So I'm having major hanging issues with my 500GB HDR-Fox-T2.

My 1st plan is to factory reset and reformat the drive, but there's recordings I don’t want to lose. So I try and attach an external hard drive via USB to copy them off, but I can never get far enough into the media list with the remote before the damn thing hangs. So I disconnect the aerial and internet cables, and reboot, but still no joy.

So before I reformat the thing, is there a last chance saloon for my recordings? I've used humarw on a windows laptop to recover some recordings off a Humax 9150 disk in the past. Can I do something similar with the HDR-Fox-T2 disk?

Thanks, Huw.

If you extract the hard disc and connect to a PC with EXT2FS installed (allows read/write operations with Linux Ext3 partitions), then you can copy the recordings off if the video partition is intact. If it's not booting into Linux will allow you to run disk fs repair tools. Unlike the earlier boxes the HDR Fox T2 uses a standard Linux filesystem. If you install the Custom Firmware you can copy the recordings direct to a PC without using USB at all.

What makes you think this a hard drive problem? The most common cause of the HDR crashing is the DLNA server becoming confused by other software on the network (Twonky and Power DVD are the prime suspects). If you have content sharing enabled have you tried disabling it? To answer your question you can connect the hard drive to a PC and copy off recordings. You will need to install a driver that can read EXT2/EXT3 file systems; one approach is http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-rea...windows-7.html

The OP said

>>If you have content sharing enabled have you tried disabling it?

That was the second thing I tried, after some new batteries for the remote!

I'm wary of updating to CFW if the machine is hanging, I wouldn't want to power off in the middle of a flash.... I'll give EXT2FS a go tonight.

I had a thought over lunchtime, can I use FTP to copy files off the HDD over the network?

If the Humax doesn't hang then yes. Does it always hang shortly after boot?

>>Does it always hang shortly after boot?

Yes, it becomes unresponsive to commands from the remote shortly after boot. If it's playing back a recording or showing live TV, that continues so its technically not a hang, but you can't change channel, pause etc. The front panel controls still work, but there's only P+- and Vol+-, so not much use.

OK that isn't what I would regard as a hang and I still don't think it has anything to do with the hard drive. I would say either the remote is failing or the infra red sensor in the box; there have been a few reports of both problems.

Right, well, here's a quick update.. It's mostly fixed!

The FTP wouldn't work with large files >4GB neither would copying >4GB to an attached USB HDD formatted with NTFS. I reformatted an external USB HDD as EXT3 and managed to copy off all recordings.

I then did a factory reset with HDD reformat, and since then the responsiveness to the remote is much improved, altough not completely cured.

So make of that what you will... Was it disk corruption? was it disk fragmentation causing performance degradation? If it was an IR sensor issue why would it improve with a reformat?

Anyway, thanks Martin et al. for all your help.

If you haven't already get the custom firmware on there... is really useful, and even has a web remote control you can use from pc, phone etc. which if course injects it's button presses without use of the IR hardware.... very useful when you can't find where the kids have shoved the real remote (and the universal one too quite often...).

Forum for the custom firmware here:

http://hummy.tv/forum/forums/hd-hdr-...d-firmware.28/

Steve

I thought you said you weren't using the custom firmware. Without the custom firmware then NTFS drives are read only; are you sure the drive wasn't formatted as FAT32 which does have a 4GB limit?

That is interesting. Could you give us an update in a few weeks time on how things are going?

Well, the update is its as bad as ever!

The Humax still has periods of being unresponsive to the remote. I'm not sure there's a pattern to it, but I sense that it happens more often a minute or two after startup. If I leave it on for a period of time, it seems to be better.

So, what now?

Is it still under warranty? If so investigate the possibility of getting it exchanged. If not then I would still suggest installing the custom firmware as this would allow a better diagnosis. The intermittent nature of the problem is odd but my best guess is a hardware problem.

No, its not under warranty unfortunately.

So Custom Firmware is now installed, along with the web interface remote control, so I now have an alternate means of controlling it.

What should I look for when/if it becomes unresponsive again? Thanks.

If you look under disk diagnostics what is the Raw Value of Attribute ID 5, the reallocated sector count?

I would try using telnet to connect to the Humax, get the command line interface (cli) and run top and see if there as anything hogging the CPU. Other people may have better ideas.

Whilst the Humax is unresponsive to the remote:- the Reallocated Sector Count is 0, the top process is humaxtv with about 10% of CPU, the Humax responds correctly to the web if remote.
If press TV on the remote, the remote can control my TV successfully, press PVR, and get no reponse from the Humax.

Which suggests to me the disk is in very good health and nothing to do with the problem.

That is normal.

It does suggest to me it is the infra red sensor on the Humax but maybe somebody else has a better idea.

In a last ditch attempt to get this fixed I installed the earlier .20 version of the custom firmware, just in case it was a s/w problem introduced in a later version. But no change!

So how easy is it to change the IR sensor? Can I buy one from Maplin? I do have a small soldering iron. Maybe I'll find a broken HDR-Fox -T2 unit for sale on ebay and cannibalise it.

I'm slightly disappointed with Humax. My old 9200T is still going strong, but this remote control problem on the HDR-Fox-T2 makes me question buying a new YouView box.... will that also have a problem with the remote 15 months from new?

No idea; I don't recollect anybody trying.


Hang on; if it is only 15 months old then try contacting Humax. The warranty is 12 months with an extra 12 months available free if you register with Humax. Ring (not email) Humax and if getting nowhere try muttering "not fit for purpose" and "Sale of Goods act" and see where that gets you.

It's Fixed! Well, early indications are looking good!

I phoned Humax technical support and they suggested changing the remote control code. Something to do with the default remote frequencies sometimes dropping out of range.

With the Humax on and displaying live tv, on the remote press 0 and OK together for about 10 seconds. You will then be prompted to change the remote control code. The range is 1 - 6. I changed it from the default (1) to 6.

Maybe I should have phoned them sooner, but the techie in me wanted to fix it first! Thanks for your help Martin.

That is interesting. Again could you keep us posted how this works out longer term, good or bad.

Well, I was a bit premature when I said it was fixed. Changing the remote code did help somewhat, in that the non-responsive episodes were less frequent, and didn't last as long as previously, but still enough to annoy me.

As I'd bought it from HumaxDirect, they offered to exchange it under warranty. New box turned up today, and so far so good...

My HDR T2 seemed like it was dieing loads, then i changed the HDD and its been perfect since.