Not working after power off on holiday

Yorkylady

New Member
Not sure if single or double tuner, it was the more expensive model
Witched tv and Humax power off for one month, when we put Humax on (tv first)
It was stuck going round all programmes so we switched off and on then remote not working, changed and checked batteries all ok and works with a new Humax in other room, has it finally died ?
We have a lot of Music concerts etc on it and would to fix it if possible
 
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It was stuck going round all programmes so we switched off and on then remote not working

So is there any sign of life when powered on in its current state? Is there anything on the front panel? Do the buttons on the front of the Humax do anything?
 
Are you capable of opening it up safely and disconnecting the connectors from the hard disk?
If so, try that and then see if it works normally as a receiver.
 
My husband is how does he do it ? How will he recognise the hard disk ?
Remove the screws holding the lid on and remove the lid. The hard drive is the large metal cased component hiding inside a black plastic caddy. Probably easier in this case to remove the connectors at the motherboard end. Then power on the box and see if it starts up and can be used as a set top box without recording capability. If the lid is off be VERY careful not to touch anything with the power on.
 
Remove the screws holding the lid on and remove the lid. The hard drive is the large metal cased component hiding inside a black plastic caddy. Probably easier in this case to remove the connectors at the motherboard end. Then power on the box and see if it starts up and can be used as a set top box without recording capability. If the lid is off be VERY careful not to touch anything with the power on.
ok done that, how do we operate it to test it, it goes red now on stand by button
 
Hopefully you mean dim red/orange rather than brighter red which means "recording". That means it's in standby. Just press the button and it should come on and go blue and the display should say Start System followed shortly thereafter by the channel details it's tuned to.
This is the same as normally happens with the disk connected, so it's slightly surprising you don't seem to know...
 
ok done that, how do we operate it to test it, it goes red now on stand by button
Hopefully you mean dim red/orange rather than brighter red which means "recording". That means it's in standby. Just press the button and it should come on and go blue and the display should say Start System followed shortly thereafter by the channel details it's tuned to.
This is the same as normally happens with the disk connected, so it's slightly surprising you don't seem to know...
 
This means the hard drive you disconnected is faulty, and although you will be able to use it to watch TV it won't be able to record anything. Maybe you have friends/relatives you consider competent to come onto the forum and follow the get-you-going advice?
 
This means the hard drive you disconnected is faulty, and although you will be able to use it to watch TV it won't be able to record anything. Maybe you have friends/relatives you consider competent to come onto the forum and follow the get-you-going advice?
Thanks,it works properly now without the connectors except we can’t access media to view existing recordings,which is what we would like to do ,not bothered about recording if we can’t get it to work as it was before we went away.
 
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Remove the screws holding the lid on and remove the lid. The hard drive is the large metal cased component hiding inside a black plastic caddy. Probably easier in this case to remove the connectors at the motherboard end. Then power on the box and see if it starts up and can be used as a set top box without recording capability. If the lid is off be VERY careful not to touch anything with the power on.
Thank you Martin, he did all that , working as you say but would like to get it working properly again as we can’t view the recorded content.
 
Your recorded content is on that hard disk which you have disconnected. It seems possible that it has become faulty and was stopping the box from starting correctly - disconnecting it has removed the fault allowing the box to start.
I would try reconnecting the disc again and see if the box starts - sometimes things seem to clear themselves - but don't get your hopes up.

It is possible that the disc is actually OK but the box itself has gone faulty. This would most likely be the internal power supply which are a not uncommon failure. (Basically the power supply loses it's ability to provide the higher power needed to get the disc running, but can manage the rest of the box OK without the disc connected.) These are fixable or replaceable but that means getting into the electronics.
 
Your recorded content is on that hard disk which you have disconnected. It seems possible that it has become faulty and was stopping the box from starting correctly - disconnecting it has removed the fault allowing the box to start.
I would try reconnecting the disc again and see if the box starts - sometimes things seem to clear themselves - but don't get your hopes up.

It is possible that the disc is actually OK but the box itself has gone faulty. This would most likely be the internal power supply which are a not uncommon failure. (Basically the power supply loses it's ability to provide the higher power needed to get the disc running, but can manage the rest of the box OK without the disc connected.) These are fixable or replaceable but that means getting into the electronics.
 
I would try reconnecting the disc again and see if the box starts - sometimes things seem to clear themselves - but don't get your hopes up.
Before investigating the Humax power supply it would be worth trying to connect the disk to a PC to see if it works there.
You would need a disk caddy or cable to plug it into a USB socket and some extra software on a Windows computer but it would help show whether it is the disk or power supply that is causing problems
 
Thanks,it works properly now without the connectors except we can’t access media to view existing recordings,which is what we would like to do ,not bothered about recording if we can’t get it to work as it was before we went away.
It doesn't work "properly", it only works to the limited extent it can without a hard disk connected. This indicates the unit itself is most likely OK and it is the hard disk that has failed and needs replacing.

You have a few options:

1. Get somebody you know to test the hard disk and see if it works when connected to a PC. They will need some guidance from this forum unless they really know what they're doing, but if it seems to be OK outside the HDR-FOX chances are it is the HDR-FOX itself that is broken rather than the disk - see option 3. If the disk doesn't work on a PC, you will have confirmed option 2 as a good bet.

Alternatively, if testing the hard disk seems too difficult for anybody you know, you still have options 2 and 3:

2. Get somebody you know to obtain a replacement hard disk and fit it. It's not difficult (with guidance from this forum), and won't cost more than £30. There is a slight risk it still won't work, even with a new disk, in which case you've wasted £30 and see option 3.

3. Go and buy yourself a new PVR. If you decide to do that, I expect somebody here will be keen to take the broken HDR-FOX off your hands, and maybe even give you some money for it. If you bought a new disk before you get that far, the "somebody" might be prepared to buy that from you too.
 
Other options if you really want your content back:

4. Send the disk to somebody here who could take a look and possibly fix (or declare it unfixable).

5. Download the customised firmware on to a USB stick and install it. Then we might be able to help you fix it yourselves, depending on how broken or otherwise it is.

If you go for option 1, do NOT connect it to a Windows PC.
 
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