# Problems replacing bad drive on HDVR2



## lpennock (Feb 13, 2003)

My HDVR2 has started getting really pixilated at times and freezes every couple of days, so I'm replacing the drive.

I used InstantCake to build 6.2 on a Seagate 160, model ST3160215ACE, which is is one of their DB35 drives. The problem is that I can never get past the "Welcome. Powering up." screen on that drive, or on a Western Digital 160 I also tried just as a test in case the Seagate was bad, and they are set to Master and plugged in exactly the way the old drive was. As a test, I tried re-installing the bad drive (a 120GB Seagate) with InstantCake, and I was able to boot it up and do a clear and reset, but that one still freezes after a few hours. I've re-done the whole process several times, and even bought another IDE cable since I noticed a fray in the old one, but now I don't know where to turn. Does anyone have any troubleshooting tips to try to get my new 160GB Seagate working in my HDVR2?


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Your power supply may not be able to handle the load. Seagate drives are famous for power consumption. Look up Smartstart from www.DVRupgrade.com.
http://www.9thtee.com/SmartStart-DS.pdf
This is a cheap alternative to purchasing a new power supply from www.weaknees.com.


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## lpennock (Feb 13, 2003)

To test this theory I plugged the new Seagate drive into the power supply of a PC, but left the IDE cable in the TiVo, and it booted right up on the first try.

Thing is, the Western Digital drive didn't work either on the TiVo's power supply, and the SmartStart looks like it just delays the boot up on a two drive system. Do you think this means that I need a new power supply anyway? I don't see how the SmartStart will help with my single drive system if the problem is not enough power to run even a single drive.

Thanks for the advice!

-Lewis


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

lpennock said:


> To test this theory I plugged the new Seagate drive into the power supply of a PC, but left the IDE cable in the TiVo, and it booted right up on the first try.
> 
> Thing is, the Western Digital drive didn't work either on the TiVo's power supply, and the SmartStart looks like it just delays the boot up on a two drive system. Do you think this means that I need a new power supply anyway? I don't see how the SmartStart will help with my single drive system if the problem is not enough power to run even a single drive.
> 
> ...


Smartstart limits the current on startup. TiVo has a 55 watt power supply,is your PC that low? A new power supply will also be 55 watt. New Tivo power supplies cost $65 from weaknees vs. $25. for Smartstart (prices as of last time I checked). I do run dual drives with no problem. If the problem is high current draw a new Power supply may not fix it. Smartstart will only delay your boot slightly while limiting current. Good Luck which ever you choose.


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## lpennock (Feb 13, 2003)

The PC is an old Dell that I assume has far more than a 55 watt supply. I am wondering if some of the old freezes were actually due to the power supply flaking out during normal operation (i.e. not just on boot up), so I think the best option at this point is to just go ahead and replace the entire power supply. It's more expensive but it's more of a sure fire fix. 

Also, since the drive I bought is the same one Weaknees sells pre-installed, I am assuming the draw is not abnormally high. 

Thanks again for all your help.

-Lewis


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## omni555 (Oct 4, 2006)

...Just a thought here... Most people seem to get along very well with running replacement and/or second drives from the TiVo ps. So, if your ps needs to be replaced, the first thing I would look into is why??? SOMETHING must have caused it to fail (unless it was a defective one that just gave it all up anyway!). 

What I'm trying to say is, if you replace the ps in your TiVo without diagnosing the cause of the failure in the original one, you are probably doomed to repeat the same process over and over again. Good news for whoever you buy the new ps from!!!


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## lpennock (Feb 13, 2003)

Good point. My HDVR2 is several years old, so it is possible the power supply died of old age, but if it happens again then I'll definitely have to assume that something else is going on with my unit. I've had PC power supplies die after 3 or 4 years, and then have the replacements run fine for years, and power next to hard drives, power supplies are the second things that are usually easily swappable in servers, so at one level I think it's just assumed that they eventually fail.


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## lpennock (Feb 13, 2003)

For posterity's sake, I wanted to report that I installed the new power supply and now the TiVo boots up fine with the new hard drive. Been running great for a week or so. Now I guess I need to search the forums for how to force a 6.3 upgrade. It's still on the 6.2 version that came with Instantcake.

-Lewis


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## ForrestB (Apr 8, 2004)

lpennock said:


> For posterity's sake, I wanted to report that I installed the new power supply and now the TiVo boots up fine with the new hard drive. Been running great for a week or so. Now I guess I need to search the forums for how to force a 6.3 upgrade. It's still on the 6.2 version that came with Instantcake.
> 
> -Lewis


Hold on there! Current forum wisdom is 6.2a is the preferred software to use on the Series 2 DirecTivo's. If you upgrade to 6.3 - you'll loose the ability to use Multiroom viewing on hacked Tivo's and apparently 6.3 makes your machine reboot spontaneously.


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## lpennock (Feb 13, 2003)

Ah, good to know, thanks for the warning! I'll hold off in that case.


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