My Humax has died :sob:

[MymsMan]

Today I noticed that my HDR T2 was not responding to the remote and the picture was frozen although sound continued - nothing that unusual - just switch off and on at the back, something that I have done many times before.

EXCEPT this time when I switched on nothing - no sign of lights or disk activity

I will have to spend some time over the next few day reading the repair guides and seeing whether the failure is fatal

 

[Black Hole]

I will have to spend some time over the next few day reading the repair guides and seeing whether the failure is fatal

I haven't given any remedies for "completely dead", this would have to come under Hardware Investigation. Are you handy with a meter?

 

[prpr]

EXCEPT this time when I switched on nothing - no sign of lights or disk activity

One of mine does (or did) something similar. Leaving it off for 10 minutes to fully discharge the PSU seemed to make it work again, whereas a quick off and on never did.
Changing the hard disk has made it more reliable for some reason.

 

[bottletop]

Today I noticed that my HDR T2 was not responding to the remote and the picture was frozen although sound continued - nothing that unusual - just switch off and on at the back, something that I have done many times before.

EXCEPT this time when I switched on nothing - no sign of lights or disk activity

I will have to spend some time over the next few day reading the repair guides and seeing whether the failure is fatal

That's a little worrying. Hope it's not permanent.

 

[bottletop]

One of mine does (or did) something similar. Leaving it off for 10 minutes to fully discharge the PSU seemed to make it work again, whereas a quick off and on never did.
Changing the hard disk has made it more reliable for some reason.

That sounds promising, or at least a temporary fix

 

[MymsMan]

One of mine does (or did) something similar. Leaving it off for 10 minutes to fully discharge the PSU seemed to make it work again, whereas a quick off and on never did.
Changing the hard disk has made it more reliable for some reason.

Alas leaving it off, for several days, has done nothing to improve the situation

Testing the plug fuse has also eliminated another simple fix.

Following the excellent disassembly instructions disassembly instructions I have, for the first time ever, removed the cover and detached the disk - still no sign of life.
So I suspect the next likely problem is the PSU
I can't see anything too obviously wrong, I do wonder about the yellow stuff on the blue components, but am no expert and I couldn't see any instructions for testing the output of the PSU




I tried the disk with a SATA-USB cable with my vbox android TV box and it wasn't recognized which is a bit worrying but I hadn't tried the cable before so it could be a duff cable (cheap ebay purchase)

 

[rpb424]

The yellow stuff is simply to hold the components in place and stop them detaching themselves due to vibration. It is common on certain high voltage components.

 

[Black Hole]

I tried the disk with a SATA-USB cable with my vbox android TV box and it wasn't recognized which is a bit worrying but I hadn't tried the cable before so it could be a duff cable (cheap ebay purchase)

If you can't get power up without the HDD connected, there's not likely to be anything wrong with it – don't (until absolutely forced to) postulate two separate faults occurring simultaneously unless there is a possible chain of causality. It's a side issue, but out of interest how did you power the HDD while connected to your Android box? You also have no idea whether the drive format is appropriate for the Android box.

I asked you before (but got no answer):

Are you handy with a meter?

The quick check for the PSU is the back of the plug on the main board. From the front of the box, the contacts are 0V, 0V, 6.5V, 6.5V, 0V, 0V, 12.3V, 12.3V. Providing the PSU is screwed down, the metalwork is at 0V – so the mounting screw adjacent to the connector is a convenient place for the negative meter probe.

Do any of the electrolytics (the vertical cylinders) on the PSU look like they have domed tops (should be flat)? That is an obvious sign of failure.

I couldn't see any instructions for testing the output of the PSU

I haven't given any remedies for "completely dead", this would have to come under Hardware Investigation.

Did you not read my previous post??

 

[rpb424]

There is also a PCB mounted fuse next to the mains inlet connector, the small round black component. Would be worth checking this for continuity. That said, if it HAS blown then it probably has done so for a good reason.

From the pictures there doesn’t appear to be any capacitor leakage. One thing I notice though is the resistor right next to the output connector - one end looks a bit dark as if it might have overheated, although that could just be the quality of the picture, or just the colour bands.

 

[Black Hole]

There is also a PCB mounted fuse next to the mains inlet connector, the small round black component. Would be worth checking this for continuity.

It has a remarkably precise specification: 3.15A.

