The failing resistor problem is well known but only concerns some production (as far as I have seen only HDR-1000S reports of later production).

I am sure there is a recordings population bug which presents itself very very occasionally. My first thoughts were I was looking at the recordings before the list was populated thus triggering more problems. I have avoided looking at recordings until several minutes after the boot seems complete.

Graham, when was the last time you saw this problem on one of your units?

I have not seen the problems since 2015 I think. I have also seen reports of the same problem on terrestrial units.

Just to record my experiences in solving this problem. The ability to have recording functions on my Humax 500GB HDR 1100S stopped in August 2019, two years and 2 weeks from date of purchase. I purchased a new box and decided to investigate the problem on the failed unit. I read many of the discussions in this thread and found them very informative. I had good exchanges with Humax customer support but no solution.

Back in 1988, I had a HDD problem on a PC and a Belgian techie produced a superb piece of code to ensure that the read/write head of the HDD returned to the correct parking position at power off/standby. This is referred to by SteveZ in his input above. So I dismantled a Sky+HD box and removed its 500GB HDD.

I put the Sky+HD Seagate HDD in my Humax 1100S box and the disk drive was seen immediately. I then followed Humax’s instructions to format the HDD and low and behold problem solved. I can now record the Rugby World Cup and watch it in my study without disturbing my wife!!!!

Conclusion: In my case the “No recordings less than 1% etc” message and the Timing Shift Buffer message when you try to pause or go back when viewing a program where due to a fault with the Seagate HDD.

With my situation the HDD turnd during the boot procedure so my diagnosis was that the read/write head was not in the correct position. Even though reports say that the HDDs today are equipped with a return to stop position spring (or other mechanism) I believe this is failing. As Humax is having so many reports of this type of problem, I have recommended that their technical department ask Seagate for quality testing reports for their HDDs. These Humax boxes are on most of the time and heat up. Although more expensive a solution a solid state memory solution would probably prove more reliable.

I am another owner of two failed HDR10xx boxes. The first was a 500GB non-wifi, which stopped seeing the disc just out of warranty. I checked that the disc was readable on a PC and that it was powered in the box, then I bought another, a HDR1010S. It repeated the trick, failing the same way just out of warranty. It joined the first in the loft, and we used the free HDR which Talktalk had given us in the hope of us buying some of their pay TV (we didn’t). Now retired and in lockdown, I got both boxes out again to see if I could fix them. The 1010S was confirmed to be the same, good disc but not visible. By following the data tracks from the disc socket I can see they go to processor via 4 capacitors, and there is continuity whwre it should be, and the capacitors reading 9nF -presumably nominally 10nF. The only anomaly I can find is the buck converter between the processor and SCART socket, which appears likely to be the processor power. This is mentioned in a previous post. It reads 0.93V on both failed units. I know processors use low voltages, but this seems a low and odd value. I got the data sheet for the convertor chip (Z1025D1), and verified that its feedback pin was at the correct 0.8V so it appeared to be working. If the vague stories about the cause being a failed resistor are true, it could be one of the resistors in the potential divider controlling the feedback pin. Turning the board over, I found the resistors but as well as the expected two between the power rails, there is a third connected to a track heading towards the processor. It is not possible to measure the resistors reliably while in circuit. It does mean that there is something apart from the potential divider which controls the processor voltage. The processor is obviously working because the box does everything apart from record, but it may need some extra voltage to control the HDD. I tried injecting higher voltages, up to about 2V, but it did not change anything. I tried manipulating the buck convertor feedback, which caused the processor to reset several times. After that it mysteriously started working again, but after a few days got erratic. Sometimes it sees the recordings but says they are in an incompatible format, other times it has no recordings. That was the old box, the 1010s has not responded to anything yet. I have added equal or larger electrolytic capacitors in parallel to all the important seeming ones although the ripple voltages all seemed low enough – a few mV.

Does anyone know what the processor voltage should be?

Corrigap – 1 hour ago  » 

When I reinstated the previous cable (the hi-speed one), all the recordings came back and, once again, when I put the old cable back in, they all disappeared again.

It might be coincidence. One of the symptoms of the problem you describe is that at first it can come and go (presumably a marginal component); it might well get worse so watch anything important as soon as possible. Alternatively the hi-speed cable might be radiating a lot of interference.