I bought my Foxsat HDR last December but ever since every couple of days when I try to use it I discover that it has 'hung' or 'frozen' & that there is no audio or video output. The only cure is to pull the plug & pwer it back on again. It's possible that it happens more often when tuned to BBC HD but also freezes when left on other channels so it may just be that we watch BBC HD more than any other channel. I was miffed last night as when we tried to view 'Lark Rise To Candleford' that should have been recording for 30 minutes I discovered that I needed to reboot & we thus missed the first half of the programme.

I live in the South of France & it would be too much hassle to take it back to Argos so I am looking for any suggestions as to what might be the problem & a solution.

I would also be interested to hear if there are others suffering the same problem as that would indicate some general design or manufacturing fault rather than just some faulty component in my particular receiver.

Cheers

Nigel

Dirty power supply maybe ?. You could try a surge protector.

If theres no picutre or sound, you can try pulling the HDMI lead out and putting it back in.

Or have a scart connection available. The symptoms don't sound like a handshake problem though as this does not stop the foxsat responding to the remote.

Something similar happened here after I had added the second LNB connection. It happened 4 times in all. Think I had accidentally disturbed the HDMI connection. After re-seating this the problem had not returned. It reminded me of my poxy Pace, where such things happened daily!

If you are leaving it switched on 24/7 could it be worth setting it to auto power off when BBC HD goes off air and then it is effectively re opting everytime you turn it on or it wakes itself to do a recording. Worth a try, as like most of these boxes it is a mini computer and reboots are always good for them.

All good suggestions. Thank you.

I will try the surge protector as I have a spare. In fact I have a spare UPS so may try that as well.

I will try unplugging/replugging the HDMI cable next time it freezes. I didn't give the complete story as it is connected to my Onkyo TR606 receiver by HDMI & that is connected to a PT-AE700 projector which does add extra ptential for handshake problems. I do have the audio connected separately so on reflection it probably isn't an HDMI handshake problem as the audio is dead along with the video.

I changed the menu setup for Standby as I was fed up with having to wait for it to boot up whenever I wanted to use it. It does seem to take an inordinately long time. My Dreambox seems much faster. However as we mostly watch recordings & very rarely Live TV perhaps I should revert to the default if that would avoid the freezing problem.

Cheers

Nigel

One further suggestion for you.

I have an Onkyo 605 amp and rather than use HDMI to the amp because not all programmes are in surround and not all programmes are worth listening to via an amp, I opted to make a HDMI connection direct to my tv and an optical connection direct to my amp.

This seems to work fine and it may eliminate any handshake problems caused by having 2 HDMI "legs" to the cabling.

Only thing is when you want surround on, you need to turn down the tv volume or mute it to stop you getting both tv and surround, but its hardly an incovenience TBH comapred with the power savings and flexibility of having optical to the amp.

What version of software is the box running Nigel?

The problem you describe is exactly what I have seen with two of these Foxsat HDR's. Coincidentally both were also purchased in December.

There is a lot of discussion in the thread about HDMI handshaking problems but from what you say in your original post your talking about the box completely locking up and failing to respond to any commands. This is the problem I see regularly. One box seems to need a complete power cycle two or three times a week.

I'm not particularly impressed.

Got one of the first boxes and it was reliable (well, in term of not locking up...) until a few weeks ago.

Now it seems to be locking up once or twice a week - pretty sure it's a bug rather than a hardware failure as it's locking up just as a button has been hit (eg play, or immediately after turning on)

As an exmple, we switched it on last night, all seemed to be working ok (was recording the ice skating on ITV), selected an item from the media list, clicked on play from beginning, the front panel display said 'playback' and the box locked up (didn't start playing the recording, but the sound and vision were still present from the currently tuned channel). Required power off/on to get it working.

Over the few months we've had it we've recorded, and deleted loads of stuff on it and it's consistently over 90% full, so I'm guessing there's a problem when the file system gets too fragmented (or the file system has got corrupted in some manner).

Anyone else experienced this type of behaviour (ie perfect at first but then getting lockups).

I'm planning to upgrade the hard drive in it - hoping that will (at least temporarily) fix the problem.

Hopefully the next update will fix this - though it's probably very hard to reproduce so that may well mean it takes a while before they can fix it.

Just make sure you put in a PVR specific drive to avoid heat / power issues.

Quite a few of us have the 1TB WD PVR drive and it rocks!

PS to the original poster, don't modify your box if you have a problem as Humax may refuse to honour the warranty.

