# Power vs disk drive failure - an unexpected find.



## Hichhiker (Apr 21, 2002)

(Note, the tivo involved here is a S2 DirecTV Samsung unit.)

Well, it always seems like every year or so a drive in one of my Tivo's will fail. So when a few days ago we lost power(or had some sort of a power event - i was out of the house at the time) and a tivo was stuck on a "powering up" screen - I was not surprised. But just to make sure, I hooked up the serial cord and watch the boot produce:


```
Partition 0 signature is false, trying alternate
diskboot found partition 0 signature is false.
```
Sure enough, sign of a completely dead drive. But trying to get it going, finally I managed to get it to start booting, only show a bunch of things like:


```
hda: status timeout status=0x80 { Busy}
hda: drive not ready for command
...
and 
...
hda: unable to read block XXXXX
```
More tell-tale signs of a dying drive.... or so I thought, for this is where things got interesting.

I hooked up the drive to a PC and run every test I could think of - the drive tests just fine. I put in a different drive into the tivo - freshly imaged - and got the same issues. What is going on? I was all ready to think that the ide chipset is hosed, when in a moment of inspiration I tried something much simpler- use an external power supply to power the drive. Sure enough, tivo happily boots without an issue from the very same drive.

So the conclusion (which I will try to verify once I get my multimeter) is that the power supply was damaged just enough to still power the unit, but not to provide enough power for the drive to operate properly. I am now wondering how many of my previous "drive failures" were result of the bad power supplies as well.. And if having a bad power supply eventually does kill the drive for real.

I wanted to post this mostly as an FYI for the community of a new(to me) issue. Has anyone encountered this scenario? I also wanted to ask for some advice as to how to proceed. Is there anywhere to get a replacement NEW S2 DTivo power supply (I know Weaknees has working pulls, but $70 for a used, just as old, power supply seems a bit pricey - esp since you can find a S2 DTV unit on ebay for a fraction of that)

Thanks,

-HH


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

The first thing I'd do is take a good close look at the electrolytic capacitors and see if the ends of any of them are bulging. If so, they're relatively easy to replace. Otherwise, I'd just buy a working used S2 DTivo on ebay and salvage the power supply. Weaknees is an absolute rip-off when it comes to power supply prices.


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## ronsch (Sep 7, 2001)

The more important thing to do is get a small battery backup for your TiVo(s) that will get you through small power disruptions. There's no telling how long mine has kept my S1 running.


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## Hichhiker (Apr 21, 2002)

ronsch said:


> The more important thing to do is get a small battery backup for your TiVo(s) that will get you through small power disruptions. There's no telling how long mine has kept my S1 running.


Hehe, I had a BIG one (SmartUps 1500) - but it died first ;-)

BTW, since the first issue, a second DTV box developed similar problems and eventually died completely - again the issue was a power supply :-(


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## ronsch (Sep 7, 2001)

Hichhiker said:


> Hehe, I had a BIG one (SmartUps 1500) - but it died first ;-)
> 
> BTW, since the first issue, a second DTV box developed similar problems and eventually died completely - again the issue was a power supply :-(


It's far easier to replace the UPS than to have to fix TiVo power supplies.


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## Hichhiker (Apr 21, 2002)

ronsch said:


> It's far easier to replace the UPS than to have to fix TiVo power supplies.


True, though not too cost effective. It is still cheaper to replace the power supplies.

Still, I suspect these power supplies have been dying for a long time. I was wondering why no drive would last over a year in those boxes - yet most always appeared to be fine in computers.


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## jbell73 (Oct 31, 2006)

The power supplies should not be dying every year unless you have unstable power in your house. I had TiVo series 2 for 4-5 years and it never died, and have never had any power supply issues.

I would have someone check out the wiring in your house, maybe the voltage is fluctuating in such a way that is stresses the power supply.

-Jeff


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## Hichhiker (Apr 21, 2002)

jbell73 said:


> The power supplies should not be dying every year unless you have unstable power in your house. I had TiVo series 2 for 4-5 years and it never died, and have never had any power supply issues.
> 
> I would have someone check out the wiring in your house, maybe the voltage is fluctuating in such a way that is stresses the power supply.
> 
> -Jeff


I think you may have misread what I was saying. I had what I thought was a string of drive failures - about one per year - but I now suspect that most of those were due to the same failing power supply that has been failing for years. On the tivo the symptoms are identical to those of a failing drive and a new drive seems to work for a while. But this is the first time I replaced power supplies, and in both cases formerly "failing" drives work perfectly now.

As for power in my house, I think there may be occasional power events, as is in most households, but for most of their lives these boxes lived on UPS's - so I doubt it affected them much.

-HH


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