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Over the last few months, since I started this post, my FVP4000T box has gone through a lot of different phases. Currently (touch wood) the box is relatively well behaved but still not quite right.
The box seems to do software updates in the background. Whilst I can’t prove it, it often seems to do so in the middle of watching TV: the screen will blank, the box will part boot, blank again, then reboot, then go off – usually at the most inopportune moment of a program! If I turn the box back on, it behaves itself as normal for a few weeks.
Since my last post, I haven’t moved the box or made any changes to my wireless networking but its gone from establishing an internet connection every 10 or so attempts, through a phase where it would connect one in 50 or more attempts. A few weeks ago, it was much improved but has started to flash up a new “network disconnected” message onscreen in the middle of programs, temporarily dimming the background picture, then almost immediately afterwards dong the same but with a “network connected” message.
Now (for the last few weeks at least) its relatively stable and the box is either connected to the Internet when I try it, or after going into the network status window and clicking retry once or twice.
Once the box does understand that it is connected, it merrily streams several hours of catchup TV without issue.
So, whatever software has changed within the box seems to have been for the better, though I wouldn’t go as far as to say the problem is fixed.
In the forum, it is important to distinguish between what is a problem with the software, which will be experienced by everyone running the software; and what is a problem with a single person’s installation, which will be experienced only by them and others with the same installation problem.
I am confident that what you are experiencing is the second case – something with your installation is not quite right. It could be a faulty Humax box, but I think it is much more likely to be something to do with the WiFi link to the Humax.
A thought – see Opening the case of FVP 4000T where the user found the WiFi card had come unplugged inside the Humax. If yours is out of warranty, open it up and un-plug and re-plug in the WiFi card. If it is still in warranty you void the warranty by breaking the seals. Reseating a card fixes problems where the contacts are dirty or not making good contact – it gives rise to intermittent problems.
If this is the problem, a little judicial “tapping” (not “thumping!”) the Humax might be enough to cause the problem to happen and even cause the card to drop out.
I have been connected by WiFi since buying the Humax last year and I never have problems. I have a WiFi Extender (Ms Google knows about them) located in the same room as the Humax with “line of sight” to the Humax. The Humax boots and immediately a black box descends saying “Network connected”. If your box is surrounded by other equipment, especially metal cased equipment, you might be shielding it. Try some tests with the HUmax located close to the router – if it is then OK it is a WiFi signal strength problem.
You could try bypassing the WiFI and using an Ethernet cable, or even an “Ethernet across the mains” system where you have an Ethernet cable from the Humax to an adapter plugged into a mains socket; and another Ethernet cable from another adapter plugged in near to the router.
Thanks for the suggestions – I’ll check the Wi-Fi card this evening.
The suggestions on relocation of the box nearer the wireless router – I understand where you’re coming from on this but I work with colleagues in the Bluetooth/RF arena and their various tests with hardware from work and standard commercial wireless products don’t really bear out any issue. As mentioned in other posts, there is zero issue with any of the other 6 or so wireless devices used around our house and signal strength in the open-fronted wooden TV cabinet where the box lives is pretty good.
Also, whilst the distance involved is only five or six metres between wireless router and TV stand, moving the box and the TV nearer to the router is highly impractical (a heavy, large TV temporarily precariously balanced in a tight hallway with trailing cables and a house full of dogs is not a good mix).
As the problems are intermittent (increasingly more so since the last round of software updates which seemed to change the font sizes in the EPG), they are difficult to test for in any meaningful way over any reasonable amount of time without leading to divorce!
The wired / Ethernet over mains solution appeared to work (but doing away with this was my sole motive in moving away from the more stable Youview box and trying the FVP4000T.
I’m hoping the wireless card seating will prove to be the issue but this seems at odds with the fact that the box happily identifies a wireless local area connection but not an Internet connection. Also the fact that, once gained, the connection does not drop while in use. If the wireless signal was poor, or intermittent, I’d expect to see problems after streaming content had begun – this has never happened in more than 100 hours of playing on demand content. Only one way to find out though…
MrBean – 12 minutes ago
… but this seems at odds with the fact that the box happily identifies a wireless local area connection but not an Internet connection.
I wonder if it is a router problem where the Humax connects to the router but the router does not allow it to get through to the Internet?
When the Humax is in the “connected to the router but not to the Internet” state, log on to the router. Can you see that the Humax is indeed one of the devices connected to it?
Also, if you are like me you will have about 17 old routers you can swap in to test with – or borrow a router from a friend – and check if that makes it better.
At the obvious risk to marital harmony, do try some tests with the Humax located close to the router, perhaps using a PC monitor or mini TV. If it is then OK it is almost certainly a WiFi signal strength or, more likely, signal quality, problem.
