My poor little Hummy is sick

[everthewatcher]

I'll see if I can get around to doing some temperature measurements later this week.

I've now done it.

Using a early unit with horizontal RF sockets, thermocouple on SoC IC, wire coming through a specially-punched 3.5mm hole and cover fitted properly, unit not recording or playing back during test, fan set to 50%, ambient temp 20-20.5C throughout, HDD temps as reported by drive, figures after things had stabilised for >20 minutes [Edit: That's after they's been stable for 20 minutes.]

Standard unit

Fan blowing out: HDD 39C, SoC 61C​

Fan blowing in: HDD 31C, SoC 62C​

With my slot-in-HDD-carrier mod

Fan blowing out: HDD 39C, SoC 61C​

Fan blowing in: HDD 31C, SoC 59C​

So there you have it - having the fan blow air in results an 8C cooler HDD as tested and has no effect on the SoC.

Cutting a slot in the HDD carrier and the fan blowing air in does result in a small drop in SoC temp but not as much as I'd hoped.

 

[Black Hole]

Excellent endeavour.

 

[Owen Smith]

Of course we have the Fan package. Humax changed the fan to blow in without changing the firmware, you may find that either Fan package or fan blowing in is enough to fix whatever problem Humax were trying to fix.

But it's nice to know the results. I wonder slightly (but not enough to do anything) about the temperature of the power supply with the fan blowing in, but maybe the airflow around there is so diffuse it makes no odds either way.

 

[MymsMan]

It always seemed stupid to have the firmware fan on temperature set at the same value as disks high temperature warning threshold,
You would have thought that a firmware update that could be rolled out to existing users would be better than a manufacturing change that could only benefit future users.

 

[everthewatcher]

I wonder slightly (but not enough to do anything) about the temperature of the power supply with the fan blowing in, but maybe the airflow around there is so diffuse it makes no odds either way.

I did do a quick back-of-the-finger checks (with the mains off) immediately [after taking the cover off] and both PSU heat sinks were always cooler than the SoC. Warm but far from hot.

To have measured things properly I've have needed two more thermocouples and meters, one of them isolated, which I don't have or a FLIR camera (ditto).

 

[Umpa]

This is mine, after having a smart temperature warning I opened it up.
This is whats inside


My fan blows outwards. Perhaps I should turn it around ?

 

[Umpa]

Its worth noting that once I opened the unit up, the warning went away and is now running at 41C. Given I have had this unit for perhaps 10 years [I think] and never having been opened, the lack of muck on the fan and in the unit suggests to me the fan is completly useless. Perhaps if I turn the fan around it would vent through the base ?

 

[Wallace]

It suggests to me that the fan isn’t working. Have you installed the fan package?

 

[everthewatcher]

Its worth noting that once I opened the unit up, the warning went away and is now running at 41C. Given I have had this unit for perhaps 10 years [I think] and never having been opened, the lack of muck on the fan and in the unit suggests to me the fan is completly useless. Perhaps if I turn the fan around it would vent through the base ?

That confirms my feeling that the V1 HDR is undercooled as standard.

It's just occurred to me that although Humax turned the fan around on the V2, I've not checked to see if they modified the hardware to run the fan at low speed all the time instead of only when the HDD gets too hot as on the V1. Yet another thing to put on the list...

My advice would be to check the fan works (there's instructions on here somewhere - link anyone?) then turn the it to blow in, install the Fan package if you're running the CFW (if not why not?) and set to to 50% minimum.

 

[af123]

That confirms my feeling that the V1 HDR is undercooled as standard.

My assumption has always been that they were aiming to minimise noise, waiting until it got hot before bringing the fan on at all. The default configuration definitely means that the unit will be silent through waking up, recording up to an hour and going back to sleep but makes for lots of temperature cycling which cannot be good for components.

 

[Trev]

But surely the fan won't work that often without the fan package as the HDD has to get PDH before it kicks in?

 

[Umpa]

It suggests to me that the fan isn’t working. Have you installed the fan package?

Fan working, and I have installed the fan package.

edit to clarify: - I have only just installed the fan package - up until today the unit has never been opened, and only the custome firmware installed. So the inside dust is from an unmodified fan setting.

That confirms my feeling that the V1 HDR is undercooled as standard.

