Humax HDR Fox T2 won't boot with internal hard drive power attached

hello all

I've had a Humax HDR Fox T2 since they were available brand new in Currys, my main unit has had several replacement hard drives over the years and performs beyond expectations, however ...

one was recently bought off eBay as not working, it has no hard drive, the power lead had been wound up inside the case and the on/off switch was missing

from a Humax DTR-1000 which shares a few parts, I replaced the switch and mains lead and have been able to turn the unit on, it shows [ system start ], when connected to a tv with hdmi, it shows a tv picture when an aerial is connected, the web portal works fine, so I thought the hard drive out of the DTR-1000 would do the trick as it uses the same hard drive carrier, the hard drive has had all partitions deleted and formatted as a blank drive

trying to boot the Humax HDR Fox T2 with the hard drive installed (power and data leads connected) the Humax just cycles through the green boot screen, at no time does the boot process end with a steady tv picture, thinking the power supply may not be providing enough oomph, the power supply was replaced from the DTR-1000 (the DTR-1000 was working fine when I stopped using it), the Humax HDR Fox T2 still does not boot correctly with the hard drive connected, however ...

when the hard drive is disconnected from the power (data lead still connected), the Humax HDR Fox T2 booted ok, the hard drive power was carefully reconnected, the Humax HDR Fox T2 then showed an alert about the hard drive needing to be formatted, the format completed ok and shows no errors

restarting with the hard drive connected (power and data) with a usb thumb drive with the latest custom firmware installed with no issues, restarting causes the boot loop, switching off at mains and restarting with hard drive power disconnected, then connecting hard drive power lead, I was able to complete the custom firmware install

any suggestion gratefully received
 
You could try the System Flush image, but I'm not hopeful.
This is probably why it was on eBay in the first place.
I've got one which does similar things, but not as bad as that most of the time.
 
I agree with prpr that the System Flush is the next thing to try. After that you might try with a 2.5" drive, if you have one lying about, as they don't need the 12V supply and there has been at least one report of a box that would works with a 2.5" drive and not a 3.5" drive.
 
one was recently bought off eBay as not working
This one?
A 1TB unit listed as "not working" I was watching on eBay just sold for £33 + £6.99 P&P! I figured it might be an easy fix for somebody in the know, but there were no guarantees and that's a £40 gamble.
I reckon your gamble didn't pay off. Given the symptoms and what you've tried to resolve them, the conclusion seems inescapable that the motherboard is faulty.
 
luckily I didn't pay that much, it was far cheaper, some you win, some you lose, maybe the gamble didn't pay off, but any ideas to try and fix it will all add to the knowledge here, so keep the ideas coming and I'll try them

not about the idea of a 2.5" disk and the 3.5" disk, surely a 3.5" needs 12v all the time, so the fact that the 3.5" disk works ok after the power is connected after the box starts up shows the 12v is present

the main board has not yet been removed, so not sure if there are any tell-tale signs of damage on the board underside, nothing appears obvious on board topside

I'll try fitting a 2.5" drive and report back
 
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as an update, the stock firmware has been reflashed, the custom firmware has been applied and the system flush has also been applied, though now the system has been reflashed, I'll redo the system flush option again
 
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