I've got a 9200t. I bought it when they first came out. For the past week I've had problems with the clock. During standby it loses time. Yesterday I noticed it going backwards at one point! Then after a while it changes to --:--. Taking it out of standby sorts the time out. Unfortunately it means it won't record from standby. I did try a restore default, but that hasn't solved it.

Has anyone got any ideas on what the problem is? I did wonder if there was a small battery like computers have that keep the clock going when it's on standby?

This is a known problem with the 9200 and is an electronic failure on the PC board just behind the front panel. Apparently the PC board is easy to replace and Humax will supply a replacement. Maybe someone with actual experience of the failure will post.

thanks! i will get in touch with Humax.

Same thing. Our 9200T was bought soon after they came out and two nights ago, the clock just went to --:-- in standby. I've emailed Humax but no reply so far.

I got a reply from them. They said they had no clock cards in stock, but to contact them again in two weeks (ie next week). The card will cost about £30.

Me too. Bought 3 years ago and now the clock problem - it can't record in standby. Is this the destiny of all original 9200ts?

ours has just gone as well

electronic failure ?

why are we suddenly getting a burst of people with the same problem if it's an electronic failure surely it should be random and spread more evenly over time if that's the case

or have people been getting this problem for ages and I've missed the posts ?

I'm liking the battery idea personally, I remember one older PC motherboard I once worked on had a clock chip which store the motherboard settings and had an oversized plastic case on the chip, the case could be removed to reveal a fairly standard clock chip with two legs bent back and a small battery soldered in place, this had a fixed lifespan of about three-four years after which the accepted solution was to buy a new motherboard or PC

maybe it's a similar problem in which case the solution is to remove the battery and fit a couple of fly leads with a battery holder and a new battery rather than lash out £30 for a new PC board

I think you have missed posts which go back for at least a couple of years.

A couple of people with electronics repair experience have investigated and nobody has reported a battery problem so far as I can recollect.

thanks martin

just me being blind then I guess

shame it's nothing as simple as a battery

guess I can live with it until I can get the replacement part, I just can't program it to turn on, it will record fine once it is on and I can get it to turn off, so it's an inconvenience more than anything

I would like to add mine to the growing list of casualties.
Mine is just over 2 1/2 years old but will still record if left on, but not from standby, so I've consigned it to the bedroom as a spare and replaced it with a new 9300.

I did consider getting a new part from Humax but decided against it. It's been in use daily since I bought it and I'm guessing that it won't be long before the HD or something else expires.

Had a power cut last week, coincidence or not, my clock now just displays --:-- when in standby.
After reading the above and http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/n...e=1&p=31251960 I thought a bit more investigation was in order.
The post had indicated that the board wasn't repairable without specialist tools, thought that it might we worth a look. I am quite handy with a soldering iron, and where I work there are people with access to the specialist tools. Anyway, the first problem is always knowing which part to swap.
So far I don't have that answer, but this is what I have so far.
The clock chip is a Philips 8563T, a Google for the part found the datasheet on www.alldatasheets.com. This confirms that it isn't self-power, anway, the pcb mounted coin-cell stack is a give-away. Unfortunately, the identification markings on mine are not clear enough to provide me with the spec. If the problem was the battery, soldering a replacement in would not be difficult. The chip is designed for 5V operation and it appears that it is designed to operate down to 1V, my meter indicates 4.7V on the battery. This suggests that the battery isn't the problem.
I need the PVR at the moment so I have had to re-assemble (had hoped that it the tampering might just get it working, but no such luck. I may dismantle it again later and go dry-joint hunting!

Well done for spotting the battery. You say "coin-cell stack", how many cells? If this is a 2 cell Lithium then the voltage should be 6 volts and the battery would have a finite life although I've only seen single cell Lithium. The 4.7 volts that you read is a bit strange but could be a 4 cell NiMH or similar (4.8 volts) which would suggest rechargeable. Although the clock chip may operate down to 1 volt any peripheral circuit powered by this battery might not. My Hummy is still in warranty so I'm not taking it to bits to find out.

Didn't have too much time to look (will take a closer look if I re-open).
As usual plastic covered, the bulges suggested that it was 2 cells. Size was about 10mm diameter and about 7mm tall (from memory). As I suggested, I don't feel the battery was the problem. After all, when in standby, there is power available for the display, so why would the battery be needed? The clock chip has a timer interrupt that could be used to bring the system out of standby. The only time the battery would really be needed is to keep the timer running during a power cut.

Yes that's right and is probably the reason it's in there. The 8000 would forget the time in the event of a power cut so I think Humax learned the lesson.

Why would it need that? When the power comes back on, it boots up and can pick up the time off air before going into standby.

(Having said that, my Panasonic TV stopped remembering channel number and volume level in standby a few years ago as if it relied on a battery to remember these things even in standby.)

That might be a way round it, pity the 8000 didn't work like that.

Alan_P

Could be worth disconnecting the backup battery as this would stop the chips clock cycle and reset all registers when battery reconnected and when humax powered back up would then reset time from broadcast signal “ hopefully “
As all you techies know when all else fails you can't beat a PD/PU power down power up

Apologies if I misled anyone with my earlier post, referenced above, which stated that there was no battery. There is, of course, a two cell battery adjacent to the clock chip and crystal. I agree with Les that it is most likely two lithium cell which should have a voltage of about 6 volts. Mine reads 4.9 volts which seems a bit low, but at the moment all is well with the clock.

The nearest lithium cells I can find are CR1025, which are 10mm dia and 2.5 mm deep. Two would be 5mm deep which seems about the right size.

However, I agree that the battery is unlikely to be the reason for the complete clock failures reported in this thread.

Apologies from me also because in other posts I have stated that there is no battery. I shouldn't believe all I read on the internet.

Looking at the data sheet the PCF8563 it states the minimum supply voltage is 1.8V so it is unlikely to be a problem with the battery. However, it does have various control registers some of which which are unaffected by a reset.

I think it is unlikely that there is a fundamental problem with this chip. It is more likely that the main software is not handling an error condition correctly.

I think I would try disconnecting the battery (not easy since it would have to be desoldered).

PS. Don't be tempted to short it out if it is NiCd or NiMHi - a high current could flow causing damage.

It might be easier to snip the tag from the top of the battery to the pcb and resolder afterwards. If the cut is made as far away from the battery as possible (and not too near the pcb) there should be little chance of damage when resoldering.

so it might be a battery issue

anyone want to be the first to try this ?

Not necessarily. As I understand it, XYZ123's suggestion was that temporarily disconnecting the battery might re-initialise the chip, which might have been screwed up by the software.

Perhaps someone who has replaced the board with a new one might like to experiment with the old one.

OK, so there isn't a battery actually!
Thought that I would try disconnecting it to see if it produced a reset for the clock chip.
Turns out that the reason for the odd "battery" voltage (4.8V in my case) is that it is actually a 0.22F super-capacitor.
The one on the right here http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/s...duct&R=0377388 would probably be a direct replacement.
However, removing it does not seem to make any difference, my clock still doesn't work in standby. So it is over to plan B; what was plan B by the way?

OOPS! I must engage brain before opening mouth (or post in this case)

Maybe you should.