Beyonwiz T3 hdd not recognised

[Stvewebb30]

Hi All

An unusual one my T3 has been working well since booting problems and repair by beyonwiz. Suddenly the unit randomly turns itself off and on during normal use and the recordings can no longer be accessed and the hdd is not recognised by the system any more. It cannot be formatted and in nearly all functions it cannot be found except it is recognised when at the highest level in the directory tree. The correct amount of free space 288GB is displayed at the bottom of the screen but the recording dir etc is not shown. Any thoughts? Initially I suspected PSU problems and I do have all the caps for the PSU repairs as supplied by Warkus but that one possible recognition of the hdd by the system has thrown me off. Is it possible that value is held in memory somewhere from last time the hdd was checked and is not a current value? The hdd does not appear be running but I did hear the drive running yesterday during one of the random turn ons.

Thanks

Steve

[prl]

... The correct amount of free space 288GB is displayed at the bottom of the screen but the recording dir etc is not shown. Is it possible that value is held in memory somewhere from last time the hdd was checked and is not a current value? ... The hdd does not appear be running but I did hear the drive running yesterday during one of the random turn ons.
...

The HDD free space is read from the disk each time the media selection list is refreshed. This happens when you open the screen and each time you change directory in it. The HDD free space isn't stored anywhere other than on the HDD volume itself and transiently in the OS kernel.

Any thoughts? Initially I suspected PSU problems and I do have all the caps for the PSU repairs as supplied by Warkus but that one possible recognition of the hdd by the system has thrown me off.

I can't see any reason why this couldn't be a power supply problem, where the power supply is off spec, but sometimes is close enough to spec to work. It could also be an intermittent problem in the SATA cable, the HDD power cable or in their sockets. It could also be a HDD problem.

Your problem seems quite similar to the problem reported in Intermittent failure to record and/or access the hard drive. As in that case, a copy of /var/log/messages taken from the T3 when it's having the problem might help identify the cause. The HDD certainly doesn't seem to be working properly, but whether that's due to a fault in the HDD or in something else is unclear.

Since you seem fairly confident about opening up the T3 and repairing it yourself, you might want to check the power supply voltages when under normal load and have a look at the power supply capacitors for any evidence of leakage or bulging. Be aware that there are exposed components on the power supply, especially heat sinks, at high voltages, up to ~340V.

If it is a power supply problem, continuing to use it could cause damage to the HDD or other components.

[prl]

To give you an idea of what to expect, here are T3 power supply voltages as measured by IanB, copied from an old beta area post:

Code: Select all

PSU   | Measured
Label | Voltage
---------------------
FV+     -35.4
FV-     -39.4
-27V    -38.6
GND       0
23V      44.0
GND       0
3.3S      3.30
12V      12.03
6.5V      8.36
CTL       3.20
5V        5.05
GND       0     (ref)   
3.3V      3.29

And similar sets of measurements by me and peteru, also from the beta area:

Code: Select all

      |   peteru    |  prl
PSU   | New     Old |  Old
Label | T3      T3  |  T3
--------------------------
FV+    -28.9   -26.2  -31.0
FV-    -31.7   -29.2  -31.5
-27V   -30.9   -32.2  -31.0
GND      0       0      0
23V     31.3    33.7   32.5
GND      0       0      0
3.3S     3.35    3.32   3.20
12V     12.12   12.09  12.0
6.5V     7.20    7.46   7.4
CTL      3.25    3.22   3.28
5V       5.10    5.10   5.03
GND      0       0      0    (ref)
3.3V     3.3     3.30   3.25

[Stvewebb30]

Hi Peter

After closer examination C31 was bulging but the rest looked ok but I bit the bullet and replaced all the caps in the Warkus listing and hey presto it is all functioning normally again. Just to throw further confusion my HDMI cable had failed also but I had a cheap spare which has us back on the air. Just have to jump onto Ice TV and re direct all the recordings back to the T3 and put the trusty P2 back on standby in the cupboard.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks

Steve

[prl]

No problem. Glad it's sorted.