HDR-7500T overheating

Started by littlebird, March 10, 2017, 12:23:29 PM

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littlebird

My 7500T is several years old, and until now there have been no significant problems. However on several occasions recently my Sony Bravia TV has displayed the following error message:
"The program cannot be viewed via HDMI connection because your TV does not support digital content protection. Disconnect the HDMI cable and replace with SCART or composite cable..."
This means that I cannot view recorded programs or use the recorder's tuner. However programs will still record via the EPG when in standby mode.
I found that the Humax gets quite warm (not hot) when in replay mode, ie the blue light is on. If I turn off the power and allow it to cool down and then restart, everything is OK until it warms up again after 10 mins or so. The recorder is in a well ventilated enclosure, and the cooling fan is functioning. The HDD is about half full.
As a temporary measure I will try removing the recorder's outer casing to see whether that overcomes the problem, but in the meantime I am wondering whether this is a known issue with the 7500T and whether anyone has found a solution. Any suggestions will be welcome.
Cheers,
David

Dave at IceTV

Hi littlebird,

The cooling fan in the Humax 7500 may be functioning but they do tend to slow down before they eventually fail. So the fan in your Humax may not be operating fast enough to keep the Humax cool. The fan can also become partially blocked by dust which also reduces its effectiveness.

With the cover off the PVR keep your fingers (and pets) well away from the power supply circuit board. The heatsinks on the power supply board will kill you if you touch the wrong one.

An overheating Humax due to a failed fan can damage other components (like the hard drive or power supply).

After the Humax has been running for an hour or more switch it off at the 240v power switch (or power point) then tap the front power button a few times to drain any residual power. Double check that the 240v power is off. Now carefully touch only the top of the hard drive to see if the hard drive was running hotter than normal. If the hard drive is almost too warm to comfortably leave your hand on top of it then it is probably failing. You can buy 1TB hard drives from computer stores from $65 upwards.
cheers

Dave
Customer Service

littlebird

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your response and I have noted your cautions about 240v.
In response to your comments:
- The inside is very clean, with no dust on components or in fan (which appears to be directed mainly at the HDD). The fan is spinning freely.
- The HDD temperature is only moderately warm.
Removal of the cover doesn't appear to have changed much, although I can now bring up the list of recorded programs. However when I try to play a recorded program there is an error message.
I think that the problem might be in the CPU or elsewhere in the processing circuitry. This is because i can't get any stations from the recorder's own tuner, ie the problem is not only with recorded programs.
I was interested to see that there was no flow-through ventilation in the box, only holes in the bottom that is very close to the supporting shelf.
It is starting to look as if the problem is terminal. I hope that I will be able to retrieve some rather valuable recordings from the HDD if the fault can't be rectified. I will look at file copying and also try the other outputs.
Regards,
David

Dave at IceTV

After you have backed up your important recordings (moved to USB or copied via FTP to a computer) I would suggest formatting the hard drive and doing a factory reset to see if that makes any improvement.

Don't delete any recordings until you have finished backing up any that you want to keep. I've heard of a few 7500s that got stuck deleting a recording and the only solution was to remove the hard drive and format it in a computer, then put the hard drive back into the Humax and let it format it again. Obviously formatting the hard drive will delete all of your recordings.
cheers

Dave
Customer Service

littlebird

Hi Dave,

I think that I now have to regard the 7500 as too unreliable to use as a viable recorder so must start preparing to switch to another machine. If I purchase a Humax 2T will I be able to copy some files from the old to new device, i.e. are the file format and encoding the same? I might even put the old HDD into an external enclosure.

Cheers,
David

Dave at IceTV

Hi littlebird,

The 2tune can play the recordings from a 7500.

You can copy the 7500's recordings to an NTFS or Ext3 formatted USB drive (hard drive or thumb drive etc). The Humax can format the external USB drive in NTFS for you (note: this will delete everything currently on the USB drive).

Or you can copy them to a computer using an FTP program.

When you copy the 7500's recordings off the USB drive onto the 2tune's internal drive they end up the 2tune's Media folder. Or if you copy them via an FTP program from the computer to the 2tune's internal drive you must copy them into the "Media/Video" folder.

To play them on the 2tune you then go to "Home > Media", make sure it is on Video then select Internal.

Personally I'd probably leave the 7500's recordings on the USB drive or on the computer (in a shared folder that the 2tune can access).
cheers

Dave
Customer Service

littlebird

Thanks Dave, I am in the process of copying to an external HD at present. Although the 2500 seems to be behaving itself now (with the cover off), there are still a few glitches in the recordings. I will try a factory reset when backed up.
Cheers,
David