tester.

So I swapped for a set of AAAs from a flashlight. These batteries also test very strong - I can't really tell any difference on the meter. But now the interface seems to work - at least so far. And the flashlight seems a bit brighter with the brand new batteries.

I'm reserving judgement, but it appears that a set of slightly older batteries may have solved the problem. Time will tell. I've uploaded and downloaded successfully several times with this set of batteries. So far, it's working!

It doesn't hurt to be skeptical, but obviously, if we went to the trouble of writing up the whole thing about the batteries, it must be a common problem, and as you've found, reducing the voltage in the remote often cures the problem.

ANother option that you could have tried, and I'm sure you would have ben VERY sceptical about this, is you could have reversed one of the batteries (just for when the remote is hooked up to the JP1 cable) and this would probably have also fixed it. Give it a try.

Jim Gilliland · Post by **Jim Gilliland** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:04 am

The Robman wrote:ANother option that you could have tried, and I'm sure you would have ben VERY sceptical about this, is you could have reversed one of the batteries (just for when the remote is hooked up to the JP1 cable) and this would probably have also fixed it. Give it a try.

I did try that. I was skeptical, and in this case justifiably so. The remote did not operate whatsoever in that condition.

Even so, I appreciate the help. <g>

Capn Trips · Post by **Capn Trips** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:15 am

Jim Gilliland wrote:
The Robman wrote:ANother option that you could have tried, and I'm sure you would have ben VERY sceptical about this, is you could have reversed one of the batteries (just for when the remote is hooked up to the JP1 cable) and this would probably have also fixed it. Give it a try.
I did try that. I was skeptical, and in this case justifiably so. The remote did not operate whatsoever in that condition.

Even so, I appreciate the help. <g>

Perhaps Rob was not clear. The "weak batteries" situation, whether you achieve it by actual weak batteries, or simulate it by reversing a single battery, is EXCLUSIVELY to facilitate the simple parrallel interface successfully achieving communication between IR.exe and your remote. It is not ALWAYS the case, but we have seen in this forum in MANY instances, where the battery voltage - either too high or too low, can make the interface not work with some remotes. There appear to be too many variables to reliably confirm when this technique will help. Be that as it may, the advice for reversing a battery is solely for IR comms.

You still need the best, highest battery voltage output you can achieve for OPERATING the remote.

Post by **The Robman** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:16 am

The bottom line is this, there is no standard regarding the voltage used for the LPT1/parallel port on PCs, so the voltage found varies alot. Due to it's simple design, the "Simple" JP1 interface is vunderable to some of these voltages. If the voltage in the remote is quite high (which might be the case if you have brand new batteries in it) and the voltage in the parallel port is not high enough, the JP1 interface won't work. Given than you probably can't raise the voltage in the parallel port, your only other option is to lower the voltage in the remote.

The thread that you were linked to before gives several alternatives as to how you can lower the voltage, ALL of which have been proven to work at one time or another. Obviously, as each situation is different, not every solution will work in every case, that's why there are alternatives. I'm glad that you found that at least one of the solutions works for you, but that doesn't mean that the other solutions are not also valid.

Jim Gilliland · Post by **Jim Gilliland** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:16 am

The Robman wrote:I'm glad that you found that at least one of the solutions works for you, but that doesn't mean that the other solutions are not also valid.

Yes, I can imagine that there are times when swapping a battery could still result in a usable voltage, though it's pretty clear that it will be severely reduced. In my case, though, it didn't work.

And, yes, I understand that the voltage issue affects the JP1 Parallel connection in particular because the connection is so unsophisticated. This is not a "highly engineered" communications path - it is a very simple one that happens to work well most of the time. It's easy to see how it might be vulnerable to voltage variations in either direction.

Again, thanks.