Failed recordings - and more!

[clemenzina]

Custom Firmware 3.13 - Crystal Palace
For the past 2 nights, all scheduled recordings have failed.

As soon as Media was opened (after Processing took longer than usual but it's never been quick) *Deleting... showed at top right and stayed there... that was, until tonight, when Processing stayed on-screen for ever, so I couldn't even check to see recordings.

Also, it stopped responding to remote control, but I can't remember what order that happened in.

Rebooted via switch on back, no improvement.

Switched off, inserted custom firmware USB, switched on - Cust FW 3.13 showed on the box display but did not run, however remote worked.

Tried again, same result. Noticed that the TV screen reported that the USB stick had been removed when I removed it.

I could get up the recordings list, deleted some older progs I am sure I had already deleted the last time it was used. They appeared to delete instantly. The free space has not changed "for some time", still at 1003GB (it's a 2TB drive).

To test current status I scheduled a prog on 40 Quest Red to record @ 03:00 - checked Media list @ 03:15, it's not recording. What's more, *Deleting... is back at the top right.

EDITING IN... Started a recording of live TV via the red Record button on the remote - it said it was recording but it is not.

My Deleted Items folder has been non-functional for months, I live with it for want of time to mess around with it, and having forgotten everything I ever knew about handling the CW.

To make matters worse, I've already got a dead 2TB Fox T2 that lasted only a couple of months after I paid a fortune for it. The current Hummy has been going strong-ish for 4 years.

Perhaps I could send the dead one somewhere for repair (but I have to 'hire' someone to do that for me).

Gosh, the only device Humax are selling now is the Humax Aura 4K Android TV Recorder, which doesn't have a very good reputation, from what I've glimpsed.

 

[EEPhil]

Gosh, the only device Humax are selling now is the Humax Aura 4K Android TV Recorder, which doesn't have a very good reputation, from what I've glimpsed.

Even the Humax Direct site is showing no stock on refurbished older models. I've no idea what will happen when the Aura reaches end-of-life.
The Aura does have more "quirks" than previous models. It can be infuriating at times. But what choice is there if you want to archive some recordings?

 

[Black Hole]

My Deleted Items folder has been non-functional for months, I live with it for want of time to mess around with it, and having forgotten everything I ever knew about handling the CW.

Sounds to me like it needs a good clean up! Have you done all the normal stuff, eg fix-flash-packages and fixdisk? Or even just a simple reboot??

One of the points of having CF is to be able to maintain the HDR-FOX with more comprehensive tools than Humax provide as standard, but if you're not going to do that the last resort is a reformat.

 

[clemenzina]

Thanks for the empathy, EEPhil

Thanks for the much-needed nudges, @BlackHole. My Humax wasn't even connected to wifi but it is now, and thank goodness I installed Advanced IP Scanner on this laptop so I've found it, it's called Edimax - maybe that's the dongle manufacturer?

I've got 2 warnings - I'll post Imgur links hoping they'll lead to readable images. Shall I go to Disk Diagnostics before anything else? (I hope you don't mind me expecting guidance - am getting dodderier and dodderier by the week, don't want to ruin anything.)

(EDIT - I'm reading the wiki page.)

https://imgur.com/KnIPTP4

https://imgur.com/7rUhzz3

 

[clemenzina]

TELNET - Firefox is reporting that it cannot find the page via this link in the wiki - http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/x86/putty.exe

I've googled 'download PuTTY and arrived at this page https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html but clicking on the 64-bit x86 version also draws a blank.

 

[Black Hole]

I downloaded and installed PuTTY on one of my machines only yesterday, so I don't know what you're doing wrong... you need the x86 .msi installer file (32-bit should work even on 64-bit), then running it will install the executables etc. I'm pretty sure that's where I got it from.

Your "the.earth.li" link offers to download putty.exe, so again I don't know why you are having a problem, I suspect it's Firefox getting in the way.

You don't need to upload images on Imgur, you can put them into posts on this forum just fine.

I installed Advanced IP Scanner on this laptop so I've found it, it's called Edimax - maybe that's the dongle manufacturer?

Yes of course that's the dongle. You didn't need to go through those hoops - the connection information is available on the Humax menus: Menu >> Settings >> System >> Internet Setting – surely you had to go that route just to get the dongle working?!

