# Is it DEAD? PHILIPs DSR704



## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

I have a 4 yr old Philips DSR704 that just won't reboot. If I plug it in, it's stuck on the "Welcome, Powering up............". Is this dead or hard drive is gone.


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## rminsk (Jun 4, 2002)

Most like a failed hard drive.


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

The bad news is, like rminsk indicated, the HDD probably died.
The good news is that hard drives are relatively cheap these days, so it should (hopefully) be easy to fix.

If not the drive, I'd start looking at the power supply unit.


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

Thanks, guys. I suppose if it is the power supply, the green "on" light and the fan won't work, right? The green light is on and the fan is working. Guess, it must be the hard drive.


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## wolflord11 (Jan 17, 2007)

If its the PS: No lights, no fans etc. No nothing.

If the lights are going, fans on etc, then its the HD. if its stuck on Welcome, Powering up............ then its the HD.


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

Thanks...WolfLord11!


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

Sometimes you can lose a capacitor inside the PSU, and get lights, etc but doesn't provide enough power to spin up the hard drive.

But the HDD has moving parts. I'd say more than 9-out-of-10 times its the hard drive dying.
It's a relatively easy fix.


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

It's really funny.....just received a phone call from a friend of mine, just a few minutes ago...exactly the same problem same model. When he turned on his unit, it was blank and could not operate the remote. So he proceeded to reboot his unit and guess what. He is stuck too on "Welcome, Powering up.........". I don't think we have busted our Hard Drive.....was there a software release for this generation of DTV Tivos. I think we have not taken the update as we do not have phone lines connected to the units.


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

Really at a loss now! How can I download the software if I'm stuck on the Welcome...Powering up.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Being stuck at Welcome Powering Up is the sign of a hard drive failure


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

rbtravis said:


> Being stuck at Welcome Powering Up is the sign of a hard drive failure


Due to the 6.3e update. Is that right? Anybody else who *do not have the 6.3e update* experience this problem?

Will appreciate how you resolved this issue.


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

LDLemu4U said:


> Really at a loss now! How can I download the software if I'm stuck on the Welcome...Powering up.


If he hard drive is well and truly dead, Look up Instant Cake. Or, check out the DVRupgrade.com and Weaknees sites for pre-formatted replacement drives.


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

UPDATE!

Tested it today! Working!

I am really surprised. I left it unplugged since last night. Tested it around 10amPacific and it booted up at once. 

Now the BetterHalf will be very happy! She won't miss the latest episode of Prison Break.

What's odd, this unit broke down when D* released the new HD channels.


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## cr33p (Jan 2, 2005)

LDLemu4U said:


> UPDATE!
> 
> Tested it today! Working!
> 
> ...


You may still want to look into replacing the hdd, the overnites rest might have allowed it to reboot again but it still may have an intermittent problem, and impending failure. You may want to still look into replacing the drive, especially since the fall season hasnt completely started yet. I saw a 400gb @ frys on sale for 79.00 free shipping. Good luck, pm me if you need an image


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

cr33p said:


> You may still want to look into replacing the hdd, the overnites rest might have allowed it to reboot again but it still may have an intermittent problem, and impending failure. You may want to still look into replacing the drive, especially since the fall season hasnt completely started yet. I saw a 400gb @ frys on sale for 79.00 free shipping. Good luck, pm me if you need an image


Thanks cr33p! I have 2 HR20s that will handle all my recordings from now on. This unit is just a backup and recording shows that are not on HD.

Thank you very much for the kind offer. I am not a techie and have not idea how to tinker with this.


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## wolflord11 (Jan 17, 2007)

I would replace the HD before its too late. Computer HD's do the same thing. You can try to boot it up, and every now and again you can get on, until the HD says goodbye for the last time.


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## dollbaby (Jul 24, 2007)

I agree with the above posts, don't jump too hard for joy as I did. It may be OK for now but most likely will come back with a vengance pretty much until you are totally cooked. Good luck anyway. 

