Humax FoxSat HDR - problems with advanced menu

[PaulR]

Been round to our friends' house on the other side of the village (in France) with a view to upgrade and have only succeeded in making things worse. The setup before I interfered changed it was as follows:

Humax Foxsat HDR in single feed mode with loop through to second LNB input. Feed from 28E and 19E through a Diseqc switch with 28E as first satellite. HDR set up with advanced menu to reflect Sat A (28E) and Sat B (19E) in non-Freesat mode for Eurosport. And it worked as it should.

I set this all up some several years ago but recently the satellite changes mean that the 80cm dish for 28E isn't big enough. The 19E feed is a left-over from analogue days with a quad feeding a 5 in 4 out multiswitch. The 28E was a Quattro. I proposed putting in a 9 in 8 out multiswitch (with suitable rewiring) thus making the two feeds to the HDR capable of supplying the two satellites without a separate switch. In addition this would mean that the HDR could be changed to twin feed for 28E.

So I did all this (used tens of metres of extra cable to make it happen!) and then, before changing the HDR to twin feed, checked that it worked as before. I took the Diseqc switch out and just connected one single cable (still with loop-through). And it worked - Freesat mode no problem and Eurosport in non-Freesat mode.

So then I reinstalled the HDR from scratch. It recognised that it now had two feeds for Freesat and that works fine. What doesn't now work is the advanced menu for Diseqc. I followed the instructions from Humax FoxSat HDR - Advanced Menu Manual (which, incidentally, gives the wrong colour code in the PDF) but whenever I scan Astra 1 it finds zero channels. I've tried every combination I can (connection type one cable, connection type 2 cable same) but still zero channels.

I managed to set this up once before, it worked before I reinstalled from scratch and now I can't get it to
work again.

One thought that has occurred to me is that since I originally set the Diseqc up on the HDR there have been many software updates, not least of which was the one for the Olympics. Could one of these possibly have removed this ability? Has anyone else set up the Diseqc capability recently? Does anyone have any idea of what might be wrong and how to fix it?

 

[PaulR]

Another thought occurred to me this morning. Revert to single feed with loop-through, reinstall and then see if I can get the Diseqc to work. If it doesn't then something has changed surely.

Does anyone have the Humax tech phone number? Not an 08xxx one as I'm in France. PM if need be.

 

[scopus]

The only contact details I have are these

HUMAX DIRECT LTD

PO BOX 626

TW8 9HH

sales@humaxdirect.co.uk

support@humaxdirect.co.uk

T: 0333 577 7545 Sales

T: 0344 318 8800 Customer Support

 

[PaulR]

That 0344 number is new to me. I'll give it a try. Ta.

 

[PaulR]

I tried the support number and the only thing they could offer was to send me the PDF. It's unchanged from the one in the link except for correcting the colour code at the beginning of the document (but not at the end). They said that is all the support they can offer and they would need the unit back to test for any faults as they weren't trained to answer questions on the phone.

Ho hum.

 

[Lazarus]

Paul, I'm unaware of any changes to the Secret Menu/DiSEqC features and I wonder if the issue is a faulty DiSEqC switch.

Either that or it ain't getting enough oomph, so might be worth enabled the toggle for long cable runs that is buried somewhere in the menus.

BTW, I'm sure you know that DiSEqC functions are only available on Input one.

(Forgive me if I've missed something you've already accounted for - got my hands full today and not paying deep attention to the Forum).

 

[scopus]

I tried the support number and the only thing they could offer was to send me the PDF. It's unchanged from the one in the link except for correcting the colour code at the beginning of the document (but not at the end). They said that is all the support they can offer and they would need the unit back to test for any faults as they weren't trained to answer questions on the phone.

Ho hum.

About right, most help lines are the same these days, people reading off a script.

 

[PaulR]

Paul, I'm unaware of any changes to the Secret Menu/DiSEqC features and I wonder if the issue is a faulty DiSEqC switch.

The separate Diseqc switch was taken out of use and the single cable to the new multiswitch worked before I did the factory reset.

Either that or it ain't getting enough oomph, so might be worth enabled the toggle for long cable runs that is buried somewhere in the menus.

But it worked before I did the factory reset - see above. Can't see the long cable run having any effect as Freesat work fine - and it worked before the factory reset.

BTW, I'm sure you know that DiSEqC functions are only available on Input one.

I do but in desperation I've tried both single cable and twin cable options.

(Forgive me if I've missed something you've already accounted for - got my hands full today and not paying deep attention to the Forum).

I forgive you just about anything...

 

[Lazarus]

Any joy?

 

[PaulR]

None whatsoever with the DiSEqC. I'm back in the UK now and tbh I had a bigger job trying to put the 1m dish in place of the 80cm dish, finding that the bigger dish fouled the wall trying to swing it into place, putting a much taller pole to raise the dish above the roof line and then lifting the dish into place as a thunderstorm bore down on me. I just about finished and came in looking like a drowned rat.

I did try the secret menu again a few days later just before we left with similar singular lack of success. I really don't have any idea what, if anything, I can do now. It's a huge shame as a major part of the upgrade was to ensure that the DiSEqC worked properly so they could watch Eurosport.