It's just occurred to me that although Humax turned the fan around on the V2, I've not checked to see if they modified the hardware to run the fan at low speed all the time instead of only when the HDD gets too hot as on the V1. Yet another thing to put on the list...

My advice would be to check the fan works (there's instructions on here somewhere - link anyone?) then turn the it to blow in, install the Fan package if you're running the CFW (if not why not?) and set to to 50% minimum.

With the fan turned the other way around, and blowing air in - put back together the 'on but not doing anyhting' temerature is 34c.
With the fan set to 65% I can't hear the fan on at all. I hope this fixes the random crashes I have been having.

Do I have a version 1 or version 2 box - anyone know from the photo ?

 

[Umpa]

But surely the fan won't work that often without the fan package as the HDD has to get PDH before it kicks in?

There was a little dirt on the fan, so it has been coming on, but much too late and for not long enough.

My box kept locking up every now and again, its been doing it for years, but today it hit a nerve this pic is what prompted me to investigate.

 

[Black Hole]

Its worth noting that once I opened the unit up, the warning went away and is now running at 41C. Given I have had this unit for perhaps 10 years [I think] and never having been opened, the lack of muck on the fan and in the unit suggests to me the fan is completly useless. Perhaps if I turn the fan around it would vent through the base ?

You are more likely to get an accumulation of fluff if the fan is drawing in rather than expelling out. If you have good housekeeping, there shouldn't be much dust ingress.

Commissioning an HDR-FOX (click)

The HDR-FOX T2 was released in 2010.

 

[Umpa]

You are more likely to get an accumulation of fluff if the fan is drawing in rather than expelling out. If you have good housekeeping, there shouldn't be much dust ingress.

Commissioning an HDR-FOX (click)

The HDR-FOX T2 was released in 2010.

That sounds about right -must be 7-8 years then. Not sure if its a V1 or V2. I remember it saying on the box that the TV portal would be coming soon, and it was a good year before it arrived, and I was so disapointed with it when it did - lol. I even e-mailed Humax telling them the menu in iplayer was sluggish. [i did not realise how it worked then]. They even got back to me, telling me how to use it, shame they did not understand I was complaining how slow it was.

As for house keeping, nope I'm a slob. I guess I will have to open it more often and vaccum it out

 

[everthewatcher]

Fan working, and I have installed the fan package.

Good.

With the fan turned the other way around, and blowing air in - put back together the 'on but not doing anyhting' temerature is 34c.
With the fan set to 65% I can't hear the fan on at all.

That's about right - have a look at my figures earlier in this thread. FWIW 49% seems to do the job. (On my V2 if set to 50% it's become 49% the next time the settings menu is opened.)

I hope this fixes the random crashes I have been having.

It may not, but at least you'll know it's not the HDD over[h]eating.

Do I have a version 1 or version 2 box - anyone know from the photo ?

What I refer to as V1 has two separate tuner modules, as yours has, so the RF/aerial sockets are arranged horizontally. The V2 has a single twin-tuner module with the RF connectors arranged vertically.

 

[Black Hole]

Random crashes: Steps for Resolving HDR-FOX Crash/Reboot Issues (click)

 

[Umpa]

Random crashes: Steps for Resolving HDR-FOX Crash/Reboot Issues (click)

Good amount of info.
TBH I only ever noticed it crashing after instlling the CF, for me it seems to be more of a re-boot in the night, with the odd lock up everynow and again.
I awoke to the warning 'some packages have been disabled' error this morning. The crash log just had an entry saying it crashed.
Its done it for years. lol
I am more than happy to put up with the odd crash for the power of the CF and webif.

 

[Owen Smith]

I awoke to the warning 'some packages have been disabled' error this morning. The crash log just had an entry saying it crashed.
Its done it for years. lol
I am more than happy to put up with the odd crash for the power of the CF and webif.

Mine has done that for years. Every time I check webif (which is once or twice a year at most), it says some packages have been disabled. I believe it is lying, all packages are active as far as I can tell but I can't be sure.

 

[Umpa]

Mine has done that for years. Every time I check webif (which is once or twice a year at most), it says some packages have been disabled. I believe it is lying, all packages are active as far as I can tell but I can't be sure.

Thats exactly what happens to me. Still its a small issue when compared to what we have been given.