HD Fox T2 – iPlayer crashes/System Flush/can't record

[prpr]

Hi there, thanks for all your help. More problems this week, I'm afraid. My HD says it is recording when I press the recording button, but it isn't.

Did you run e2fsck with the drive attached to a PC running Linux (as mentioned in post #15)? I think that is the only way you are going to fix the filesystem.
The HD almost certainly doesn't have enough memory to do it. You never said if the process completed before on the HD.

Have unplugged it for half an hour. This hasn't helped.

Really? What did you expect? 10 seconds is as good as 10 hours is as good as 10 weeks.

Can I do a big software reset (is it called Return to Manufacturer?) then reinstall the CF?

Why do you think the problem is with the software/firmware in the box? What do you think reinstalling it will achieve?

How would I do this – is it in some hidden menu?

Don't. You'll probably make something worse and you won't improve anything.

If so, afterwards, will I be able to force the HD to use my original hard disc with all my recordings?

See the sentences at the top of this post. Have you now got two drives with broken filesystems?

 

[iainwhite2012]

Hi prpr, I didn't run e2fsck to completion as it was taking 6 hours to do less than 2% ot the 1TB drive. I'm not IT literate enough to attach the drive to a PC running Linus to fix the filesystem, but may be able to boot my MacBook Pro into Ubuntu and do it from there, if I can find a tutorial – or you can help! That could be my project this week.

Failing that, I guess I should format another drive and record to that instead and use the existing one as an archive. Or ask the IT guys at work, although I've far more faith in experts like yourself on this forum.

[Unplugging, what's the point?] Merely thought unplugging it would help, have seen similar advice in other posts and IT engineers I work with suggested it, but good to know!

[What will reinstalling software achieve?] I thought the problem was my software was corrupt in some way, hence the crashing iPlayer and now inability to record. Now I realise that starting to repair the file system on the hard disk and not completing it has cause the problem. Although I'm up for trying to do this on a dual-boot Mac (see first paragraph).

Thanks for putting me off a software reset, as I wrongly assumed it was my system software, not the hard disk file system that was at fault.

I only have one drive with a broken file system! Thanks again for your help and swift reply.

 

[Trev]

Why do you think the problem is with the software/firmware in the box? What do you think reinstalling it will achieve?

Possibly thought that because it seems that a factory reset/re-installation is a fairly standard manufacturer/software app authors suggested 'fix' that almost never works (as you have intimated). But at least the OP has tried a power cycle which others fail to do as a first 'immediate action' on having a problem (even if he did overdo the off time a bit).

 

[Black Hole]

The reason for doing a "long" power-off is to allow for any residual charge on capacitors or whatever to leak away, with the intention that internal logic states (which may be retained if there is any voltage anywhere in the circuit) have the maximum chance of being reset and start from a clean slate on the next power-up. This can be an appropriate action in some cases with specific equipment - whether it will do any good in the case of an HD-FOX is another matter, but if in doubt...

I have found that a long off (like overnight) does affect the HD-FOX real-time clock.

Leave it off power for 50 years or so and even the non-volatile store will have erased itself! Come to think of it, the NVR will erase itself even if it is on power...