Schedule list shows programmes already recorded.

I have the same problem on my HDR Fox T2 and I believe I am the first to report a recording missed.

Part 1
I have an HDR Fox T2 which I use every day. At this moment I see that:
  • the EPG shows that it should be recording "The Repair Shop";
  • the schedule includes past (11 Jan) and future (till 23 Jan) programmes to record and does not include today's "The Repair Shop";
  • the ring is blue;
  • and the "The Repair Shop" folder does not include a new recording.
The programmes stuck in the schedule from the past have been recorded, so this looks like the first recording that I am missing.

The Humax is set to go to sleep after a period of inactivity; the ring does go amber. What I think has changed is that when I start it from amber it remembers where I was on the Media; from memory, this is a new (and welcome :)) thing.

Part 2
I also have another HDR Fox T2 in a less used room and I noticed on Sunday the same symptoms, including missing recordings, only I did not catch it on the act of missing a recording. I deleted all the "stuck" schedules and I can see it recorded at least one programme since then. Its schedule looks reasonable now.

But here is potential indication or red herring: I used the first one I am reporting above to access recordings of the other remotely; I asked through the local one to delete something on the remote PVR; and as it was deleting, the local PVR stopped updating the picture, but kept updating the sound; and did not respond to the remote control. I confirmed that the remote PVR was still operating; it changed channels when I asked it to.

Part 3
I switched off the local PVR from the switch at the back and left it for a wee while (5 mins or so). That cleared its schedule of old programmes, which included 2 programmes at 21:00 today.

Another potential red herring: it popped them from the schedule, but did not start the two 21:00 recordings, though I restarted it at about 20:50... So I got it manually to record one of the two programmes. And as I went to get it to manually record the second one, it popped the menu to alter the recording duration (so it started recording that; possibly triggered by the manual recording of the other one? <edit>But it's not going in the folder; confused. Maybe I pressed the button twice</edit>). The two programmes did not have the "scheduled recording" icon on the EPG and weren't recording either. This could be a race condition, but...

I am a bit sad. :-(
 
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If it fails to go into Standby, it indicates that something is hanging the settop box program's close-down activities. This might be due to a file system error or some corrupt/unexpected media file or ancillary (sidecar) file. The system would just have restarted if the settop box program had crashed, unless the system was so sick that the watchdog process also failed.
 
/df said:
If it fails to go into Standby, it indicates that something is hanging the settop box program's close-down activities. This might be due to a file system error or some corrupt/unexpected media file or ancillary (sidecar) file. The system would just have restarted if the settop box program had crashed, unless the system was so sick that the watchdog process also failed.
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Ok, is there a mechanism to find out what causes it?
 
Typically, run fixdisk.

If that doesn't solve the problem, make another directory next to My Video and move the contents of My Video to it. If that does solve the problem, move half the files back and try again; if that fails again move half of them out again, or if not move half of the remaining files back; iterate until you find one file or group of files that triggers the problem. Leave the problem file(s) out or delete them. In the first case if the file(s) should be precious, it might be possible to investigate further to see if the problem can be fixed, eg by re-multiplexing a video file or editing it (on a another CPU platform).
 
aekostas said:
Do the other folk in the thread also notice that their Hummy does not go into standby?
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In the other thread you mean? It seems to be the case, though not definitely the cause. You could try a system flush:
Black Hole said:
The HDR-FOX operational firmware relies extensively on database data structures to hold the information such as user settings, EPG, tuning, recording schedule. System flush is a file downloaded from the firmware downloads page on the wiki* and applied to the HDR-FOX as if a firmware update. It doesn't actually update any firmware, instead it causes the HDR-FOX to perform a deep reset of the internal data structures.

* The main repository for firmware downloads is off-line due to the web host having changed the access parameters and the relevant personnel being unavailable. A secondary repository has been set up to plug the gap, see Wiki Firmware Downloads 2.

You may find that you then need to set everything up again. For a custom firmware users, this can be painless – see Restoring User Settings after Restore Factory Defaults.
Click to expand...

/df said:
Typically, run fixdisk.
Click to expand...
...but this is the non-customised section of the forum. For the uninitiated, see full instructions here: Quick Guide to Disk Recovery (click)
 
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Thanks for all the answers.
Black Hole said:
In the other thread you mean?
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No, I meant in this thread.

Re DELINQUENT HALF-AWAKE, would a USB stick plugged to the front and keeping its light on tell me, or do I need to do something every day?

(I presume any USB stick does it, I don't need special like I need HDD?)
 
So how does one detect this state on shutdown (as opposed to on startup)?

As an update, the schedule of the local hummy lost all but one programmes. I loaded more series and left the one in; I deleted all records in the schedule with no planned time. The media went to the top; I will keep inspecting this.
 
aekostas said:
So how does one detect this state on shutdown (as opposed to on startup)?
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It's a matter of timing. I would have thought it clear enough: using the power button to go from ON to STANDBY goes through a shutdown process. If the shutdown process never completes, the unit never goes into standby. Shutdown only takes more than a few seconds if there is a large backlog of processing to do - creating thumbnails and the like.

You can easily tell on startup: if the Humax splash screen is not shown and the TV picture comes straight up, then the unit has not booted from cold and therefore was in the HALF-AWAKE state. If it is not reasonable that it was HALF-AWAKE (eg recording something, or only recently told to shut down), then the conclusion is that it was in DELINQUENT HALF-AWAKE.
 
mike_m said:
one that we watched this evening acquired a thumbnail once we'd started watching. I have always blamed the Flatten utility, but I really haven't a clue. It doesn't worry me - as I say, it's quite useful for letting us know what we haven't watched yet.
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There is a yellow corner flag applied to the thumbnails of unwatched recordings in the Media list, it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Just to update: I ran fixdisk on the local Hummy and I think there wasn't very many things wrong with it (happy to share file/info as needed). The other one is fixing problems like there's no tomorrow, we will see what happens.

FWIW, both had shut down properly yesterday.

Not sure if any of this is helping people understand why the schedule goes crazy, I am a bit lost. :)
 
I'm not affected by this, and by the sound of things only a few people are, so it has to be something local to those few people. If a proper clean-up doesn't sort it (fixdisk, system flush, and removing any malformed recordings), I have no idea what to suggest... but I suspect it will.
 
Ok, I will look into system flush next.

But after I do some research on whether/how I can recover from fixdisk trashing the remote Humax (it asks to reformat its HDD). Different thread, I am sure.
 
aekostas said:
how I can recover from fixdisk trashing the remote Humax (it asks to reformat its HDD)
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Decline any on-screen option to reformat! fixdisk is a tool provided through Custom Firmware (details here), and is not invoked unless you specifically invoke it. fixdisk does not reformat; it allows the self-repair built into HDDs to swap out any faulty disk sectors, and analyses the file system structures to repair any inconsistencies. That is not the same as reformatting (which just wipes everything).
 
Sorry, I was not clear: I followed your clear instructions and after a shedload of repairs, fixdisk finished. The system rebooted and the Hummy is asking to reformat the disk; I did not do that. I cannot access the WebIF (in a loop of "The system is initialising.").

I note @prpr's pointer and will peruse when I get a moment; it's quite long, but seems to suggest rerunning fixdisk as a first port of call.
 
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