SIDE NOTE BUT RELATED: I am not a techie either. I still have my old Hughes DVR that got stuck on the reboot loop when I tried to clear my lists. I hate the replacement I got so is there anyway I can go back to using my old Hughes if I replace the hard drive. I have no clue how to do this kind of thing, how difficult is it to someone with no electrical /programming skills? And, will I be able to call up direct tv and re-activate since I am not sold at all on this refurbished piece of garbage they sent me. Any help would be great, I am at a loss where to go with this I am so frustrated.


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## wolflord11 (Jan 17, 2007)

dollbaby said:


> I agree with the above posts, don't jump too hard for joy as I did. It may be OK for now but most likely will come back with a vengance pretty much until you are totally cooked. Good luck anyway.
> 
> SIDE NOTE BUT RELATED: I am not a techie either. I still have my old Hughes DVR that got stuck on the reboot loop when I tried to clear my lists. I hate the replacement I got so is there anyway I can go back to using my old Hughes if I replace the hard drive. I have no clue how to do this kind of thing, how difficult is it to someone with no electrical /programming skills? And, will I be able to call up direct tv and re-activate since I am not sold at all on this refurbished piece of garbage they sent me. Any help would be great, I am at a loss where to go with this I am so frustrated.


Yes you can replace the HD in your Hughes unit. You need a HD, and an image etc. You can do all this yourself and is a great learning experience.

OR:

Places like weaknees etc sell HD Kits. Either you send them the unit, they replace the Drive and get it all up and running for you and send it back, or you can purchase the HD yourself. it comes in a kit with instructions and all that.

So Two options: Do it yourself, or pay and get someone else or a Company to do it for you


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

wolflord11 said:


> Yes you can replace the HD in your Hughes unit. You need a HD, and an image etc. You can do all this yourself and is a great learning experience.
> 
> OR:
> 
> ...


Third option - the TiVo community also has a store and is offering a $25.00 off coupon. TCUP25 is the coupon code.


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## skymac79 (Sep 29, 2007)

I have (had) a Phillips DSR6000R01 that apparently went toes up today. 
I wonder if it is related to a software upgrade by DirecTV. Also, I have had issues with it showing a discrepancy between whether it would record something or not. It would show that something was going to record on the to do list, but if you went into the history and went forward it would show that the same show was not going to record because the same show was already scheduled to record or in the now playing. But it was talking about the same episode on the same channel on the same day. Weird.

Anyway, I hope I can get at least one more boot up off of it. If I can't do that I guess I'll try to put in a bigger hard drive. I actually got DirecTV to replace it with an HD DVR (not TIVO) since I am going to upgrade to HD anyway, but it will be nice to have as an extra unit. I have/had three before this one died. Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

I also just read about SpinRite and how it now does TiVo disks. Has anyone had any experience with this yet? I've also heard that putting a hard disk in a freezer overnight sometimes improves the odds of it reading correctly (maybe only once, but that may be enough). What is the best way to copy the entire disk if I can get it to read once more? Any thoughts or ideas on how best to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, again.


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

skymac79 said:


> I also just read about SpinRite and how it now does TiVo disks. Has anyone had any experience with this yet?


Spinrite has been around a long time, and I'd say its a great program. But, it also cost about as much as a new hard drive, and for checking one single drive you're probably better off just buying a new drive rather than trying to "revive" the old one. Plus, once you start getting errors and problems on an older drive, it won't be getting any healthier.



> I've also heard that putting a hard disk in a freezer overnight sometimes improves the odds of it reading correctly (maybe only once, but that may be enough).


That trick is only for trying to resuscitate a dead drive one last time to do a backup to other media. And with modern liquid bearings in these drives, I'm not sure that would even work anymore.



> What is the best way to copy the entire disk if I can get it to read once more?