As for the rest, I'm not going to re-explain what I've already documented, read it for yourself: Quick Guide to Disk Recovery (click)

 

[clemenzina]

Your "the.earth.li" link offers to download putty.exe, so again I don't know why you are having a problem, I suspect it's Firefox getting in the way.

When clicking on the .msi installer I'm getting the same result in Firefox, Chrome and Edge (albeit with slightly different wording, and I do have to use Imgur because I've made mess of uploading via attachments):

https://imgur.com/OqayBsF

https://imgur.com/mVJgRd8

I only have Windows Defender and UBlock Origin installed, the latter disabled and Chrome won't allow it any more, anyway.. I'll try to get someone else to download it and put it on a USB stick for me.

As for going thru hoops - very necessary, I'm afraid... and reading for myself - that's how I've got this far, all the while appreciating how much work has gone into this site!

Blub!

 

[Black Hole]

What OS are you using? It almost certainly has a built-in Telnet client that might just need enabling, no need for PuTTY.

I do have to use Imgur because I've made mess of uploading via attachments)

You find Imgur easier to use than direct attachment??? Eek. The only reason I can think of is you don't have to worry about the file size.

 

[clemenzina]

What OS are you using? It almost certainly has a built-in Telnet client that might just need enabling, no need for PuTTY.


You find Imgur easier to use than direct attachment??? Eek. The only reason I can think of is you don't have to worry about the file size.

Windows11 Home. But I just accidentally downloaded PuTTY.exe directly via the link under Connecting from a Microsoft Windows Computer - it didn't do this before so I'm mystified, never mind.

However, I've now lost my place and have too many tabs open (or vice versa!) so will retrace steps later and see how far I can get henceforward. Thanks for your help.

Yes, one doesn't have to worry about contravening upload size rules if hosting off-site - I have spent the last 10+ years using Imgur on a site where the max is 320p. However (off topic, I know) Imgur is having to make itself a social media platform in order to survive and becoming super-unfriendly as an image host.

 

[Black Hole]

becoming super-unfriendly as an image host

Yes. It broke on my iPad Safari until I (reluctantly, for other reasons) updated iPadOS, and they changed the UI... but I bookmark directly to my "unpublished" gallery so I avoid most of the social media stuff. (Other forums I use won't host images.)

 

[clemenzina]

Apologies in advance

Humax is in maintenance mode (on BBC Red Button, so there's a black screen with just the 250 BBC Red Button at the bottom) but Telnet is now unresponsive - what next please?

https://imgur.com/4yHn4BP

.

EDIT
As I cannot (and do not) expect anyone to be at my beck 'n call every 5 minutes, I decided to use my initiative and close Telnet and reopen it from the pinned shortcut on taskbar - that opened PuTTY, so I re-entered the IP address but it's reporting: Connection timed out. I'll go back to setting up PuTTY and see what happens. Humax is still sitting there in maintenance mode.

EDIT2
It turns out that my internet went down momentarily (this site went offline for me), plus Humax has become non-responsive to remote again and the Red Button channel hasn't quite loaded completely,.. oh, it's just completed itself after a minute or so... now rebooting itself. Oh dear.

 

[clemenzina]

I'm running fixdisk, see you when I see you.

 

[MartinLiddle]

I'm running fixdisk, see you when I see you.

Well done. It can take a long time if the file system has significant damage. If you can leave it running overnight if need be.

 

[clemenzina]

Woke up to "FixDisk Done". Rebooted with "x", OK.




*Deleting... gone. Deleted 8 progs that had been deleted umpteen times previously but kept returning, they're gone now. 1013GB available, was 1002GB before deleting.

Used red Record button to record 1 minute of BBC News (bad, of course), successful.

Scheduled Countdown to record @ 05:45, so's not to have to wait too long to see if it works.

04:19 - Channel auto-changed to Red Button.

Just checked Countdown, it's fine.

In view of the less-than-perfect report on the HDD, is there anything else I should do?

Sincere thanks to all, particularly to @Black Hole - is there a donation page for a modest contribution towards maintaining Hummy.tv?

 

[EEPhil]

https://hummy.tv/forum/account/upgrades

 

[clemenzina]

Thank you, @EEPhil - done

 

[Black Hole]

In view of the less-than-perfect report on the HDD, is there anything else I should do?

