Had my first lockup last night (new last November), posted a seperate thread as there were some interesting happenings


Set to record BBC1 HD Hope Springs, Casualty 1909, ITV HD Stephen Tomkinsons African Balloon Adventure, Kingdom.

Turned on stb about 21:10 intending to watch Hope Springs. Pressed media and list showed Hope Springs and Balloon Adventure as successful recordings and Kingdom and Caualty 1909 in progress.

Tried to select Hope Springs but no response from remote and would not go into sby from remote or front button.

Casualty 1909 continued playing in the background. Left the STB alone and went back to freeview. After about 30 min switched back to the hdr, no picture on hdmi or audio output on spdif but the kitchen TV fed from an external modulator still had the media list with Casualty 1909 playing in the background (lost digital outputs but analogue continued OK).

Left the stb on, woke up about 6 this morning and popped down to switch off the box with the rear power switch. Powered on about 9 this morning to find that the 2 recordings that were in propgress had a failed message but had in fact continued recording until the power off this morning (Kingdom 528min, Casualty 529min). Both can be played and interestingly it also hung on to the ITV HD data stream having hours of the not available caption after the programme.



It looks unlikely that cpu overheating was the cause as clearly both tuners continued recording.



Hope this gives Humax some ideas as to cause.

Hi Graham,

The lockup you describe is very similar to some of those I had with my previous box. I would often get in to MEDIA and select a prog to play. The box would display PLAYBACK but freeze and take no remote input (must admit I never tried the stby switch on the box). Only powering off at the back and back on again after 30 secs would regain use of it.

The worrying thing is that I have now had two freezes on my new box from Humax (probably an old box as posted in another thread). One was when attempting to access the MENU area and last night it was frozen at start-up. It came on on the channel it was on at previous shut-down and continued to play that channel in the background. BUT only a reboot would allow me to control the box.

It is getting very frustrating now

Hi there Dunwerkin, hoping this was an isolated incident - watch this space

My box locked up last night as well. Switched on about 1030. I think something was recording but don't know what as the box wouldn't respond to any buttons. Luckily it was on BBC2 and I was switching on for Newsnight so I rebooted 45 minutes later and got the 'scan for new channels' prompt.

I wonder if this was related?

I doubt the new channel scan was related, Barry over at Hummy.org deliberatedly declined a channel upgrade for a week with no effect on his recording schedule or any other problems. The new channel scan when allowed to proceed will however delete ITV HD programme reservations. No repeat yet as to my lockup. In one way it did me a favour (Always Look On The Bright Side ). I have seen reports of Kingdom getting cut short, mine had a 7hr pad at the end

Did the recording channel carry on like mine did ?

Hi Graham, and all,

I have had two more freezes both soon after switch on whatever I do on mny replacement box. I have had the box9 days now - total 5 freezes.

The one last night was frozen at start. The box came on BBC HD which was where it was at previous switch off. The box would not to respond to any remote inputs or the front standby button. I had to resort to the off/on switch routine again and then it worked fine for the rest of the evening.

Somewhat annoyingly Humax Support have not answered my two emails yet sent over the last 4 days.

I wonder if I can send this one back to COMET even though Humax have replaced the original?

Hi Dunwerkin

There's a post somewhere on Hummy.org of someone who like you kept getting lockups until his wife banished the box from the lounge to his study. Once installed there it has so far worked flawlessly. The lounge connections were made in the thin shotgun cable whilst his study (I think it was study) had full size WF100 connections from the same quad lnb. Could these frequent lockups be signal drop out related ?

Hi Graham,

Interesting idea but I don't think so. The box is running off my original two SKY+ input feeds, with a third feed to my Freesat Panny TV. Those two feeds have always been rock solid - I have checked the connections again and can see no probs. That guys problem was letting his other-half banish him from the lounge!!!!!!!

It all seems to work perfectly, except that the HDR box locks up . It hasn't been a problem for the last 5 start-ups!!!!???) Even when it does lock up, the channel it was on at switch-off is displaying perfectly - you just can't do anything else from the remote.

It is pretty obvious that the box I have now is a refurb (or maybe just a return they thought was OK). If anything it is worse than the one it replaced - nightmare. And they have still not answered my emails. I might try the phone.

It is a shame as the box is great when it is working. Picture and Sound quality is very good. I even think the SD up-scaled output is pretty good despite complaints from some.

Hope your lock up is just isolated.

Hi Graham,

How are you getting along lockups wise???

My new box is frozen at start up half the time (locked on the prog that it was on at previous switch-off - and today froze when I tried to PLAYBACK a recorded prog from the media dialogue. The front of the box said PLAYBACK but it didn't.

More worrying is the fact that I have emailed Humax support three times now over the last 10 days and no reply.

I am seriously considering paying out for SKY HD - I wouldn't hesitate if they would offer me the free broadband, but my exchange (5 miles from a city centre) has not been unbundled. So I can't offset the cost that way.

I am getting really pissed off now - and it is so good when it works.

I had the exact same thing on trying to play a program yesterday evening as well but I tried the box and that didnt work either.

No more lockups so far

Hi each,

New to the forums and have been reading this thread on lock ups.

I can get my PVR to lock up all the time when recording anything on any channel then inserting a USB stick to view photos. If I then stop the slideshow using the STOP button the PVR then refuses to accept any command from the Remote Control and I can't even turn it off using the front panel ON/OFF switch.

Has anybody had this as this clearly a bug in the firmware?

Graham.

PS. Great Forum.

Graham,

Welcome to the forum

I don't use photos, but looking at the Manual, you should use PAUSE to stop the Slideshow, not STOP.

Maybe by pressing STOP, the box is getting confused as to whether you are trying to stop the Slideshow, or stop the current recording. If this is the case, it should handle it more elegantly than just freezing.

Can you try stopping the Slideshow with PAUSE, and then EXIT to come out of it?

Rgds.


Les.

Hi savvy,

Thank you for your reply.

Must admit I hadn't read the manual regarding viewing photos but I do feel it should handle incorrect button presses a bit more elegantly than just locking up!

Anyhow, will try your suggestion and see if resolves this issue.

Graham