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Hi we’ve had 9 years faithful service from our Humax apart from it getting stuck about 3 years ago possibly in a deleting loop(I can’t recall) but it was fixed and the hard disk formatted by a local tv repair shop. Since then it has worked fine except I have noticed that as free space approaches around 50GB glitches might appear in recordings or the machine might freeze altogether(perhaps when being asked to record 2 channels at once or watching and recording at the same time) but return to normal after being switched off at the mains. This didn’t seem to happen if I didn’t let the free space get lower than say 80 to 100GB. I don’t know if this is a sign of one particular patch of the disk being damaged or ‘corrupted’?
Anyway, very foolishly, I let the free space decline to 50 and maybe a bit less and it went into a deleting loop, I could still change channels maybe watch recordings I can’t recall but not record or pause live tv or even access the menu but again I’m not sure now sorry. Turning it off and on again didn’t make any difference. I decided to try leaving it off overnight (might have seen that mentioned somewhere on the web) and was surprised the next morning to find it come on without the deleting loop- but it still wouldn’t let me record and possibly wouldn’t let me access media. But I was pleased to discover that I could access the menu and the format disk option under the factory default option so I thought this could save me time and money I would lose all my recordings but never mind. ‘Processing’ appeared on the screen but I didn’t hear any of the expected crunching sounds from the hard disk and after about 3 hours after much checking in the meantime I discovered the machine in standby. Now I can still watch tv with it but it still won’t record and now pressing media does nothing. On the menu tree the data storage and recording settings are greyed out. I’ve done the formatting thing twice more just in case to no avail.
I took it to the same local tv repair shop but after trying and failing to fix it he said it must be a problem with the motherboard or firmware. So I would greatly appreciate any advice? Is it worth getting it to Richer Sounds which we bought it from or another tv repair place or even a computer repair shop? Or does it’s age and possible damage to the disk mean it would need a new disk but I wouldn’t know which disk to buy and wouldn’t want to buy one and find that didn’t fix the problem. I’ve found the hummy.tv site and was intrigued by the custom firmware option but it wouldn’t let me download the latest version of said firmware and I have no experience of using linux and Telnet and would have to buy something to get the Humax on the internet so am wary of this route. Any advice would be much appreciated, is it time to get a new one? Thank you for any help.
MikeJH – 5 hours ago »
I took it to the same local tv repair shop but after trying and failing to fix it he said it must be a problem with the motherboard or firmware. So I would greatly appreciate any advice?
It sounds to me as though the file system has been marked read only to prevent further corruption. Given what you have said I think a new hard drive would have a very good chance of restoring full functionality. It isn’t a difficult DIY job but if you don’t feel confident then take it to a computer repair shop and ask them to fit a Seagate Skyhawk drive of either 1TB or 2TB capacity.
Thanks for taking the time to reply Martin. I’m just concerned that I wouldn’t be able to return the new drive if that didn’t fix the problem. Would the Humax recognize and use a 2TB disk? I’m tempted to try the custom firmware route could that not work or is it definitely irreparable damage to the disk? I could easily live with not using the last 100GB of the disk (I’ve tended to get carried away with recordings and ended up not viewing 60% of them). If the custom firmware is a good idea what is the best way to get the Humax connected: a wifi dongle(which one?), an ethernet cable plugged into a wifi extender(eg TP-Link for £15 from Argos) or ethernet cable into my Win10 laptop?
I’d suggest you ask your questions on the other site!
MikeJH – 22 mins ago »
I’m just concerned that I wouldn’t be able to return the new drive if that didn’t fix the problem.
If you buy it over the Internet then the Distance Selling regulations apply and you have 14 days to return it.
Would the Humax recognize and use a 2TB disk?
Definitely. I have a 2TB drive in my HDR_FOX T2 which has given faultless service for many years.
I’m tempted to try the custom firmware route could that not work or is it definitely irreparable damage to the disk?
It is absolutely impossible to say from a distance whether the damage is irreparable. By all means install the custom firmware and post the information about the Hard Drive in the Diagnostics section of the web interface. This will provide the SMART data to give a reasonably accurate diagnosis of the state of the hard drive. My view about replacement is based on past experience helping other people; your hard drive sounds in a bad way but the SMART data via the custom firmware will be the best way of deciding.
If the custom firmware is a good idea what is the best way to get the Humax connected: a wifi dongle(which one?), an ethernet cable plugged into a wifi extender(eg TP-Link for £15 from Argos) or ethernet cable into my Win10 laptop?
Any of those would work. The ethernet cable into the laptop is the cheapest but a little more fiddly than the others. Personally I use Powerline adapters to connect my PVRs to the router.
Thanks Martin could you tell me exactly which version of custom firmware I should download? I’m a bit of a novice at this I’ve tried downloading the ones ending in 1.03.12_mod_3.13 on the page at hummy.tv which seemed to be the latest versions but they didn’t work it just went back to the page but 1.03.12_mod_2.22 did download. Then I searched for custom firmware downloads and found some on drivers.softpedia.com and downloaded a HDR_FOX_T2_1.03.12_mod_3.10 so I don’t know what I should use?
MikeJH – 6 mins ago »
I’m a bit of a novice at this I’ve tried downloading the ones ending in 1.03.12_mod_3.13 on the page at hummy.tv which seemed to be the latest versions
That is the version you want. Your right there is something odd about the download. What works for me using Chrome on Windows 10 is to right click on the link and select open in New tab when it the brings up the dialog asking where to save it.
I have reported the problem over at Hummy.tv.
To Stevep90 you might be right but Martin seems to be an expert on both sites.
Sorry Martin but I meant could I return a drive after opening it and connecting it it to the Humax only to discover that it didn’t fix the problem: there’s some damaged components in the Humax or I’m unable, inexperienced and stupid as I am, to resolve a firmware issue.
Thanks Martin I’ll try that download again the very top one?
MikeJH – 4 mins ago »
Sorry Martin but I meant could I return a drive after opening it
Forgive me but I don’t understand what you mean by “Return a drive after opening it”?
and connecting it it to the Humax only to discover that it didn’t fix the problem:.
Did you follow the procedure at https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Install_Modified_Firmware ?
For good or ill I appear to have installed the custom firmware but have no idea how to get the laptop talking to the Humax over an ethernet cable…
Sorry Martin just meant after unpacking it and connecting it therefore using it in some small way then wanting to return it even though there’s no fault with it. Yes I did follow those instructions but maybe installed it twice because I didn’t remove the usb drive before pressing standby.
MikeJH – 21 mins ago »
For good or ill I appear to have installed the custom firmware but have no idea how to get the laptop talking to the Humax over an ethernet cable…
Enter the box ip address in the url locator top of the window in any web browse on a PC on the same network.
MikeJH – 26 mins ago »
For good or ill I appear to have installed the custom firmware but have no idea how to get the laptop talking to the Humax over an ethernet cable…
I take it that we have is an ethernet cable from your laptop direct to the Humax; is that correct? If so first use the normal user interface on the Humax to find the IP address of the box and write it down. If your box is running Windows 10 then follow the instructions at https://www.samsung.com/ie/support/computing/connecting-to-a-wired-lan-with-windows-10/ for setting a fixed IP address for the laptop. The IP address you should enter is the one shown by the Humax but with the last group of numbers one smaller (eg if you wrote down 10.11.12.13 for the Humax IP address you would enter 10.11.12.12). Then follow the instructions at https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Install_Full_Web_Interface (the IP address you want is the one you wrote down earlier).
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