# Stuck on "Preparing the Service Update" screen



## Marshall1956 (Feb 17, 2009)

I have a Series 2 TCD230040. I upgraded to 2 160 gb drives from WeaKnees 12/2004. Spring of 2007 began getting errors and lockup I could get by with Kickstart 52 to reinstall software. Finally 10/2007 I got 400gb upgrade kit from Weaknees. Everything working fine until this weekend when I got the GSOD reboot loop.
I took out the 400gb drive and analyzed with SeaTools - gave a heat warning and then 35 bad sectors out of hundreds of millions. Weaknees won't help but Seagate warrants until 2012 so will send back for replacement.
In the meantime got out the Maxtor 160GB drives and checked them - one had 5 bad sectors, which repaired. The other had none.
I downloaded InstantCake and used my Dell to set up the drives as dual dirves. No error messages with that. Plugged into the TiVO. Powerup, almost there, then Preparing the Service Update Screen for 6 hours. Unplugged and restarted - powerup, almost there, flash, powerup, almost there, Preparing the Service Update stuck.

What to do from here? InstantCake recommended that I check memory capacity and the repeat guided setup, but I can't get that far.

I have a networked plugged in to the USB port (worked before), but haven't had a chance to enter the network info. Is it trying to contact TiVo to download software or programs and is stuck because of the network? Should I wait longer? (will wait overnite and most of day tomorrow because at work).

I guess I can pull the drives and then InstantCake a single 160gb drive and see if that works, but is there something else I'm supposed to do.


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## Marshall1956 (Feb 17, 2009)

OK, when I got up this morning the Tivo had gotten through the "Preparing the Service Update" screen - must have taken 6-8 hours to do it. Now TiVo working fine - except my USB cable connection to my network is not working - the power light doesn't come on when I plug it in. I plugged my old wireless network adapter in and it worked fine.

Wonder how long these hard drives will work before failure again?

So when you get stuck on the Service Update screen, go to bed and forget about it. Wait for it to work its way out.


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

Hello, welcome to the TiVo Community.



Marshall1956 said:


> Wonder how long these hard drives will work before failure again?


Probably not long, bad sectors only appear after all the spare sectors have been used as replacements, or were the bad areas recoveable "Soft errors" if so replace the drive(s) data (ribbon) cable with a new 80 conductor cable. The cable will still have only 40 pins in each connector the extra wires help prevent "cross talk" between the wires when running at the higher speeds of today's drives.

Why did you get the overheat warning, is the drive getting any airflow?


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