Beep/screech noise from HDR-1800T hard drive

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Beep/screech noise from HDR-1800T hard drive

(21 posts)

Minstrel SE

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Hi Paul D

When experiencing the full noise on my 200OT the sound was very loud when first switching on and switching off...it was loud in everything the drive did but particularly noticable on boot up. The heads made a right racket parking up or springing to life

Its very interesting if it is 2.5 drive as I thought Humax used 3.5 as standard. I wonder if they are refurbishing boxes with them as they have had enough returns with this series.

Refurbs seem to have been packed up as new again because I can see slight feet marks on mine...but I cant prove that...my fascia was mint

See my thread on opening a 2000t which finally seems to have sorted the horrendous noise issue. I can only assume something was transmitting the noise directly to the casing and maybe a cable was trapped by the lid in a funny way.Im still looking into it but touch wood its all quiet now and I have some sound damping work to do

All Im saying is that there appear to be issues with certain units and you shouldnt be hearing loud noises from the hard drive. Mine boots up reasonably quietly now and within spec.

| Sun 29 Jan 2017 5:15:40 #11 |
Paul_D

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Thanks for your comments Minstrel SE.

Many years ago I took the floor up in my old Land Rover to access the gearbox selectors. Wwhen I refitted it, the gearbox whine was unbelievable and I was sure that I had damaged the gearbox. Whilst looking round under the car I noticed a floor screw was just touching a bracket on the gearbox.

Whilst someone else drove, I slackened the screw and the noise went from "millions" of decibels to virtually silent. The screw was transmitting the sound and the footwell acted like an amplifier and speaker - remember the two tin cans and a piece of string?

So I can very easily see how transmitted noise could be the issue with the Humax. I will go and find your other thread and investigate further.

Thanks,
Paul.

| Sun 29 Jan 2017 8:43:46 #12 |
Minstrel SE

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Yes Thanks.

Thats what I think it is. Well It can only be the lid or the stiff cable that was touching the lid.

The only thing that really changed was me taking the lid off so its something to do with that amplifying the noise.

Its set up some physical transfer and resonance combination that I cant fully explain...I think the cable was right on where the head is. Its a ridiculous cable stiff and hard to bend. Ive seen data transfer cables before but not as thick and stiff as this one. Im worried that bending it will affect the wires inside.

All I know now is that its really quiet and thats with the lid off Crazy eh

I cant believe it really. After months of annoyance it seems to be something as simple as poor design and routing of a cable. I will try and do further tests but I just want to get this lid and casing soundproofed now and get the cable tied down.

Best wishes

| Sun 29 Jan 2017 11:44:12 #13 |
Paul_D

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I debated whether to open the box, reroute any cables and possibly add a larger drive whilst voiding any warranty. In the end, as I have had it less than a week, I decided not to break the seal and returned it earlier today to the store.

I ended up paying extra and left the store with a new FVP-4000T 1TB.

Did I make the right decision? - I hope so, but time will tell.

Thanks to all of you for your advice.

| Sun 29 Jan 2017 20:04:20 #14 |
Minstrel SE

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Pretty wise that Paul D

Im not trying to tempt people to do the same as me but I really did get confused and left it too long to be certain of an exchange. The aerial system was faulty for a month so a set of circumstances made me keep hold of it. I think deep down I always planned to repair it myself as Im like that and enjoy the challenge

That damn shop gives me levels of anxiety as they tried to give me a damaged used one bunged in a box. I had to call for the manager as they hurried to get another out from the storeroom. I should have got a refund then but didnt want to waste the trip.

Over my dead body was I going back there and trying to explain a fault to that lot

Binary dad also warned me that he walked out with another one just as noisy

I will never shop there again as long as I live.

Voiding the warranty didnt really bother me as Im savvy enough not to damage it and presume it will last long enough anyway. Its a bit of a niggle but Im just glad to be finding out what was wrong

Anyway please let us know how you get along with the different model.
all the best

| Mon 30 Jan 2017 9:23:54 #15 |
Paul_D

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Hi Minstrel SE,

I would have been quite comfortable opening the box, troubleshooting and possibly swapping the hard drive (I hold an aircraft avionics license), but the hassle of breaking the seal and voiding the 6 year warranty from Richer Sounds made me think twice.

I was prepared to stick with it and consider it a feature rather a fault, but I was unable to live with it in the end as the sound of the heads parking in the middle of the night after 3.00 am (checking for updates) woke me up every night - that is how loud it was!

I preferred the menu system on the HDR-1800T - almost exactly the same as the HDR-Fox-T2 but quicker and smoother. The FVP-4000T is slow and clunky, the menu system is just awful, the search is next to useless, the buttons all operate differently when compared to every other Humax out there, and the fake stitched leather top cover is just cheap and tacky. The only good thing I can say about the FVP-4000T is that it is 1TB and quiet!

Which has got me thinking - I am considering looking for a very cheap (spares or repair) HDR-1800T/2000T with a dodgy noisy drive on eBay or Gumtree with the intention of installing a quiet HDD or maybe even an SSD. An HDD is probably better as the read/writes on an SSD may shorten its life.

An HDR-2000T is probably preferable to an HDR-1800T as the 2000T has double the amount of motherboard RAM and is designed for the additional current draw of a 3.5" HDD.

Thanks for all your help Minstrel SE,
Paul.

| Mon 30 Jan 2017 18:18:01 #16 |
Minstrel SE

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Yes I think I have shown that its fairly straightforward for somebody with the knowledge like yourself.

