Welcome to the final in a deliberate collection of teardowns ensuing from the mid-2024 version of “the close-proximity lightning strike that zapped Brian’s electronics gadgets”, following within the footsteps of a scorching tub circuit board, a three-drive NAS, two eight-port GbE switches and one five-port one, and a MoCA networking adapter…to not point out all of the gear that had expired within the previous 2014 and 2015 lightning-exposure iterations…

That is—I’m unhappy to say, in no small half as a result of they’re not offered any longer (even in factory-refurbished situation) and my amassed “spares” stock will finally be depleted—the third straight time {that a} SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime has bit the mud:

Legacy vulnerability

The purposeful failure signs—a subsequent entry incapacity from elsewhere over the LAN, coupled with an offline-status entrance panel LED—have been similar in each the first and second circumstances, though the primary time round, I couldn’t discover any related bodily injury proof. The second time round, alternatively…

This third time, although, the failure signs have been considerably totally different, though the “useless” finish (dead-end…get it? Ahem…) outcome was the identical; a unending system loop of seemingly beginning up, getting “caught” and rebooting:

Plus, my evaluation of the techniques’ insides within the first two circumstances had been extra cursory than the comparative verbosity to which subsequent teardowns have advanced, so I made a decision a radical revisit was apropos. I’ll begin with some overview pictures of our affected person, as regular accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for measurement comparability functions:

See these left-side air flow slots? Maintain that thought:

Onward:

Two screws on prime:

And two extra on the underside:

will function our pathway inside:

Earlier than diving in, right here’s visible affirmation:

that the “wall wart” nonetheless works (that mentioned, I nonetheless briefly swapped within the substitute HDHomeRun Prime’s PSU to substantiate that any current-output deficit with this one wasn’t the foundation reason behind the system’s bootup woes…it’s occurred to me with different gadgets, in any case…)

Getting inside

Onward:

Now for that interior plastic sleeve nonetheless surrounding three sides of the PCB, which slips proper off:

This appears to be the identical rev. 1.7D model of the design that I noticed within the preliminary November 2014 teardown, versus the rev. 1.7F iteration analyzed a yr (and some months) later:

As soon as once more, a heatsink dominates the PCB topside-center panorama, surrounded by, to the left, a Macronix MX25L1655D 16 Mbit serial interface flash reminiscence (maintain that thought) and a Hynix (now SK Hynix) H5PS5162FFR 64 Mbit DDR2 SDRAM, and above, a Realtek RTL8211CL single-port Ethernet controller. Again in late 2014, I relied on WikiDevi (or, in case you favor, DeviWiki) to ID what was beneath the heatsink:

The chip is Ubicom’s IP7150U communications and media processor; the corporate was acquired in early 2012 and I can’t discover any point out of the SoC on new proprietor Qualcomm’s web site. Right here’s an archive of the related product web page.

I confess that I had subsequently fully forgotten about my earlier on-line sleuthing success; regardless, I used to be decided to pop the heatsink off this time round:

Subsequent, some rubbing alcohol and a fingernail to scrape off the marking-obscuring glue:

Yep, it’s the Ubicom IP7150U Right here’s an fascinating overview of what occurs if you work together with the CPU (and broader system) software program through the SiliconDust-supplied Linux-based open supply improvement toolset and a command line interface, by the way in which.

I used to be additionally decided this time to pry off the coax tuner subsystem’s Faraday cage and see what was beneath, though on reflection I might have saved myself the hassle by simply trying to find the press launch first (however then once more, what’s the enjoyable in that?):

These are MaxLinear MxL241SF single-die built-in tuner and QAM demodulator ICs, though why there are 4 of them in a three-tuner system design is unclear to me…(readers?)

Grace Hopper would approve

Now let’s flip the PCB over and see what’s beneath:

What’s that blob within the decrease proper nook, underneath the CableCard slot? Are these…useless bugs?

Certainly!

I’d just lately purchased a macro lens and ring mild adapter set for my smartphone:

Which I assumed can be excellent to check out for the primary time on this state of affairs:

That optical combo works fairly nicely, eh? Apparently, the crops within the greenhouse room subsequent door to the furnace room, which does double-duty as my community nexus, entice occasional gnats. However how and why did they find yourself right here? For one factor, the LED at this location on the opposite facet of the PCB is the one closest to the aforementioned air flow slots (aka, gnat entry portals). And for an additional, this specific LED is a) perpetually illuminated each time the gadget is powered up and b) multicolor, whereas the others are both green-or-off. As I wrote in 2014:

On the backside [editor note: of the PCB topside] are the 5 front-panel LEDs. The one on the left [editor note: the “buggy” one] is generally inexperienced; it’s purple when the HDHomeRun Prime can’t go surfing. The one to its proper can also be usually inexperienced; it flashes when the CableCARD is current however not prepared, and is darkish when the CableCARD just isn’t current or not detected. And the remaining three on the correct, when green-lit, signify a respective tuner in use.

Hey, wait…I ponder what may occur if I have been to scrape off the bugs?

Nope, the gadget remains to be DOA:

I’ll wrap up with yet one more close-up picture, this one of many passives-dominated bottom space beneath the topside Ubicom processor and its reminiscence and networking companion chips:

And in closing, a question: why did the system die this time? As was the case the primary time, albeit undoubtedly not the case the second time, there’s no apparent bodily proof for the reason for this demise. Usually, and much like the MoCA adapter I tore down final month, these gadgets have twin potential EMP publicity sources, Ethernet and coax. Quoting from final month’s writeup:

A part of the rationale why MoCA gadgets hold dying, I believe, is because of their inherent nature. Since they convert between Ethernet and coax, there are two totally different potential “Achilles Heels” for incoming electromagnetic spikes. Plus, the truth that coax routes from room to room through cable runs connected to the outside of the residence doesn’t assist.

On this case, to make clear, the “weak hyperlink” coax run is the one coming into the home from the Comcast feed on the avenue, not a separate coax span that may subsequently run from room to room inside the house. Identical middleman exterior-exposure conceptual vulnerability, nonetheless.

The best way the gadget is appearing this time, although, I ponder if the firmware within the Macronix flash reminiscence might need gotten corrupted, leading to a perpetual-reboot state of affairs. Or possibly the processor simply “loses its thoughts” the primary time it tries to entry the no-longer-functional Ethernet interface (since this gave the impression to be the foundation reason behind the demise the primary two instances) and restarts. Reader theories, together with broader ideas, are as-always welcomed within the feedback!

—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Imaginative and prescient Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the corporate’s on-line publication.

Associated Content material

• The entire-house LAN: Achilles-heel alternate options, tradeoffs, and plans
• Lightning strikes…thrice???!!!
• Pc and network-attached storage: Capability optimization and backup enlargement
• A teardown story of two not-so-different switches
• Dissecting (and sibling-comparing) a scorched five-port Gigabit Ethernet swap
• Broke MoCA II: This time, the wall wart acquired zapped, too

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