Humax 1000s serious problems!

Movie Maestro

So it looks like one of my Humax HDR-1000s sat boxes has failed after 3 years. I turned it on last week and all of my recordings were gone. I have two of the boxes, one in the bedroom, one in the sitting room. The hard disk is no longer being detected in my sitting room box so cannot pause, record, ffwd etc.

I removed the hard disk from the bedroom box and put it into the sitting room box, it still was not detected. I put the hard disk from the sitting room box into the bedroom box and it is detected! So the problem seems to be with the sata controller on the sitting room box :eek: I've even tried a couple of spare hard disks I have and they are not detected either.

I've read that a lot of people have had the same failure after a similar lenght of time.

Can this issue be fixed at all? Have any boardies had the same problem? I assume my only option is to buy another box. I'm hesitant to do that in case the same thing eventually happens again. Obviously I could by a different type of box but have found that the Humax 1000s meets my needs perfectly. I appreciate it has been replaced by the 1010s.

I don't suppose anyone knows if Humax will be launching a new Freesat model any time soon;)

mikeecho

have a read of this:

you will have to format the HDD

https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/hdr-1000s-hardrive-failure

Movie Maestro

Appreciate the feedback mikeecho

I removed the hard disk from the bedroom box(which is working fine) and put it into the sitting room box, it still was not detected. I put the hard disk from the sitting room box(which is not working) into the bedroom box and it is detected! So the problem seems to be with the sata controller on the sitting room box :eek:

I can try formatting the drive to see if that works but I've already done the above, I don't particularly care if the drive has failed. My problem is that no spare drive that I put in is working at all

mikeecho

The STB could be goosed. You could be throwing good money after bad.

Personally, i'd format the drive, and see what happens, other than that, i'd take the stb apart and make sure all the sata connectons are secure and that they havent worked loose somehow.

Movie Maestro

I'll give the format a go. I've opened the stb and checked the connections, it all seems to look okay.

galtee boy

mikeecho wrote: »

have a read of this:

you will have to format the HDD

https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/hdr-1000s-hardrive-failure

You can't format the drive, because the box doesn't recognise the drive in the first place. My Humax did the exact same about two months ago. Box working fine, EPG etc, but no live pause, recordings etc. My brother's in the UK did the same thing. He sent it to Humax and they repaired it ( can't remember the price - about £75 I think ), came back and it lasted a week and did the same thing again. Went back to Humax again and they replaced it with a refurbished 1100 and so far that's working fine. So it's a very common problem and not good for Humax reputation.

Movie Maestro

galtee boy wrote: »

You can't format the drive, because the box doesn't recognise the drive in the first place. My Humax did the exact same about two months ago. Box working fine, EPG etc, but no live pause, recordings etc. My brother's in the UK did the same thing. He sent it to Humax and they repaired it ( can't remember the price - about £75 I think ), came back and it lasted a week and did the same thing again. Went back to Humax again and they replaced it with a refurbished 1100 and so far that's working fine. So it's a very common problem and not good for Humax reputation.

I was hoping this wouldn't be the case

kooga

Welcome to the club my 1010s bought in june 2014 has been struggling post Christmas but now has given up, all my recordings lost and the channel logos no longer appear on the epg.

I contacted richersounds who were great but the economies of getting the box from Cork to Belfast and onto humax in the UK and do the reverse didn't make any sense financially.

Mine is the white 1tb box bought new for £229 so feeling a bit miffed and reluctant to commit to a new one. Should of opted for the 6 year warranty for an extra £19 when I bought it.

in the interim I have a humax hb1000s £79 connected to an external drive 1tb Argos €63 and working fine.

galtee boy

kooga wrote: »

Welcome to the club my 1010s bought in june 2014 has been struggling post Christmas but now has given up, all my recordings lost and the channel logos no longer appear on the epg.

I contacted richersounds who were great but the economies of getting the box from Cork to Belfast and onto humax in the UK and do the reverse didn't make any sense financially.

Mine is the white 1tb box bought new for £229 so feeling a bit miffed and reluctant to commit to a new one. Should of opted for the 6 year warranty for an extra £19 when I bought it.

in the interim I have a humax hb1000s £79 connected to an external drive 1tb Argos €63 and working fine.

I'm like you, reluctant to buy Humax again, but the only other Freesat PVR I could find, is a Sagem and while according to reviews, it works quite well, it is very clunky, slow and seemingly is the equivalent of a small tractor under your TV, noise wise !

mackersdublin

Humax are the only current manufacturer on Freesat's site

http://www.freesat.co.uk/get-freesat/all-boxes

peneau

Movie Maestro wrote: »

So it looks like one of my Humax HDR-1000s sat boxes has failed after 3 years. I turned it on last week and all of my recordings were gone. I have two of the boxes, one in the bedroom, one in the sitting room. The hard disk is no longer being detected in my sitting room box so cannot pause, record, ffwd etc.

