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My T2 has died - I think !

Thanks for the reply. Pushed for time or not, I intend to thoroughly test any replacement before I commit to using or swapping parts.
Some steps aren't worth skipping - the replacement will get checked then put into use for a day or two to monitor stability before the final decision is made.
 
tonybonner said:
Does this info, in any way, help to localise the issue to the PSU? Even if it does could a problem on the PSU be a secondary consequence of a root fault on the main board?
Click to expand...
There is no easy way to tell. PSU voltages could be monitored with the appropriate equipment/skill but that's not appropriate for you, so your only alternative is fault-finding by substitution I would suggest.
 
It's very unlikely that that main board is intermittently damaging and un-damaging the PSU, have you ever encountered that?, what happens if the OP purchases another faulty unit, there are a lot of what iffs, so you have to go with what if likely

tonybonner : I intend to thoroughly test any replacement before I commit to using or swapping parts
Click to expand...
You'll need some test equipment then
 
Whilst I concur your first sentence. I haven't. But if the main board were to be faulty and takes out the new PSU, the OP now has two dead T2s instead of just one.

If, the OP actually wants two working T2s, the safest bet would be to obtain a separate PSU (or another cheap one 'for spares') on the off chance that the PSU is not faulty, and try that in the old T2.

If it ain't broke, then don't fix it (the 'new' T2).
Ezra Pound said:
You'll need some test equipment then
Click to expand...
I will certainly second that Ezra.
 
Ezra Pound said:
You'll need some test equipment then
Click to expand...
My reference to thorough testing was more to do with following BH's commissioning tests guide and then running normally for a few days with multiple/competing recordings etc.
I have just purchased the replacement and will, hopefully, be able to collect it over the weekend. I'll likely run it in 'test-mode' for the week ahead and - all being well - press it into
regular service on Sun 12th. Bit too busy to do it any sooner.
 
Ezra Pound said:
It's all guess work at this stage, my guess would be a faulty PSU, if you get another HDR-Fox T2, I would check that it displays the 'Start System' on power-up to prove the new PSU is working and then fit the new PSU in the original HDR-Fox T2
Click to expand...
I see no point in swapping a PSU out of a working HDR-FOX in the hope of fixing a non-working HDR-FOX. Use the working HDR-FOX until such time as that also breaks, and then hope you can make one working HDR-FOX out of two broken ones.
 
I can see that might be attractive, in as much as the "blueprint" configs are effectively inaccessible. Take a punt, it probably won't do any harm (I hope).
 
Technically a new member here but I've been lurking for years. I wanted to share my recent shenanigans with my Humax in the hope that it could help someone out who might be in a similar situation. Looks like this might be one of those situations!

I've had my HDR-Fox T2 for many many years and it's worked (nearly) flawlessly. FYI: still using the Humax firmware (upgraded OTA as they come out, never quite got around to trying the custom FW). I have it running 24/7 - never goes on standby.
The only quirk I ever had was that after it had been up for around a month it would suddenly crash and reboot when I moved files from one folder to another. It would then be fine for another month or so. I could live with this.
Sometimes I noticed that the picture would flash black and green a few times as it rebooted. Didn't think anything of it until about two years ago it did it for long enough for me to think that something might be going wrong. I realised it was going through more than one boot sequence before it started. It would creash, reboot, crash, reboot, etc. Eventually it would start and everything would be hunkydory for another month. Over the next 18 months the time it spent stuck in this cycle grew longer until one day it refused to start at all (tried leaving it in the boot/crash cycle for nearly a week!).

I still had recordings I needed to save - and no alternative system I could use since newer models won't allow decrypting HD recordings (and there's no hack yet?) - so I set about trying the fixes I'd read about on here:

Unplugged all external connections (USB drive, network cable, HDMI, aerial). Didn't boot.
Reset to factory default. Nothing.
Opened it up, removed the HD, cloned the partitions to another, larger (but not too large & brand new) drive. No success there either.
Cloned the drive to exactly the same model drive (an old one, but fully working). Nope.
Wiped the new larger drive (deleted all partitions) and put it in the Humax as if it were new. Still no boot.
Tried powering it on without the HD connected at all. Presto! It booted! But no recording capability and no old recordings :(
Tried powering the HD from the power supply of a USB-SATA adapter. No boot.

