Humax Foxsat HDR 1080I HD Channels locking box up

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Humax Foxsat HDR 1080I HD Channels locking box up

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blackcat

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A strange fault has developed on my Humax Foxsat HDR (1TB moded) during the last month
Astra2 channels are 90%q and 100% sig
Euro2 channels are 80%q and 80% sig
Twin cable feed

Everything works ok but for this:
If I leave any one of the 4 HD channels (1080I) tuned in for more that 3 hours, the whole machine locks up. The remote - all the buttons - Standby switch - none of them work. Everything works ok on the HD channels for up to 3 hours.
The HD channel carries on regardless and the only way to unlock the box is via the rear on/off switch which then returns everything back to normal. I can then tune in an HD channel again and it will work ok for another three hours before once again locking everything up

I have no trouble with the SD channels - I can leave them playing for 14 hours without a problem

I contacted Humax but of course they say I'll have to return the box. As it's now 17 months old and out of warranty I'm reluctant to do this if I can find a fix myself, especially as I've got a nearly full 1TB drive I swopped out for the original 320GB and everything else is working ok
Has anyone come across this fault before?

I'm thinking that it may be a capacitor or similar that is overheating just on the 1080I HD circuit board and not on the SD one.
Is this possible?

I can probably live with this but of course, if there's a recording active when the box locks up, I lose this when I reboot and the box doesn't create the overnight data files for the recording anyway.
The fault has been there with 1.0.15 and the recent 1.0.17 update
I've also tried a factory reset to no avail

| Wed 19 Oct 2011 18:00:51 #1 |
REPASSAC

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Curious,
I wonder if this is a disk problem - what happens if you briefly change to another HD channel and back again (say after two hours) do you them get past the three hour mark.

Wonder if it is a problem with the timeslip buffer file (0.ts).

| Wed 19 Oct 2011 18:22:49 #2 |
blackcat

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REPASSAC - 43 minutes ago »
Curious,
I wonder if this is a disk problem - what happens if you briefly change to another HD channel and back again (say after two hours) do you them get past the three hour mark.
Wonder if it is a problem with the timeslip buffer file (0.ts).

I've tried most combinations but I'll try this tonight when the box is free.
You may have a point about the buffer file. It may be because of the size of the 0.ts HD buffering file being created which obvously gets larger as the time goes on. I've not installed Raydon's 4.04 bundle yet (v3 was deleted with the 1.0.17 update) to avoid confusion
It has only started happening since my WD 1TB drive has got past the 60% full mark but M&FS bundle V3 was fully operational before then without the problem

| Wed 19 Oct 2011 19:16:48 #3 |
grahamlthompson

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The timeshift buffer file is a fixed size. What model WD drive is it ? Can you pop in the original and do a time test ? If it's a PC type drive rather than a consumer electronics design the built in error checking may be causing the problem.

| Wed 19 Oct 2011 21:39:06 #4 |
blackcat

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grahamlthompson - 2 hours ago »
The timeshift buffer file is a fixed size. What model WD drive is it ? Can you pop in the original and do a time test ? If it's a PC type drive rather than a consumer electronics design the built in error checking may be causing the problem.

It's a WD10 EVCS

You may be right there!
I'll try swopping back to the original 320GB drive but I've got so much data on both drives I now wish that I'd originally gone for your external docking bay setup glt

| Thu 20 Oct 2011 0:16:08 #5 |
blackcat

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The plot (fault) thickens

Last night I left CH4HD tuned in to the Humax box. When I got up this morning, Channel 4HD was still displayed in the box front window, so it hadn't hibernated or been housekeepinged during the night
When I switched on the tv, there was a blank screen from the Humax hdmi input. No picture, no sound. None of the Humax buttons worked but Channel 4 was still displayedin the front panel

I had to reboot via the rear switch and the Ch4 HD picture and sound returned and everything is operating normally again(except the missing thumbnails from yesterday's recordings)

Could the problem still be the 1TB HDD? The reason I ask is that there's no hard drive in a Humax HD box but the picture is still there

If it's the 1TB HD, why doesn't the fault appear with SD channels?
I can play these all day without a problem.

If I do have to swop back the drives, I think I have to wipe the returning 320GB drive during installation (its in a caddy and connected by rear USB) in which case can I copy the "copy once" encrypted files back to 1TB drive first

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as this is starting to really bug me (No pun intended)

| Thu 20 Oct 2011 9:10:15 #6 |
REPASSAC

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I think I would reinstall Raydon's 4.04 bundle and get ftp and telnet access to the box. I would then try and rename o.ts and 0.nts then I would restart the hdr.

| Thu 20 Oct 2011 9:34:11 #7 |
blackcat

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Thanks. I'll try that and post back

Is this to stop the buffer running?

| Thu 20 Oct 2011 10:28:31 #8 |
grahamlthompson

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If the original drive is still in the as formatted by the HDR condition and you have been copying content to the Video folder you can simply put it back in the hdr and it will work, (make a note of your reservation list, they are on the drive) then connect your 1TB to the usb port.

| Thu 20 Oct 2011 10:29:24 #9 |
REPASSAC

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Yes, The rename will retain the disk space for now and a channel change will I think recreate the 0.ts in a new location. You can then delete the old file. If this solves the problem then I think I would remove the drive and see if you check/repair it using unix tools.

I think that the reason you do not see the problem with SD files in the large amount of time to get towards the end of 0.ts.

You did say you get the problem on all HD channels - I only ask as CH4 HD's signal may be different from the others - so I would check the quality - I had a lockup once in very bad weather.

| Thu 20 Oct 2011 10:54:48 #10 |