Foxbox problems; losing picture, sound and webif access, but not power

wiab4355

wiab4355

Member
Something odd has been happening to my box recently.

In the middle of just idling, the sound and picture disappear, even though it looks like there's power. Just turn it off and on again, I thought, which worked for a few hours.

This morning, no amount of TIO&OA helped. There are many hours of viewing on this box; can they be saved?
 
wiab4355 said:
Something odd has been happening to my box recently.

In the middle of just idling, the sound and picture disappear, even though it looks like there's power. Just turn it off and on again, I thought, which worked for a few hours....
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My one does something similar. On occasions I get blank screen, no audio and no response to the remote when just viewing a channel. No idea what causes this and can only recover by powering it off and on again.
wiab4355 said:
This morning, no amount of TIO&OA helped. There are many hours of viewing on this box; can they be saved?
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Sounds like yours is failing, maybe switch off completely and let it cool down for an hour to see if it makes any difference? No idea what the first sentence means.
 
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wiab4355 said:
There are many hours of viewing on this box; can they be saved?
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Yes, it's obviously a lot easier if the Humax is temporarily working (via the LAN) connector, but if you can't get the Humax to wake up you can extract the hard disk, plug it into a USB - HDD interface and read the drive on a computer running something like Linux Mint from a bootable DVD or USB Flash drive
 
The fan attached to the HDD stopped working! Will try to get a replacement.
 
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I'm guessing you have the Custom Firmaware installed, if so install the sysmon package and then from the main Webif menu select System Monitoring >> Disk Temperature to see a history of the Humax's temperature, as stated above the fan will be off when the Humax is cold unless you have installed the 'Fan' package
 
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wiab4355 said:
Something odd has been happening to my box recently.

In the middle of just idling, the sound and picture disappear, even though it looks like there's power. Just turn it off and on again, I thought, which worked for a few hours.
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Indeed; this sounds like a perfectly normal crash and nothing sinister (power cycling is the only way out)...

wiab4355 said:
This morning, no amount of TIO&OA helped.
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...but that doesn't.

wiab4355 said:
The fan attached to the HDD stopped working! Will try to get a replacement.
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How do you know? The fan won't be running if the processor isn't running – it's software controlled. If the HDR-FOX itself isn't working (as you said) you have worse things to worry about than the fan.

wiab4355 said:
Sorry MymsMan, don't know how!
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If you really do want to test the fan beyond all doubt, all the instructions you need are linked at the end of this post.

wiab4355 said:
There are many hours of viewing on this box; can they be saved?
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Yes, but it's only telly. The real question is: what's wrong with your HDR-FOX? You haven't really said enough. What is the state of it now? Is it actually completely dead, or is it repeatedly going through the start-up cycle?

Steps for Resolving HDR-FOX Crash/Reboot Issues (click)
HDR-FOX Commissioning, Disassembly, Repair (click)
HDR-FOX HDD Replacement

"Foxbox"? That's a new one, and would be completely confusing out of context (it could refer to FOXSAT-HDR, FOXSAT-HD, HD-FOX or HDR-FOX – all of which answer the description).
 
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Hello again!
So left it disconnected for a while; took the opportunity to clean the insides and the fan. Reconnected it today and it fell over after about half-an-hour (sigh). Will try "2. Crashes occur, but the user interface is accessible between crashes." and will let everyone know how I get on.
 
So do you have the Fan package installed?, do you have the Sysmon package installed?, have you watched the fan spinning?, what are the figues in Web-If Main page >> Diagnostics >> Disk Diagnostics >> Atributes ID line 194 >> Worst

temp.jpg

If the Humax really is cold, I wouldn't expect the unit to get too hot without the fan after 30 Mins. so you may have another problem

Keeping this component cool has been known to help

heatsink.jpg
 
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Ezra Pound said:
So do you have the Fan package installed?, do you have the Sysmon package installed?, have you watched the fan spinning?, what are the figues in Web-If Main page >> Diagnostics >> Disk Diagnostics >> Atributes ID line 194 >> Worst

View attachment 5499

If the Humax really is cold, I wouldn't expect the unit to get too hot without the fan after 30 Mins. so you may have another problem
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I don't have the Fan package, but I do have the Sysmon package installed. I haven't actually seen the fan spinning, but I did the bit-of-paper-over-the fan-bit and it definitely moved. The box has been off for just over an hour, so how long (after I turn it back on) before I check the temperature?
 
If youn don't have the Fan package installed, the fan should not spin for the first couple of hours from cold, if you install the fan package then the fan will run constantly (at a reduced rate) so it is worth installing the package

how long (after I turn it back on) before I check the temperature?
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If this is a question about line 194 in post #13 above it doesn't matter when you read it because 'Worst' refers to the worst ever since the unit was first turned on
 
Ezra Pound said:
If youn don't have the Fan package installed, the fan should not spin for the first couple of hours from cold, if you install the fan package then the fan will run constantly (at a reduced rate) so it is worth installing the package


If this is a question about line 194 in post #13 above it doesn't matter when you read it because 'Worst' refers to the worst ever since the unit was first turned on
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worst = 064
 
wiab4355 said:
Too low, too high?
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The only reason any setting would be too high is if it is disturbingly audible. Any setting above zero is useful to confirm the fan actually works (although, for that purpose, I would choose 100%).

The setting you choose should be where you find an acceptable compromise between noise and cooling, and you can monitor the effect using the temperature plot in Sysmon. Too low a setting and the HDD temperature will rise until the standard algorithm cuts in and overrides fan. You'll get a cyclic up and down of temperature, which actually isn't very good for electronics and mechanical assemblies.

With sufficient setting (the lower limit will vary with ambient temperature), the temp plot will stabilise at some temperature below the Humax trigger point – depending on the actual setting and the ambient temperature.

FWIW, I have all my HDRs set to 40%, and (with an ambient temperature of 18°C) the HDDs read between 44 and 48°C. If I kicked that up to 50%, the steady temperatures would come down a little.

Note it can take a few minutes for a change of setting to take effect.
 
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