Lost signal and HD disconnect test

[MarkRocketman]

I have two Humax Foxsat HDR which have worked perfectly for twelve years or so. They are both running Ray dons excellent custom software 4.1.3. Recently one of the units lost its signal. I have checked all is well with dish and feed using my second unit. I unit that has “lost signal” works when the disk is disconnected (having read forums on the subject) with a healthy 97% signal but loses the signal again when connected.

Can anybody tell me if there is a clear view of the failure that causes this problem. I believe it might be a power supply issue with the load of the disk drive or it might be some corruption of the disk ???

There are no bulged capacitors, and they can’t really be checked in board but if there is a view that the symptoms suggest a power problem I will focus on that.

I plan to back up the second box (with my wife’s programs that must not be lost 1.5TB) and then swap power supplies and see if I can cure the problem with the borrowed components. This will of course take time and has more risk attached to it than working on a live switching power supply



Thanks for any thought’s Mark

 

[grahamlthompson]

Suggests a Hard drive issue on the box that has the issue. Have you initiated a maintenance mode and File system fix on the box check on the box with the problem.

First try using the CF to rename the time shift file from 0.ts to say 0.old. The problem could be the time shift file buffer file area being corrupted. Renaming it will force a new file on a different area of the hard disl.

 

[MarkRocketman]

Hello Graham, I am not familiar with maintenance mode or CF (which means command file in the world I used to occupy). At the risk of going off topic where would I find maintenance mode? Apologies for asking what are probably simple questions but I am rusty or never knew about such things as the last thing I beyond the average consumer was upgrade drives and flash firmware in 2012 on these beasts

Thanks for coming back so quickly Mark

 

[Black Hole]

CF = Custom Firmware.

Some people call it custom software. If you want an explanation of the difference see the Glossary (click).

 

[grahamlthompson]

Hello Graham, I am not familiar with maintenance mode or CF (which means command file in the world I used to occupy). At the risk of going off topic where would I find maintenance mode? Apologies for asking what are probably simple questions but I am rusty or never knew about such things as the last thing I beyond the average consumer was upgrade drives and flash firmware in 2012 on these beasts

Thanks for coming back so quickly Mark

If you look at the Custom Firmware documentation (the book icon). It details how to put the box into maintenance mode and run a Linux file system check and fix utility.

 

[MarkRocketman]

Thanks Graham and Black Hole for getting on the right path. Last night I remembered I had an experimental laptop with Ubuntu installed and up to date also a drive caddy so I stuck my Foxsat drive in there and took a look at its health which reported back without issue. I did not not rename the 0.ts file at that stage but rebuilt the unit this morning and all worked as it had been doing for the last 12 years. I don't know why it stopped working and there have been a lot of changes with feeds being disconnected and drives taken out, power supply capacitors probed (in circuit) 3 or 4 dis/assemblies and now it all works. My best guess now is the remaking of a connection or the Ubuntu moment cured changed something ... but without asking ??? I just don't know !

I must admit I had completely forgotten about the documentation thank you Graham for restarting my synapse and Dark Hole for CF .... I hate TLA even more

Here is to another 12 years of happy Humaxing ( I had forgotten how well built they were until this expedition, bullet proof ?)

If there is any change I will update this thread

Thanks again

Mark

 

[Black Hole]

There remains a possibility you re-made a bad connection or disturbed a flakey connection. Only time will tell.

I hate TLA even more

It is inevitable there will be abbreviations used instead of writing out everything in full all the time – which is tedious to read as well as write. That's why I wrote the Glossary: to explain the terms and abbreviations in common use on this forum (with its particular subject area), and also to try to provide a standard for people to follow rather than proliferate.