Get a new blank drive, hook both into a PC, and use MFSLIve boot CD to copy everything over ( e.g. dd if=/dev/_olddrive_ of=/dev/_newdrive_ ) If that gives too many errors, or oetherwise fails, download the drive utility from the drive-manufacturer's site and run a non-destructive scan.
Using MFSLive you can also try a backup | restore to the new drive.
Or, get an instant Cake CD and just build a new Tivo drive without your old recordings.


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## wolflord11 (Jan 17, 2007)

rbtravis said:


> Third option - the TiVo community also has a store and is offering a $25.00 off coupon. TCUP25 is the coupon code.


"Places like weaknees etc sell HD Kits. Either you send them the unit, they replace the Drive and get it all up and running for you and send it back, or you can purchase the HD yourself. it comes in a kit with instructions and all that.

So Two options: Do it yourself, or pay and get someone else or a Company to do it for you"

Yes, Tivo Community has a Store. That would fall under Option Two. Being a place like Weeknees. Another Company to do if for you etc 

But thank you for supplying the Coupon Code :up:


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## wolflord11 (Jan 17, 2007)

skymac79 said:


> I have (had) a Phillips DSR6000R01 that apparently went toes up today.
> I wonder if it is related to a software upgrade by DirecTV. Also, I have had issues with it showing a discrepancy between whether it would record something or not. It would show that something was going to record on the to do list, but if you went into the history and went forward it would show that the same show was not going to record because the same show was already scheduled to record or in the now playing. But it was talking about the same episode on the same channel on the same day. Weird.
> 
> Anyway, I hope I can get at least one more boot up off of it. If I can't do that I guess I'll try to put in a bigger hard drive. I actually got DirecTV to replace it with an HD DVR (not TIVO) since I am going to upgrade to HD anyway, but it will be nice to have as an extra unit. I have/had three before this one died. Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
> ...


The DSR6000R01 is a great unit 

Best option would be to just replace the HD. Put in a bigger one. Follow the last instructions Narf54321 provided.


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

UPDATE: Philips DSR704

On "Live TV": Leaving it overnight, turning TV on......, picture is frozen, DSR704 totally unresponsive to remote control. Front unit controls unresponsive. Hard boot brings it back to life.

On "Standby": Overnite, DSR704 totally unresponsive to remote control. Front unit controls unresponsive. Hard boot brings it back to life.

My conclusion is, this is not an HD problem. Now on reboot, I can operate the unit without any problems. It is related to the latest software. As, I do not have a phone line connected, the unit cannot download the latest software. So, when the daily calls are made by the unit and fails, I think, that's when the DSR would freeze.

One question, if I install an image to the present HD, will that erase all the contents.

Thanks to all!


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## pgorbas (Apr 10, 2004)

LDLemu4U said:


> UPDATE: Philips DSR704
> 
> On "Live TV": Leaving it overnight, turning TV on......, picture is frozen, DSR704 totally unresponsive to remote control. Front unit controls unresponsive. Hard boot brings it back to life.
> 
> ...


My same type of unit ( DSR704) has started to behave the eacat same way over the last few months - before today a reboot always brought full fuctionality back for a month, then a few weeks, then a week, then afew days - now sometimes not at all. Sometimes areboot will bring a live picture back, but freese as soon as I try to bring up the now playing list ( which has almost 400 hours of recordings on it! )

What did you end up doing with yours? I know this is a few YEARS after you posted...


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## pgorbas (Apr 10, 2004)

Actually I guess I posted on the same day as you. Since we both have the same unit with the same problem, it makes me wonder if the problem is;t really some somfteare push that is casuing our problems. I woulnd't put i past dtv to dilbertly push software that will lock up all dtivos becase they want eveone on the dtc dvr's and have no contract with tivo any more.

If I can't get my unit back to life I will probally cancel direct tv - that a certainty.


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

pgorbas said:


> Actually I guess I posted on the same day as you. Since we both have the same unit with the same problem, it makes me wonder if the problem is;t really some somfteare push that is casuing our problems. I woulnd't put i past dtv to dilbertly push software that will lock up all dtivos becase they want eveone on the dtc dvr's and have no contract with tivo any more.
> 
> If I can't get my unit back to life I will probally cancel direct tv - that a certainty.


