Hello all. As a hardly fledged Newbie, I thought it worth sharing a few trials and tribulations I underwent having imported some Receivers from the US in the hope it might help some others in tracking down problems. I intended to ask questions of this forum along the way, but was unable to obtain a Username through the usual sources. However, with my ineptness resolved (I didn’t check the “I agree” box in the Terms of Use section) here we go.
I bought the first 6 Rios on eBay for about $80 and had them shipped for about $150. Taxes due when importing to the UK from the US are:
~5% (duty) of the total paid INCLUDING shipping. i.e. 0.05 * $630
and 17.5% (VAT) of the total paid INCLUDING shipping i.e. 0.175 * $630

Total $771.75, or $128.63 each (~£80).

Yes, I know they are about $50 on eBay now….so I bought another 6.

These units are a total steal at these prices. I cannot believe that the general public take up has not been higher.


If anyone wants more info on the mechanics of importing, let me know)

Firstly, I had them running on HPNA. I confess that I live in a Spanish Armada era house, so the wiring does leave a fair amount to be desired, but I could not get it working satisfactorily. My dial-up internet connection (no broadband in my rural exchange yet) ran slow, and I had repeated problems with the Rios connecting. I got the green link light OK, but despite the occasional orange activity flicker, they would sporadically refuse to connect.

So I dumped the HPNA and resolved to drape CAT5 around. Wife not impressed, but dial-up speed back to normal 45kbs snail’s pace. My initial install did not go well. I suspect that this had something to do with the fact that I tested the setup by trying to connect the Rio. Had I used my laptop I would probably have discovered that I had got a faulty patch cable and a faulty hub before 4am. That is when I found out that I had a faulty Rio as well.
The next one out of the box was fine and connected perfectly. However, while generally messing about installing the other units, upgrading to tRio, importing more files etc., I came across the “will not connect” issue once more. The Rio was on the network, but could not make a connection with tRio. I could see this through the ARM view where it would show an IP address in the assigned range, but would very soon change to the MS default 169.x.x.x. After a huge number of power off/power on cycles and various combinations of waiting before powering on etc. (I am sure this rings a bell with someone out there), a decent amount of ridicule from the wife and endless surfing of this BBS, I fixed it by rebooting the hubs on the network. That solved it, and has continued to solve any connection issues I have had.

Takeaway points?
1..As mentioned several times in these forums and MANY places elsewhere, make changes to network/PC setups slowly and incrementally not all at one time.

2..My personal view is that HPNA in old houses is not a winner. It may work for others out there, but for me it caused too much pain.

3..Try re-powering hubs/switches if connecting becomes a problem

All that said, my setup is now very stable and I feel comfortable that I can solve the issues if they raise their head again. I hope this may help others.

Last word has to go to “pauln” who helped me out while I was still banished from the BBS. Not only did he sort some problems for me, but tRio is just incredible. MANY THANKS.

Mark