# Recover/replace dead drive in HDR212



## PeteTV (May 6, 2006)

Is it possible to recover or replace a dead primary drive?

A neighbor said he was having problems with his Philips HDR212 and asked me to take a look. When I bring it up all I get is a green screen saying to wait 3 hours. I waited much longer then 3 hours but never got past the green screen.

I then removed the single Quantum Fireball lct 15 drive and ran diags on it using Maxtor's Powermax 4.21. The drive failed the first test (Confirm Installation) with a "SMART" error, if I recall. Given the green screen, I was kind of assuming the drive was trashed, so I didn't really investigate much further.

Assuming the drive is dead, is there any hope? In other words, if this were Linux (or Windows or any other OS), I'd simply buy a new drive and reinstall the OS. But with a TiVo, how do I re-install the OS? I'm not looking for any sort of pirated software or anything, just wanting to know what's possible.

I once worked as a developer on a set-top box and we had the ability to download a completely new image if the HD image was trashed. Does a TiVo have that type of capability? Is that what's happening (or trying to happen) with the "green screen"?

Are there any TiVo-ish utilities that might be able to recover the OS enough to replace the drive? I'm not concerned at all about preferences or recordings, I just want to get the unit running again with a new drive.... assuming the current drive really is bad.

PS. I am a UNIX software engineer by profession, so I feel quite comfortable in a UNIX environment, replacing hardware and installing/recovering systems. I have been a TiVo owner for several years, but have very limited experience with TiVo upgrade/repair - ie. I installed an additional 120G HD in my own Tivo a few years ago, other then that, I simply watch it.


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

You'll need a new Tivo image file in order to re-image a new drive for your neighbor's Philips DVR. You can download them, including do-it-yourself drive imaging software from PTVUpgrade at http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/instantcake/


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

PeteTV said:


> But with a TiVo, how do I re-install the OS? I'm not looking for any sort of pirated software or anything, just wanting to know what's possible.


You need to obtain an image of the system, and install it on the drive. MFSTools is the app needed to read that image file, and apply it to the drive.


> I once worked as a developer on a set-top box and we had the ability to download a completely new image if the HD image was trashed. Does a TiVo have that type of capability? Is that what's happening (or trying to happen) with the "green screen"?


Unfortunately no. TiVo decided to save costs by putting a simple flashrom chip that knows only how to boot from an HDD with an appropriate FS and OS on it.

FWIW, the Green-Sceeen is Tivos fsck utility running.


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