Humax HB 1000S Freesat receiver will not connect to iPlayer, Youtube etc

[MartinRowe57]

My Freesat receiver will not connect to the internet.
From the Humax menu, Settings > Network Info, I can see the following Network information:

Connected, IP address 192.168.1.245, and mac address 2c 08 8c 16 3a 45

If I go to my BT Hub manager I can see the Humax device is connected to the hub:
Connected Device:
IP address 192.168.1.245, and mac address 2c 08 8c 16 3a 45

So, the Humax box and my BT Hub are both saying the they are  connected to each other, and both confirm the same IP and mac address.

But if I try to load iPlayer or any other on demand app, it tries to connect, fails, and tells me I have no network connection

If I go the  BT Hub Manager I see the Events Log records the following (I've added the descriptions at start of each line ) where 192.168.1.245 is known to be the IP address for the Humax and 2c 08 8c 16 3a 45 the mac address

Power off Humax	09:24:07	08 Sep. DHCP device Disconnected: 192.168.1.245	2c:08:8c:16:3a:45	unknown
Power on Humax	09:29:56	08 Sep. DHCP device Connected: 192.168.1.245	2c:08:8c:16:3a:45	unknown
	09:29:56	08 Sep. LAN [ADD] ARP 192.168.1.245 with 2c:08:8c:16:3a:45 from br0(eth0)
Start iPlayer	09:29:56	08 Sep. Receive a DHCP request
	09:30:04	08 Sep. ARP [add] br0(eth0) 192.168.1.245 2c:08:8c:16:3a:45

I actually have 2 Humax boxes,

Both Humax boxes stopped working at same time

The Humax boxes are not that old, the devices are still supported by iPlayer.

All previous software updates have been applied and there have been no recent software updates

The issue is not limited to iPlayer, for eg the Youtube app also fails to connect

Hub and boxes have all been powered off and rebooted, and overnight I powered off the hub and every device (not just Humax boxes) then this morning I rebooted the hub, then reconnected devices one at a time.

I've connected a box to the hub with an ethernet cable, to rule out any issue with Powerline sockets

No new devices were added to the BT Hub

Yes, I do have an internet connection, all other devices (laptops, desktop, smartphones, printers, Ring cameras), are connected to internet and are working

No, the Humax boxes do not have the same device name, IP address, or mac address

I have emailed Humax and BBC support teams (24 hours ago), neither have replied

I have factory reset one of the Humax boxes

I have forced the lease time of each device to zero via the hub manger so that each device had to make a new connection when switched on

Each device IP address is within the range supported by the hub

(the above list is not in chronological order)

As far as I can tell, the issue is a DNS failure

Can anyone help?

TIA

[Keith_Beddoe]

@MartinRowe57 

Try a full factory reset of the home hub, as that will remove any existing DHCP allocations, which a normal restart does not.

Press the recessed reset button for about 20 seconds, and the hub should then do a full factory reset.

Its not unknown for the DHCP table in the home hub to get corrupted, as its saved in flash memory.

[MartinRowe57]

If you read my post you will see I have already done that
Apologies, in my post I forgot to say I have tried this already

[countrypaul]

Can you set a static IP address on a Humax and see whether that makes any difference. If you can set a static IP you should be able to set the DNS P so you can try other than just your BT Hub - to check whether the problem really is a DNS issue.

You indicate you set the DHCP lease time to zero, surely that will result in it repeatedly requesting DHCP service?  and never having long enough to make a request to a DNS sever. 

[philcb]

I have the same problems which only occurred yesterday evening. An internet search of Freesat related user sites reveals that we are not alone i.e. a number of users reporting that Freesat box confirms it is connected to the internet but when selecting iPlayer or equivalent channels + YouTube on On Demand the box says that you are not connected to the internet. However Netflix is not affected.

[MartinRowe57]

...set a static IP address on a Humax and see whether that makes any difference. If you can set a static IP you should be able to set the DNS P so you can try other than just your BT Hub - to check whether the problem really is a DNS issue.

I would if I knew how?

... you set the DHCP lease time to zero, surely that will result in it repeatedly requesting DHCP service?  and never having long enough to make a request to a DNS sever. 

The lease time returns to 24 hrs next time the device connects to the hub

[MartinRowe57]

I believe when the Humax box reports that it is connected, it is only connected to the BT Hub, not the internet. The hub then has to resolve the DNS to connect to, say, iPlayer. This is where it falls over.

[countrypaul]

If you have a windows PC connected to the BT Hub, you should be able to test whether DNS is working on the hub using nslookup.  Create a Command prompt window and type nslookup<CR> you should then be able to type the server name used by and site and see the address(es), for example:

Default Server: bthub
Address: 192.168.1.254

> www.bbc.co.uk
Server: bthub
Address: 192.168.1.254

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: gtm-uk.www.bbc.co.uk.pri.bbc.co.uk
Addresses: 212.58.235.129
212.58.236.1
212.58.237.129
212.58.237.1
212.58.235.1
212.58.236.129
Aliases: www.bbc.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk.pri.bbc.co.uk

> bbc.co.uk
Server: bthub
Address: 192.168.1.254

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: bbc.co.uk
Addresses: 2a04:4e42:200::81
2a04:4e42::81
2a04:4e42:600::81
2a04:4e42:400::81
151.101.128.81
151.101.0.81
151.101.64.81
151.101.192.81

Sorry the forum has automatically changed the websites to links.

[AnthonyJewell]

This should be fixed now - the same issue happened to a lot of other people and it was due to the IP Address for Humax's test host breaking some time Thursday evening.

7/9/23 test.humaxtvportal.com 52.169.105.9 to 0.0.0.0

This meant that the check for Broadband connectivity and speed was failing.

Humax have now fixed the issue by reconfiguring their DNS for their host: test.humaxtvportal.com

It has now been reconfigured to 20.123.36.129 and restarting your Humax player should pick up the new value.

There might be some delay for it to propagate through the DNS system - but should be working now.

PS: I am a Humax HD1100S user which also had issues with On Demand after Thursday. No association with Humax or BT.

[philcb]

Thank you for the update Anthony. I’ve checked On Demand and confirm the Humax fix has been applied.