HDR Fox T2 keeps losing signal on all channels

mamgee

New Member
My HDR Fox T2 1TB has a hardware fault on which I’d welcome advice.

After about 6 minutes the signal vanishes on all channels and a “The receiver is not receiving a signal or the signal is too weak” message comes up. The only way to get the signal back is to switch off from the back and wait about 5 minutes before turning on. The signal will also come back if the unit is switched off using the remote and you wait 5 minutes after the disk drive clicks off before switching on again.

The problem occurs both when recording from standby and when watching a channel.

There is nothing wrong with the aerial leads as another Humax box I have works fine with the same leads, as does the TV. I’ve tried different OS versions, standard and custom, and it makes no difference.

As it affects both tuners I’m assuming there’s a fault in an aerial pre-amp in the HDR but as I don’t know the internal layout of the unit I can’t be sure. Presumably it’s heat related: hence the need to wait 5 minutes before switching on again to get the signal back.

Does anyone have any experience of this problem? Can you suggest what part might be at fault and where one might obtain a replacement part? Does anyone have a link to the HDR’s internal wiring diagram?

Thanks for any help.
 
I had a similar problem with a 'graded' HD-FOX bought from Humax Direct. They concluded that it was a hardware fault and replaced the unit.
If you install the custom firmware you could then install the fan package to keep the HDR-FOX running cooler, and the system monitor package to keep an eye on the temperature. In the hidden service menu (see here) there is a signal test function which could be useful for fault diagnosis. If they have stock, Humax direct will supply spare parts, but the tuner of the HDR-FOX (two separate modules in the original version - horizontal terminals, one combined unit on the revised hardware model - vertical terminals) is fixed into the main board by many soldered pins, so it would not be an easy repair. If you have to replace the main board, Humax will charge north of £100 for a new one. You could buy a HDR-FOX on an auction site to cannibalise for spare parts. If you do have to replace the main board, I recommend installing the custom firmware first to allow you to decrypt any recordings you want to keep: they will be unplayable with a different main board installed otherwise.
 
Thanks for this useful advice. I installed the fan package and set the fan to 100%. It works really well, with the temperature holding at about 39 degrees. I was able to record 3 hours continuously, when previously I'd be lucky to get 10 minutes. The fan noise is not particularly obtrusive either. So a workable solution.
 
Try running the fan slower. No need to run it at full speed I suspect. The fan add on was designed to run the fan at a sensible speed so that the temp never gets high enough for it to come on at 100 70%. Unless of course running it slower causes your crash again.
 
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Agreed, you shouldn't have to set Fan to 100% to prevent the unit from crashing, my Fan setting is currently at 40% and Sysmon never reports a temperature above 44 Deg. C, The Fan package won't be overridden by the Humax until the temperature reaches 55 Deg. C and even then the Humax would only apply approx. 70% fan speed. If your unit requires a Fan setting around 100% to avoid crashing, I would suggest :- 1) The airflow is being blocked by something, 2) A component in the Humax is getting a lot hotter than normal, or 3) A component in the Humax needs to run at a much lower temperature than it was designed to, e.g. it's buggered
 
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