# Series 1 won't boot



## troyamiller (Jun 20, 2005)

Hello- I have an original Series 1 with lifetime service that is... er, was... still going strong! I started using TiVo in 2001, and upgraded this series 1, adding an 80gb drive (a Fujitsu, if I remember correctly) in 2002, which bumped my storage capacity up to about 106 hours. While I am a programmer by trade, I'm a Windows guy - I don't dabble with Linux at all - just followed some instructions I found online. All worked out fine.

All was well until June, 2005, when one of the drives died... ended up being the first drive - the original 13gb. I ended up sending it back to TiVo and they replaced that first drive - and that was fine, until the last few days.

Within the past week, TiVo started locking up intermittently - we'd be watching something and it would just hang. The remote would do nothing - the only thing that straightened it up was unplugging TiVo from the power, then plugging in again and restarting. Over a week, the lockups became more frequent - and as of today, TiVo won't start up at all - just nothing but a green light. I haven't opened the box back up, but one of the drives is quite noisy - and the location of the noise sounds like it might be that main drive again.

I'm sure this has been covered, but I'm not a regular here, and I didn't find a step by step solution with my cursory searching... wondering if someone could enlighten me...? I'm not scared of doing this myself (plus I really don't have the $ to send it back to TiVo right now!), but I don't know what I need to do. The main thing that I don't want to do is lose my lifetime service, but reading thru some other threads, it appears that service is keyed against the mainboard - not the hard drive. That being said, reading further, it looks to me like if I could get a clean series 1 image, I could just replace that drive and all would be fine (I realize, of course, I'd lose my saved content - that's okay). I don't mind replacing both drives with a single larger drive (I own a small computer store and have drives on the shelf), or even just 'unmarrying' the 80gb from the suspected dead 13gb and starting fresh with just that 80gb - it's just that I'm a total Windows person and am painfully ignorant in the Linux world.

Can anyone give me a step by step all in one place here to get my TiVo going again? THANKS!!!


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## Da Goon (Oct 22, 2006)

You'd be best off starting from a new image. If you don't have one, you can get instantcake from dvrupgrade.com for $20. It includes a bootable cd that will restore a virgin image to any drive (formatted or unformatted) for you automatically.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

You can get a program called Instantcake from www.dvrupgrade.com it will reinstall the image on your 80gb drive and you will be off and running with a new image. You can order a CD or download and burn one (the faster way to get up and running) it will reinitialize Linux remember to specify your Make and Model as they have different processors. It will cost you under $20.00 for the basic system. Good Luck


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## troyamiller (Jun 20, 2005)

Wow... you guys are great! Talk about a quick response!

Couple of questions... (bearing in mind that I am still painfully ignorant in this department!)

1) Since the 80gb is currently 'married' to the older 13gb, assuming it's the 13gb that died, any negative issue with just using that 80gb? I really don't have anything to lose, right?

2) Regardless, say I grab an ISO of InstantCake and use it on whatever drive I use it on - let's say that 80gb - and get running. Next month, I decide to just replace the 80gb with a 250gb. Can I just use that same InstantCake ISO again to prepare the 250gb?

3) On a 'drive' note, any specific drive suggestions? (assuming I didn't use that existing Fujitsu 80gb)... I've got some spare Western Digital 120gb's on the on shelf - any troubles with those?

Any other thoughts and comments you guys have are appreciated! (I'm a little lost without TiVo - and so is the wife!) Thanks!


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

1. No negative issue
2.Yes you can use it on any size drive
3. You want one with acoustic management so you have a quiet drive.


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## troyamiller (Jun 20, 2005)

THANK YOU for the info! I went to DVRupgrade.com and purchased an ISO and burnt that off. I cracked open my TiVo and was surprised... I hadn't opened it since I got it back from TiVo fixing a couple of years ago - I found that while they had told me that they replaced the original 13gb, they did not - they had replaced the 80gb that I had added to it - and that's where the noise was coming from... that 80gb had died. It also explained a few things - after they had fixed it, it just seemed sluggish - and now that makes sense. The 80gb they they had replaced mine with was substantially slower than the one that I had put in.

ANYway, I grabbed a 120gb Maxtor off my shelf here, set it up in a machine and booted to the ISO that I purchased from DVRupgrade.com. The process didn't take long and finished without a hitch. I mounted the new drive in my TiVo chassis and started it up... and within about 45 minutes, I was TiVo'ing again!

Thanks for the quick, informative responses - I appreciate it!


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