Over the last month or two there seems to be many complaints regarding the SlingPlayer Solo and it freezing, get stuck on optimizing, dropping the network connection, etc.
There can be several things that can cause this from poor router conditions, week or bad power supplies, high latency issues and more. As an example in this topic thread, Slingbox Pro-HD Freezes (“Optimizing”) while Streaming, alone there are over 900 views and 56 posts about different things to test and try. Some things have worked others not.
There are over 3,000 views and hundreds of posts about it on the answers.slingbox.com site. Some of the tips or tricks others have said worked but a lot of them have not.
If you have tried just about everything to get your Sling Media Slingbox SOLO
Please note; We are not recommending you take apart their Slingbox and void your warranty or if you just aren’t comfortable doing so, but there have been several reports of capacitors going bad in a SOLO
If still under warranty we recommend you read a few posts ask a few questions and see if anything helps. If not the call Sling Media Support and have them walk you through some testing up to returning the box for warranty replacement.
What you want to do is look for bad capacitors. Because as the capacitor ages or starts to go bad , its capacitance decreases while its equivalent series resistance (ESR) increases. When this happens, the capacitors no longer adequately serve their purpose of filtering the direct current voltages on thedevice , and instability results.
To take the box apart look for the four screws under the rubber feet of the slingbox solo. You have to pull the footpads off in order to see them. After you unscrew those screws under the feet, the black main chassis comes apart in HALF.
Then you will see the red plastic. Flip it upside down and there are 5 screws at the bottom. unscrew that and you can finally pull off the case.
Now you have access to the internal circuit board.
What you want to look at are the capacitors.
- Bulging of the vent on the top of the capacitor. (The ‘vent’ is the impression stamped in the top of the can. The impression forms the seams of the vent. It is designed so that if the capacitor becomes pressurized it will split at the vent’s seams relieving the pressure rather than making it explode.)
- Sitting crooked on the circuit board as the bottom rubber plug is pushed out
- Electrolyte (a crusty brown substance) leaked onto the motherboard from the base of the capacitor
- Venting from the top of the capacitor, visible as rust-like brown deposits, or a visible hole in the vent.
Capacitors look like this.
If you see any that look like they are bulging at the top then those would be the suspect ones.
Here is an example of a bulging capacitor.
Here is an example of one good and one bad capacitor. The one on the left is good the one on the right is not.
What you would want to do is replace any capacitors that are bulging. If you have gone this far I would guess if you are out of warranty ans ideas so it won’t hurt to try this.
You may just want to do this yourself. If so here is a great video with a little humor that tells you all about capacitor basics. Thanks to http://www.afrotechmods.com for the video.
You can order caps from places like www.digikey.com or www.mouser.com. They generally run for under $1.00.
If not into soldering motherboards or worried about messing something up the any good TV repair shop should be abe to replace them for you. They surely won’t guarantee that your Slingbox will work but they will be competent enough to do the job.
If you do take your SlingBox Solo apart and find bad capacitors we would love to hear about it. Even if you decide not to fix them. If you do fix them and your problem is resolved then we would love to hear about that too!
Special thanks to jin for supplying the pictures and directions on taking apart the Slingbox Solo!.
You may also want to refer to these posts regarding tips, tools and techniques on replacing capacitors.
Join the Slingbox Hardware forum discussion on this post. There are already 49 comments on it.
opened up the slingbox, swapped out 2 bulging capacitors….. and back online now with no problems. perfect advice, thanks!
Slingbox solo stops streaming every couple of minutes. Tore my hair out trying to configure my router, checking for fragmented packets, etc. Finally stumbled across this web page. No, it really couldn’t be defective capacitors could it?
Opened up the Slingbox and sure enough. Both 470 uf caps were bulging. Ran down to Radio shack, bought & replaced the caps and the Slingbox has been running for 5 hours straight with no drop outs.
Thanks guys, all of us with this problem appreciate the solution!
I had the same problem. Opened up the slingbox, but no bulgin capacitors!
In fact I even measured them, i have an ESR/Capacitance meter, and they were OK!
Measured the input votage and found that the power adaptor gave nominal 5.0 volts when not connected to the slingbox, but only 3.8 volts when connected. I teared down the power adaptor by sawing in the groove between the two plastic parts. (Be careful).
Inside I found two bulgin capacitors 680uF/10V of the famous bad brand CapXon. replaced both and are now up and running again.
I hope this thread is still active. I was really excited to find this thread, because I’ve had the same problem as you all. I opened my SOLO and checked the capacitors, and sure enough, two of them were bulging. I went to Radio Shack, and purchased two 470uF 35v capacitors and went to work. I replaced them, and everything looked fine. Actually a pretty decent soldering job.
