# Repair HDR212 Dual-Drive Image?



## tonym924 (Feb 15, 2006)

I just bought an HDR212 that had been upgraded with a second drive (160GB),
and was using it to test two other suspect drives (each one as a single drive). 
The box worked fine before and after testing the first disk (which didn't boot),
but then after testing the second disk (also no boot), I absentmindedly 
neglected to plug in the IDE connector for the 160GB drive. When I powered
up the box again and it went into a boot loop, I unplugged it and reattached 
the 160GB drive. Now it boots to a green screen (Severe Error, etc.).

What, exactly, did I do to the primary drive by booting it without the secondary
drive? I there any way to repair the damage using mfstools or the Partition
Tools? Any chance that letting the box phone home will repair it? Any other
fix besides starting over with InstantCake?

Thanks,
TM


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## funtoupgrade (Mar 15, 2005)

Here's how to do the equivalent of a disk check. 
Unplug the TiVo for 30 seconds.
Plug it back in.
Watch the front panel LEDs. When the left one changes from green to yellow, after about 20-60 seconds, press Pause on the remote. The right LED should then turn yellow. You have only a second or two to do this.
Press 57 on the remote. 

You should now see either a green screen saying the TiVo is trying a self-repair or perhaps a message that it is "installing software". The process can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours. You don't have to leave the TV on. The TiVo will restart itself when done. There is no feedback as to whether it found a problem.


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## tonym924 (Feb 15, 2006)

A few details and a follow-up question:

1. I needed to press-and-hold the pause button to get the right hand yellow LED.
2. After entering '57', both LEDs blink, the left one turns green, right one stays yellow.
3. The box boots to the 'Severe Error' green screen.
4. After a few (may have been 5 or even 10) minutes, disk activity can be heard.
5. Another 10 or so minutes of disk activity, and the box reboots.
6. Success! Boot appears normal, saved programs still available.

I tried this method with another drive/box that was stuck in a boot loop, and
though I could get to step 3 above, it still reboots immediately (no self-repair
process apparent). Is that an indication that the image is too damaged to
perform the self-repair? 

Thanks for the tip!

Tony


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## funtoupgrade (Mar 15, 2005)

Most likely!


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## lajohn27 (Dec 29, 2003)

Another trick that's useful here is the same steps and 5 2

What this does is force the unit to reinstall the current software on the OTHER partition (which may NOT have an error) and this too may recover your unit enough to boot and salvage recordings before replacing the drive.

John


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## the human torch (Dec 30, 2004)

tonym924 said:


> A few details and a follow-up question:
> 
> 1. I needed to press-and-hold the pause button to get the right hand yellow LED.
> 2. After entering '57', both LEDs blink, the left one turns green, right one stays yellow.
> ...


I'm having the exact same issue that Tony's second machine (boot loop, gets to green screen, restarts immediately) is having. Looks like I'm ordering a new hard drive. Yay.


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