Smart Card Failure!

**newy1234** · 17-03-13, 11:20 AM

I turned my UEC junk box on on Friday night and all I got is smart card failure on the screen like a sceen saver. Tried rebooting the box and removing and reinserting the card and it came good.

Watched TV all good until Sunday morning and the same thing!

Tried the same stuff a few times but no good. As a last resort I went into the menu and rest the box to factory deaults and it seems to have worked!! For now at least.

Lets see it this is the start of power supply issues!

**HILLVIEW103** · 17-03-13, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by newy1234

I turned my UEC junk box on on Friday night and all I got is smart card failure on the screen like a sceen saver. Tried rebooting the box and removing and reinserting the card and it came good.

Watched TV all good until Sunday morning and the same thing!

Tried the same stuff a few times but no good. As a last resort I went into the menu and rest the box to factory deaults and it seems to have worked!! For now at least.

Lets see it this is the start of power supply issues!

You havnt said what card you have !!!

**gordon_s1942** · 17-03-13, 03:52 PM

UEC JUNK box, posted in the VAST forum presumes a VAST card but have you tried the number to rehit the card ?
Is it 12 months since you got that STB, newy?

**newy1234** · 17-03-13, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by HILLVIEW103

You havnt said what card you have !!!

When you have a vast UEC box you only have one type of card.

**newy1234** · 17-03-13, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by gordon_s1942

UEC JUNK box, posted in the VAST forum presumes a VAST card but have you tried the number to rehit the card ?
Is it 12 months since you got that STB, newy?

Yes Gordon, my box is 15 months old so see how I go.

**mtv** · 17-03-13, 05:12 PM

UEC can replace the card...... any smartcard can fail, not just VAST.

Optus provide the cards, not UEC, but UEC pair them to the decoder, which can be done remotely OTA, so you only need to return the faulty card, not the whole box.

**transit** · 17-03-13, 05:13 PM

Keep us posted please.

**nbound** · 17-03-13, 05:33 PM

Make sure it isnt in upsidedown

**mtv** · 17-03-13, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by nbound

Make sure it isnt in upsidedown

Or back to front, or any other combination that isn't correct....... it wouldn't be the first time a simple error like that has been made, but given it works intermittently, suggests it's inserted correctly.

Give the contacts on the card a wipe with a soft cloth.

**newy1234** · 18-03-13, 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by mtv

Or back to front, or any other combination that isn't correct....... it wouldn't be the first time a simple error like that has been made, but given it works intermittently, suggests it's inserted correctly.

Give the contacts on the card a wipe with a soft cloth.

Yes have done all that many times.

As I said above it seems it may have been a software issue with the UEC box, but time will tell.

I did notice the box reports the same error message even with no card in the box at all.

I guess the error should state 'smart card failed or is missing'.

**budgey** · 18-03-13, 01:50 PM

Maybe also try wipe contacts on card with a bit of isopropyl. I do this with sim cards that are playing up with some success.

**Tiny** · 18-03-13, 05:09 PM

I had this happen 9 months ago, still going after all this time, suspect poor contact of card in slot.

Originally Posted by Tiny

Hmmmm, this does make things interesting then.

I thought what happened next was the grand finale of the error messages

So I guess its unrelated.

Last night I turned on the TV, selected VAST, no error message.
Woke up UEC 4121, not, message: "channel not available" or words to that effect, changed channel, same. WTF

Turned off then back on, arrrrggghhh, "Smartcard Failure Contact UEC"
Mutters to myself, "Useless piece of sh#t"

Not wanting to give up I turned box off, removed & replaced card, turned back on, "Please insert Smartcard", I thought I just did, hmmm.
Try again same result, hmmm, leave box turned on, remove card inspect it, was definitely in right way up.
Give it words of encouragement, "Work you f#@/ing bastard" as I insert card, success, "Reading Verifying Smartcard"
Pics back on yeah, checked all the channels, all good.

Still working this morning.

Lesson, Never Ever Give Up.

Source; post #24

**newy1234** · 18-03-13, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by Tiny

I had this happen 9 months ago, still going after all this time, suspect poor contact of card in slot.

Source; post #24

Yeah thanks Tiny, I did do a search and found your post.

I will see how it goes this weekend when I am up at my farm.

My first thought was card contacts etc, but not sure.

I did not have any isopropyl with me at the time, otherwise I would have used that for sure, I have also used it before on sim cards etc.

**Panwest** · 20-03-13, 12:31 AM

I had this problem about six months ago on a new box. Returned box to supplier who removed card from my box and placed it in another vast box. After a minute or so returned card to my box and it worked again.

Just crap software, I think.

**gordon_s1942** · 20-03-13, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by Panwest

I had this problem about six months ago on a new box. Returned box to supplier who removed card from my box and placed it in another vast box. After a minute or so returned card to my box and it worked again.

Just crap software, I think.

I wonder what the supplier hoped to achieve by inserting the card into another STB as the card isnt transferrable unless it 'triggered' an error responce on the card and when it returned to its origonal stb gave it a full reboot.
When it was suggested to give the contacts a clean made me think of people who smoke and/or have solid fuel heaters or open fireplaces as we tend to forget the 'paticulates' floating around seem to enjoy collecting on nice metal surfaces.
And although most will say they have neither, mice and Cockroaches love nice warm places like the top of STB's as I found the marks of where mice had been visiting and mouse pee can be both conductive and at the worst, corrosive.

I know metholated spirits isnt considered the best cleaner but it will do the job if used sparingly.

**transit** · 20-03-13, 05:03 PM

In my opinion the best thing that is easily available and cheap for cleaning contacts are those pre-injection swabs available from any chemist. They are mostly isopropol alcohol and are designed not to leave any fibres or detritus on whatever they clean. Cost is about 4 cents each.

**briand** · 21-03-13, 06:33 PM

I had the same problem last year. Resetting worked for a short time, then it failed again and just would not work. Called UEC and they said sent the box in under warranty even though it was 16 months old. Got it back about 10 days later and it worked fine. Since then I've had the "smart card failure" message 2 or 3 times but it came good after a turning off and pulling out the card a couple of times.

**newy1234** · 22-03-13, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by briand

I had the same problem last year. Resetting worked for a short time, then it failed again and just would not work. Called UEC and they said sent the box in under warranty even though it was 16 months old. Got it back about 10 days later and it worked fine. Since then I've had the "smart card failure" message 2 or 3 times but it came good after a turning off and pulling out the card a couple of times.

Hmmm thats not good!

**newy1234** · 25-03-13, 08:19 AM

Update.

My box worked fine from Friday night until Sunday afternoon and bang 'smart card failure' when I checked in the afternoon.

Tried everything again, reseting the box, setting the box to default, cleaning the card, as another last resort I slid the card in and out about 10 times and that worked! Might be the contacts inside the box but I am sceptical.

I think box box is on the way out, see how it goes this easter weekend.