Picture frozen but sound still playing & no response to the remote

DAsh

DAsh

Member
This evening I was viewing BBC News HD. The signal started dropping every few minutes to blank screen (with an on screen message to tell me that signal was too low), but each time, a second later, the signal recovered.

After another 15 minutes the picture froze but sound continued. The box would not respond to the remote or to the front standby button. I had to do a hard power cycle to recover normal behaviour.

Do you reckon this could be related to the many issues associated with COM7 & COM8? Or something else?

No problems with non COM7/8 channels.

This is reminiscent of the reasons I had to ditch my DigitalStream recently. The volume of EPG data on COM7/8 was overloading the system upon boot from standby and corrupting the firmware.
 
DAsh said:
This evening I was viewing BBC News HD. The signal started dropping every few minutes to blank screen (with an on screen message to tell me that signal was too low), but each time, a second later, the signal recovered.
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So what was the signal strength and quality as reported by the Humax?
 
DAsh said:
After another 15 minutes the picture froze but sound continued. The box would not respond to the remote or to the front standby button. I had to do a hard power cycle to recover normal behaviour.
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That's what often happens if the software crashes. Either the box reboots, or the audio channel continues autonomously while everything else freezes. Crashes are not unusual if you overload the handset inputs while the HDR-FOX is struggling to process a previous command.

DAsh said:
This evening I was viewing BBC News HD. The signal started dropping every few minutes to blank screen (with an on screen message to tell me that signal was too low), but each time, a second later, the signal recovered.
Click to expand...
You had signal drop-outs. You may be marginal, or something could have affected the signal temporarily (eg a passing 'plane). The best thing to do when this happens, if convenient, is go to Menu >> Settings >> System >> Signal Detection and survey your collection of tuned multiplexes, looking at each one for about 30 seconds for the quality figure dropping below 100%.

If the quality is less than 100% and the strength is low (probably <30%), there's the problem. If strength is high (90%+), you have over-driving.

If, on the other hand, there are programme interruptions but there appears to be nothing wrong with the signal, check the HDD.
 
Black Hole said:
That's what often happens if the software crashes. Either the box reboots, or the audio channel continues autonomously while everything else freezes. Crashes are not unusual if you overload the handset inputs while the HDR-FOX is struggling to process a previous command.
Click to expand...

Interesting, though I don't recall doing anything with the remote at the time

I have noticed CPU temp going up to 55 (despite the fan being set at 35%). Temp seems to float up and down between 48 and 55. Does this suggest CPU might be busier than it should be?
 
DAsh said:
The drops were too quick to allow me to capture signal details. But while the signal was there, strength around 80% and quality 100%.
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Means nothing. You're interested in the signal condition at the time the problems occur.
DAsh said:
Interesting, though I don't recall doing anything with the remote at the time
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That's not the only thing that might be responsible for a crash. Anything that gets the Humax code into an area that is not adequately debugged (such as an unusual combination of circumstances) could do it.
DAsh said:
I have noticed CPU temp going up to 55 (despite the fan being set at 35%). Temp seems to float up and down between 48 and 55. Does this suggest CPU might be busier than it should be?
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It's not CPU temp, it's HDD temp.

The purpose of the fan package is to even out the variations in fan speed so that the audibility is constant rather than having bursts of "extreme turbo". This has the additional benefit of maintaining the internal temperature at a more even level and eliminating peaks. Turn your base fan setting up a bit and that should reduce the variations.

Do you have a warm room? Have you cleaned the dust out of your HDR-FOX lately?
Commissioning, Disassembling, and Repairing an HDR-FOX (click)
 
DAsh said:
Interesting, though I don't recall doing anything with the remote at the time
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There are other reasons. One's boredom - often after a WebIF reboot it'll claim it can't see a signal. Leave it in this state for long enough and it'll lock up. I swear another reason is plain spite, usually when you're recording something vital.

DAsh said:
I have noticed CPU temp going up to 55 (despite the fan being set at 35%). Temp seems to float up and down between 48 and 55. Does this suggest CPU might be busier than it should be?
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As BH has pointed out it's HD temp and it is rather high. The main one here sits around 8-10C above room temp with the fan set to run at 49% minimum.
 
55 Deg C. for the HDD is not rather high, when the Humax is controlling the fan (rather than the Fan package), it doesn't even turn on until the temperature reaches 56 Deg. C
 
Ezra Pound said:
55 Deg C. for the HDD is not rather high, when the Humax is controlling the fan (rather than the Fan package), it doesn't even turn on until the temperature reaches 56 Deg. C
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Fair point, one that I'd missed.

With no airflow I wonder what the CPU gets up too. Looks like another thing goes on the next-time-it's-apart list.
 
Ezra Pound said:
55 Deg C. for the HDD is not rather high, when the Humax is controlling the fan (rather than the Fan package), it doesn't even turn on until the temperature reaches 56 Deg. C
Click to expand...
But 'we' have the technology to keep it much cooler and stable.
everthewatcher said:
With no airflow I wonder what the CPU gets up too. Looks like another thing goes on the next-time-it's-apart list.
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I think that's something else I won't fret about too much.
 
When I first had the cover off my first HDR (a V2) I noted the CPU ran a little hotter than I'd like.

Later ones have the fan blowing inwards (based on my HDR V2 and also DTR-T1000) which is a much better idea. It also means you can cut a slot in the side of the HD carrier to direct some airflow over the CPU heatsink, which is what I've done. I've also swapped the fan around on the charity shop HDR V1.

I've not done any temp measurements but you can feel the airflow over the CPU at the minimum fan speed of 49% set by the Fan package, which can only be a good thing.
 
Black Hole said:
Any scope for fitting a heat sink, do you think?
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Cutting a hole in the side of the HD carrier was simpler.

The CPU heatsink is clearly one meant to radiate heat in in zero airflow, presumably they did their sums and tests and it wasn't up to the point where you can't keep a finger on it which is generally regarded as too hot.

With airflow from the cutout there might be some benefit in adding a stick-on HS with fairly widely-spaced fins* onto the middle of the existing, fins parallel to the airflow but I won't be bothering.

* Narrow-spaced fins need airflow to work, without you need widely-spaced fins mounted vertically to get convection.
 
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