# Is My TiVo Really Dead?



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

Hi All...

I wanted some feedback...

My HDVR2 went dead last week... I rebooted several times, and it got stuck on the blue "almost there..." screen... It stayed there for several days (mostly because I was too lazy to unplug it), so it wasn't that I was just being impatient 

So today I decided to do an MFSRestore of my original image, and it applied just fine to both drives...but wouldn't get past the grey "Welcome. Powering Up" screen... I tried taking just one of the drives and doing an MFSRestore on a single drive... Still could not get past that "Welcome. Powering Up" screen...

In all situations, the MFSRestore command completed successfully with no errors, confirming the extra capacity added...

At this point, is it a good assumption that I have a non-HDD hardware problem?

Thanks all...


----------



## xunil76 (Apr 1, 2005)

someone correct me if i'm wrong, but if it's getting to the "almost there...." or the "Welcome. Powering Up" screen, then it's likely something to do with the hard drive. although, i suppose if the power supply is going out, that may cause a problem as well.

how much swap space do you have on the hard drive?


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

I am pretty sure it isn't the power supply, as it powers up just fine, right?

But I am also not confident it is a disk problem since I have done about a half dozen MFSRestores (to both single and dual drive combinations), and it keeps getting stuck in the same place...

I may try it a few more times if you all suggest that it can't be anything else... I'll just have to go back to the drawing board... perhaps I'll try another drive...

Although each time I did a restore, I never received a single error... (does that matter? Will an error be displayed if it's a bad HDD?)

Another question: Can I yank a drive from my PC, try an MFSRestore, and if it doesn't work, reformat it and reinstall in the computer? Or does the MFSRestore do anything to the drive that makes it unusable by XP/Vista?


----------



## BigBearf (Aug 18, 2005)

I would try a new or different hard drive. Did you run the manufacturer's diagnostics on the drive(s)? If so and these steps do not help, it may also be the IDE cable from the drive to the motherboard on your tivo.
Hope this helps
BigBearf


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

BigBearf said:


> I would try a new or different hard drive. Did you run the manufacturer's diagnostics on the drive(s)? If so and these steps do not help, it may also be the IDE cable from the drive to the motherboard on your tivo.
> Hope this helps
> BigBearf


So does that mean that a drive could be bad, but won't display any sort of error during the MFSRestore process?


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

BigBearf said:


> I would try a new or different hard drive. Did you run the manufacturer's diagnostics on the drive(s)? If so and these steps do not help, it may also be the IDE cable from the drive to the motherboard on your tivo.
> Hope this helps
> BigBearf


Also...one other question... The only drives I have at my disposal are drives that I can yank from XP machines... If I do an MFSRestore on them, will that eliminate the signature file that XP creates?


----------



## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

Yes, MFS restore will wipe the NT signature.


----------



## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

MikeekiM said:


> Hi All...
> So today I decided to do an MFSRestore of my original image, and it applied just fine to both drives...but wouldn't get past the grey "Welcome. Powering Up" screen... I tried taking just one of the drives and doing an MFSRestore on a single drive... Still could not get past that "Welcome. Powering Up" screen...
> Thanks all...


Check/Change the drive select jumper some work with CS others require Master single drive.

"Welcome Powering Up" is from the BIOS the boot process is not getting transfered to the hard drive.


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

HomeUser said:


> Check/Change the drive select jumper some work with CS others require Master single drive.
> 
> "Welcome Powering Up" is from the BIOS the boot process is not getting transfered to the hard drive.


Thanks for the suggestion... It is a key point you are making... So there is no indication at all that I necessarily have a bad hard drive since the welcome message is being generated from the bios... I am having a problem with the handshake from the bios to the disk...

I am not using CS... I will double check to make sure that I am applying the update correctly to each drive... But I did try just going with one drive as a test (and had set the jumpers to indicate master)...but that still did not work... Is it possible that I have a hardware problem that is not transfering me from the bios to the disk (no matter how good the disk is)? Or is it highly unlikely?

Thanks for the help!!!


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

OK... I think it is really dead...

I invested another few hours tonight trying different drives, and each time I got the exact same result...it would not get past the welcome screen...

My last attempt was to reinstall the original drive that came with the unit, which I yanked from the machine 5 years ago when I expanded the capacity... Same result...wouldn't get past the welcome screen...

Based on HomeUser's comments, I am assuming that there must be something with the motherboard or disk controller that is not allowing a smooth transition/handoff from the BIOS to the hard drive...

I am calling DTV tomorrow and see what my protection plan will allow me to do... I really don't want another SD replacement... I'd rather get a service credit toward an additional HD-DVR... We'll see what they do for me...

Frustrating evening... I was determined to fix it tonight


----------



## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

It could be a bad or weak power supply, you might check the voltages with a volt meter or try powering the drive from the PC 

Red is +5
Yellow is +12
Black is the returns.


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

HomeUser said:


> It could be a bad or weak power supply, you might check the voltages with a volt meter or try powering the drive from the PC
> 
> Red is +5
> Yellow is +12
> Black is the returns.


OK...before I decide to spend more (potentially) fruitless hours to raise this from the dead... Where would I get a replacement power supply for an HDVR2, and approximately how much would it cost me?


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

Ah... $69.00 at Weaknees...

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-power-supply.php

Nope...not worth it...


----------



## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

Well... I called DTV's protection plan... While I realize that I was eligible for an SD replacement, I really was not interested in having another SD box... I have been considering a 2nd HD DVR for a while now, and this DVR death is basically triggering me to accelerate my plans...

So now I have a new HR21 on it's way... It was tough to get them to agree to give me any kind of favorable pricing on moving to an HD DVR... They basically gave me two options:

1. Take the free SD DVR replacement
2. Buy the HD DVR at the normal upgrade price ($199.99)

I had to take it to a supervisor before I was able to get any kind of good faith discount on the upgrade... Even the supervisor pushed back on my request until I talked to him for a bit...


----------

