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Ways to repair or time to replace? - Solved

G

gebbly

Member
Hi All,
I have had a HDR-FOX T2 for 7 or 8 years now and its always given stirling service. However over the last few months I have started to get issues.

Every now and then the machine will stop responding to the remote. The front standby button also does not respond. A physical switch off/on at the back usually remedies this.

A few weeks ago the box started acting as though I was holding down the left arrow key. If I went to the EPG it would scroll left continuously. After some reboots and removing batteries from various remotes this problem was resolved.

The latest problem is if I go to the media view the "processing" text appears and then the menu hangs. The tv picture and sound continues in the background but the box no longer responds to the remote or the on/off button on the front of the box. If I turn off/on with the button at the back the box comes alive again and programme selection and EPG work but as soon as I go to media view I get the freeze again.

I have seen some discussions of hardware failures in old threads but was told this morning by Humax customer support that although they offer support for the HDR FOX T2 they no longer offer any kind of hardware repair.

Where do I go from here? Has anyone got any suggestions of a fix? Is it time to replace the machine? I looked at the FVP5000T but very quickly found lots of complaints about the previous model FVP4000T being really slow and having lots of problems.

I would be grateful for any help or advice.
 
Get rid of your "various remotes" which are screwing up the i-r.
Install the customised firmware.
Connect via telnet and go into maintenance mode.
Run the "fixdisk" process.
There's probably nothing wrong with the hardware - though there's a possibility the hard disk might need replacing.
(The freezing is probably corrupt recording, corrupt filesystem or bad sectors on the disk.)
 
gebbly said:
I looked at the FVP5000T but very quickly found lots of complaints about the previous model FVP4000T being really slow and having lots of problems.
Click to expand...
The initial user reports on the FVP-5000T over on MyHumax.org seem quite positive. Most of the problems on the FVP-4000T were resolved with software updates but the slow response remained an issue however the initial reports for the FVP-5000T seem to suggest the user interface is now responsive.
 
Thanks very much for the advice and info guys. I've been meaning to install the custom software for quite a while. I guess with no warranty support and now no hardware support from Humax theres no reason not to do things like cracking open the box to swap drives. I'll follow your advice prpr and see where I get, especially after reading "Does the Process of Installing Custom Firmware Delete My Recordings..." "No. The only operation which deletes your recordings is if you ask the HDR-FOX to reformat its HDD".
Fingers crossed this solves the problem. If not I'll try a new drive install.

I don't suppose the custom software provides an easy way to copy all your recordings across to PC? I know there is an ftp server feature already which I will be trying this weekend.

Thanks for the info Martin. Sounds like the 5000T might be interesting if my HDR-FOX T2 cant be revived. Shame the 5000T isnt as open as the HDR-FOX T2.
 
I wouldn't be in a rush to replace the drive without knowing it was definitely at fault. You will determine that by installing the CF and WebIf and then finding and posting the SMART stats.
 
gebbly said:
I don't suppose the custom software provides an easy way to copy all your recordings across to PC?
Click to expand...
Yes the custom firmware provides various options for allowing network access to the recordings.
I know there is an ftp server feature already which I will be trying this weekend.
Click to expand...
Careful; copying files by FTP will mean the recordings (both SD and HD) are still encrypted and can only be played on the box that made them. The custom firmware provides ways to remove the encryption.
Shame the 5000T isnt as open as the HDR-FOX T2.
Click to expand...
It certainly isn't anything like as open as the HDR-FOX T2 but until somebody with the right sort of expertise starts investigating seriously will we not know for certain whether anything is possible.
 
gebbly said:
The latest problem is if I go to the media view the "processing" text appears and then the menu hangs. The tv picture and sound continues in the background but the box no longer responds to the remote or the on/off button on the front of the box.
Click to expand...
One of ours is prone to something like this, though it usually crashes & reboots. It tends to have a fairly full disc and I've put it down to start up overload - ie. Just after boot the box is busy getting its act together and asking it to index hundreds of recordings onto the screen is just too much for it. If the box is left to its own devices for a couple of minutes after start before pressing remote buttons, it never seems to have a problem.

As said above getting the CFW installed will help determine if there is a problem with the disc, and quite possibly allow it to be fixed. You mention "stirling service" but can you be more specific as regards how many hours a week it generally is run for, or if it's left on all the time (ie. running, not in standby).
 
MikeSh said:
You mention "stirling service" but can you be more specific as regards how many hours a week it generally is run for, or if it's left on all the time (ie. running, not in standby).
Click to expand...
We will know that with complete certainty when we see the hard drive SMART data.
 
I'll get the custom firmware installed and find out how to produce the SMART data as soon as I can.

