Struggling with HDD format message

Sjburt

New Member
We have had the box for almost 12 months (via Amazon) and in the last week started getting the message that the HDD needs to be formatted before it can be used.
Sometimes after res-starting the recording were available but now it resolutely refuses to allow access without this message.
So this weekend after finding your site I have upgraded from software version FHTCL 1.02.28 to FHTCP 1.02.29 with CFW 2.15
Following that I put the box into Maintenance mode and took the fix-disk option, this us all it gave me:

Any additional options (or press return for none):
Are you sure you wish to run the hard disk checker? [Y/N] Y
Running /bin/fix-disk
Custom firmware version 2.15

Checking disk sda
Partition sda3 - Unrecognised partition type, aborting...

Any help and advise would be much appreciated.
 
That does not sound good. We have a couple of experts who will advise, but you will need to be patient until they come along. Meanwhile I will try to alert them.

I am pleased to know you managed to get this far with the existing information, that is a good start.
 
I have assumed it is to be entered as a diagnostic:
/-------------------------\
| T E L N E T M E N U |
\-------------------------/
[ Humax HDR-Fox T2 (humax) 1.02.29/2.15 ]
1 - Restart into maintenance mode.
2 - Remove web interface password.
stat - Show what the box is currently doing.
x - Exit and close connection.
diag - Run a diagnostic.
cli - System command line (advanced users).
Please select option: diag
Enter the diagnostic name (or press return to cancel): fdisk -l /dev/sda
Are you sure you wish to run diagnostic 'fdisk -l /dev/sda'? [Y/N] Y
Running: fdisk -l /dev/sda
wget: server returned error: HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
 
No not as a diagnostic, you need to select cli which will give you the command line prompt humax# e.g.
Code:
humax# fdisk -l /dev/sda
 
Disk /dev/sda: 30.0 GB, 30005821440 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 28615 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
 
  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/sda1              1      28615    29301759  83 Linux
humax#
Note:- I have an external USB drive installed so my 'sda' is an external drive (with sdb as the internal drive), If this is not in place 'sda' will see the internal drive.

EDIT
for reference my internal drive is identical to yours
Code:
Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
 
  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id System
/dev/sdb1              1        131    1052256+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2            132      59495  476841330  83 Linux
/dev/sdb3          59496      60801    10490445  83 Linux
humax#
 
No, drop into CLI (command line interface) first.

No harm in getting disk info, but don't go poking anything yet.

PS: when copy-&-pasting console output, put it in [code]...[/code] tags. (You could edit the posts retrospectively if so inclined.)
 
Ah ok here is the output:​
humax# fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 131 1052256+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 132 59495 476841330 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 59496 60801 10490445 83 Linux
humax#
 
Partition 3 on the disk must be quite broken. The good news is that there isn't anything important on there so you can just reformat it then hopefully run the disk check again to recover your recordings. From the CLI, do:

Code:
humax# mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda3

(humax# prompt shown for context)

Then try running the disk checker again from the maintenance mode telnet menu, option 1.



Posted on the move; please excuse any brevity.
 
Output from running: mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda3
humax# mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda3
mke2fs 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
/dev/sda3 is mounted; will not make a filesystem here!
humax#
Is that OK ... should I do the disk checker now?
 
(af123 is one of our acknowledged experts)

No, you have not repaired the format yet. See the next post and repeat your mkfs command in maintenance mode, but if it then still complains about being mounted, try:
Code:
humax# umount /dev/sda3
and then the mkfs again. Note the spelling of "umount"!

Due to cross-posting you may have missed my comment in post 6 about code tags.
 
Hang on - shouldn't the Humax be in maintenance mode for this? You were in maintenance mode to run the original fix-disk, but the subsequent menu indicates you have rebooted out of it.

Go back into maintenance mode before running further CLI instructions.

