Reached end of tether :(

MikeH_iggs

New Member
So, I've had the Humax for a couple of years. Brief history, encountered the delete loop problem early on so installed the Custom firmware, brilliant, very impressed, adds so much to the box.

It started overheating (diagnostic showing too high number for temperature), had Power Supply replaced by the guy on Ebay. For several months after this, the box behaved perfectly well.

Started to be unresponsive to remote control or front "On" button again, have to switch it off at the back, restart after a while again.

Started to "feel" warm again so I wired the fan such that it was on all the time (powered by 5v USB), monitored the temp on the sysmon and it seemed to hold it at a good temperature. Recorded two HD programs, watched a HD Recording etc, temperature good. Discovered (OK, spotted) the "fan" package, installed this and reconnected the fan properly, set it to about 78% and the box stays cool but still crashes. Pretty much every day!

Does anyone have any other suggestions of what I should try? I really, really want a HD Freeview box that records, plays, comes on when I want it on etc (asking a lot?) but the unreliability of this is too much trouble.

If no other suggestions are forthcoming, can anyone suggest a good alternative unit?

Thanks
 
I have four HDR-FOXes in daily service, they do not have a problem like this and although there are occasional similar reports on the forum there are far more users who have no problems whatsoever. Although your particular box may have developed a fault, to propose investing in an alternative would be like the devil you don't know - many of us think the HDR-FOX plus customisation is as good as it gets.

Were I to be looking for another HiDef PVR, I would be buying a HDR-FOX Grade A refurb from Humax Direct while they are still available. It may be possible to sort yours out with a bit more detail, although the remote control problem sounds like what others have had to replace the front panel assembly to cure.
 
Hmm, I suppose it could be the front panel because when it's unresponsive, it still displays the correct time and I *think* that sysmon still records the HD temperature.

I haven't Googled yet but where would I get a replacement panel ?

Thanks
 
What temperature does your unit settle at with 'fan' set to 78%? other users find that 40% is sufficient to prevent the fan entering 'full' mode which it does at 55 Dec C, mine is currently at 34 %, this would suggest that either something inside your Humax is creating a lot more heat than normal or that the unit is not getting ventilation from room temperature air, is the unit surrounded by other 'hot' electrical equipment? or for some reason being kept warmer that usual?

Humax sell spare parts on this number :- Humax customer service on 08446698800
 
I think 78% caused it to settle around 40oC. One of the earlier posts on here said that if the temp reaches 58 (I think?) it means the fan's not coming on. I set it this high as it's still inaudible to me.

It's on a shelf on its own just off the floor, nothing else near it.

Just looking around for a replacement front panel now, if it's not too expensive, I may give that a try.

Thanks
 
...but still crashes. Pretty much every day!

Just to be clear - crashes as in the front panel says Crash?
It might be possible to write a package that can capture some more diagnostics in the event of a crash. I'll look into it.
 
I think 78% caused it to settle around 40oC. One of the earlier posts on here said that if the temp reaches 58 (I think?) it means the fan's not coming on. I set it this high as it's still inaudible to me.
The temperature doesn't need to be as low as 40Deg C, the 58 Dec C you mentioned is a normal 'worst' figure, could you supply the figures from the Web-If >> diagnostics >> hard disc screen (This One), note it is line 194 NOT line 190 that is required
 
Just looking around for a replacement front panel now, if it's not too expensive, I may give that a try.
There's plenty more to check out before you go that route - have you done a maintenance mode disk check, for example? If it does come down to replacing the panel, if it were me I would obtain another unit and then consider replacing the panel on the old unit in slow time.
 
I've just uploaded a package called crashdiag which attempts to capture a memory dump (core file) when the main Humax process crashes. No handy tools to automatically analyse it afterwards yet but we can talk you through it. It is possible that there won't be a lot of information to see because it's notoriously difficult to unwind the stack on the MIPS architecture, but we'll see!
The dump files will end up in /mod/core/ called humaxtv.<UNIX timestamp> and a reboot is required following package installation in order to activate it.
 
The temperature doesn't need to be as low as 40Deg C, the 58 Dec C you mentioned is a normal 'worst' figure, could you supply the figures from the Web-If >> diagnostics >> hard disc screen (This One), note it is line 194 NOT line 190 that is required

Line 194 "Temperature Celsius" 55 045 061 000 Old_age Always
 
There's plenty more to check out before you go that route - have you done a maintenance mode disk check, for example? If it does come down to replacing the panel, if it were me I would obtain another unit and then consider replacing the panel on the old unit in slow time.

Yep, I've done the Maintenance Mode disk check quite a few times now, it rarely finds any issues by the looks of things

By "obtain another unit" you mean get a second hand one or a reconditioned or something?

Thanks
 
@MikeH_iggs - have you installed the crashdiag package yet and managed to get it to capture a crash file? That may give us a clue as to where the fault lies.
 
I have installed crashdiag and it's not crashed since!

It's behaving itself at the moment for some reason although i haven't recorded anythign for a while. I'll set something to record on HD and see if that breaks it.

Thanks
 
OK, it crashed since last night. Watched a recorded movie and came to switch it on today, it wouldn't. Had to power off and on. I noticed on the display, it was displaying the Cust FW 2.23 message. I'll try and lift off the diag information outlined above

<Edit>
/mod/core is empty on the box?

While in Maintenance Mode, I've run the disk check again, hung for a while on 18.7%, 20.5%, 26% in fact, very "slow" up to 50%. Guess that means it found something to fix. Anyway, finished that, restarted, turned it off by the remote, turned it on via the remote and hit hung on the STARTING display. Had to power off and on to make it respond.

Such a shame, it's a great box with great features when it's working, like the last few days! I've just never had this unreliability with any other appliance or piece of technology.

Thanks
 
Cursed a PC yes, more times than I care to mention but to be honest, it's reached a stage where if I hit the power on button on the Humax remote, I feel lucky if it starts up. This morning, after the disk check last night, I checked and ... nothing, again.

To check that directory I telnet'd to the box in Maintenance Mode and cd'd to the directory

Thanks

Mike
 
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