FreeAgent Theater and GoFlexTV

[azazel1024]

So I don't think this falls under the catagory of susceptibility to other remotes causing the FAT+ to power on. The last week I've noticed that my FAT+ seems to be powering on randomly here and there. Sometimes a few times in an hour, sometimes not for a couple of days.

To keep my Verizon FIOS DVR remote (and others) from turning it on, I have the directors cut BR of Avatar parked in front of it (nice black packaing to blend in with the FAT+ and black cabinet). This has always prevented the IR sensor from picking anything up before. When I want to use the FAT+, I just toss Avatar up on top of the cabinet and replace it once I am done with the FAT+ (annoying, but what can you do?).

Now it is getting warmer around here, and I have a lot in the cabinet. DVR (burns about 42w, always "on", even off it uses the same amount of power, stupid Motorola/verizon), FAT+ (always powered, though "off" it consumes less than 1w, on about 7w), USB drive (on a green power strip, so only on when the TV is on, 1.5w sleep/on, 8w in use), BR player (green power strip, about 1-1.5w off, 22w on), Wii (also on green power strip, about 1w off, 11-12w on). I don't have a thermometer in there, but in the winter with an indoor temp of about 67F I'd say the cabinet with doors closed runs to about 80F if I am running the FAT+, maybe around 78F or so with the FAT+ off (IE FAT+ off, USB drive in sleep).

In the summer with an indoor temp of 75F (AC on) I'd guess the cabinet runs closer to 90-95F inside it if the doors are closed as a high temp.

The cabinet has glass double doors.

Now this has been a darned long post, for which I apologize, but I wanted to be as complete as I could. What I can't figure out is, if for some random reason the heat is causing the FAT+ to randomly power on (which of course heats the FAT+ even more and the cabinet as well), or if it could be something else. Not sure what exactly it could be. My best "other" guess is maybe, somehow the glass is smudged/dirty enough that the IR beam from the DVR remote is getting refracted down to the IR sensor on the FAT+ and causing it to power on occasionally. The BR box in front of the sensor is blocking it pretty well, but I've seen stranger thing happen in this world.

I do plan on adding a bit of active cooling to the cabinet this summer. I am thinking an 80mm low speed USB fan connected to the DVR's USB port in back just to get some air flow through. I've cut a couple of circular 1 1/2" holes at the top of the back of the cabinet for a little convective air transfer as there is one in the lower back for cables, plus some air gap around the front doors (not much though). It just doesn't seem to be enough if everything is one, to keep the cabinet from heating up a lot.

We leave the doors open whenever we can, but we have a rambuncious 1yr old who likes getting in to things, so if he is awake, the doors MUST stay closed and locked.

[bodhi78]

@azazel

If you have iPhone/iPad/iPod to use as a temporary replacement remote, I would use black electrical tape to seal the IR receiver and see if the problem persists (or just do that whenever you're watching FIOS). I think inside the cabinet, just covering it like you did would not fully prevent stray/bouncing IR signals.

[azazel1024]

Sorry for taking forever to respond. As it turns out it isn't an issue with stray IR from other remotes. I've verified that once in awhile if you turn off the FAT+ a minute or two later it turns itself right back on. It will then stay off if you turn it off again however. Only happens maybe 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 times though.

[FLHTHEMI]

Versions of the firmware 2.20 and below had problems with the Netflix app. If you watched a Netflix movie then turned off the FAT+ it would power back on. Once you turned it off the 2nd time it would stay off. Dunno if that might be what's happening to you or not, just sayin'. Once I upgraded to V2.23 this problem was gone.

There have also been some mentions that having the power adapter for the FAT+ plugged into a plug bar will cause some strange behavior, so you might try plugging up to a socket direct. You might be able to use an extension chord if you can't reach one.

Also note that the light emitted from SOME TV panels will cause some IR devices to do strange things. I have a Vizeo 37" that won't let me operate my U-Verse set top box IF it's sitting near the TV. Relocated my STB above the TV and all is fine!

Strange huh....

[azazel1024]

That is odd. It might be related to that, but I rarely ever watch netflix movies. Though, I think at least, it is only doing it when I am watching something over the network from my file server, which is at least 1/2-3/4ths of the time I watch stuff. Too much of a pain to keep the USB drive updated locally.

I did recently pull the USB drive and get a Netgear WNR3500l with a USB port/Samba server option on it. Nice low power always on file server for the media plyer. It is in expectation of getting either a FAT+ or a GF TV for the basement TV. Way to hard to keep two drives updated, combind with having to buy a 2nd USB HDD and lastly the file server is awesome, 3tb of storage 110MB/sec average, etc, etc, ad naseum, but it does also burn about 42w streaming and 38w idle w/ the drives spun down. The WNR3500l is effectively free of power use as I wanted it for faster wireless (I have a verizon FIOS router which is only b/g wireless), and even if you don't include that it is only 4-4.5w, and the USB drive burns 1.8w spun down and 7-7.5w streaming.

Maybe version >firware 2.23 will do it for me. I have ridiculously long load times on folders with 2.23 so I had to drop back to 2.20.

[spudler_t]

WOW Nice thread here as I was always wondering why my FAT+ would be on and I thought it was my Remotes although I could watch and sometimes it would not come on no matter what I did with my remotes and then other times I would find the silly thing on for no reason.

I can see my Router showing a LAN (wired) connection so I knew the FAT+ was on again.

I do have Firmware 2.23 so I will keep and eye on it and see if it continues auto powering on or not.

[handyguy22]

I covered this in another topic: http://forums.seagate.com/t5/FreeAgent-Theater/FAT-now-powers-itself-on/m-p/45245/highlight/true#M16... Also, this occurs more often if you have another drive connected to your USB port.