Customized hard disk not recognised when upgrading to 3.0.3 custom firmware.

dma

dma

Member
Hi everyone,

I was running custome firmware 3.0.0 fine (1.02.32) but decided to finally upgrade to the latest version to get any new features and fixes included. Once I upgraded, my hard disk disappeared! I noticed this firstly by the warning message in the web portal...

To install the full web interface and supporting packages a suitably formatted internal hard disk must be present and none was detected.

If the system has only recently been started, it could still be initialising - refresh this page to try again.

If the problem persists, there could be a problem with the internal disk. For help, please visit the Hummy.tv Forums

I checked the Humax recording menu using the remote control but it was "greyed-out" implying that the box didn't see a hard disk...

Settings -> Preferences -> Recording

So I decided to try firmware 3.0.2 to see if it was any different. My hard disk is now detected again, so it seems something changed between 3.0.2 and 3.0.3 which means my hard disk is no longer recognised.

However, I am not using a standard Humax hard disk, but a 2TB WD Green that I partitioned myself - so it may not be a bug in the firmware, rather something I have done which is outside the scope of 3.0.3. I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas what this could be. Or if anyone knows if the logic in 3.0.3 changed which might result in a hard disk not being detected.

Here's the partition table of my disk at the moment (just in case it's an issue with the partition table):

humax# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 132 1052672 83 Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/sda2 132 241895 1941966848 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 241895 243201 10490880 83 Linux

I also notice from here...

http://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Customised_Firmware_Release_Notes

...there is a new kernel and SATA drivers in 3.0.3. It would be good to get more info on this.

Any suggestions or clues would be welcome. It's not a big deal as I can run off 3.0.2 for now. Let me know what you think...

Thanks!
 
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dma said:
I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas what this could be. Or if anyone knows if the logic in 3.0.3 changed which might result in a hard disk not being detected.
Click to expand...
I think 3.0.3 uses a custom kernel compiled by af123; earlier versions use the standard Humax kernel. The standard Humax kernel for 1.03.12 is available as a download in the custom firmware section.
 
MartinLiddle said:
I think 3.0.3 uses a custom kernel compiled by af123; earlier versions use the standard Humax kernel. The standard Humax kernel for 1.03.12 is available as a download in the custom firmware section.
Click to expand...

Hi Martin,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I see now there is a standard kernel download for 1.3.12 in the Firmware Downloads section of the wiki. Unfortunately I still run 1.02.32 due to the EPG lag introduced in 1.3.x so I'm waiting for Humax to fix this. It might be a long wait. :)

I'll probably stick with Custom Firmware 3.0.2 (1.02.32) as it seems to work fine, and it doesn't look like I lose much from 3.0.3. To be honest, I was only upgrading to stay up-to-date - there was no specific feature I wanted.

It would be nice to get to the bottom of this problem, even if it can't be fixed, as it's something you may want to mention in the 3.0.3 release notes - your hard disk may disappear and if it does, you can always rollback to 3.0.2 (or install the standard Humax kernel when running 1.3.12). It must be a very rare occurrence as 3.0.3 has been available for 3 months now and I haven't seen anyone else hit this problem.
 
All of the CFW 3.x versions have a custom kernel in them. The relevant change in 3.03 was to use a later SATA driver version which fixed disk initialisation problems for some people (although 99% of people never had problems with 3.01 or 3.02). You're the first person who has reported a regression with 3.03 though.

You can run 3.03 with the 1.03.12 kernel (as long as you aren't using a wireless dongle) but that still doesn't fix the EPG lag!
 
dma said:
Here's the partition table of my disk at the moment (just in case it's an issue with the partition table):

humax# fdisk -l
Click to expand...
This needs to be "fdisk -lu" to be of any use. Displays of cylinder units are useless for most things.
 
prpr said:
This needs to be "fdisk -lu" to be of any use. Displays of cylinder units are useless for most things.
Click to expand...

Here you go...

humax# fdisk -lu

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.3 GB, 2000365289472 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243197 cylinders, total 3906963456 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 2048 3906963455 1953480704 83 Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 2048 2107391 1052672 83 Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/sdb2 2107392 3886041087 1941966848 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 3886041088 3907022847 10490880 83 Linux
humax#
 
prpr said:
Can't see anything obviously wrong with that.
Click to expand...

Thanks for checking. I think it must be down to the new SATA driver, it probably won't detect my WD disk. No big deal, but worth noting in case other people have similar problems.
 
One last thing to note. When my hard disk disappeared, the Humax box automatically disabled Content Share. This is needed if you want to auto-unprotect recordings or if you want to run as a DLNA server. When the hard disk is detected again (after firmware roll-back), this option isn't automatically re-enabled - you have to do this manually:

Settings -> System -> Internet Settings -> Content Share = On

I don't think this is custom firmware behaviour, rather the behaviour of the Humax box in general. Worth noting if you use auto-unprotect like me.
 
The DLNA server has nothing to do with unprotecting recordings. The auto-unprotect package does that. The DLNA server (enabled by Content Share = On, as is spelt out in all my documentation) is required for auto-decryption.
 
I am having a similar problem, also with a Western Digital AV-GP Enterprise 2 TB drive (WD20EURX AV-GP). In my case it usually works, but about 1 in 5 boots it fails to recognise that there is a drive attached.

My drive was partitioned very slightly differently to David's. Here's the output of fdisk -lu:

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 8 2104510 1052251+ 83 Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/sda2 2104512 3886043166 1941969327+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 3886043168 3907024062 10490447+ 83 Linux​

The problem first showed a few days after upgrading from the HDR_FOX_T2_1.03.12_mod_3.02 to HDR_FOX_T2_1.03.12_mod_3.03 firmware, so I suspect that's the cause.

I will try reverting to 3.02 to see whether it becomes reliable again...
 
I have been running with 3.02 for the last month without any recurrence of the hard disc not being detected, so it looks like there is a compatibility problem introduced by the 3.03 SATA driver with WD20EURX AV-GP drives.

Hopefully this won't be an issue with future custom firmware releases...
 
Hi Thouky,

This is exactly what I have seen - 3.0.3 means your hard disk is not detected, but with 3.0.2 there's no problem at all. We know that new SATA drivers were included with 3.0.3 release, so as you say, it looks like an issue with this type of hard disk and the new SATA drivers. We don't lose much by using 3.0.2 so it's no big deal. I thought it was useful to have a thread here in case others had the same problem. If I hit any problems with the custom firmware, I always search these forums first. :)

If anyone wants, I can test a proposed future firmware release - just reply to this thread and I'll get an email notification.
 
I too have this problem but with the original original hdd that came with the fox
 
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Same problem for me with CFW 1.03.12/3.03 and WD20EURX. Also tried with jumpers for 3-4 and 5-6. I couldn't format it in the box either (error message "Capacity too large" or something like that).

I've now downgraded to CFW 1.03.12/3.02, let's see how it goes.
 
Des in London said:
.
What's the issue with using a WIFI Dongle?
Click to expand...
If you use the combination of CFW 3.03 and the stock Humax kernel then you can't use a wireless dongle. CFW3.03 with custom kernel is fine.
This is something that will be fixed with CFW3.10
 
af123 said:
If you use the combination of CFW 3.03 and the stock Humax kernel then you can't use a wireless dongle. CFW3.03 with custom kernel is fine.
This is something that will be fixed with CFW3.10
Click to expand...

Thank you for the explanation. I don't have a home phone line, hence i use a wifi dongle instead to ftp stuff etc, so good to know i'm ok.
 
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