APX mode, no nVidia Logo, black screen, just green LED - nVidia Shield TV Pro 2017 hard-brick ?

[shaarky]

Before I will trough it away, I was wondering if there is still some chance...

So last few months my nVidia Shield TV Pro 2017 was somehow lagging - it took quite a long time to even start for example NetFlix. This issue was randomly re-appearing like 4x a month (eg. for days/two) and reboot didn't help, then it went away and repeated after 1-2 weeks etc. I'm not using it for game play at all.

I was thinking myself that maybe it's HDD issue (like dying after 4 years...) or it's CPU thermal throttling. So I disassembled it, cleaned it using pressured air, assembled back and it was working just fine (but it could have been again just temporary). I have decided to replace thermal paste on the heat-sink together with replacing SSHD by SSD (due to the different sizes, I had to use method described in another thread). And here I'm with probably hard bricked Shield.

I don't know if I hard-bricked it during heat-sink disassembly (for sure I didn't put too much thermal paste) or when trying to migrate to SSD, however :
- there is no logo when turning it on
- CPU FAN is not spinning, green LED is shining just bright (eg. never turn to lower brightness)
- I can't enter fast boot - I see it's stuck with APX mode, when connected to the PC via MicroUSB
- testing new SSD and even putting back previous SSHD, seems that it doesn't boot at all, as /cache partition - log folders, it just contains old early_boot_dmesg.txt and last_boot_dmesg.txt files
(when booting using SSHD, the hard-drive start spinning and in like 6 sec I hear noise like head get parked)
- I kept it like that for 1 hour - no change / fan not spinning / no logo / just black screen
- tested it on TV as well on another LCD
- I have checked using microscope if I damaged any SMD but I don't see any damages and it's not first time I was performing such activity

Did it die or you may have some ideas ? I don't believe it's SSD/SSHD issue but most probably some HW failure.
I was wondering, if the logo would show up eg. when you turn it on just without hard-drive connected ?

Thank you.

 

[jionny]

Before I will trough it away, I was wondering if there is still some chance...

So last few months my nVidia Shield TV Pro 2017 was somehow lagging - it took quite a long time to even start for example NetFlix. This issue was randomly re-appearing like 4x a month (eg. for days/two) and reboot didn't help, then it went away and repeated after 1-2 weeks etc. I'm not using it for game play at all.

I was thinking myself that maybe it's HDD issue (like dying after 4 years...) or it's CPU thermal throttling. So I disassembled it, cleaned it using pressured air, assembled back and it was working just fine (but it could have been again just temporary). I have decided to replace thermal paste on the heat-sink together with replacing SSHD by SSD (due to the different sizes, I had to use method described in another thread). And here I'm with probably hard bricked Shield.

I don't know if I hard-bricked it during heat-sink disassembly (for sure I didn't put too much thermal paste) or when trying to migrate to SSD, however :
- there is no logo when turning it on
- CPU FAN is not spinning, green LED is shining just bright (eg. never turn to lower brightness)
- I can't enter fast boot - I see it's stuck with APX mode, when connected to the PC via MicroUSB
- testing new SSD and even putting back previous SSHD, seems that it doesn't boot at all, as /cache partition - log folders, it just contains old early_boot_dmesg.txt and last_boot_dmesg.txt files
(when booting using SSHD, the hard-drive start spinning and in like 6 sec I hear noise like head get parked)
- I kept it like that for 1 hour - no change / fan not spinning / no logo / just black screen
- tested it on TV as well on another LCD
- I have checked using microscope if I damaged any SMD but I don't see any damages and it's not first time I was performing such activity

Did it die or you may have some ideas ? I don't believe it's SSD/SSHD issue but most probably some HW failure.
I was wondering, if the logo would show up eg. when you turn it on just without hard-drive connected ?

Thank you.

That's definitely hardware failure. I have been there done that, no coming back Nvidia says apx mode is hardware failure

 

[shaarky]

@jionny and would you have any idea, what that HW failure could be ?
I'm still not able to get any answer on if nVidia Logo shows up or not when SSHD is disconnected - eg. that would possbly narrow it down to the broken ribbon cable (even it looks completely okay)

 

[Mnstr3nrgy]

I don't have a solution for you, unfortunately. But I did want to say don't throw it out. I have one too, but the fan is going out on it and it's so loud that I have my Shield unplugged and haven't used it for I think about a year.
Point that I'm getting at is you could part it out, or sell to someone that can use parts from it. If your worried about your data, then you could just part out the other stuff, which if I remember correctly might just be the heatsink and the fan. Not sure. If you can't find a solution though, recycling is better than the landfill.
Let me know if you decide to part it out or if you want to sell it. Obviously only if repairing either isn't possible or practical.

 

[qxotic]

Mine recently died too, the HDD is the most common weak link. I would get a green light and heard the ticking of the stuck drive. Taking it apart, and manually unsticking the drive didn't get me any further. I'm working through the procss of installing an SSD.. have gotten it to boot to the point of asking for a google sign in, but even though the email and password are correct, it is not accepting them. Still trying to track down the solution.
Nothing will display without a working drive. My tv would detect something was connected to it, but that was the only indication that it was alive.

 

[shaarky]

Thank you for update...I still didn't figure myself though, why why even with ssd nothing shows up :-(

 

[qxotic]

If there is not a bootloader/program on the ssd then there is nothing for it to read from to show. Try creating the PRO 500G ssd first and see what you get. An ssd without a program on it won't have anything to read from. Look for the SSD done posts.

 

[shaarky]

I have 128GB SSD and I tried to copy it with partition size adjustment...I can read the drive, I see the smae structure...seems to be okay, I can also read previous HDD without problem (also SMART do not report any issue). I think it really died....

 

[qxotic]

Have you read the posts under "Nvidia Shield TV SSD - done"? The change to a different size drive can be very tricky and requires hex edits. I'd advise getting the 500G SSD and following this guide to see how far you get. Other than that I've run out of ideas, good luck.

 

[shaarky]

Thanks for trying to bring up new ideas. I know that thread very well, I even tried original image with hex modifications, using calculator, then I used the automated script, I'm quite confident I did it right. Don't forget that even with original image/previous HDD it doesn't boot and I don't want to touch the previous HDD to ensure I still have some backup. It's really pity there is not any serial console..
I can also read both disks using Linux reader, the partitions are identical (except size naturally) etc.

Just the behaviour is really strange...

 

[qxotic]

Sorry I wasn't any help. It is too bad there are so many hoops and you can't just install from an ISO like I can for my linux programs or to run a VM. If you are sure of your drive, might be worth watching ebay for an inoperable shield to put it in. I'm sure that's all mine needs.. just trying to get around the log in issue.