That's just the WebIF alerting you of a change in the reallocated sector count since last acknowledged, so I wouldn't worry about that. You should be more interested in the report from fix-disk, and the output from HDD diagnostics (SMART stats).

WebIF >> Diagnostics >> Disk Diagnostics​

Show us the "Attributes" section.

Then, on

WebIF >> Diagnostics​

On that page you'll see a list of log files in a column on the right. Click fix-disk.log to open it and then the Download button at the top, then attach it to a post here (or copy&paste its text into a [code]...[/code] section in a post).

Be aware fix-disk.log gets over-written each time you run fix-disk, not added to.

A sure sign of impending doom is if repeat runs of fix-disk have to keep fixing things. If a first run finishes with fixes done, you should expect a repeat run to finish not having had to do anything.

Now install webshell! If you'd had that before, you wouldn't have needed to muck about with PuTTY.

 

[MartinLiddle]

In view of the less-than-perfect report on the HDD, is there anything else I should do?

Sit back and wait and see what happens. 8 reallocated sectors is not an issue. I once kept a hard drive on an HDR-FOX T2 running until it had 1500 reallocated sectors without serious problems but the glitches as it reallocated sectors mor and more frequently were getting irritating.

 

[clemenzina]

That's just the WebIF alerting you of a change in the reallocated sector count since last acknowledged, so I wouldn't worry about that. You should be more interested in the report from fix-disk, and the output from HDD diagnostics (SMART stats).

WebIF >> Diagnostics >> Disk Diagnostics​

Show us the "Attributes" section.

Then, on

WebIF >> Diagnostics​

On that page you'll see a list of log files in a column on the right. Click fix-disk.log to open it and then the Download button at the top, then attach it to a post here (or copy&paste its text into a [code]...[/code] section in a post).

Be aware fix-disk.log gets over-written each time you run fix-disk, not added to.

A sure sign of impending doom is if repeat runs of fix-disk have to keep fixing things. If a first run finishes with fixes done, you should expect a repeat run to finish not having had to do anything.

Now install webshell! If you'd had that before, you wouldn't have needed to muck about with PuTTY.

ATTRIBUTES

ID	Name	Flags	Raw Value	Value	Worst	Threshold	Life Left	Notes
1	Raw_Read_Error_Rate	POSR--	175980176	118	085	006		-
3	Spin_Up_Time	PO----	0	096	095	000		-
4	Start_Stop_Count	-O--CK	8833	092	092	020	90%	-
5	Reallocated_Sector_Ct	PO--CK	8	100	100	010	100%	-
7	Seek_Error_Rate	POSR--	227026242	083	060	030		-
9	Power_On_Hours	-O--CK	37702	057	057	000	57%	-
10	Spin_Retry_Count	PO--C-	0	100	100	097	100%	-
12	Power_Cycle_Count	-O--CK	5858	095	095	020	94%	-
184	End-to-End_Error	-O--CK	0	100	100	099		-
187	Reported_Uncorrect	-O--CK	379	001	001	000		-
188	Command_Timeout	-O--CK	0	100	100	000		-
189	High_Fly_Writes	-O-RCK	368	001	001	000		-
190	Airflow_Temperature_Cel	-O---K	54	046 (54°C)	038 (62°C)	045 (55°C)		In_the_past
191	G-Sense_Error_Rate	-O--CK	0	100	100	000		-
192	Power-Off_Retract_Count	-O--CK	5851	098	098	000	98%	-
193	Load_Cycle_Count	-O--CK	8870	096	096	000	96%	-
194	Temperature_Celsius	-O---K	54	054	062	000		-
197	Current_Pending_Sector	-O--C-	0	100	100	000		-
198	Offline_Uncorrectable	----C-	0	100	100	000		-
199	UDMA_CRC_Error_Count	-OSRCK	0	200	200	000		-

.
FixDisk log (11070295 lines eek)

I've got 3 files, the Attach files method only sees the empty one:

So I'll C&P:

No I won't. The 3 files, after a l-o-n-g time, resolved into one but it's too large to upload, and umpteen C&P tries have left me frozen and crashed this page, so I must leave it for now.

EDIT - Webshell installed.

 

[MartinLiddle]

For a disk that has done 37,702 hours that looks very healthy set of attributes to me.