Broken flirc - repeating keys

[sammyrc]

I've had my flirc for a few months with a harmony 650 remote. It had been working perfectly since new with the old V1 firmware. Then all of a sudden about a week ago, it has started repeating keys. Nothing changed in my lounge room ( or elsewhere ), and nothing changed in my setup recently.

 

Now it is happening somewhat predictably, and I even have a work around of sorts.

 

So I've got a ChomeBox running OpenElec with XBMC. The flirc is plugged in directly to one of the front ports.

 

Since the problem started, I've tried everything I can think of to solve it. I've tried updating OpenElec ( 4.0.7 -> 4.1.6 ). I've tried using a USB cable to relocate the flirc to a protected dark corner ( in case of interference ). I've tried firmwares 2.6 and 3.0, clearing the flirc and more. I've tried various intekey delays and enabling/disabling noise filter. Nothing I do seems to make any difference.

 

I've also emailed through the support page ( as directed for a RMA ), but have not had any response.

 

In terms of the problem being predicable, if I give the flirc a few minutes with no IR commands ( for any device ), it's just about guaranteed to happen. Typically the first button I pressed will be ignored. The second or third will be interpreted, but immediately starts repeating. If I do nothing, it repeats forever.

 

I can usually stop this repeating temporarily by either pressing volume buttons ( which go to the TV ). Then it's a bit hit and miss if the next button for the flirc will be repeated or not. Eventually it stops repeating keys for a little while, eg, until I send no commands for a few minutes.

 

Since this problem started out of the blue after working perfectly for so long, I believe the flirc is somewhat faulty. So, what do I need to do?