# Video problems after upgrade



## dbsanders (Feb 10, 2003)

Just upgraded my 240040 to a Maxtor 160GB. I used the Weaknees LBA large disk boot CD and everything seemed to go fine.

My problem now is that live TV seems to be ok, but watching recordings or even skipping back during live TV is not. Video freezes and gets "blocky" every 10 seconds or so. I tried setting the drive to quiet and performance mode, and it made no difference (except for the seek noise).

Is this a bad drive? It is a new Maxtor.


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## Rcrew (Jan 3, 2002)

Tough call. It was my understanding that you're never, ever watching a 'live' feed. So what you see while watching 'live TV' is still the recorded image from disk. 

But I'm not an engineer and can't really appreciate the potential for signal path differences between watching a recording in progress, a completed recording, or a trick play, IE: slow motion/rewind. 

However, you may have really answered your own question. At the very basic level of diagnosing a problem, what changed most recently. 

If your system was working fine before the upgrade, and not it's not, it's probably the upgrade. Can you re-install the original drive and verify it's back to no problems?


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## dbsanders (Feb 10, 2003)

Thanks for the input. The old drive does work fine, and I'm sure the problem has something to do with the upgrade. Just wondered if this symptom pointed to any obvious screw up in my upgrade procedure, or if it sounds more like hardware.

I'm running diagnostics on the new drive now - we'll see what it says.


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## Dkerr24 (Oct 29, 2004)

Check your jumper settings on the new Maxtor drive and make sure it's set to "Master". Setting it for "CS - (Cable Select)" may be the problem.


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## dbsanders (Feb 10, 2003)

I thought that was going to be the answer. It was in CS mode. I moved the jumber to master, re-installed the drive, booted, and same problem.

The Maxtor diagnostics finally finished its complete test and found nothing wrong. Also checked to see if 'write verify' was turned on (I read that it is enabled for 10 power cycles when new), and it is not.


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## synch22 (Dec 30, 2003)

i did a maxtor as well on sunday so far so good its a bit loud.. but i guess thats the 7200 rpm, other than that i am pleased so far..i just wish i didnt wait 1.5 years to upgrade my 40hr.


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## dbsanders (Feb 10, 2003)

I used the exact same procedure with a new Seagate 160GB and it works great. I don't understand what the exact problem was, but it was something with that drive I guess.


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## wscannell (Dec 7, 2003)

Dkerr24 said:


> Check your jumper settings on the new Maxtor drive and make sure it's set to "Master". Setting it for "CS - (Cable Select)" may be the problem.


All the series 2 TiVos that I have encountered have the drives set to cable select.


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## dbsanders (Feb 10, 2003)

Strange indeed. I exchanged the Maxtor 160 with a brand new one, and got the exact same result. Choppy video, etc.


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## wscannell (Dec 7, 2003)

I have used a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 160 GB PATA 133 (6B160P0040211) 160GB drive without any problems in a 24080.


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## dbsanders (Feb 10, 2003)

Found an extra Western Digital 200GB disk, and it works fine as well. Really don't know what the deal is with my Maxtors.


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## sbhorns (Jun 19, 2005)

Hi replaced a the noisy HD in my Hughes DirecTV Tivo with a Maxtor 120gb 7200 RPM (ultra series), and have the exact same problem. The original HD replay is good, but the new drives replay is very choppy, lots of pauses, slow down, then speed up of video/audio, and pixilation in the video.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

Bought two Maxtor DiamondMax 10 160GB drives from Office Depot last week. Both failed the "Installation Confirmation SMART test" but passed the "Basic Quick Test". Video problems when they were installed in the TiVo. I have used many DiamondMax 10 drives, including the two in my 540SA2 TiVos. This is the first time I have encountered this problem. My bet is on recent firmware/hardware changes.


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## kdawg (Jan 10, 2005)

I purchased a pair of the same Maxtor drives for my Sony SVR-2000 Series 1. The video is extremely choppy. I also tried to backup my image to a single 160 and still choppy. To be sure I had a clean backup I restored to a spare 40GB Quantum that worked flawlessly. Specifically the drives are Maxtor DiamodMax 10s, model number 6B160PO.

Anyone else have a fix or suggestion?


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

I think this is the first systematic TiVo-incompatible drive I have encountered. BTW, did your drives pass the "installation confirmation" test?


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## kdawg (Jan 10, 2005)

c3 said:


> I think this is the first systematic TiVo-incompatible drive I have encountered. BTW, did your drives pass the "installation confirmation" test?