I'm thinking that the problem is perhaps with getting enough power to the hard drive at the right time.

So, and TL;DR fans this is the relevant bit:
(Obviously the power was off at this point and the case was off.)
I unplugged the hard drive power from the motherboard (there's a little notch you squeeze inwards at the edge of the connector to allow it to pull out).
Then I powered on the Humax and waited until it booted and there was a picture being received. (Anyone else trying this out would need to bear in mind that if the machine had been in standby that last time it was working it'll go into standby at this point and you'll need to push the big power button to bring it back.)
Once there was a signal being received and before anything else I plugged the hard drive power connector back in.
I gave it 10 or 15 seconds to power up and then tried the media button on the remote. Success! Recordings visible! Fully working again.

Of course, I need to go through that rigmarole each time I go from power off/standby to on, but since I keep it on 24/7 anyway it's only a hassle every now and then.

I'm not so foolish as to think that this is a permanent solution, but it did allow me to recover my recordings. I turned an old laptop and a new TV tuner into a DIY PVR and now use the Humax as a just-in-case-I-need-it option.
 
Charon said:
Tried powering the HD from the power supply of a USB-SATA adapter. No boot.
Click to expand...
Charon said:
I unplugged the hard drive power from the motherboard
Click to expand...
Charon said:
Then I powered on the Humax and waited until it booted and there was a picture
Click to expand...

If removing the disk to a usb caddy didn't work but dis-connecting the internal HDD caddy did wouldn't that suggest that the failure lies in either the HDD power socket on the main board or the connecting cable between socket and HDD? Poor connection being fixed by unplug/re-plug sequence?
 
Latest update to my own saga ...
Picked up replacement T2 on Saturday afternoon and spent the evening checking/cleaning it inside. Fan was in a horrible state - think maybe it came from a smoking household. Couldn't get the fan blades out with string as described in BH's guide so eventually settled for doing as thorough a clean as possible with one of those little PC vacuums. Hooked it all back up, turned it on and could see recordings on the 500GB HDD that were playable but it needed tuned to Black Hill transmitter and Installation menu was greyed out. Flashed to the latest CFW - which worked but didn't resolve menu problem. Then I noticed that it had the delete loop issue - probably why it was no longer used by original owner. It was too late by this time to try and start a fix-disk session so switched off and went to bed - which was a good move. Realised afterwards that I could just substitute the iffy disk with the 1TB that came out of my original T2 when I upgraded it.
After a long day of DIY at my daughter's eventually got a chance to swap disks on Sunday evening and now it's all systems go. Tuned up and picked up all stations (which is not always guaranteed by my loft aerial), did all the various CFW settings and set up RS and the recording schedule for week ahead. As a matter of urgency, performed the simple fan test with the piece of paper over the back and it appears to be working OK
Won't get chance to do much else as we have lots of wedding preparation (not mine!) this week - so I plan to let it run for the week in tandem with my old 9200T and, all being well I'll get the 2TB disk into it next weekend when everything's a bit quieter. Might even swap that manky fan for the much cleaner one in my original box.
 
Yeah, just didn't have the time to go opening up the original T2 for replacement if it went wrong. A job for another day with more time and patience.
 
Noticed something slightly odd last night. The old 1TB disk that I dropped in was still about 90% full of old recordings and this is indeed reflected in the disk icon on screen and in the webif.
However, the media list is only showing me the couple of recordings that I made last night - none of the pre-existing ones that were made on my original T2. Ergo I can't delete anything to create more space.
Not too worried about this disk as it's a temporary measure but a bit more concerned that my 2TB disk might display the same behaviour when I come to fit it.

Any ideas?
 
A possibility indeed - for this disk - but absolutely not what I was hoping to have to do with the 2TB. It's got approx 1.5TB worth of files on it - that'd take a while to move off and back !
 
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