 

[rpb424]

3.15A is a common fuse, and an ISO R10 value based on dividing up tne numbers between 1 and 10 into a Renatd Series, which is a geometric series of 10 steps in this case (hence R10), though other series also exist with more or less steps. You start with 1 and multiply up each time by the 10th root of 10 [about 1.258]. Do this 5 times and you get to 3.15. 10 iterations obviously gets you to exactly 10.

315mA fuses exist similarly, as do 630mA, 6.3A etc.

Renard series - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Black Hole]

Sure, but the resistor series is based on the same principle (12th root of 10) and has the sense not to specify to three significant digits when the tolerance makes the last digit irrelevant.

 

[everthewatcher]

....this time when I switched on nothing - no sign of lights or disk activity

Classic cause of a mains SMPSU being fine until it's switched off is the startup power supply, the one that supplies just enough power from the mains to the controller to get it going - after that it's obtained from the switching action.

It's a simple resistor and capacitor cct. and on small 'universal' 100-250Vac ones it's often the resistor that's been rated OK for 110-120V but cooks at 230-240V. On better-made ones it's the small electrolytic capacitor that goes low value. So if the fuse is OK and there's no volts at the output this is where I'd look.

BH has one on the healing bench - perhaps he could trace out the mains side of the PSU.

 

[Black Hole]

BH has one on the healing bench - perhaps he could trace out the mains side of the PSU.

I could, but let's get some voltage info first!

 

[MymsMan]

I could, but let's get some voltage info first!

Checking at the socket I do get voltages matching BH's list so the the PCB fuse must be OK and we need to widen the the search

 

[MymsMan]

If you can't get power up without the HDD connected, there's not likely to be anything wrong with it – don't (until absolutely forced to) postulate two separate faults occurring simultaneously unless there is a possible chain of causality. It's a side issue, but out of interest how did you power the HDD while connected to your Android box? You also have no idea whether the drive format is appropriate for the Android box.

I wasn't postulating a fault with the HDD but with the cable, a cheap affair from China like https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254603628082 but reading the description more thoroughly it only claims to support 2.5" SATA with USB power, those that support 3.5" SATA also have an 12.V external power so I have the wrong cable type

The vbox can handle the format since it is standard 500Gb humax disk

Make sure that your drive is formatted in one of the supported file systems: NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, EXT 2,
EXT 3, EXT 4

 

[Black Hole]

that support 3.5" SATA also have an 12.V external power so I have the wrong cable type

That's what I expected, which is why I asked about how you powered the HDD (answer: you didn't).

Checking at the socket I do get voltages matching BH's list so the the PCB fuse must be OK and we need to widen the the search

Excellent (or not, according to your point of view). The unit won't power up if the front panel is buggered (or disconnected).

 

[MymsMan]

Excellent (or not, according to your point of view). The unit won't power up if the front panel is buggered (or disconnected).

Or not, The front panel has never been removed for filter removal so unlikely to have been physically damaged or become disconnected.
Have we reached the limit of reasonably simple tests and do I just add it to list of dead boxes for spare parts?

It would probably be worth adding the information about PSU voltages (and fuse) to the disassembly post as additional checks for PSU health

 

[Black Hole]

It would probably be worth adding the information about PSU voltages (and fuse) to the disassembly post as additional checks for PSU health

I'm not sure. Should I encourage people who might have little experience with this kind of thing to get a cheap meter and start poking around with mains circuits? Best done under guidance, I reckon.

Have we reached the limit of reasonably simple tests and do I just add it to list of dead boxes for spare parts?

Depends.

Is this your only one? Are you keen to keep a presence in the HDR-FOX arena? If I were in your position, I would be acquiring another and doing some mix-and-match diagnostics. If you can establish it is indeed the front panel causing the problem, I should think I have a spare one here (and then you have two). Alternatively you send it here for me to diagnose with spare parts, or I send you a front panel in the hope that is the problem.

 

[bottletop]

The vbox can handle the format since it is standard 500Gb humax disk

Just thought I'd ask if you left the Humax drive with default/standard partition structure? Because in one of mine I used the custom fw utilities to convert drive to gpt and forgot about it. This means that when I flash to standard Humax fw it can't see the drive (doh!)

Also maybe give the front panel a good clean in case there's any residue on the touch buttons.