By "installation confirmation" test I assume you mean the Maxtor MaxBlast v4.1 utility diagnostics. The drives passed the "SMART" test, the quick and long tests and the even longer "burn in test" which Maxtor claims is the utility they use to determine their drives functionality. So basically they both passed all tests. Not that it matters I also did a low-level format which I know really shouldn't matter but it couldn't hurt.

Out of desperation and hoping to salvage these hard drives into good use I am considering Instant Cake. Does anyone think this utility will work? Has anyone tried it? If not I may have to make a RAID out of the pair and stick them in my computer.


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## falc122727 (Jan 21, 2004)

Loaded 2 120G Maxtor DiamondMax drives in a S1SA and got the stuttering. I was baffled and tried everything, until I read this thread. Looks like there's definitely something incompatible with the Maxtor DiamondMax and Tivo. I returned the Maxtors and got 2 WDs at Best Buy (great deal $39 after rebate) and they work perfectly, with not a hint of stuttering. Another thing I noticed is my internal temp is 3 deg cooler with the WDs vs the Maxtors.

Thanks for all who posted to this thread!!!


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## Ronin (Jun 7, 2001)

Has similar issues with three DiamondMax 10 160s in three seperate DVR40's. All three went throught PowerMax 4.21 full erase and full read w/o error before being used.

Video would play, but would just pause, then keep playing.

Replaced with Seagate 160s, and no more pausing issues.

When I replace the maxtors with the seagates, I noticed that the seagates use about .4A on the 12V rail, but the maxtors used about 1.25A on the 12V. The old maxtor diamondmax 9 used about .7A on the 12V.

I haven't researched it any more than that, but I think the diamondmax 10 just requires too much power to run in a tivo.


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## sonofsnood (Jul 24, 2003)

had the same problem when I put my 7200 rpm Maxtor 160 gb in my Humax T800, pixelation, freezing, slow response when I rewind/fast forward...

then after using it for about 2 weeks, the number of times it errored slowly decreased so now other than making loud whirring noises when ff/rw, it's pretty much ok now


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

Hmmm, that's interesting. Maxtor used to ship drives with write verification turned on for the first 10 power cycles. Maybe they're doing something similar to that function.


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## Ronin (Jun 7, 2001)

c3 said:


> Hmmm, that's interesting. Maxtor used to ship drives with write verification turned on for the first 10 power cycles. Maybe they're doing something similar to that function.


Good point. I did actually turn Write Verify off after the tests and before I used it in the TiVo.

Also set Accoustic Management to Quite originally. Set it back to Performance, and the pauses were reduced, but they were still there.


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## kdawg (Jan 10, 2005)

I thought the Maxtor setup was getting better over time also but I wasn't sure if it was my imagination and didn't want to be without my Tivo long enough to leave them in. Perhaps I'll look more into the write verification thing. I still think they may work....or hoping they'll work.

So my question is how do I turn off the verification? And for that matter any other functions that may be running.

I guess this would is a lessen in rebate tactics. I was too quick in mailing in the rebates now I can't return them.

Or perhaps I'll just return the Maxtors and go to BestBuy and pick up the Westerns. called OfficeDepot and they said they would give me a refund minus the rebates.


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## kdawg (Jan 10, 2005)

Yup, broke down and bought the Westers Digitals. They work like a charm.


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## Dkerr24 (Oct 29, 2004)

Thanks for the heads up... I'm going to stay away from the Maxtors for Tivo use.


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## sonofsnood (Jul 24, 2003)

yeah, I'm starting to think maxtor's suck for Tivo use, my last Tivo series one was upgraded with WD's and I never had any problems, my pc has 2 WD caviars and no problems

when I opened up my Humax, I saw the 80gb Maxtor and thought, well, if I put another maxtor in there, it wouldn't hurt...


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## lutefisk (Sep 17, 2004)

Just to chime in:
I just upgraded my tivo with a L01R300. That's a Diamodmax10 300GB with 16MB cache. It's a bit of overkill for a tivo, but I thought I had gotten a pretty good deal on it.

Anyway, there is a bit of stuttering during live tv. Sometime it goes away when watching with a few seconds of delay (using the 7 sec back button), sometimes it doesn't. TiVo is watchable though.

I'm formating the drive and taking it back ASAP though.

The original Maxtor was a diamondmax plus 8. On the drive it says +12V 790mA, +5V 647mA.

The new drive is rated at +12V 1520 mA, +5V 740 mA.
I wonder if the extra power draw is too much for the cheap power supply in the tivo.


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## formulaben (Jan 27, 2003)

I have the same Maxtor problem. Will try to swap drives and see if there are any improvements.


