Humax t2000 freeview hard disk recorder faulty

[rans6andrew]

About 2 or 3 months ago our Humax freeview recorder started playing up. We had been away for a while and when we returned and tried to the use the unit there was a message on the TV screen saying we "had to subscribe to Zoo TV" or some such service. I cancelled the message and everything seemed normal for an hour or two but then the box started adjusting it's volume and channel hopping. Every time it changes channel we change it back to what we are watching and a few minutes later it changes again, sometimes several channels in quick succession. At the same time we noticed that the front panel touch switch has stopped turning the box on or off. It still does this spurious activity from time to time. A second, identical machine, we have in the bedroom started to play up in the same way, on the same day. This tells me that it is not a hardware issue.

I have been scanning the various forums for freeview recorders, including Humax specific ones but nobody else is reporting anything similar happening. Both machines are a few months outside of their warranties so I am not sure that it is worth sending them in for repairs. I also don't want to risk losing the many hours of recorded programmes should a hard disk replacement be necessary.

Do any of you know if Humax can effect repairs without losing recorded programmes?

Equally, can I remove the hard drive from the machine and copy the programmes to another hard drive to keep as a backup and be able to restore them to another machine in a playable form?

Lastly, if I go through the menu system and do a return to factory settings, will my recordings be preserved?

Help.

Rans6........................................

[le Pingouin]

A factory reset won't delete recordings provided you don't opt to format the drive during the process

https://support.icetv.com.au/hc/en-us/articles/227080967

You should be able to take the drive out, pop it in an enclosure & copy the files to another drive.

Seems playing HD files elsewhere might be a problem due to encryption

https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/hdr-2000t-copy-recordings-to-usb-drive.5702/

[pulse1]

I don't really know much about them but I did suffer with a Humax t2000 for some years before I changed to something else in disgust. What I discovered is that Humax download upgrades at midnight at certain nights and it sounds like you may have missed one or more of these while you were away. If you can find out when the next one is, and leave your recorder on overnight, it might sort itself out but don't hold your breath.

[rans6andrew]

I just went into the menu options. Restore Factory Settings opens a screen which says "Warning, this will delete all of your recordings" - Restore or Cancel boxes offered. I cancelled.

Perhaps I will pop out the hard drive and copy the recorded files and then restore one of our units. In the meantime I will attempt to leave them on at night. I will change the auto switch off to 3 hours and put them on at 11pm.

Fingers crossed

Rans6....................................................... ....

[spekesoftly]

There is mention of Random Channel and Volume changes in the FAQ section at the bottom of this link:-

https://uk.humaxdigital.com/product/dtr-t2000/


There are some reports of random channel/volume changing.

A few users report moving the unit further away from the TV has cured the problem.

Might be worth a try?

[le Pingouin]

I'm glad you didn't just click through in that case :-/

[jimjim1]

There is mention of Random Channel and Volume changes in the FAQ section at the bottom of this link:-

https://uk.humaxdigital.com/product/dtr-t2000/

Might be worth a try?

That sounds a good idea - random changes as discussed sound like a hardware problem to me - or as mentioned interference.

Also if there are any long cables perhaps don't have the spare cable neatly coiled up or anything like that. Don't want to make an accidental antenna. As a test remove any cables not essential for basic operation and see if the issue goes away.

Capacitors in power supplies can be dangerous and will kill you. If the power supply is not fully enclosed as in a traditional desktop PC best leave whole thing alone and miss the next bit.

Otherwise take lid off and re-seat any connections/chips that you can see. Don't use mad force and break stuff. Many memory modules are easy to remove - take out one at a time and re-insert. If connectors come off easily enough remove one at a time and replace. If any chips in sockets don't try to remove unless you have the correct tools but press in, however not hard enough to break anything. Play safe - if in doubt leave it alone. Don't fiddle with any connectors that you don't understand - there are many, many different designs in use now and it is easy to screw up.

[rans6andrew]

I might be getting to the root of the problem. Last evening I was catching up with some stuff we recorded a while ago when my partner came in. She went along to her study and turned on her desktop computer and straight away the video recorder crashed and started to reboot. Then it crashed again, etc. After turning her computer off I had to power the video recorder off and on to get it to settle. It then worked properly all evening. Today I disconnected her computer monitor at the mains and the signal cables and powered on the processor box on it's own. The video didn't do anything odd. Then I connected her monitor to my laptop computer and I saw a strange patch of interference scroll slowly up the screen over my normal desktop display image. Curiously, the lounge TV (playing a recorded programme) showed the same odd interference pattern scrolling up the screen. Apparently the interference on her computer display has been bothering her for some months! I have not located the source of said interference but I am beginning to suspect the monitor itself.

Ongoing............

Rans6...................

[tucumseh]

A feature of older recorders is that when designed there were relatively few channels so less memory was required to store a full channel scan. For example, mine will start to malfunction if more than 40 or so are tuned in.

Disconnect the aerial and re-tune. You'll get a 'no aerial' error message, but will have cleared all data. Re-connect, and re-tune. Then delete all the channels you don't want. Don't just 'hide' them, delete altogether.

Fingers crossed.

[rans6andrew]

Since taking the suspect monitor out of use a week ago we have not had a single incidence of odd behaviour from either of our freeview recorders. The TV has not shown any slowly scrolling noise lines across the screen and neither has the desktop computer with it's borrowed substitute monitor. Looks like problem solved.

Thanks to all who offered words of wisdom.

Rans6...............