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tiacod – 9 minutes ago » …so it seems it’s the SATA controller on the Humax board that fails for some reason…
That’s a logical conclusion. The disk is electrically/mechanically good (lots of posters have confirmed that on their PC) so the cause must be attributable to the controller, either a hardware failure or some tolerance that the s/w cannot cope with. The real surprise is that Humax have failed to nail this down.
Pollensa1946 – 4 minutes ago »
tiacod – 9 minutes ago » …so it seems it’s the SATA controller on the Humax board that fails for some reason…
That’s a logical conclusion. The disk is electrically/mechanically good (lots of posters have confirmed that on their PC) so the cause must be attributable to the controller, either a hardware failure or some tolerance that the s/w cannot cope with. The real surprise is that Humax have failed to nail this down.
The fact that many boxes recover after a period left unpowered, would seem to indicate a software rather than a hardware issue.
grahamlthompson – 18 minutes ago »
Pollensa1946 – 4 minutes ago »
tiacod – 9 minutes ago » …so it seems it’s the SATA controller on the Humax board that fails for some reason…
That’s a logical conclusion. The disk is electrically/mechanically good (lots of posters have confirmed that on their PC) so the cause must be attributable to the controller, either a hardware failure or some tolerance that the s/w cannot cope with. The real surprise is that Humax have failed to nail this down.
The fact that many boxes recover after a period left unpowered, would seem to indicate a software rather than a hardware issue.
Agreed – having read more threads this morning it seems more likely, it’s just you would expect a re-flash of the firmware to resolve such issues unless something is left resident which causes the problem.
Quote:Sorry don’t get the logic of that statement. Self correcting software? All of the software will comprise of files. If a file is corrupted in some way then it stays that way until an uncorrupted version is applied in it’s place it would not be corrected after a period of inactivity.
Far more likely in my opinion is that some hardware component (disk controller, disk interface on the disk itself) somewhere is failing. That could recover if it works over temperature or gets a zap of low voltage (that condition may eventually corrects itself as the electrical state changes over time).
Do Humax collect information about these issues? I expect that like any electronics manufacturer, they will change suppliers of certain components either because of non-availability, product changes or price. It may be a specific suppliers product causing the issue or a change in that component makers firmware.
Is there a way these conditions can be supplied to Humax so they can try & build a picture & home in on the area causing the issue?
grumpybrush – 4 minutes ago »
Quote:Sorry don’t get the logic of that statement. Self correcting software? All of the software will comprise of files. If a file is corrupted in some way then it stays that way until an uncorrupted version is applied in it’s place it would not be corrected after a period of inactivity.
Far more likely in my opinion is that some hardware component (disk controller, disk interface on the disk itself) somewhere is failing. That could recover if it works over temperature or gets a zap of low voltage (that condition may eventually corrects itself as the electrical state changes over time).
Do Humax collect information about these issues? I expect that like any electronics manufacturer, they will change suppliers of certain components either because of non-availability, product changes or price. It may be a specific suppliers product causing the issue or a change in that component makers firmware.
Is there a way these conditions can be supplied to Humax so they can try & build a picture & home in on the area causing the issue?
NVram can hold data for a very very long time. If it gets corrupted and there is no way to reflash the specific locations it’s entirely possible for the problem to eventually disappear. My box (a first generation) HDR1000S, (once lost all the recordings and in the end needed a format in December last year) has exhibited this particular issue, despite running for years without similar problems. This would further confirm the possibility it was introduced in a later software update.
grahamlthompson – 1 hour ago »
The fact that many boxes recover after a period left unpowered, would seem to indicate a software rather than a hardware issue.
It sounds more likely to me to be a hardware fault with some component gradually deteriorating until it becomes marginal and sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. This problem almost always seems to affect boxes that are more than 12 months old; if it was purely a software fault why would age matter?
I agree that it’s more likely to be a hardware issue. I suspect that the problem is down to lead-free solder which is far more likely to suffer from thermal cycling. This problem is often seen on computer graphic cards and processors, particularly with ball-grid-array connections.
I have repaired a lot of Topfield PVRs, and while repairing the PSU, I sometimes see tuner or other mainboard faults. If I leave it unpowered for a few weeks, the fault usually clears, albeit temporarily. The solder joints seem to rejoin over a period of time.
There’s a lot of electronic kit that is in landfill as a result of lead-free solder – how can that be ecological?
andyfras – 2 hours ago »
I agree that it’s more likely to be a hardware issue. I suspect that the problem is down to lead-free solder which is far more likely to suffer from thermal cycling. This problem is often seen on computer graphic cards and processors, particularly with ball-grid-array connections.
