bd up5000 freezing - Page 2

Awesome...I'm blessed to have two BD-UP5000s with processors that are reliable enough to take the heat...but that does somewhat worry me about the longevity since heat kills. And I can definitely confirm the extremely hot to the touch underside that you referenced.

great job polyscroll..

now, who is going to start BD-UP5000 case mods?

come on, someone is dying to cut this open and add some neon lights on the UP-5000!! How about liquid cooled?

The case with its piano black finish is the only thing that shows quality on this player

I'll go buy some heat sink and fans to try it out. I had my player case open yesterday and it still froze on me. The bottom of my player is warm to touch, never really hot. Maybe that is the problem, e.g. not enough heat transferred to the bottom plate.

You could be right. I have a feeling that reapplying some thermal paste might solve the problem by itself.

So, I bought these two heat sinks to do a fanless mod:





I've looked at the chipset heatsink and fan combo and decided that those fans are too noisy (about 26 db).

Hopefully these two can fit my needs. Just need to take the stock heat sink off. Does anyone have any tips on how to remove the stock heat sink without damage the chip?

This maybe a stupid question, but when he says that he "applied" the fan and heatsink, does that mean they're glued down, or something? And with what?

Thanks Poly, great job indeed!

I'm *currently* one of the lucky ones (touches wood), but it's nice to know there is another option other than Samsung in the future.

Not a stupid question as I was not clear.

The fan is 40mm square and the main processor's heatsink is approx. 30mm.
I could not fasten the fan to the heatsink with screws because the bolt hole pattern is too large so I applied a very small dab of silicone rubber at each corner of the fan where it contacts the top of the heatsink fins. Just enough to firmly adhere it but remain easy to remove for future replacement.

I looked at 30 mm fans that COULD be screwed to the existing heatsink but they just don't push much air and the selection is slim.

I would have used the gold colored heatsink that came with the fan and replaced the original but the Samsung's heatsink is VERY firmly adhered to the top of the chip. I didn't want to risk damaging the chip or its connections by trying to remove it.

The heatsink that I installed on the Reon chip was fastened with silicone thermal adhesive tape.

So you said you oriented the fan so that it blows wind into the heatsink blades. Instinctively, I would have probably thought to have it drawing the air away from the heatsink... (but i really know nothing about this.)

Is blowing air into the blades the preferred way to do it?

Yes it is generally, from what I have read, although it ultimately depends on the application and environment.

In my case, I just followed standard convention when it comes to microprocessor fans and airflow direction.

So far, apply a heat sink to HQV chip does nothing to my problem. I can't take the stock heat sink off the main processor chip. So I need to buy a fan to try it out.

Foxbat121:

I hope the fan works for you as well as it did for me.
Let us know how it turns out.

Just mounted a 80mm case fan found in my parts bin. It's huge but I manage to put it on the small heat sink in a way that it gets maximum air flow from the fan. We'll see how it works out. The good thing is that the 80mm fan is very quiet.

Update: the 80mm fan didn't seem to help. Will try a different, smaller but faster fan and see what happens.

Another update: mounted a 40mm fan and it didn't resolve my issue.

Foxbat, it sounds like the processor on your board is defective.

But it worked everytime after a power cycle. I will live with it. Better than audio dropouts, or worse, incapable to play certain HD DVD or BD discs

So, it seems to me that I have a smaller issue to live with than others. It's always a luck of draw when you buy Samsung products. I won't pay Samsung $85 to fix it.

Foxbat:

After you tried the two fans, did the time to freeze lengthen any?
You said before that yours would freeze rather quickly...sometimes before getting to the menu.

Mine is still freeze-free after several days now.

Nope. Nothing changed. It still freezes at the menu time which led me to believe it is something other than heat issue but a power issue.

Well it has been a while since I last posted about my BD-UP5000 freezing issue.

I have two players; one plays flawlessly and the other tended to freeze anywhere from 10-45 minutes into a movie. Once frozen, the unit must be powered off then back on to resume watching.

Originally I alleviated the problem by installing an additional cooling fan on top of the heatsink and a second heatsink for the ReonVX chip. This solved my problem for a while but the problem came back.

I knew the problem was with the Main Board because I did some swapping with my other good player. I ordered a cheap replacement board off of eBay, installed it, and it no longer freezes...problem solved.

But now I sill have the problematic board so I decided to try something on it that I have read about extensively online from people who had issues with their various printed circuit boards having issues once they start to heat up.

I actually BAKED my main board in the oven @375 degrees for 8 minutes and guess what, it worked! It solved my freezing issue. I have gone several days without issue now using the original, once problematic board. I even removed the additional fan and heatsink I added in the past to verify. No freezes or glitches whatsoever now.

I know, it sounds screwy, for sure, to bake a board in the oven but there is a valid reason for doing so. These boards use surface mount components on them and there are literally THOUSANDS of solder joints for these components. It is possible that as the board initially heats up from playing a disc for the first time after power-on, it warps (bows) slightly and if there is a borderline solder joint on the board. this warping can be enough to break the connection.

Heating the board up to 375 degrees is enough to partially re-melt the solder and heal any hairline cracks in the joints. You only need to reach the melt temperature for a short time. That's why 8 minutes is sufficient time to accomplish a re-melt of the solder.

For any of you that call BS to this, just do an online search for "bake video card in oven. You'll find dozens of instances where it has been successful for video cards, printer boards, mother boards, etc.

Anyway, for any of you that still has a board that exhibits freezing problems on virtually any disc, you may want to give it a try. I CANNOT GUARANTEE IT WILL WORK FOR YOU, but I am throwing it out here as a possible last resort solution.

Here's what I did:

1) Remove the Main Board & try to discharge any static in your body before touching it.

2) Insert some stand-off screws in the four corner holes so that the board can be raised up an inch or so when resting on a flat surface.

3) Pre-heat your oven to 375 degree. WAIT until oven is FULLY pre-heated.

4) Place your board, heat sink side up, on a flat, sturdy baking sheet. It should rest on the four standoffs you installed and no part of the board should touch the baking sheet.

5) Place in the oven and set a timer for 8 minutes.

6) Be EXTREMELY careful not to bump or jolt the oven in any way while the board is baking. Once the solder melts, the components can shift easily or even fall off if jolted hard enough.

7) At the end of 8 minutes, turn the oven off and slowly open the oven door to let the heat out. Let the board cool in this state for a good while. It must be cool before trying to move it.

8) Reinstall the board when cool.


Again, this solved my freezing problem (finally)

You may want to give it a try yourself if all else fails.
Many others have repaired their similar issues with other electronic boards using this method.