Radio and Telly UK Forum - Frozen picture

FRANKUS

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Frozen picture
Jul 16^th, 2009 at 10:42pm

Have had the Humax 9200 for about two and a half years without any problems but yesterday the picture froze. The image looks as though it is "paused", it has a slight judder on parts of the screen. The remote control has no effect, the only way to get past the problem is to switch the power off and on. The picture freezes again almost as soon as it appears which is too quick for me to get into the main menu to try anything "clever". Any Suggestions?

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Biggles

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Re: Frozen picture
Reply #1 - Jul 17^th, 2009 at 10:27am

FRANKUS wrote on Jul 16^th, 2009 at 10:42pm:

Have had the Humax 9200 for about two and a half years without any problems but yesterday the picture froze. The image looks as though it is "paused", it has a slight judder on parts of the screen. The remote control has no effect, the only way to get past the problem is to switch the power off and on. The picture freezes again almost as soon as it appears which is too quick for me to get into the main menu to try anything "clever". Any Suggestions?

This one requires the aerial out Default Setting trick.

Disconnect from the mains.
Unplug aerial.
Reconnect the mains and switch on. The Hummy should now boot without freezing.
Go into the menu and do a Default Setting. Obviously no channels will be found during the channel scan.
Switch off and disconnect the mains.
Reconnect the aerial.
Reconnect the mains and switch on. The Hummy should boot normally but have no channels.
Do another Default Setting and all should be well.

If you end up with channels in the 800 range post back.

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Humax LGB-19DZT. Humax PVR-9200TB. Humax PVR-8000T/80. Humax F2-FOX T.

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FRANKUS Newbie Offline Have you tried FrequencyCast yet? Posts: 2	Re: Frozen picture Reply #2 - Jul 21^st, 2009 at 9:17am A big thanks to Biggles for that solution.
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Bootlebarth

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Re: Frozen picture
Reply #3 - Jul 30^th, 2009 at 12:17pm

I had seen this advice elsewhere, however my experience with two 9200 boxes is that it did not work. I suspect the random freezes (average about three times a week some weeks none) are caused by reception issues associated with interference from traffic or dispersion from wind blown trees. Does anyone have any hard evidence that this could be the cause.
I have provided r/f controlled mains switches to eleiminate fumbling about at the rear of the boxes which is impossible for the old and handicapped. Is it not possible for manufactures to add a remote reboot button on the box itself. People are burdened by a box full of remotes which doesn't look like progress to me.

Cheesy

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purple-bobby

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Re: Frozen picture
Reply #4 - Jul 30^th, 2009 at 12:48pm

Many of the chips used in these things have a watchdog timer, that monitors the main chip and program for crashes, and resets the box if it detects one.

Many naive/stressed programmers assume if their program doesn't crash in the first five minutes, it is perfect and wouldn't need the effort of setting up the watchdog timer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchdog_timer

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bobby

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Bootlebarth

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Re: Frozen picture
Reply #5 - Jul 30^th, 2009 at 10:59pm

Yes I am reminded that I used a Watchdog in a data logging/alarm system I built some years ago. I guess set top boxers don't think they are necessary. So it seems their software is not sufficiently tested under difficult reception conditions and they just don't care. Caveat Emptor Roll Eyes

Asking Humax is just pointless - so no I wouldn't buy anything from them again. A ship spoiled for a happeth of tar... Sad

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purple-bobby Guru Offline Posts: 4229 West Sussex Gender:	Re: Frozen picture Reply #6 - Jul 31^st, 2009 at 12:48am It is better if the device doesn't crash and need the watchdog timer to reset it. There was a PDA that to save its battery went to sleep, and a timer reset it to wake it up to scan the keyboard, if no key was pressed, it went back to sleep.
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Biggles Guru Offline Biggles flies undone. Posts: 1302 Gender:	Re: Frozen picture Reply #7 - Jul 31^st, 2009 at 2:25pm Bootlebarth wrote on Jul 30^th, 2009 at 12:17pm: I had seen this advice elsewhere, however my experience with two 9200 boxes is that it did not work. ..... The advice I gave above is for one specific problem only, and that is freezing or rebooting (depending on the model) from switch-on. The procedure does cure that problem.
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johnnyfrisco Newbie Offline Have you tried FrequencyCast yet? Posts: 4 Devon Gender:	Re: Frozen picture Reply #8 - Jan 14^th, 2010 at 8:52pm What an extraordinary situation we've all arrived at with our high tec domestic gear [???]...! Gone are the days when all that was needed was a hefty Onslow style clout on the side of your CRT TV...!!!
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