I have the same problem.

Part 1: Bought a Humax FOXSAT-HDR 500GB in July 2012. All worked fine until mid December when iPlayer told me it was not connected. I had not changed anything. I had been using homeplug adapters which worked well. Checked them and they were fine. Tried a direct ethernet cable but it was still showing ‘not connected’. I then checked everything thoroughly without success. My laptop on the same connection could get the internet and iPlayer. My Talktalk broadband speed is 3.2Mbps, which should be adequate. It worked before. Yesterday I finally took the box back to Curry’s who could not test it and simply refunded in full because the model had been discontinued they said.

Part 2: I was persuaded to pay the extra and get a new HDR-1000S 500GB. Easy installation – almost completely automatic. Looks good. Network connection was confirmed and the correct IP address displayed. On Demand shows iPlayer available, Showcase dispays on demand programmes, Guide shows earlier days programmes, Humax menu option shows TV Portal. After taking any of these options it says ‘Incorrect Link’ or ‘cannot connect to network’.

I have tried emailing Humax support – no reply last December or from yesterday yet. Managed to speak to Humax tech support yesterday who’s only suggestion was to do a factory reset (on a brand new box?) and he would email me so I could reply to him with the outcome. Unfortunately he hasn’t yet so I emailed the unsuccessful outcome anyway. I also found there was a firmware update but that has made no difference.

It seems a coincidence that both boxes have the same problem but I am a total loss as to what is wrong and find the whole thing frustrating, especially as the shop said that Humax is the top model. Any clues anyone?

Thank you Martin but I don’t think that there anything or any combination or sequence of things I have not tried already, including trying each of the router ports. They all work with the PC. Also, powering off and on the router and resetting the router makes no difference. I have tested these options again today without success. When the router is on and connected the green light is on at the ethernet cable socket on the back of the Humax.

Could you please explain what you mean by ‘a power cycle’ if it is not just switching it off, waiting, then powering up again?

The router Local Network settings show Network Address Server Settings (DHCP) *ON with Use default range *YES. The Basic Setup Internet Connection Type shows DHCP Mode *OFF but that is as the original factory setting and I cannot be changed. The older Foxstat box allowed creation of the setting using DHCP or by manual entry. DHCP worked then. The new box does not give the option. Remember that I was getting iPlayer on the old Humax till it suddenly stopped working in December without any parameters having been changed.

One thing I have noticed is that on the old Humax the Router IP address showed as 192.168.1.1 with DNS address 24.72.8.0. The network info on the new box shows the same correct Gateway IP address 192.168.1.1 and the primary DNS address also as 192.168.1.1 The new box finds its network parameters itself with no other available option.

The old Foxstat box settings I had were noted after it stopped working so that is probably a red herring. I was just noting that the DNS address was different from the router IP address but the IP and DNS addresses are the same on the new box. I thought that might be significant. (As you will have guessed, though I worked for over twenty years in IT on the business analysis side, I am not an expert on networks – we had young guys with loads of patience to do that.)

Showtime is indeed populated with current information and pictures on programmes as checked against the newspaper guide. I can ping the Humax box IP address – ave round trip time 4ms, which I thought would confirm there is something there?

There is quite a delay before the Incorrect Link or no connection messages appear. Could it be that something is running slow and it is timing out before presenting the only available messages, i.e they are misleading. The Humax box thinks it is connected, quote “Great, you’re connected”; the router shows it is connected; I can ping it from the PC; I can get onto the web from the PC and the laptop when connected to the same cable as used for the Humax box.

I note that Talktalk does have firmware updates for some of its routers but not the Siemens SE587 they gave me. Do you think I need to reinstall it to see if it allows me set the DHCP mode to *ON?

I really appreciate your efforts to help. It would be good to get this working as it should.

Looking at the PC Local Area Connections Properties the settings show obtain an IPv6 address automatically and DNS server address automatically and the same for IPv4. Am I looking in the right place? If not where should I be looking?

The iPlayer Test earlier gave a result of Broadband Speed 3809 kpbs and Streaming speeds of 3685/3653/3748 = average 3695 kbps. A test just now gave BB speed 3675kbps and streaming 3670kbps. The BB speed comes down to about 3.2Mbps in the evenings.

Fair point. Laptop connected via homeplug beside Humax gave BB speed 3641kbps and streaming speed 3573kbps. For comparison laptop using wireless connection in same position as Humax gave 3732/2311, so a much slower streaming speed but still good enough for iPlayer in HD which I am watching now – on the laptop only unfortunately.

Progress – I came back from a few days away to find a message dated 25 Jan from Humax Support:

“I have taken a look at the issue, the link we use to connect to the Iplayer has been rendered incorrect. We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible. We are currently investigating if this is a Humax issue, Freesat issue or an issue with the address we were provided with by BBC. Unfortunately we have not resolved the issue but we will update the box with an over the air broadcast as soon as possible.”

I thought I would post this update as the number of views of this topic seems to indicate interest.