Can you change the frequency the router is transmitting on?
… and if you do open up the Humax, please let us know where the WiFi aerial runs inside the casing. It would be great if you could post a picture of the inside.
My days of having a spare room full of half opened PCs, last year’s routers and bundles of unidentifiable SCSI-like cables are over! No spare routers to check on I’m afraid.
I did check the router’s web config pages a month or two ago and could see the reserved wireless IP address for the box and see its MAC address in the list of currently connected devices. No obvious signs of IP conflicts.
Also dug out some sort of wireless spectrum software for Windows and checked out my neighbours’ wireless to see if any had strength/overlapping channels. The signal strengths are all pretty weak and channel-wise, I swapped around and shouldn’t have any problems there.
I wondered if the acknowledgement of an Internet connection might be based on some external test – pinging some server out there. I’ve done some reliability/response tests on my DNS providers and swapped my DNS settings around to various OpenDNS / Google DNS and my service providers default DNS settings without it having any impact.
If I can get the box open this evening, I’ll report back on the WiFi aerial location within the box if I can identify it.
Quote:the box happily identifies a wireless local area connection but not an Internet connectionI don’t know if it applies to WiFi and routers, but I live in an area where mobile phone reception is quite poor. I can connect for phone calls, which are low bandwidth and noise tolerant; but I cannot to connect for data, which is high bandwidth and much less noise tolerant. If I go outside where the signal strength is better, I can get data.
MrBean – 2 hours ago »
The box seems to do software updates in the background. Whilst I can’t prove it, it often seems to do so in the middle of watching TV: the screen will blank, the box will part boot, blank again, then reboot, then go off – usually at the most inopportune moment of a program! If I turn the box back on, it behaves itself as normal for a few weeks.
That doesn’t sound like a software update to me; my best guess would be that the Humax software is crashing for some reason.
MrBean – 3 days ago
The box seems to do software updates in the background. Whilst I can’t prove it, it often seems to do so in the middle of watching TV: the screen will blank, the box will part boot, blank again, then reboot, then go off – usually at the most inopportune moment of a program! If I turn the box back on, it behaves itself as normal for a few weeks.
That has happened to me two or three times in the nine or ten months I have had it. I put it down to a software hang for unknown reasons – Microsoft has conditioned me into accepting things like this as “normal”.
Small update. Watching “Friday Night Dinner” on Channel 4, the box randomly shut down and restarted itself (I think) 3 or 4 times at inopportune moments. Its a bit of an aside to the main problem but pushed me to pull my finger out and check the network card connection as John had suggested.
So I did this yesterday. Photos attached.
The network card was seated relatively firmly but I removed it and reseated it just in case there was a poor connection. I’ve taken a few photos of the wiring for the aerials (attached).
So far, I can’t tell if its made any difference. 5/10 minutes after turning the box on, I checked the network state (network connected, Internet disconnected), pressed the OK button on the remote to retry and both connected (see other two photos). Its very much like Windows when you have disconnected network drives which are disconnected until you specifically look at them in Explorer, after which they remain connected. I’ll see how it goes over the next week or two.
Many thanks for the pictures.
I am sure you wiggled the cable connectors as well, and checked for a dry joint on the aerial cards …
Looking at the other pictures it is as you say – the Humax still has its IP address and is still connected to the LAN and to the router – it just is not getting past the router and onto the Internet.
It would be interesting to know whether, when it is in this state, the Humax can see files or photos stored on the PC, or whether those cannot be seen either.
I have similar problem. I have to re-boot the 4K everyday before it will show Internet Connected.
Not yet found anyway around this, once it connect it stays connected for several hours.
Internet signal at the 4K is reading 90%
graham uk
I have just done some testing and I am beginning to wonder if the problem is the BT Home Hub.
See unable to connect to internet
I decided to name all my devices connecting to the BT Home Hub so that I could logon to the BT Home Hub and know which connected device was which. As I was doing so, my phone, which had previously worked perfectly, suddenly gave the “Not connected to Internet” error message, and when I tried to browse, it failed.
A few minutes later, it suddenly worked OK without my knowing that I had changed anything apart from turning off the phone WiFi, turning it back on, and allowing it to connect. This time all was OK.
I wonder if the BT Home Hub has some sort of “reset timeout” where a device connecting does not get connected through to the internet if it just happens to connect while the “reset timeout” is happening?
If so, disconnecting the Humax, and allowing it to re-connect, may fix the problem.
See this post which says
Quote:I noticed that it claimed to have no internet connection although the router indicated it had LAN connection … selecting the retry option more than once had no effect … selecting the On Demand button on the remote control connected it straight away, and I was then able to select Demand 5 with no problem.
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