(Post 10 edited subsequently)
 
As BH has pointed out "(af123 is one of our acknowledged experts)", It might be worth waiting for his reply
 
Oops yes sorry, back in Maintenance mode now, here's the output:
Code:
      /---------------------------------------------\
      |  M A I N T E N A N C E   M O D E   M E N U  |
      \---------------------------------------------/
  [ Humax HDR-Fox T2 (humax) 1.02.29/2.15 ]
    1 - Check and repair hard disk (fix-disk).
    2 - Clear persistent EPG data.
    x - Leave maintenance mode (Humax will restart).
 diag - Run a diagnostic.
  cli - System command line (advanced users).
Please select option: cli
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Now starting a system command prompt. You can make this the default by
enabling 'Expert mode telnet server' on the web interface settings page.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Humax HDR-Fox T2 (humax) 1.02.29/2.15
To return to the menu, type: exit
humax# mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda3
mke2fs 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
/dev/sda3 is mounted; will not make a filesystem here!
humax# umount /dev/sda3
humax# mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda3
mke2fs 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
Stride=0 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks
655776 inodes, 2622611 blocks
0 blocks (0.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=2688548864
81 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
8096 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
        32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 25 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
humax#
 
OK here's the output from fix-disk:
Code:
Please select option: 1
Any additional options (or press return for none):
Are you sure you wish to run the hard disk checker? [Y/N] Y
Running /bin/fix-disk
Custom firmware version 2.15

Checking disk sda
Using superblock 0 on sda3
Using superblock 0 on sda1
Using superblock 0 on sda2
Unmounted /dev/sda1
Unmounted /dev/sda2
Partition /dev/sda3 is already unmounted
No pending sectors found - skipping sector repair
Checking partition /dev/sda3...
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
☻☺
☻Pass 2: Checking directory structure
☻☺
☻Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
☻☺
☻Pass 5: Checking group summary information
☻☺/dev/sda3: |========================================================| 100.0%
☻☺
☻/dev/sda3: 11/655776 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 79733/2622611 blocks
Checking partition /dev/sda1...
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
☻☺
☻Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
/lost+found not found.  Create? yes
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
☻☺
☻Pass 5: Checking group summary information
☻☺/dev/sda1: |========================================================| 100.0%
☻☺
☻
/dev/sda1: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sda1: 14/65808 files (7.1% non-contiguous), 13646/263064 blocks
Creating swap file...
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 1073737728 bytes
UUID=bfacda60-32cb-438b-971f-2206a0677e3e
Checking partition /dev/sda2...
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
☻☺
☻Inode 7001474, i_blocks is 2009024, should be 2008928.  Fix? yes
☻☺
☻Pass 2: Checking directory structure
☻☺
☻Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
☻☺
☻/lost+found not found.  Create? yes
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
☻☺
☻Pass 5: Checking group summary information
☻☺
☻Block bitmap differences:  -(30754197--30754208)
Fix? yes
☻☺
☻Free blocks count wrong for group #938 (3658, counted=12).
Fix? yes
Free blocks count wrong for group #939 (8124, counted=5).
Fix? yes
Free blocks count wrong for group #940 (9410, counted=27).
Fix? yes
Free blocks count wrong for group #941 (9414, counted=0).
Fix? yes
Free blocks count wrong for group #942 (21737, counted=11135).
Fix? yes
Free blocks count wrong for group #943 (32246, counted=24034).
Fix? yes
Free blocks count wrong for group #944 (32245, counted=10370).
Fix? yes
Free blocks count wrong for group #945 (5619, counted=5).
Fix? yes
Free blocks count wrong (58431374, counted=58354509).
Fix? yes
☻☺/dev/sda2: |========================================================| 100.0%
☻☺
☻
/dev/sda2: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sda2: 621/29860704 files (34.9% non-contiguous), 60855475/119209984 blocks
Removing extra swap space.
Are you having problems with a delete loop? [Y/N]: N
Skipped
Finished
 
Glad it's sorted : )

From what you've posted it doesn't look like it was caused by a hardware fault, just filesystem corruption most likely caused by loss of power while it was running (or being turned off using the rocker switch on the back once too often).



Posted on the move; please excuse any brevity.
 
Maybe I spoke too soon.
Have just re-started the box to make sure everything is working and now it gives the same HDD needs formatting message.
Should I start again from the top?
 
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