HDX-1000 starting to hang a lot.

[xeddog]

I have an HDX-1000 that I have had for . . . geez . . . I guess almost 2 years now. It has been a sweet machine until recently. It has started to hang a lot. I thought it might have been the hard drive because a time or two when I powered the machine back on the hard drive was not recognized, so I RMA'd it and got a replacement. It ran fine for about two months after that, and now has started hanging again. It might only take a couple of minutes since power on, in which case the machine is still cold to the touch, or several hours and the machine is warm to the touch but certainly not hot. But hang it will. UNLESS! I have a small 4" fan behind it and if that fan is running then it seems the HDX-1000 does not hang. At least it hasn't yet. When the machine hangs, I have to use the power switch on the back to power-off/power-on again. I don't like to use the fan because it is noisy as all get out.

Since MOST of the time the machine will have been on for at least an hour, I was wondering if it might be some thermal setting somewhere that might be tweaked to prevent the machine from hanging (as much).

Any ideas or thoughts??

Thanks,

Wayne

[halfelite]

an easy solution that sometimes solves heat problems is redoing the thermal grease between the cpu and the heatsink.

[sprogger]

Hey Wayne
I am surprised you managed to get an RMA .. My original HDX died (about the same age as yours, could not see the internal drive) .. I sent it back to Shenzen nearly two months ago and have not got any response (even acknowledgement) from the repeated emails I send them ...

As halflite says .. there was a batch of HDX where it was found that the chip did not contact the heatsink (case) properly ... try some thermal gel and see what that does for you ..

Cheers
Sprogger

[xeddog]

(11-05-2010 02:38 AM)sprogger Wrote:  Hey Wayne
I am surprised you managed to get an RMA ..

Sprogger - sorry for the "unclarity" but I RMA'd the disk. Not the HDX. Your post is a little disturbing too because with the old disk drive the machine failed to recognize the disk a couple of times too. On those occasions I let the HDX cool down for a few minutes (with the fan now turned on), and it started working again. With this new replacement disk, it has not failed to recognize the drive. Yet.

I'll look into the heat sink but I don't really think that is an issue. The one thing that has me worried is the one time that the HDX hung within two minutes of being powered on. Fratzammin thing was still cold for Pete's sake. That kinda sez it isn't really a thermal issue.

Thanks,

Wayne

[toto1er_]

if you don't need apps just remove the disk, no heat, no noise, faster boot, & use the sd card slot to store stuff

[lordy]

(11-05-2010 06:59 PM)xeddog Wrote:  I'll look into the heat sink but I don't really think that is an issue. The one thing that has me worried is the one time that the HDX hung within two minutes of being powered on. Fratzammin thing was still cold for Pete's sake. That kinda sez it isn't really a thermal issue.

Thanks,

Wayne

But, If it works with a fan then it is a thermal issue??

Chips can heat up pretty quick if they dont have a heatsink.

It may be that over time the heat has degraded the chip so now you have to run it cooler?

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showth...?tid=16631

[toto1er_]

the hdx 1000 is fanless

[lordy]

(11-05-2010 07:57 PM)toto1er_ Wrote:  the hdx 1000 is fanless

I know. (had 3 ) OP said

Quote:But hang it will. UNLESS! I have a small 4" fan behind it and if that fan is running then it seems the HDX-1000 does not hang.

[sprogger]

Wayne
When mine "died" it sounds something similar to yours ... started by suddenly "losing" the hard drive even though you could hear it spinning up inside the HDX.

I changed from WD 2TB to Samsung 2TB thinking it was the drive .. worked for a while then bingo hard drive is "missing" again .. chnaged again but this time for a WD 1TB as per original ... same scenaro . worked for a couple of weeks then "gone".... Thats when I contacted HDX China .. got response from sales@ who asked me to pay $60 and send box back ..... did this and now silence ...

I actually purchased a second HDX1000 from the US .. (we use the HDX daily) .. dropped my Samsung drive back into the new one and has now been running for a couple of months without missing a beat (fingers crossed)

Cheers
Sprogger

[xeddog]

I have used my HDX-1000 daily as well and I depend on it. As for removing the hard drive . . .well . . . I guess I could but I really don't want to. It has all of my movies and tv shows on it, and it has all the programs that my grand daughter watches. I COULD attach the disk to one of my linux machines, install something like Mediatomb, and stream the programming that way. But I don't wanna.

I am considering the purchase of another nmt, but since it seems like HDX is either dead or dying, I am considering a PCH A200 or C200 instead. Probably the C200.

Since I swapped the HD, my unit has not (yet) failed to recognize the disk. When it freezes I just power off/on and it will go again. And like I said, if I turn on the external fan, it will run til the cows come home but the fan is just too noisy. Especially when I use my wireless headphones. Apparently they have some active system that lets you hear normal conversation. To do that there are certain ranges of sounds that get amplified too, and that &^%$# fan is in that range. And just so you know, so are potato chip bags.

Wayne

P.S. No. you cannot disable the active system in those headphones.

[lordy]

Yeah, either accept that its overheating and get a A200/C200 or if you want to fix it the first thing to look at is the heatsink gap issue http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showth...?tid=16631

FWIW I've had 3 Hdxs (probably 4 actually), and all of them had a badly seated heatsink.

[xeddog]

oops. I accidentally hit "Resolved" instead of "Post Reply". I can't really say it is resolved but it actually might be. I took my HDX-1000 apart and I do indeed think it may have been the heat sink issue. I didn't take any actual measurements, but I put a dab of heat sink compound on top of the aluminum plate that is attached to the processor. Then re-installed the main board and took it back apart. There was only a tiny spot of the compound on the grey "stuff" stuck onto the top case. That means that there must have been a slight gap.

So, I was going to just put a huge blob of the compound on the chip and put the thing back together, but I decided not to. I looked in my scrap for a piece on aluminum to add onto the existing piece but I didn't find any. I did, however, find some copper. I put the thermal compound on both sides of the copper and re-assembled the box. Time will tell.

Wayne

OK. I got it "UNresolved" for now.

[xeddog]

Just a quickie. Made it through a whole night with no hang and no fan. Looking good.

Wayne

[xeddog]

Just a quick update. It apparently WAS the thermal issue. It's been three days with no hangs so I'm callin it resolved. It just seemed strange that it ran fine for over a year and a half without issue before it started acting up.

Thanks everyone.

Wayne