But, now I come home and plug it all in, and I don’t get any power to it at all. Nothing. No lights, not recognized on network.
Pretty bummed about it all, because it seemed like such a cheap, easy fix. Anyone else run into this?
No lights at all? You should at least see the power light. Are you sure the power supply is good?
It was totally fine before I did the soldering, but now it doesn’t work. I’ll try another supply, but it worked as of three days ago – just wouldn’t hold a network connection. Now it doesn’t give me any lights.
Even a semi-sloppy soldering job wouldn’t have fried the board to make it totally unworkable, would it?
I’ll run by Altex later and grab a new power supply and hopefully that fixes it.
Take a look at my post. At one point I had no lights too after my solder job.
http://placeshiftingenthusiasts.com/forum/slingbox-hardware/sling…..rs/page-2/
Great tip. I opened the slingbox and found both of the 470mf capacitors were bad. Replaced them both and tried to start the box, but nothing happened. I re-soldered one joint and it fired right up. Has been working better than when it was new. Thanks for the diy information. Saved me from buying a new box.
2 out of 3 bad capacitors, bulging not leaking, changed them out and it works fine again. Thanks for the info!
I opened it up and found 2 of 3 bulging. Just have to get new ones and get someone to put them in for me as I have no means to do so. It should work. Then I will have 2 working sling boxes! Thanks for the tip.
Bud,
Let us know if you do get the capacitors replaced and if it fixed your problem.
I found this site . . . I found that I had bulging capacitors. I went to Radio Shack and spent less than $5. The fix worked. Thank you!
I just repaired my Solo and Pro Slingboxes by replacing the bad capacitors. Both units would work for approximately five (5) minutes then the signal would freeze. Once I replaced the capacitors the units work perfectly no more freezing.
The electrical engineer who helped me told me why the problem existed. According to him, it seems that the Chinese stole the formula for making the capacitors from the Japanese. But, the Japanese had left one key element out of the formula, therefore causing the capacitors to overheat and fail. Again, according to him, it seems this is a well know situation, but it is being ignored by companies that used the capacitors in order to keep costs low.
I have had the same problem. I thought it was due to using a wireless repeater. I could sling video for about 5 min. After reading this post, I replaced the capacitors. My problems are now gone. I have been streaming for two solid hours without any interuptions. Thanks Guys !!
Fixed! Thx man! I replaced 2 bad/bulging 470 uf 16v caps with 2 30v 470 uf caps from Radio Shack for $4 and 20 minutes of my time…so far no failures…now I can watch TV again out at my cabin!
I found this forum after Google search for a fix to my freezing SB Solo. So glad I did! I replaced the two bulging capacitors and now my SB works like a charm! Thanks so much for the advice.
I was having the issue, searched the net and found this page!
I bought the two capacitors, replaced them and mine is now working perfectly!
Firstly thank you so much for sharing this and secondly – it’s such a shame for the non tech-savvy people who either put up with the problem or ditch their Slingboxes!
Shame on you SlingMedia.
My Slingbox SOLO was repaired back in January and is still working fine. What I want to know is if Sling Media is still selling units with the cheap capacitors today? Or did they notice the problem and correct it? Is their back inventory just so huge that they can’t even correct something like this? So, if someone bought a new unit today, are they going to develop the problem we’re all discussing here?
Opened Slingbox solo and found 2 of the 3 cap tiers had blown.
Replaced them and box stayed onected to my IPad with no freezing for over an hour.
This fix worked like a charm! My slingbox had become pretty much unusable with it constantly disconnecting. No more disconnects now.
Thanks to everybody that contributed to finding this fix!
Stumbled accross this site in desperation to find a solution for my Solo freezing after 20 seconds. Replaced both caps and in 10 -15 minutes reassembled and working as good as new!!! Thank you for posting this fix!!!
I found two bad capacitors both 470uf 16v, being late Saturday night and no chance of getting any new ones until Monday, I found an old video recorder and took a couple of Caps out of it, one was a 600uf 25v and the other a 1000uf 16v, these I fitted and the box was up and running in no time. It now starts up faster and works perfectly.
Thanks for the information very much appreciated.
Good deal.
I did something similar when my TiVo’s internal power supply’s capacitors went bad. I just snagged a couple out of an older non-working TiVo.
So happy I found this thread. I will open mine today. Slingbox solo keeps dropping network, I feel like shooting it!
Post #2, yes, I just opened it and there are 2 bulgers. I’m heading out to RS now to pick 2 up. If I get this fixed tonight I’ll be a happy man! Thank you!