This programme is scrambled message.

L

lstar337

Member
I think my HDD is about to give up.

Our main HDR-FOX T2 has started popping up this message at random times during playback of recordings, along with random breakup/pixilation and time skips, and an excruciatingly sluggish UI navigation when trying to access recordings.

I have disconnected it for now and was about to do some diagnosis at work, before I realised I left the remote at home. (stupid I know).
For now, I have updated the CF to latest version as this box was on 2.17

Does my analysis sound about right?
The drive and box are getting on for 10+ years old, as I replaced the drive right after purchase.
I took a chance when I did the drive replacement as I just used a normal WD Green 1TB, but it's lasted all this time with no issue.

When I get it home tonight, are there some steps I can take on the current drive to see if it really needs replacing or just a clean up?

Cheers.
 
lstar337 said:
I think my HDD is about to give up.
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That sounds plausible.
I took a chance when I did the drive replacement as I just used a normal WD Green 1TB, but it's lasted all this time with no issue.
Click to expand...
The symptoms you are suffering are worse than normal because the drive isn't optimised for PVR usage.
When I get it home tonight, are there some steps I can take on the current drive to see if it really needs replacing or just a clean up?
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Access the Webif of the custom firmware and under diagnostics select the hard drive option and post the output here.
 
Black Hole said:
I don't think that is the right choice. The fix-disk tool automates the process, whereas using generic tools will require you to provide appropriate knowledge.

I have written a 101 specifically for this kind of situation: HDR-FOX HDD Replacement
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So you think I would be better off just running the fix-disk tool tonight?
Will I get something that tells me if a replacement is necessary?
 
MartinLiddle said:
Access the Webif of the custom firmware and under diagnostics select the hard drive option and post the output here.
Click to expand...

lstar337 said:
Thanks. Since the maintenance mode is a little more involved, I'll try this at work tomorrow.
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There is no need to go into maintenance mode to post what Martin has suggested.

"Diagnostics" is part of Webif. Go into the Webif and you should see the Diagnostics option on its home page. Click on that then click on "Disk Diagnostics". The disk details will then be displayed. Slightly down the page are the "Attribute" details.
 
Black Hole said:
Yes

Maybe - no worse than doing it manually. I don't suppose you bothered looking at WebIF >> Diagnostics >> Disk Diagnostics?
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Sadly No.
At home the box is no longer connected to the network. Due to massive messing about with the home network a couple years ago, there was no longer a cable connection available. Since the box has been bullet proof for a number of years, I didn't see the need to reconnect it.

I forgot the remote this morning, so couldn't check the ip address to log into it. Then, being annoyed at myself for forgetting the remote and not wanting to waste my time, I decided to go ahead and update the CF as no remote is required for that.

I will take a long cable home with me tonight, and run the diagnostic from WebIF.
 
Luke said:
There is no need to go into maintenance mode to post what Martin has suggested.

"Diagnostics" is part of Webif. Go into the Webif and you should see the Diagnostics option on its home page. Click on that then click on "Disk Diagnostics". The disk details will then be displayed. Slightly down the page are the "Attribute" details.
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Will do. I'm just starting to wonder if replacing the disk should be done anyway, regardless of the current drive status. 10+ years seems like a pretty good service. I don't think I've ever had a drive in a PC last that long.
 
lstar337 said:
I decided to go ahead and update the CF
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If you mean update the firmware from
lstar337 said:
2.17
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to 3.13, yes, that is appropriate and necessary.

lstar337 said:
Since the box has been bullet proof for a number of years, I didn't see the need to reconnect it.
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Regular maintenance is the need. You don't wait for your car to break down before you have it serviced (or maybe you do!). A stitch in time, and all that...

Luke said:
There is no need to go into maintenance mode to post what Martin has suggested.
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Just to clarify: WebIF >> Diagnostics >> Disk Diagnostics does not require maintenance mode, just access to the WebIF. What you get is the SMART output for the HDD, declaring such things as reallocation count and sectors failed reallocation (as per my 101 I referred to above). fix-disk does require maintenance mode (normal function is halted so that the HDD file system is available for analysis/repair).
 
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prpr said:
Oh. I kind of expected at least a first reference in the message body - Our main HDR-FOX T2 has started popping up a "This programme is scrambled" message.
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I get that every now and then for a few seconds whilst watching a channel. The text is white, centred on the screen and the rest of the screen is black. But the odd thing is that it resolves itself after a few seconds, or when I rewind the live TV buffer the message disappears (so I can't recreate the issue).
 
bottletop said:
I get that every now and then for a few seconds whilst watching a channel. The text is white, centred on the screen and the rest of the screen is black. But the odd thing is that it resolves itself after a few seconds, or when I rewind the live TV buffer the message disappears (so I can't recreate the issue).
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Yes, it started like this, then got worse and worse and worse. The kids only report back these things when they are in the extreme, so they can rage about it. I rarely watch TV these days, and what I do watch is mostly on-demand so I don't see the errors.
It all came to a head a few nights ago when they decided to tell me it was happening every few minutes. I decided to have a look and found all of the menus were really sluggish, which they then told me had been happening for ages! I tried a reboot, and from then on it has been virtually unusable. Children are the worst at reporting errors, I wouldn't trust them to test anything! :roflmao: I have told them repeatedly that they need to inform me the minute something behaves unusually, but they never do.
 
There is a way around that: interrogate the router. It's not going to work if the HDR IP config it set to manual, because chances are the manual settings won't suit a different router, but if it is on the default DHCP it should still establish a link when connected to a different router, and the IP address it is allocated will be recorded in the router settings.
 
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