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## MMMQ74 (Jul 3, 2005)

Ready to pull my 200GB Maxtor from my Series 2. I see that I have 2 options:

1. Pull the 200GB Maxtor - replace with 120GB Seagate that I have in a portable USB case.

2. Pull the 200GB Maxtor - replace with 40GB that came with the Tivo and add 120GB Seagate.

Anybody have any thoughts about running dual drives? Any extra HW needed to pull the 2 drive install off?

Thanks much!


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## Silver 96 Z28 (Jul 11, 2005)

This is not a post a wanted to see.  I upgraded my TIVO to a 200GB Maxtor drive just the other day and I am having the same problem. I was hoping it was something in the way I upgraded, but I guess not.


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## Silver 96 Z28 (Jul 11, 2005)

Anyone been able to figure out a solution for the Maxtor drives? Or is the only solution to switch to a Western Digital or Seagate drive?


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## kdawg (Jan 10, 2005)

I would say return the Maxtor if at all possible. I looked for weeks and tried everything to get the Maxtors to work. In the end the only solution I found was to return the Maxtors and get a pair or Westerns. The best I can guess are the Maxtors were using more juice than the power supply could deliver. The Maxtors use much more than the Westerns.....but that IS just a guess.

Good Luck.


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## bananaman (Jul 18, 2005)

I too tried to upgrade with a 200GB Maxtor DiamondMax 10 drive and all I got was stuttering video and a lot of wasted time. Switched to Seagate and everything ran perfectly first time. Andrew.


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## Sam FT (Feb 9, 2004)

Will I got four Maxtor DiamondMax 10 160GB sometime back when OfficeDepot had them for $40 after rebates. I installed them into two refurb new Series2. So I used Weaknees LBA cd for the upgrade. After running through the Setup Guide I went to System Info to see what software that came with it. Which it was 5.3 on both. So I started watching live TV and yes the video was choppy on both. But on one of my TiVo was ready for the new software 7.1 and I upgraded it and after it installed and reboot the TiVO I havn't had single problem with the video on that TiVo. The other one is still waiting for the software update. So I think it is a few reason why people have a problem with the Maxtor drivers. Either doing a reboot works or upgrade to the newer 7.1 software which may handle bigger drives better. But again it could just that I am lucky to have TiVo work with the Maxtor with out a problem. So I will have see and find out on my second TiVo 7.1 software upgrade and see if the problem still continues.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

The four drives you got may have different firmware. You can check them on the drive label. Only the more recent version(s) have problems.


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## Sam FT (Feb 9, 2004)

c3 said:


> The four drives you got may have different firmware. You can check them on the drive label. Only the more recent version(s) have problems.


I got the drives back about little over a month ago. So it hasn't been that long ago. But I find it funny that two Maxtor DiamondMax 10 in my first refub Series had choppy video and after a software 7.1 upgrade the video was fine. But again I will have to wait and find out and see if that is the case with my second refub Series2 after the software 7.1 upgrade.


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## kdawg (Jan 10, 2005)

Just a follow up note on my original post. It seems that one of the Western drives I used to replace the Maxtors with is starting to fail according to the kernel log file. Specifically the B drive. I have yet to stick in my PC to run the factory diagnostics. The setup with the two Western drives worked flawlessly for weeks then suddenly the video started to freeze. I'm holding out hope that the PSU (power supply unit) is failing and am waiting for a replacement. The Tivo is 4 or 5 years old and have read that PSUs don't tend to last much longer than that. If the new PSU doesn't arrive soon I may just pull them.

Just another thing to consider when deciding on what brand drive to purchase.


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## Sam FT (Feb 9, 2004)

Well I finally got the update for the 7.1 software of my second refub TiVo 540040. And that did the trick once it was updated the choppy video every 7 seconds and freezing went away. So I if you are have a problem I would highly update your TiVo box to 7.1 software. Course that won't always fix the problem just an option to consider when faced with this freezing problem.


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## Sunapee (Oct 8, 2004)

Any idea how this applies with DirectTV Tivo? Is it a safe assumption that v6.2 will also alleviate the potential problem with Maxtor 10?


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## joneskl (Oct 4, 2005)

Just to confirm what other have said. I bought a Maxtor Diamondmax drive to do the upgrade. The video is very choppy, stutters, etc. I know it's not anything with the drive image, tivo hardware, etc. I did the same setup on a Seagate drive and it worked fine. Did the same setup on a WD drive, worked fine. Did the same setup again on a Maxtor, bad video.
I also swapped this Maxtor drive with a WD I had in a Windows MCE machine. The Tivo worked fine with the WD. I put the Maxtor in my MCE machine. Guess what? The "Live TV" video in my MCE machine is now very choppy. Along with playing back previously recorded shows.
The Maxtor works fine for storage so I using it as a storage space but there is obviously something "different" about these Maxtors and video.
Just my 2 cents.


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