WDTV possibly broken - troubleshooting?

Zascar

I have a WDTV live that I've used successfully for years. A while ago my flatmate moved out taking his tv with him - a mate lent me an another tv - a much older sharp flatscreen. Very basic but does the job. Thing is the WDTV won't work with it. It has HDMI, and I know it works as I can get my computer screen to show on it (although the picture isn't perfect) - but with the WDTV the most I can get it to show is the logo when it turns on - after that its just a black screen.

Anyone heard of this before or know what it might possibly be? The other option is to use one of the other cables - but I don't know which one. Does it use component or something? I have a huge drawer of cables but no idea which one.

Really want to try to fix this without buying a new one!
Thanks

Five Lamps

Just to confirm that you are using HDMI to connect the WDTV to the TV?

If you are using an LCD TV, navigate to the Home | Settings | System screen and:
- Make sure that the HDMI option is selected as the video output.
- Make sure that the video resolution option is set as Auto.

You could also use a composite video cable which would look like this http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/14/71/990/54613/ITEM/GoPro-Composite-Video-Cable-for-Hero3.aspx Black photo to three phonos yellow, red and white.

You can also try a device reset.

Zascar

So the good new is it works on Composite unfortunately my network sharing now longer works. When I go into Video and network shares, I click enter and nothing happens. Everything else seems to work ok. I tried a device reset but nothing. All the connection tests work fine. Any idea how I can get this to work?

Thanks for your help!

Five Lamps

Add back your shares?

Perhaps your flatmate caused some disruption to your network when he/she was taking their kit?

Zascar

Ok so I tried again today and it does let me in to the network shares - great! But it says the username and password are not correct.
I don;t think I have one as I connected a different laptop yesterday with no password.

Any idea what I do from here or ow do i find out what the network username and password might be?
Thanks

Five Lamps

If you are switching PC's then you can't expect the same behaviour from the unit.

From the WD manual:

"If necessary,enter your user name and password to access your computer,or accept the default login. For further information regarding password setup and administration, refer to your operating system documentation."

AFAIK just leave the user name and password blank if you don't have a user name and password on your machine.

Zascar

I've played around but still can't get it. I disables the logon password for my Win8pc - but the normal one did not work anyway

It's changed now, when I go into Network Shares I can see "MyComputerName" and also "Workgroup". Workgroup says there are no files and MyComputerName just says "The Network Share cannot be accessed"

coldfire1x

Zascar wrote: »

I have a WDTV live that I've used successfully for years. A while ago my flatmate moved out taking his tv with him - a mate lent me an another tv - a much older sharp flatscreen. Very basic but does the job. Thing is the WDTV won't work with it. It has HDMI, and I know it works as I can get my computer screen to show on it (although the picture isn't perfect) - but with the WDTV the most I can get it to show is the logo when it turns on - after that its just a black screen.

Anyone heard of this before or know what it might possibly be? The other option is to use one of the other cables - but I don't know which one. Does it use component or something? I have a huge drawer of cables but no idea which one.

Really want to try to fix this without buying a new one!
Thanks

One of the reason you wont see any picture via HDMI on an old tv is the screen resolution.

Is this tv supports full HD content? I think there's a setting in WD to lower the screen resolution to 720p instead of 1080p.

Connect the WD to a full hd tv, change the setting to 720p and then switch it back to your current tv. It should work.

I can tell you the exact setting when I get back home in the evening.

This is also the case with most of Andriod sticks, you will need to lower your screen resolution with the older non 1080p tv's.

Zascar

Ahh ok thanks - that makes a lot of sense. I've never seen this setting so if you can let me know where it is that would be great.

Is spent ages trying to fix my network shares problem last night, so annoying. There are hundreds of threads with dozens of different solutions but I can't get any to work. I did put a different firmware on years ago when I got it, anyone know how I can put back on the latest version of the original firmware?

Five Lamps

You can download an operators manual.

The unit should update the firmware automatically if you have it connected to the Internet.

Zascar

Sorry should have said I put a totally different firmware on it from some guy called B-RAD. Might be better to put the original firmware back on. The online update says its at the latest version - I assume cause its not OEM

coldfire1x

Zascar wrote: »

Ahh ok thanks - that makes a lot of sense. I've never seen this setting so if you can let me know where it is that would be great.

Is spent ages trying to fix my network shares problem last night, so annoying. There are hundreds of threads with dozens of different solutions but I can't get any to work. I did put a different firmware on years ago when I got it, anyone know how I can put back on the latest version of the original firmware?

I will confirm again when I get back home. In the meantime here's the link for the manual:
http://www.wdc.com/WDProducts/Library/UM/ENG/4779-705035.pdf

See page 137 and 138 of the manual.

Or if you have the WD Tv live version of the player check out this link:
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705062.pdf

See page 172 and 173.

I have the second version.

The guide also has a detailed section for windows 7 pairing.

Check page 187 and 188. That might help troubleshooting your network issue.

You can always go back to the original firmware.
Check this link towards the bottom of the page:
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdfwdtv_live_G3

coldfire1x

You can also get official firmware from wdtv forums:

http://wdtvforums.com/

Zascar

EDIT: Solved it! Not too sure exactly how but here is what I did

So I downloaded the latest official firmware and installed it. Did not make too much difference. On a different thread I read about going to a new unshared folder, going to properties and sharing, share and allowed it to 'everyone'.

Restated the box, my computer name did not show up. Waited a minute and tried again - now it works!

So relived. Thanks everyone for your help.