There is certainly an opportunity for people to get these 2000s cheaper and do them up/repair them properly.

Im just gathering my materials now. The lid will be car sheet foamed and some slotting in parts will get a black thick paper lining secured with double sided tape so they dont rattle or resonate.

The inner casing will get enough sound proofing foam so that overheating is not a problem.

The cable will be routed down well away from the lid and secured to the back panel with cable tie pads and foam wrap

As you have seen from my pictures its easy to remove the drive and the connectors from the PCB.

Therefore its easy to put another hard drive in and you may find its a similar situation I found where some sort of noise transmission path was set up from the heads.

I think Humax ended up with a large batch of these where the lid was just plonked on the cables causing amplification of noise. Its just poor attention to final detail in my view and an unsuitably thick cable that should have been routed well away properly.

Yes I heard about the UI on other models and we joked about the chocca mocha,chicky choccy branding on other threads.

I needed a standard looking box as there is a fair bit under my telly on large glass rack.

Top controls and the long empty shelf under the wall television in the adverts is not how my home is

Personally I think Humax have lost their way with the model range. I know its a tough market but feel they have been cutting corners since the days of the first 8000T. Maybe thats an over harsh view.

If I get this 2000t running well I will be happy enough
Best wishes

| Mon 30 Jan 2017 20:42:45 #17 |
grahamlthompson

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Minstrel SE - 3 minutes ago »
Yes I think I have shown that its fairly straightforward for somebody with the knowledge like yourself.
There is certainly an opportunity for people to get these 2000s cheaper and do them up/repair them properly.
Im just gathering my materials now. The lid will be car sheet foamed and some slotting in parts will get a black thick paper lining secured with double sided tape so they dont rattle or resonate.
The inner casing will get enough sound proofing foam so that overheating is not a problem.
The cable will be routed down well away from the lid and secured to the back panel with cable tie pads and foam wrap
As you have seen from my pictures its easy to remove the drive and the connectors from the PCB.
Therefore its easy to put another hard drive in and you may find its a similar situation I found where some sort of resonance path was set up from the heads.
I think Humax ended up with a large batch of these where the lid was just plonked on the cables causing amplification of noise. Its just poor attention to final detail in my view and an unsuitably thick cable that should have been routed well away properly.
Yes I heard about the UI on other models and we joked about the chocca mocha,chicky choccy branding on other threads.
I needed a standard looking box as there is a fair bit under my telly on large glass rack.
Top controls and the long empty shelf under the wall television in the adverts is not how my home is
Personally I think Humax have lost their way with the model range. I know its a tough market but feel they have been cutting corners since the days of the first 8000T. Maybe thats a harsh view.
If I get this 2000t running well I will be happy enough
Best wishes

The HDR-Fox-T2 is the best Humax Freeview +-PVR ever made (I had the 8000T and the 9200T). Not quite as customisable as the legendary Topfield SD only Freeview pvrs, but with the Custom Firmware on board is way superior to the 1800/2000T models apart from limited catch up (Not an issue these days with a NOW TV box costing little more than a tenner).

| Mon 30 Jan 2017 20:50:42 #18 |
Minstrel SE

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Well yes they seemed to have a good run with models like the 1010 and the Fox T2. I had been watching them for a while but the range got slightly confusing in that they would have an HDR model and DTR model. Display or no display..... youview or not. They were selling older models alongside newer versions then badging them up for phone cpompany deals

The market dictated a price competitive area at a lower price. I should perhaps have spent around £100 more. However it seemed an ideal price and I was brand loyal

If the 2000T had been quiet for me out of the box I would have been happy with that. Ive been unlucky but feel the issue has arisen due to bad and cheaper design of the interior I am simply sorting out their quality control issues for them. Its only going to cost me £10 plus my time to sort it out.

Im not going to rule out Humax in future but this puchase has been a bit stressful for me

| Tue 31 Jan 2017 6:16:57 #19 |
fedman1

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Joined: Dec '13
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Minstrel SE - 14 hours ago »
Yes I think I have shown that its fairly straightforward for somebody with the knowledge like yourself.
There is certainly an opportunity for people to get these 2000s cheaper and do them up/repair them properly.
Im just gathering my materials now. The lid will be car sheet foamed and some slotting in parts will get a black thick paper lining secured with double sided tape so they dont rattle or resonate.
The inner casing will get enough sound proofing foam so that overheating is not a problem.
The cable will be routed down well away from the lid and secured to the back panel with cable tie pads and foam wrap
As you have seen from my pictures its easy to remove the drive and the connectors from the PCB.
Therefore its easy to put another hard drive in and you may find its a similar situation I found where some sort of noise transmission path was set up from the heads.
I think Humax ended up with a large batch of these where the lid was just plonked on the cables causing amplification of noise. Its just poor attention to final detail in my view and an unsuitably thick cable that should have been routed well away properly.
Yes I heard about the UI on other models and we joked about the chocca mocha,chicky choccy branding on other threads.
I needed a standard looking box as there is a fair bit under my telly on large glass rack.
Top controls and the long empty shelf under the wall television in the adverts is not how my home is
Personally I think Humax have lost their way with the model range. I know its a tough market but feel they have been cutting corners since the days of the first 8000T. Maybe thats an over harsh view.
If I get this 2000t running well I will be happy enough
Best wishes

Minstrel SE, please be very careful with the materials you add to the inside of your 2000T. Bear in mind that any internal changes you make could become a fire hazard. If a fire was proved to be caused by these unauthorised modifications it could invalidate your property insurance.

| Tue 31 Jan 2017 11:24:09 #20 |