I removed the hard disk from the bedroom box and put it into the sitting room box, it still was not detected. I put the hard disk from the sitting room box into the bedroom box and it is detected! So the problem seems to be with the sata controller on the sitting room box :eek: I've even tried a couple of spare hard disks I have and they are not detected either.

I've read that a lot of people have had the same failure after a similar lenght of time.

Can this issue be fixed at all? Have any boardies had the same problem? I assume my only option is to buy another box. I'm hesitant to do that in case the same thing eventually happens again. Obviously I could by a different type of box but have found that the Humax 1000s meets my needs perfectly. I appreciate it has been replaced by the 1010s.

I don't suppose anyone knows if Humax will be launching a new Freesat model any time soon;)

Same thing happened to my HDR-1000s circa three years old with low mileage on it. Turned it on one evening, recordings all gone and Hard Disk not detected. Saga Starts Here: Contacted Humax, after a number of emails they offered to repair it for £26 (stg) (it was out of warranty). They would/will collect but only from a U.K. mainland address. I sent mine to my nephew in London (hoping the repair process might recover/preserve my recordings), they picked it up from there and returned it "fixed" my nephew forwarded the box to me and when I hooked it up "not fixed" no joy, the box was operating erratically and my recordings had been lost presumably in the "repair" process. Contacted Humax again explained the situation they said return the box and they would replace it with the newer model the Humax HDR-1100S 1tb. Was tempted to leave it at that and just buy a replacement, however by chance another family member was heading to London to visit my nephew that weekend and he took the box for me. Box was collected by Humax and they dispatched the new box to my London based nephew which I've since received, it's working fine. End Saga

My advice cut your losses look for a replacement, presume you'll have to go Humax again. For what it's worth I suspect the problem is with the disk controller card on the disk as having done a bit of sleuthing on the net this would appear to be a "known" issue with some of that model.

Yamanoto

kooga wrote: »

Mine is the white 1tb box bought new for £229 so feeling a bit miffed and reluctant to commit to a new one. Should of opted for the 6 year warranty for an extra £19 when I bought it.

I'd be pursuing richersounds for a repair, replacement or refund on that unit under UK & EU Consumer Rights Law. Assuming it's been well looked after, you should have a reasonable expectation that it would last longer than three years. The fact there's been a pattern of HDD failures in that generation of Humax Freesat boxes points to there being some inherent fault present at the time of manufacture.

kooga

Yamanoto wrote: »

I'd be pursuing richersounds for a repair, replacement or refund on that unit under UK & EU Consumer Rights Law. Assuming it's been well looked after, you should have a reasonable expectation that it would last longer than three years. The fact there's been a pattern of HDD failures in that generation of Humax Freesat boxes points to there being some inherent fault present at the time of manufacture.

As per your advice sent John a pm in RS and no joy!

Richersounds.ie: John

kooga wrote: »

As per your advice sent John a pm in RS and no joy!

I've just spotted this post and TBH I think its a little unfair!

I replied to an earlier PM to my Boards account on the 30th May to an initial enquiry regarding this Humax box - I further replied on the 15th June to your PM of the 15th (within a couple of hours).

I do appreciate that you are having an issue with your Humax box and that it's outside the strict terms of traditional warranty - we are happy to try to assist you but as I have said in all my correspondence with you - to be fair to us we need to get the unit back in the first instance so we can check it out and send it to Humax.

I understand that the unit came back finally yesterday and Stephen who looks after service for us has already been in touch with Humax towers to see if we can get a resolution for you.

Again as above - I'm sorry that you are having an issue but for us to assist we have to have the opportunity to address the issue.

We will keep you posted and of course don't hesitate to drop me a line if I can assist in anyway,

Best regards,

John McDonald
Managing Director

Richer Sounds Ireland

kooga

Thanks John and I am grateful that rs are having a look at my box.

The post above was a combination of having talked on the phone to yourselves and pm yourself and I felt the maths of getting the box from cork to belfast combined with a possible charge by Humax was bringing the estimated cost to not far off a new box.

I was fortunate to be able to get up to belfast on Tuesday to drop the box in yesterday.

I possibly posted in haste and maybe I was looking for an immediate solution but I am glad the box is with ye now. tks again

ps just to clarify any queries I posted on boards or pm's I sent have been answered promptly. In fact the day I first posted I received a call from RS in Belfast that evening.

