# DTV's DVR is crap, I want my TiVo Back, help me fix my box.



## chacher10 (Dec 4, 2006)

I have one of the first Hughes TiVo boxesfour at least 4 years.. The model number on back says GXCEBOT. It was working fine but it started to get loud. Crazy buzzing sound. So I called DTV and they said it was screwed and that they will send me a new receiver. What they sent me was their new DVR which sucks dog balls. I am on my 2nd one and it is messing up as well. I want my TiVo back.

So I was wondering how to upgrade to a new hard drive. The installing part is no big deal, but can you just slap a new drive in or does it have to have to be prepared a certain way then put in.

Some one said my fan could be going out as well.

I want to send DTV their crap back and fix my old one so if anyone can help me out I would appreciate it.


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## Pab Sungenis (Apr 13, 2002)

chacher10 said:


> So I was wondering how to upgrade to a new hard drive. The installing part is no big deal, but can you just slap a new drive in or does it have to have to be prepared a certain way then put in.


Easiest way is Weaknees or PTVUpgrade. I believe they both sell pre-loaded hard drives you can just slap in the box.


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## wscannell (Dec 7, 2003)

Or take a look at these instructions if you are inclined to do it yourself: http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/index.php

Note that if you are lucky the noise may be caused by the fan and not the hard drive.


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## ping (Oct 3, 2005)

If it was working fine but only making noise, I'd say it's more likely the fan, which can be easily replaced. Open it up and disconnect the fan's power cable and run it (for a very short time!) without it, just to see if that's what's making the noise.


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## rock_doctor (Oct 22, 2000)

My vote is fan also. They make a thumping or squealing sound when they start to go bad. I would order a good one off the internet. I used a couple of radio shacks fans in my series one and both times they died with in a year causing the tivo to overheat. The fan is a standard 12v case fan with the dimensions. 60mmx25mm If you are stuck the radio shack part number is 273-239 but they cost $20 which is about twice you can get a good ball bearing fan from the web. The next question is how to power the fan. The current fan plugs into the motherboard and is throttled by the tivo. If you want, you can plug it into the hard drive power connector and it will run at full speed. Your temperature will drop into the 40's. Sinceyou are willing to throw a few bucks into the unit you might as well update the hard drive at the same time. Since the original drive is probably ok you can use it for the image but you will have to update the kernel for large drive support. Not a big deal.

good luck,
mark


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## dishrich (Jan 16, 2002)

OP - not sure if you thought about this, you CAN still find D-Tivo's out there. I just picked up TWO brand new ones in sealed boxes in a Wal-Mart 30 miles north of town this past weekend. (I was on my up past it to a party & stopped in & 'VOILA - there they were!) If you search here, there are other places D-Tivo's can be had, sometimes even brand new in the box.


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## Krosis (May 10, 2004)

Don't run it to long without the fan. A friend has the same model and forgot to plug the fan in one time, darn near melted the access card


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## sxrxrnr (Nov 11, 2004)

D* offered me a HR 20 at no charge is I would send them one of my HD 250's. I said that I would not send them one of them, so they then charged me for a 20. I wanted it for local channel HD support and just to see how good it was. Well it is not a very good unit, the menu's suck, FF is lousy, will only buffer one channel at a time(unless you are recording another) and just in general the eronomics are kinda of lousy. I actually found the comcast DVR to be much better, but it does only have 15 hours of HD programming capacity. HR 20 is not quite ready for prime time. I try not to use it much as it is rather annoying.


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## sparkomatic (Sep 13, 2006)

Thought I'd tag onto this thread. My friend also has DirecTV and hates the built in DVR. She wants to get Tivo but has a question. What model would you all recommend she get so she can record two shows at once? Is this possible? She does not have HDTV nor does she plan on getting it. The DirecTV has two coax cables coming from the satellite dish. Thanks for the help!


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## goony (Nov 20, 2003)

sparkomatic said:


> What model would you all recommend she get so she can record two shows at once? Is this possible?


Check out this topic: Where do I get a DirecTivo?. Any Series 2 model will do. If you want to enhance it with network features then avoid the R10 model.

If you are not planning any expansion at all, then try to get one with the largest hard drive. Anyone with average computer hardware skills that can follow directions can expand the capacity using a commodity PATA/IDE (parallel interface) hard drive. Size in GB times 0.875 gives rough record capacity, so a 300GB drive will give about 262 recording hours.

DirecTV will activate one of these units even though they no longer sell them, but you may have to buy a $20 access card from them if they don't like the access card you have in your unit or you did not get one with it. If you have an existing receiver you are replacing you may be able to move the card from that one to the DTivo.


sparkomatic said:


> The DirecTV has two coax cables coming from the satellite dish.


Then you are all set - the dual tuner DTivo needs two cables to record/watch two different channels at the same time.


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## Stanley Rohner (Jan 18, 2004)

I've had an HR20 DIRECTV DVR since October. I really like it. I don't miss TiVo one bit.

I don't think the DIRECTV DVR sucks dog balls. I've never actaully done that so I guess I can't use it as a point of reference.


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## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

Stanley Rohner said:


> I've had an HR20 DIRECTV DVR since October. I really like it. I don't miss TiVo one bit.


Just the forums, evidently.


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## Stanley Rohner (Jan 18, 2004)

nrc said:


> Just the forums, evidently.


It's fun to come here and see all the TiVo is sooooooooooo wonderful threads.


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