So, what software are you at! Is your unit connected to a phone line? Mine is not. Cannot use a phone line as it is in a wall unit without access to a phone line. Is your unit hacked to mimic a phone call.


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## pgorbas (Apr 10, 2004)

LDLemu4U said:


> So, what software are you at! Is your unit connected to a phone line? Mine is not. Cannot use a phone line as it is in a wall unit without access to a phone line. Is your unit hacked to mimic a phone call.


The only hack I did to mine is to upgrade the hard drive space ( got 2 drives in there now a 300 G and a 120 G )

My unit has always been hooked to the phone line - i even reconnected a few hours ago.

My software version now is - 6.3e01-2-101

I was just a the phone with DTV support - they said:
1) Reformat the hard drive ( using the Tivo Erase Everything option )
2) If that doesn't work get a replacement unit - they did say if they would charge me and what I would get.

Either way all my recorded shows are gone...- at I have at least 300 G worth - yes we had gotten behind on a lot of shows - had some show like Supernatural every episode back to 2005 )

I am thinking if I am going to loose all my programs, and the trouble WAS the hard drive - I may as well just go for the replacment unit - or I will go though the entire ness again in a few weeks or months.

Oh get this - cust support said they have had NO REPORTED PROBLEMS with anyone using the 6.3e01-2-101 software, whereas there are dozens, if not hundreds of people with that software reporting lockups.


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## pgorbas (Apr 10, 2004)

Anyway - DirecTV offered a replacement unit for $20/two business day shipping = a 100 hour DVR unit - I think it is their R15 model. I'm not real happy about this - I lost 300+ hours of recorded shows, get DirecTv's software which most people agree is not as good as the old TiVo service, I am down to 1/4 my recording capacity and it is costing me $20 for this downgrade. I figured this was about the best deal I was going to get.

Does anyone know it the directTv brand DVR can be hacked with larger recording capacity like the DTiVo's could?


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

Really, You might be better off with the DTV unit......a firend has exactly the same unit us ours and same problem...wheras the same generation RCAs are not having problems at all.


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## wolflord11 (Jan 17, 2007)

You cannot get a Software update if your unit is not connected to a Phoneline.

So your DSR704 can not have this problem. It still sounds like a HD issue.

pgorbas, I do not think you can upgrade the R15 to a bigger HD.


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

I still can' believe it is a software problem.

UPDATE: Since yesterday till now...It's been working very no hiccups at all.

How can three DSR704 (mine, pgorbas, my friend's) exhibit the same problem at the same time? Secondly, if you go to DBSTalk.com Cutting Edge, DTV has been sending a lot of SW updates to the DVRs HD or not. This SW streams must have affected this Philips models.

Look at the thread of "DTivos rebooting by itself". Guess DTV wants us all to get their nonTiVo DVRs.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5514276&&#post5514276

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5551905&&#post5551905

Just my 2Cents......will have this work until it dies.


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

UPDATE: Connected and phone line early this morning. Had the wifey check on it a while ago! Seems to be working! I will check what software it is on when I get home and put it back to the cabinet. 
Will report back on the thread later tonight!


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## LDLemu4U (Nov 2, 2005)

UPDATE: Now have the 6.3sw and Philips is really working well.

I do not think it is a hard drive problem! For the following reasons:

1. If you go to several forums like DBSTalk and our great forum here, a lot of people exhibited problems when D* rolled out 21 new HD channels last Wed. Problems, such as DVRs started rebooting by itself, failed recordings etc.

2. Earlier DVRs non HD have been having similar problems with the delivery/download of the new sw 6.3e.

Guess D* have been modifying the data stream from the satellite, and the older units have failures due to this modified data stream. The older units takes the beating on all of this modifications. Since the contract with D* and TiVo will in a few years expire......make your own conclusion.


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