Yamanoto

Richersounds.ie: John wrote: »

I do appreciate that you are having an issue with your Humax box and that it's outside the strict terms of traditional warranty - we are happy to try to assist you but as I have said in all my correspondence with you - to be fair to us we need to get the unit back in the first instance so we can check it out and send it to Humax.

The warranty is a nice thing to have no doubt John, but as you know yourself, it's merely a standard add-on offered by the manufacturer. It doesn't negate or supersede a buyers statutory rights - which typically afford them considerably greater scope to seek remedy for problems encountered, by taking the issue up directly with the retailer.

You've built a well-earned reputation on Boards & elsewhere over the years for the quality of expertise and customer service you've consistently delivered. With that in mind, it surely shouldn't prove prohibitively expensive (to the point where it becomes pointless) to have an item collected & returned to store and for yourselves to forward it on & liaise with Humax from there.

I think it's reasonable enough to expect a £229 Humax box to last more than 2.5 years, assuming it's been well minded etc. and the process of initiating a return to be a relatively easy one.

Richersounds.ie: John

Yamanoto wrote: »

The warranty is a nice thing to have no doubt John, but as you know yourself, it's merely a standard add-on offered by the manufacturer. It doesn't negate or supersede a buyers statutory rights - which typically afford them considerably greater scope to seek remedy for problems encountered, by taking the issue up directly with the retailer.

You've built a well-earned reputation on Boards & elsewhere over the years for the quality of expertise and customer service you've consistently delivered. With that in mind, it surely shouldn't prove prohibitively expensive (to the point where it becomes pointless) to have an item collected & returned to store and for yourselves to forward it on & liaise with Humax from there.

I think it's reasonable enough to expect a £229 Humax box to last more than 2.5 years, assuming it's been well minded etc. and the process of initiating a return to be a relatively easy one.

Yamanto,

many thanks for your response and your comments.

We do work hard on service and as I'm sure you are aware its an ongoing process.

Thanks for the head's up on statutory rights - we have NEVER denied Kooga's rights in any way and I do hope you are not suggesting that?

I acknowledge that its not expensive to collect a unit - however the unit in question is actually not 2 1/2 years old, generally within the first year we collect units for service free of charge - on TV which have our 6 year warranty we ALWAYS collect free of charge - however we do not collect units that are older than 12 months free of charge and TBH I'm not really aware that any other retailers do either?

When I was contacted by the OP I asked him to return the unit so we could inspect it - I don't think that this is unreasonable.

Generally we would like to inspect the unit for damage or fault to determine how this is handled, of course taking into account the actual age of the unit and the overall condition - if it needs to go to the manufacturer we will send it at our expense to the manufacturer and return it to the Customer, again at our expense - again I don't think this is unreasonable.

If the unit is outside warranty, but determined to be faulty we can assist the Customer either by working with the manufacturer, contributing on a pro-rata basis towards a repair, offering a partial refund or allowing a discount against a new unit - What we don't do is make a goodwill payment without seeing the item with the issue.

I have already PM's the OP regarding this specific issue so I would rather not go into specifics - however the unit was returned to us and we are working on a solution - the reason I posted, here, outside our own forum, which is extremely unusual for me, is that it was suggested that we had not responded to the OP's correspondence which TBH was not the case.

Thanks again and please feel free to PM or email me directly to johnmc@richersounds.e if you have any further issues or of course if I can assist in any way.

Best regards,

John Mc & Crew

kooga

Good afternoon and just to update

RS contacted Humax on my behalf

In lieu of my box I was offered a reconditioned HUMAX HDR 1100s for £55 which I accepted. The box was delivered to RS in Belfast last Thursday and couriered to me in Cork foc. The box arrived this morning Monday

thank you to all who contributed and posted advice

Vic_08

Does anyone know if this issue has been fixed for new boxes or are Humax still selling models with HDD controllers likely to fail?

I would like to buy one but not if it is destined to fail within a few years.

galtee boy

Vic_08 wrote: »

Does anyone know if this issue has been fixed for new boxes or are Humax still selling models with HDD controllers likely to fail?

I would like to buy one but not if it is destined to fail within a few years.

I think the HDD problem is only with the 1000s models, I think the newer 1100s doesn't have the drive problem, but I'm open to correction on it .

kooga

If I was buying again I would do the following

Become a VIP member on rs and receive a £10 voucher

Buy box in rs and get the 6 yr warranty for £19.99
Less £ 10 voucher.

Covered for 6 years