I have repaired a lot of Topfield PVRs, and while repairing the PSU, I sometimes see tuner or other mainboard faults. If I leave it unpowered for a few weeks, the fault usually clears, albeit temporarily. The solder joints seem to rejoin over a period of time.
There’s a lot of electronic kit that is in landfill as a result of lead-free solder – how can that be ecological?
I disagree. I think it is a firmware problem.
REPASSAC – 2 hours ago »
I disagree. I think it is a firmware problem.
So how many boxes less than a year old have been affected by this firmware problem?
Don’t recall how many were less than a year old, but I think we have see about 20 reports on this forum. 2 or 3 of these reported sudden restoration of the disk. I do remember one unit was brand new.
While disappearing recordings were noted before this problem arose then reappeared on a standby or power cycle. This problem commenced after the launch of the HB-1000S.
Took the machine into my local Richer Sounds today for repair under their extended warranty, so will see what that yields. Maybe the pros can sort it. Otherwise the warranty does provide for a replacement machine (which could be refurbished of course).
grumpybrush – 1 hour ago »
Took the machine into my local Richer Sounds today for repair under their extended warranty, so will see what that yields. Maybe the pros can sort it. Otherwise the warranty does provide for a replacement machine (which could be refurbished of course).
We are interested in result – my guess is that RS will replace.
REPASSAC – 1 month ago »
grumpybrush – 1 hour ago »
Took the machine into my local Richer Sounds today for repair under their extended warranty, so will see what that yields. Maybe the pros can sort it. Otherwise the warranty does provide for a replacement machine (which could be refurbished of course).
We are interested in result – my guess is that RS will replace.
After a slight wobble at the start of the process, when I took the unit back to Richer, their systems were down so I didn’t get a “job number” (they called it something else) which made subsequent calls slightly longer than otherwise anyway, after 4 weeks & Humax still awaiting parts (which ones & from where was not revealed), I was offered a new replacement under the warranty, which I collected yesterday.
The replacement was an HDR 1100S. I was able to transfer the remaining unused extended warranty to 6 years on the new unit. What service. Richer have a customer for life!
The 1100S is a fair bit quicker but does seem to run very warm – don’t know if this is normal.
Just a shame that there is no known solution to the original issue.
This is especially the case with what seems to be the best Freesat unit around to be plagued by what appears to be so many issues (software/Hardware?). The interface is no doubt incredibly good. Having been without the device for over a month some of the software changes seem to be good improvements e.g.the ability of this remote to allow some control over a TV.
That’s marred somewhat by the slow boot time. I’m writing this on a Linux based machine (12Gb RAM, 128Gb SSD & Intel i3 processor) which absolutely flies (beats the pants off an i5 using UEFI fast boot & Windows 10 – I now use Linux more than Windows). So the lengthy boot time on the Humax does puzzle me.
Anyway thanks for all the help from all of you & hope to pay back at some point by offering advice to others.
The software has always allowed some control of the TV – The remotes supplied with the series of units changed some time ago to included TV control.
The boot time seems very normal to me, your comparison with a PC with SSD is rather unfair. I bet you paid rather more for it than the Humax.
Well, here is another HDR-1000S/ 1TB machine which has lost it’s head!
Showed no recordings, as it has done on occasions before. Power cycled – no change. “storage” doesn’t see the HD. Power cycled again, leaving box completely disconnected for several days. No change. Watching TV one evening, hit the pause button, which previously had no response obviously, and screen blanked! Waited a short time, hit return/exit button and back to programme ok. Go into recordings, all recordings now show! Attempt to play any recording and “unsupported file format” message appeared. OK, so then thought HD corrupt; nothing for it but to re-format. When this attempted error that HD cannot be formatted appeared. OK, so today thought I would enter the fray on here and wanted to get the error messages correct for this text – whaddya know, the damn thing worked OK, all recordings are back, and playable. TV would not pause though, so tried a brief record of the F1 practice 3, and after canceling that I can now pause!
Over the months one thing I have noticed is the HD frequently spinning up for a short time and then winding down. I have seen in another thread that the HD has a MTBF which specify a max start up / wind down figure per year (or something like that) Now if this HD activity is happening many, many times a day (as it is) then could this be the issue?
I have now performed a disc cleanup and all working OK AT THE MOMENT.
Sorry for lengthy diatribe but I am getting fed up.
Software is UKSFA 3.00.31
Loader is UKSFAA 1.08
Update date: 30/3/16
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