This topic

BT vision box

Chris-one — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 12:14:17 GMT

My BT Vision box has packed up. It would appear the 160GB hard drive has failed. I have checked it by putting it into an external docking bay on my PC and it is not found at all and I cannot feel any rotation.

Does the failure of the disk stop the blue standby light and red recording light working, or is that a separate issue?

Also, if I replace the disk can it be replaced with a larger disk and and how will I get the operating software back on the disk?

Re: BT vision box

zulu17 — Sat, 06 Nov 2021 13:18:28 GMT

Hi @Chris-one as you mention a 160GB HDD I guess you really are talking about the old BT Vision boxes rather than a BT Youview box. Support for and indeed knowledge about those boxes is in the distant past. If you have a spare HDD drive you could see what happens if you replace it. I would suggest though that if you need to buy a HDD that you probably would be better off with buying a more recent recorder. Often a larger capacity disk can be used but the device may only seek to use the expected capacity. You may get some answers on AvForums.

Re: BT vision box

Chris-one — Sun, 07 Nov 2021 00:59:07 GMT

Thank you for your reply. It is a BT vision box not a YouView box.

I didn't want to put in a new hard disk drive if there is an issue with the rest of the box. Although the fan works, I wasn't sure if there is another issue because the blue standby light does not come on. I do have another box, a Topfield, but I hate throwing things away if I can fix them them.

Re: BT vision box

Keith_Beddoe — Sun, 07 Nov 2021 06:54:01 GMT

@Chris-one

You would not be able to get the operating system downloaded, as the server hosting it was closed down many years ago.

Re: BT vision box

Chris-one — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 01:15:48 GMT

So I assume the operating system is not on firmware on the motherboard?

If that is the case, there is no point in putting in a replacement disk.

Re: BT vision box

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 06:43:44 GMT

@Chris-one wrote:

So I assume the operating system is not on firmware on the motherboard?

If that is the case, there is no point in putting in a replacement disk.

I used to own one as part of the original trial, a long time ago.

There was some bootstrap code on the motherboard which established a connection to the old BT Vision servers to download the operating system, which took quite a while. If it cannot see the server, then it will just keep rebooting until it does, so you would be wasting your time.

This was in the days of the original Home Hub 1, and the addresses of the servers was actually coded into that home hub as part of its firmware.

Re: BT vision box

Chris-one — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 01:10:01 GMT

Thanks for your reply.

So it looks like the bin is the best place for this box.

Re: BT vision box

Keith_Beddoe — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 06:10:24 GMT

@Chris-one wrote:

Thanks for your reply.

So it looks like the bin is the best place for this box.

Your local recycling centre will be able deal with that, next time you visit.