Yes, recently ordered a WD10EVCS, but got a WD10EAVS (which is actually WD10EADS with smaller cache - Novatechs web-site was wrong). Sent that back as it's not designed for PVR use (though power consumption specs seem the same so I'm guessing it probably would work).

Anyway, now planning to order a WD10EVVS, which seems to be later model of WD10EVCS (500G vs 333G platters and lower power consumption).

I've had exactly the same problem twice now in the last week. The box doesn't respond to the remote at all and needs unplugging from the mains.

HI all,
Ive had the Foxsat HDR since December also and recently (within 4/6 weeks) i've had to power resets every two days or so..

Box is left on 24/7 (i have too as I use a Tivo to control the HDR and record to the tivo - The HDR is a backup system really).
I've reported the problem to Humax and this is their reply.. I've tried it and it did nothing to sort the issue.

Im at the point of rejecting the box under the sales of goods act, not fit for purpose.. as it clearly isn't reliable enough to perform as a PVR with any consistency.

Anyway, I really hope they can fix it as I really don't want to lose the box.

Dear Sir/Madam

Please follow the steps below to perform a Default reset;

Power OFF the receiver
Disconnect the Aerial cable
Power On the receiver
Press MENU
Select Installation
Enter your password (default = 0000)
Select Default Setting
Select YES
Enter your password (Default = 0000)
When the receiver restarts, power off
Connect the Aerial Cable
Power ON - the receiver will then search for the channels.
Many Thanks,

Humax Customer Support

Does the HDR get "parked" on any channels that shut down overnight like BBC3 or BBC4? I thought I read somewhere that this can sometimes be problematic.

I guess that all depends on what is or has been recorded. If the last thing recorded is on a channel that shuts down after wards and nothing else is scheduled to record then yes it will be parked.. although any PVR should be able to wake up from a closed down signal.. the Tivo is nearly 10 years old and has never had this issue...

Funny, Humax support have replied (very quick response time i think) basically saying return the box for a refund to the retailer.. no mention of what the issue could be or if they are aware of it of if there is a fix for it... um.. not the best reply..

Mine is mostly left on BBC Radio 4 so that we can listen to that on the Sky Gnome in the bedroom. It hangs but still works on channel it is tuned to but that cannot be changed as it is unresponsive to either the remote or pressing buttons on the box itself.

During the last few weeks I've had a few mornings when the HRD refused to do anything except boot & then give neither pictures nor sound, or respond to any command.
So far it has always recovered if I turn it off & then on, on the HDR. This does not present much of a problem, but is irritating.

One member, GaseousClay suggested that being on a channel that goes off, like BBC 4, might contribute, so I will test that.


I already have French surge protection, but I have a UK version that I might try next.

orbitfox quoted a 12 step Humax procedure. Does anyone know if it is in any way better than "off wait 5 seconds then on".

David

I don't know, but it looks to me as if that procedure is one that's been developed to address any number of software hangs, installation problems, etc. The benefit of it would be that it's a "one size fits all" solution which does not rely on the user describing the problem accurately or the support agent having to do a lot of thinking. It certainly covers situations that a simple power cycle will not, so it may help you.

If you watch the foxsat's led it takes longer than 15 sec to discharge the foxsat's power supply capaciitors, Thanks no doubt to the very low power consumption in power saving standby.

Possibly, but it also takes a long time to come to full brightness as well. The capacitor in question may be one specifically for the LED to make it come on and off slowly, which is aesthetically more pleasing. But, as you suggest, it could also be something to do with the PSU design.

OK awo1949, next time it happens I'll do the long procedure i.e.

1---Power OFF the receiver
2---Disconnect the Aerial cable
3---Power On the receiver
4---Press MENU
5---Select Installation
6---Enter your password (default = 0000)
7---Select Default Setting
8---Select YES
9---Enter your password (Default = 0000)
10--When the receiver restarts, power off
11--Connect the Aerial Cable
12--Power ON - the receiver will then search for the
channels.

To heed Graham's point, I'll make 15 secs lapse between 1 & 3 & between 10 & 12.
Then obviously I'll expect the fault to never arise again !
If & when it does you will be among the first to know.
I've a feeling that I will be writing again soon.

David

David,
Since doing the Humax instructions.. (well sort of because my menu system is different to the instructions, but i got the jist of what they were saying), mine seems to have been OK.. no hang ups now for about 4 days.. Won't do a Murry Walker on myself.. so won't mention the F*xed word.. but so far so good.
Roy

I listen to radio 1 on the humax in the mornings, and it does quite often hang on the radio station, exactly like you're experiencing. I'm not alone then!