In the meantime to answer your question, up until a couple of months back the box was set to shutdown I think at 2am and power back up at 6am every day. Regarding storage space it has a 1TB drive and about 260GB free at present. Most of the things we watch are tv series so it records hour long programs and we watch them and immediately delete them alot.
We got a new smart TV recently but the EPG isnt as friendly or as fast as the humax and I havent plugged a drive into the tv so there is no pause/rewind/record until I do. The new TV had problems finding the humax signal in the morning if the humax had been on for a long time before the tv was turned on so now the humax shuts down at 2am and i turn it on manually when i turn the telly on (it then stays on the rest of the day).

The "processing" freeze happened yesterday evening after the box had been on all day. I'll make sure to wait a while after power up before trying the media menu in future in case thats an issue.
 
MartinLiddle said:
We will know that with complete certainty when we see the hard drive SMART data.
Click to expand...
Yes, but there's no certainty that will happen.
In the meantime ...
gebbly said:
In the meantime to answer your question, up until a couple of months back the box was set to shutdown I think at 2am and power back up at 6am every day.
Click to expand...
That equates to the disc running (and presumably the buffer writing) continuously for about 6 years. Regardless of SMART data I'd think that was pretty good going for any disc.
 
MikeSh said:
That equates to the disc running (and presumably the buffer writing) continuously for about 6 years. Regardless of SMART data I'd think that was pretty good going for any disc.
Click to expand...
I have three HDRs running 24/7 on their original disks.
 
Got home and after being on all day EPG worked, TV Portal worked, all fine until I hit the media button and then get the "processing" hang. The current software version is 1.03.12 which was updated 7/2/2014 so it isnt a recent update that caused the problems.

I've worked through the debugging thread secion "Crashes occur, but the user interface is accessible between crashes:"
2A. Networking is working and the machine was last on BBC1 before switch off so turned on to BBC1 but still exhibited the problem. I also went into the timed on and off settings, set the on channel to BBC1 but then turned off the auto on and off timers for good measure. Problem still exists.

2B.Switched to BBC red button and pressed standby on the remote at which point I learnt that hitting standby on the remote also triggers the crash. Turned off at back and on, went to Media and crash still occurs.

2C I haven't knowingly turned on any DLNA services. IP address is assigned by DHCP so shouldnt clash. Removed wifi dongle so network connectivity lost, turned off and on and problem still persists.

2D. Deactivated "Content Share". This meant the standby button on the remote now works and the box goes into standby but neither the remote nor the the button the the front of the box can wake it up again. Only option was off and on via the switch at the back.

Next step is to install the custom firmware and see if I can get any information from that.
 
Yep, next step is to install the custom firmware and do 2E. Didnt have a chance tonight and I'm away this weekend so might have to do it on monday.

The "***" footnote is a good idea I hadn't thought of so even if I have to replace the HDD I might still get to view the recordings. Would I have to do anything in particular to a new HDD to make it usable in the box (format it to a particular file format, make sure it is a certain capacity or anything?) or will installing the custom firmware do all that is needed?

Oh also, I found in the menus somewhere an option called something like "check disk". It ran to 100% completion and reported the disk was ok. Confusing as I was starting to think it was a HDD fault. I'll push on with the custom install anyway and see what I get in case that scan was not thorough (it was pretty quick, about 10 seconds, for a full scan of a 1TB drive).
 
Last edited:
The only suitable disk check / repair process runs from a Maintenance Mode boot from a Telnet session, as described in the instructions I have pointed you to.

gebbly said:
Would I have to do anything in particular to a new HDD to make it usable in the box (format it to a particular file format, make sure it is a certain capacity or anything?) or will installing the custom firmware do all that is needed?
Click to expand...
See Things Every... (click) section 12. CF will help you install a drive in excess of 2TB, but otherwise you just fit and use the Humax menus to install, and then install CF (second stage).
 
I've installed the custom firmware from USB after reading the instructions at a couple of web pages including at https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Install_Modified_Firmware. Once installed I followed the link to install the "full web interface" at https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Install_Full_Web_Interface. When I try this the web page starts the installation of multiple packages and then hits an error. I have retried via web browser and also telnet into the box and tried it there as suggested by the wiki page but still get the same error. The error is as follows :

Removing package webif from root...
Installing webif (1.4.2-7) to root...
Downloading http://hpkg.tv/hdrfoxt2/base/webif_1.4.2-7_mipsel.opk.
Installing rsvsync (1.1.11) to root...
Downloading http://hpkg.tv/hdrfoxt2/base/rsvsync_1.1.11_mipsel.opk.
Collected errors:
* check_data_file_clashes: Package rsvsync wants to install file /mod/boot/rsvsync
But that file is already provided by package * rs
* opkg_install_cmd: Cannot install package webif.

anyone got any ideas?
 
You have an old version of rs installed somehow. I can't understand how if this is a clean installation.
 
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