c and p from avalanche

Seems so many are having an issue with pixelation and freezing so Im going to try and help here.
Let me start by saying that 9 times out of 10, we are seeing that the pixelation is not due to the color of board you have or a defective board for that matter.Its caused by a bad installation of your module and its very easy to damage it when people put them in so if youre at all uncomfortable please get a qualified person to do this. Also if your unit is taking time to warm up before the pixelation goes away then you also have a poorly installed module.

There have been so many of these modules that were damaged when installed and something isnt right about that. This is the same module thats been around forever and included in many stb's and there have never been this many issues.

Even if you have taken your module out and inspected it, you cannot always see the damage done by a bad install with the naked eye. Many times its also hard to see with high def pictures because it takes so little damage for the module to become misaligned.

There are also many other reasons for pixelation ranging from a misaligned dish or a bad connection or too long of a cable run. You should have at least 75% S/Q so before you jump to conclusions please check tese things first.


Im going to first make a few suggestions to help stop this insanity.

ALWAYS BE SURE TO UNPLUG OR TURN THE UNIT OFF AT THE BACK SWITCH BEFORE INSTALLING/REMOVING THE MODULE

First of all make sure you set the module straight down on both connectors at the same time. If you set one end in and then the other, you already broke yours. You should not hear or feel any sudden snap. If you do then your module is damaged.

If you find it hard to see, go ahead and remove the front face plate so you can see it set down on both connectors evenly.


I will get into some steps you can take if your module is already damaged but first Im going to let you know a trick to a perfect install every time.

As shown in the pics I attached, you can take some sand paper or even a very sharp razor blade and shave the outer edge of the large connector on the main board, on a 45 degree angle.

This prevents damage and also acts as a guide to bring the module down without breaking the connector. Ive seen at least 30 of these modules installed this way and there are no issues at all.


Now, if you have already damaged your module, there may still be some hope.
Sometimes the damage isnt bad and you can just remove the module and blow out the connectors with compressed canned air. This is more likely a solution for those that require a warm up time before pixelation stops. This is because your module shreaded a bit of plastic on the way in and its stopping a good connection with the pins. Once the unit warms up it causes enough heat to soften the tiny plastic particles and allows a better connection.



If your module is damaged badly and you can see the broken plastic on the edge of the connector in a closeup picture, there again may be some hope for you. You will find that if you hold pressure on the module, you will have a S/Q reading. This is because the edge of the module was busted and caused the pins to not line up.

If moving the module side to side does help, try and wedge it there. For example, if moving the module away from the side of the chasis helps, try wedging a piece of something in between the module and the chasis to put some pressure on it. Ive see where a RJ45 ethernet connector was used with the tab broken off and 1 layer of electrical tape for added thickness and wedged between the chasis and module and its been perfect since.


In conclusion, please people be careful. This is fine electronics and its very easy to make a mistake even if you have done this 100 times.

You get 1 chance only and if you are not careful, you will shread the module just enough to make a bad connection or worse, hence the pixelation. Hopefully this prevents any further problems or helps you out of one.


Good Luck and happy installing :P

Attached Images

	good.jpg (52.3 KB, 3 views)
	damaged.jpg (58.4 KB, 2 views)
	Suggested%20modification.jpg (41.1 KB, 1 views)