Live plus turns off immediately

My old Live Plus had been suffering increasing heat-related problems, so I decided to replace the thermal compound on the heatsink.  The heatsink came off very reluctantly, the compound there was all thick and dried up.  After I was done and the device was reassembled with a drop of silver thermal paste, I plugged it in; it came on for around 3 seconds, then turned off.  This is now all it does: whether I turn it on with the remote, or by unplugging and replugging it in, I get 3 seconds and then off.

I’ve examined the board carefully for stray traces of paste that might cause a short, but can’t find anything.  I assume that I did some damage either to the Sigma chip or to the board with the removal of the heatsink.

Before I give up and toss the thing, can anyone think of anything else I should look at or try?

Apparently you finished the thing off.  Time for a new one, so try an SMP.  Products do die; just like the rest of us.

Apparently you finished the thing off.  Time for a new one, so try an SMP.  Products do die; just like the rest of us.

I’d already mainly retired the WD a year ago in favor of a RasPi/XBMC-based solution.  I was hoping to use the WDTV to handle the one situation where the Pi is weak and the WD is decent, files on my local network with AC3 or DTS audio encoding.  I don’t really want to buy a whole new device just for that.

I gather there is no known cause of the symptoms I report other than an unrepairable device?

My guess is the reappligation of the heatsink did not work and the chip immediatly overheats and shuts down.

My guess is the reappligation of the heatsink did not work and the chip immediatly overheats and shuts down.

I wish it was that.  I’m pretty confident in my ability to attach a heatsink, but just in case I did it again; same result.  Oh well.